Love is Always Write Anthology Volume 8

and they both took long sips of wine before devouring the rest of their lunch.
    Half an hour later they were on the couch in Staff's room, working on a second bottle of wine. Burke felt a little tipsy, but the large meal he'd eaten, topped off with some pastries the chef brought them counteracted the alcohol. But his heart raced and felt even more nervous than he had the night before. Or that morning when he'd seen Staff spying on the topless woman.
    "What's wrong?" Staff put his wineglass down on the table and focused his attention and gaze squarely on Burke.
    Burke twirled his wineglass, avoiding Staff's eyes. He splashed some on his pants and that startled and embarrassed him, causing him to splash even more.
    Staff grabbed some tissues and helped mop up the mess.
    "Good thing it was white wine...." Burke said then shut up again.
    Staff dabbed at Burke's lap a few times then scooted close to him on the sofa. "Burke?"
    "I'm still kind of confused. About you. Us. Whatever."
    "Confused, how?"
    "Why don't you want to have sex with me?" Burke blurted, then clamped his mouth shut. He couldn't believe he'd just asked that out loud. Then again, it was probably better to just get this over with.
    "You're surprisingly direct. I figured you to be a little bit shy, but I guess I was wrong about that."
    Burke narrowed his eyes, then looked away.
    Staff put two fingers under Burke's chin and lifted his face. Burk blinked a few times, then a few more. He liked the feel of Staff's fingers on his skin, but Staff didn't seem to be as physically attracted to Burke. He was used to that, and he couldn't hide his disappointment. He looked at a spot on the wall behind Burke. A stupid painting of the fucking white bird. A cockatoo sitting on a branch in a jungle with sun streaming through a canopy of vines. Probably a Thomas Kincaide painting. God, he hated those.
    "Burke?"
    He'd missed whatever Staff had just said. He hoped like hell he hadn't ranted about the bird painting out loud.
    "I said I do want to have sex with you."
    "You do? Then why did you lie?"
    "I apologized about the binoculars and birdwatching already."
    "No. You lied about the condoms." Burke realized he'd just admitted snooping in Staff's nightstand.
    But Staff didn't get upset or even call Burke in it. "Yeah. I lied about that...." Now it was Staff's turn to look away, kind of shy. "I just didn't want to rush it, you know.
    "Yeah, I guess. We're gonna be here a whole week. Plenty of time for sex." Burke nodded, though he wasn't any more enlightened.
    "Are you just interested in sex?" Staff paused. "From me, I mean?"
    Now Burke was taken aback. He'd taken Staff's behavior as a kind of rejection while Staff had taken Burke's questions as an indication he was only interested in sex. And probably more food.
    "N-no. But I didn't see why else you would–"
    Staff cut Burke's words off with a finger on his lips. "That was a dumb question. If that's all you wanted, you would have had your own condoms." He laughed. "I had such fun talking to you at dinner, and I knew we could have gone farther last night. But I also knew I was kind of preoccupied with the recipe, so I didn't concentrate on getting to know you the way I really wanted to first. I needed to see if there was anything worth waiting for. And if there wasn't then, sure we could get to the fucking and say goodbye in the morning, or at the end of the week, or whenever, with no harm. But I thought there was something else, and I didn't want to risk blowing the chance..."
    "So, if you're not really into me, then we'll fuck?"
    "Yeah, something like that."
    Burke laughed. "So, wanna fuck?"
    "Absolutely not."
    CHAPTER 6
    Two days and many delicious meals later they were in Burke's room, sipping at glasses of pricey port and feeding each other dark chocolate truffles. They'd spent nearly every minute of every day together. They'd sunned and surfed. They'd slow-danced in the moonlight. They'd ordered obscenely named cocktails then slipped out of their swimsuits and made out in the pool, not caring who was watching. But alone, they'd still gone no farther than they had that very first night they'd spent together.
    "I think I gained ten pounds already," Burke said as he chomped on a mint-filled truffle. He leaned back into Staff's shoulder.
    "With all that swimming and sailing, I'm sure you're burning off some calories, too."
    "You're spoiling me with all this good food and good wine."
    "Good." Staff leaned over and kissed