Three Months to Forever Read online

  When Ben whispered the invitation in his ear, he had been powerless to refuse. So there he was on a Saturday morning, staring at a junk boat that was really a yacht marketed to tourists as a traditional fishing boat. There was nothing traditional about it—gleaming white, with a brilliant-blue awning above the top deck. Sai would bet a year’s salary they had one of those giant inflatable slides on board so thrill-seekers could launch themselves off the top and into the water.

  “Sai!” Ben’s excited voice rang out, and Sai spotted him standing on the deck of the boat, waving his hand high in the air. Too late to bail now.

  He squared his shoulders and soldiered forward. Handing his bag off to one of the crew members, he ignored their outstretched hand and hoisted himself up onto the deck with an ease that came from years of boarding yachts belonging to his father’s friends.

  Ben lumbered over, a little unsteady as an unexpected wave pushed the boat against the dock. Instead of a customary wave or handshake by way of greeting, he pulled Sai in for a full-body hug. Sai stiffened at the sudden familiarity of the touch and then relaxed into the embrace as his body responded to holding Ben in his arms.

  “You made it!”

  He couldn’t help but smile at Ben’s enthusiasm. It was a little over the top, he had to admit, but it seemed genuine enough, and something about that was refreshing in a simple, effortless way.

  “Let me introduce you to everyone.” Ben dragged him over to a group of expats already in states of semidress, with only their swimming attire on. “This is Mo. That’s Stella, Macey, and Heather. They’re all from BMO. Mo and Heather are on assignment like me. Stella and Macey are here permanently. Guys, this is Sai.”

  He nodded to each one in turn as Ben introduced them. They were a mixed crowd of varying ethnicities, pretty typical in expat circles, but Sai was probably the only native Hong Kong person, and that left him with the strange feeling of being the outsider in his own city.

  “Hey! You’re friends with Jacques and Winston?” Mo came up and offered his hand.

  “Yes, that’s right,” Sai replied.

  “Cool, cool. They’re an awesome couple.” Mo clapped Sai on the shoulder. “Glad you could join us today. If you’ll excuse me, I’m on sunscreen duty.” He winked and headed back to the ladies, waving a bottle of sun cream in the air.

  Mo’s easy acceptance that they were gay was why Sai and Winston and their group of friends tended to gravitate toward foreigners: fewer snide looks and whispering behind hands, fewer subtly spoken words of disapproval or outright cold shoulders. Winston didn’t give a shit about being out and proud, and he liked to rub it in the faces of their parents’ friends that he was dating a man, a French man. But Sai was more reserved; he didn’t feel the need to give the gossips any more fodder than they already had.

  “Hey, Sai. You good?” Ben settled his hand on Sai’s shoulder, and the heat of it seeped through Sai’s shirt. Ben had a streak of white across his cheek, and with his wide grin and blue eyes sparkling in the sun, he looked adorable.

  Ben must have read the intent in Sai’s eyes because he licked his lips, and with one blink of those dark-blond lashes, his eyes filled with the same heat Sai felt.

  “I’m doing very well.”

  Ben’s breath hitched and satisfaction filled Sai in a way he hadn’t expected it would.

  “Hello, everybody!” one of the crew members called out for attention.

  Sai reluctantly broke eye contact but stood close enough behind Ben to feel the heat radiating off his skin. The crew member gave out safety instructions, but Sai wasn’t listening. His attention was on the rapid rise and fall of Ben’s chest and the way he tried to conceal the shudder that ran through him when Sai’s breath caressed his shoulder. There was something about Ben’s wide blue eyes, pale-white skin, and good-natured demeanor that stirred Sai’s desires in a way few of his previous partners had been able to.

  The boat pulled away from the dock and motored out of Victoria Harbour for the two-and-a-half-hour trip to Tai Long Wan, considered by some to be one of the most beautiful beaches in all of Hong Kong. Their little group claimed a part of the top deck, and Sai settled in the shade while Ben stripped off his tank top and lay out in the sun.

  From behind his sunglasses, Sai allowed himself the luxury of gazing upon Ben—he was solidly built, by no means muscle-bound, but rather slightly on the chubby side. His swimming shorts hung low across his hips, low enough to reveal two little dimples on his lower back, and Sai had to drag his gaze away as his imagination ran wild with images of pressing his thumbs into those dimples while he fucked Ben into the mattress.

  It was going to be next to impossible to resist Ben with all that skin exposed and him casting sweet little smiles in Sai’s direction. Sai closed his eyes. Damn Winston and his stupid meddling. The last thing he needed was his nosy friend pushing him toward easy hookups that were anything but easy. As if summoned by mere thoughts of him, Sai’s phone pinged with an incoming message from Winston.

  Winston: How is the boat trip? Did you fuck him yet?

  Sai: Fuck you.

  Winston: No, not me. Him.

  Sai: Dick face.

  Winston: You should have just fucked him after the club like I told you to.

  Winston had a point. There had been a couple of openings during that night when Sai could have taken Ben home, slept with him, and moved on. But he had hesitated because, God damn, because Ben didn’t feel like a one-night stand. Ben with his earnest questions and rapt attention deserved more than the “fuck ’em and leave ’em” Winston advocated.

  Sai’s gaze drifted back to Ben, who had turned over onto his back. A glossy sheen of sweat shone across his skin, and his hair, also wet with sweat, was a shade darker than normal.

  Against his better judgment, Sai snagged the bottle of sun cream off the deck before sitting down in the narrow space beside Ben on his chaise lounge.

  He gently shook Ben’s shoulder, noting the heat of the skin under his hand. “Hey.”

  The sleepy deep inhale and the slow spread of a smile across Ben’s lips did nothing to help cool Sai’s arousal. And the quietly muttered hey and lazy stretch of arms made Sai want to flip Ben over and take him right there on the deck, surrounded by people.

  “You’re getting too much sun. Here.” Sai ignored the way his voice lowered with lust. He handed Ben the sun cream and pressed his lips together when Ben closed his hand around Sai’s own but didn’t take the proffered bottle.

  “Can you put it on me?”

  Sai couldn’t see Ben’s eyes behind the sunglasses, but he didn’t need to. The softly spoken words and the shallow rapid breaths between parted lips were all the encouragement he needed. He cast his gaze around the top deck; aside from their group, all of whom appeared passed out in the sun, there were only a couple of other passengers, all foreigners, minding their own business on the other side of the deck. Sai popped the lid open and squeezed out a generous dollop of the thick white cream.

  The first contact of his palms against Ben’s chest felt like touching fire. It was warm and alluring but dangerous if Sai let himself get too close. His body responded to the instant lustful attraction, helped along by Ben’s little sigh of contentment.

  Sai worked his way down Ben’s chest and across his stomach. It was soft under his touch at first, but then his fingers wandered over to the side, and Ben tensed, revealing the hard muscles underneath.

  “Ticklish?” Sai asked, his voice husky.

  “Yes, very,” Ben gasped.

  Sai continued. Feeling emboldened by the slight tenting of Ben’s swimming shorts, Sai snuck a couple of fingers down under the waistband, just to ensure full coverage, he told himself.

  He tapped Ben on the hip. “Turn over.” He smiled to himself when it took Ben a few extra seconds to pull himself together enough to follow directions.

  With another dollop of sun cream, Sai started at Ben’s wide shoulders and immediately encountered stiff, tight muscle
s. He dug his thumbs into the backs of Ben’s traps and smirked at the moaned yes he got in response.

  “Shh,” he admonished and the moan turned into a whimper. The quick application of sun cream rapidly became a massage session as Sai sought out all the knots in Ben’s back, and there were many. When he made it down to Ben’s lower back, he couldn’t help but wrap his fingers around Ben’s waist; his thumbs fit in those two tempting dimples as if they’d been carved just for him.

  His brain conjured up images of Ben underneath him in bed, his hands wrapped around Ben’s waist while Ben whimpered and moaned. It would be so easy to fall into a relationship with Ben, though his inner attorney mounted argument after argument for why it would be a foolish idea. Ben was only here temporarily. Sai had a demanding job. And yet none of those arguments seemed to matter when Ben sat up and turned to him, sunglasses discarded and eyes heavy-lidded with desire.

  Ben’s arms didn’t take as long and yet it felt longer with Ben following Sai’s progress with his eyes. He rubbed the cream around each finger of Ben’s hand and massaged his thumb into Ben’s palm. Then he repeated the whole thing with Ben’s other arm. By the time he was done, Sai had made up his mind. Tonight he’d take Ben to bed.

  “Thanks.” Ben’s voice was husky.

  Sai nodded and retreated to his spot in the shade, crossing his legs to hide his erection. The rest of the boat ride out to Tai Long Wan was comparatively uneventful, if Sai discounted how hyperaware he was of Ben’s every movement and his every uttered word. When the crew dropped anchor away from the shore, he joined Ben by the railing looking out onto the pristine white-sand beach and the clear rich-blue water that turned aquamarine closer to land. The boat’s engine shut off, and a peaceful quiet descended upon them.

  “Oh my God, this is gorgeous.” Ben looked a little dumbfounded, and Sai had to chuckle.

  “It is. I haven’t been here in years, and never by boat. It’s easy to forget how beautiful Hong Kong is when we spend all our time in the city.”

  “I need to take a picture of this. My parents won’t believe it.” Ben scrambled for his phone and snapped a couple of shots of the beach before pulling Sai closer. “Come on, let’s take a selfie.”

  Sai hesitated for a split second before giving in. He hated selfies and refused to participate when Winston insisted on them. But Ben tugged on his arm, flashed that silly grin, and Sai found himself giving in without a fight.

  A loud splash disturbed the newfound quiet, and a roar ripped through the air as the crew began inflating a giant floating slide. It was triangular in shape, oversized steps on one side and a steep slope on the other.

  “Oh my God, that’s the slide!” Ben said with barely contained excitement.

  Sai resisted the urge to bury his face in his hands. He had guessed it: there was the inflatable slide for all the thrill-seekers’ pleasure.

  “Ben! Are you seeing this?” Mo shouted over to them above the roar.

  “Yeah, that’s fucking huge!” Ben shouted back.

  “That’s what I’m talking about!”

  Sai suddenly felt so old next to their youthful enthusiasm. Not that they were that young, he reminded himself. And he wasn’t really that old. But the six- or seven-year gap that spanned their late twenties to his midthirties felt like generations.

  Ben plucked Sai’s T-shirt. “You’re not wearing that in the water, are you?”

  Sai wasn’t sure if he even wanted to get into the water.

  “You’re definitely coming in the water. Don’t even look at me like that.” Ben turned and tossed his stuff in his bag.

  Sai’s protest died on his tongue.

  “Come on!” Ben stood at the ladder leading to the lower deck. Everyone else had gone down already.

  He shot Ben a skeptical look and got a silly grin in return. His resolve crumbled quickly at that grin. Okay, he’d go into the water. But there was no way in hell he was climbing up on that inflatable monstrosity.

  Sai peeled off his T-shirt and stuck it in his bag, along with his sunglasses. When he turned back to Ben, he was openly ogling Sai’s chest. Sai strode over to the ladder, enjoying how Ben tracked his movements.

  “After you.” He let his voice drop low.

  Ben’s breath hitched, and it was a few seconds before he moved to follow Sai’s directions.

  Despite the heat of the air, the water was cold. Cold enough that Sai wanted to climb back onto the boat. Cold enough to cool the raging libido he had been battling for the past two and a half hours. He stayed in the water.

  “Whoa! This water is so warm!” Ben shouted as he floated a few feet away.

  Crazy Canadians. Sai grabbed one of the pool noodles the crew had thrown overboard and paddled his way over to where Ben’s group of friends gathered next to the slide.

  “Who’s going first?” Mo asked.

  “We are!” one of the girls, Heather, maybe, shouted and swam toward the oversized steps, using the hand straps to pull herself up. The other girls followed her, and Mo was not far behind.

  “Come on!” Ben nodded toward the slide, but Sai shook his head.

  “You go ahead with your friends. I’ll meet you on the other side.” Sai waved him off and started for the other end of the slide to watch them all flail as they fell into the water, screaming.

  “Fine!” Ben shouted as Sai swam away. “But you’re coming next time!”

  Sai waved at him and parked himself just out of range of the human projectiles hurdling down the thick wet nylon. When it was Ben’s turn, he looked right at Sai, winked, and launched himself off the top. He landed in the water with a huge splash and mini tidal waves that had Sai shaking the salty seawater out of his eyes.

  The smile on Ben’s face could not have been any wider as he swam up, and Sai had to restrain himself from pulling him in for a sloppy, wet kiss.

  “That was awesome!” Ben laughed. “You’ve got to try it.”

  “I don’t think that’s a good idea.” Sai smiled back.

  “Why not?”

  “Yeah, why not?” Mo echoed from a few feet away.

  “Come on, Sai!” Heather joined in, and so did the two other girls until he finally relented.

  He narrowed his eyes at Ben and got a grin and a wink in return. Oh, Ben was going to pay for those winks later.

  He followed Ben up the steps and found that it wasn’t as difficult to climb up as he had thought. At least not as difficult when he had Ben’s ass in his face, barely covered by the thin material of his swim shorts, wiggling back and forth as they climbed.

  At the top they sat side by side, and Ben surprised him by reaching over and grabbing his hand. The warmth of Ben’s grip, strong and sure, caused a swell of emotion to rise in Sai’s chest, but he didn’t have time to examine the feelings. Ben pushed off and dragged Sai with him into the water. Sai had just enough time to suck in a breath before he plunged under the clear blue, and he sputtered and laughed when he resurfaced.

  Okay, they were right: that was fun. And the racing of his heart had nothing to do with the lingering warmth he felt from holding Ben’s hand.

  “Good?” Ben asked, water droplets hanging off his long lashes.

  Sai let himself drift a little too close so their legs kicked and tangled together under the surface. The effect was immediate, and Sai was sure Ben’s deep inhale wasn’t due solely to the adrenaline from the slide.

  “It was good,” Sai conceded, his body responding to Ben’s proximity. Thank God the water was cold.

  Despite his earlier protest, Sai ended up enjoying the ugly, giant inflatable slide. By the time they were called back on board for lunch, Sai was exhausted. After lunch they took the little banana boat out to shore, and Ben’s friends disappeared somewhere, leaving them to pick their way through the sunbathers spotting the beach.

  “Thank you for inviting me today. It really is lovely out here.” Sai stuck his hands into his pockets to keep himself from reaching for Ben.

  “Oh, not a probl
em! I’m so glad you came.” Ben paused. “I wasn’t sure you would, you know.”

  “Why would you think that?”

  “I don’t know.” He shrugged again. “You’re so sophisticated. I didn’t know if you’d want to spend an entire Saturday on a silly junk boat.”

  Ben’s ears took on a distinct pink hue that was visible even through the tan he had accumulated that day. He looked down, focused on the sand, and Sai couldn’t help but stare—he was beautiful.

  “To be completely honest,” Sai said, “I wasn’t sure if I wanted to spend an entire Saturday on a junk boat either. But I’m glad I did come.”

  Sai stopped when Ben peeked up at him with the blue of his eyes showing through the blond lashes. It took every ounce of Sai’s willpower not to take Ben by the shoulders and pull him in, to feel that body against his, to taste those lips with his own. For a couple of moments, it was touch and go, but Sai restrained himself and shuffled back a few inches, giving them both a little room to breathe.

  He cleared his throat before continuing their walk. “Tell me about your family in Canada.”

  Ben smiled and launched into a detailed description. He was the youngest of two brothers and one sister. They were all married. One of them had kids. He was from a small town called Huntsville, a few hours north of Toronto, and he had grown up swimming in lakes during the summer and skating on ice during the winter. It sounded like he had a lovely family, and they were close too, from the way Ben spoke of them.

  “What about your family?” Ben asked. It was an innocent question but, unfortunately for Sai, a painful one. His family was nothing like Ben’s.

  “My parents are retired. My father was a neurosurgeon, and my mother was a senior partner at a local real estate firm. We live up at the Peak.”

  “Neurosurgeon. Wow. That’s really impressive.”

  “Yes, it is. Unfortunately he had to retire early due to arthritis.”

  “I’m sorry.”

  Sai shook his head at the apology. “Thank you. But he has managed to keep himself busy outside of the operating room.”