Love is Always Write Anthology Volume 9

enjoy every second of his weekend off!
    He reached over, grabbed his iPod and scrolled through his playlist, to find something to distract him from self-destructive thoughts. When the catchy whistle of Maroon 5's "Moves Like Jagger" burst through his ear buds he immediately perked up. By the time Adam Levine started singing in that signature high-pitched voice, Cole was making a very good effort at horizontal dancing. When the song ended he was thankful once again that this was a private beach. The thought of strangers watching as he tried to move like Jagger with his knees bent and feet dancing in the air, hips wiggling, head bobbing, made his sun-reddened face a little darker.
    ****
    Michael climbed out of his rental car and stood in front of Elijah's beach house smiling and shaking his head.
    He grabbed his laptop and travel bag out of the trunk and climbed the steps to the front door. His sister Angela had been best friends with Elijah since the second grade. Even though Elijah had moved to New York City after college, he was still a regular fixture at the Lewis house. It was during one of his frequent visits that Michael mentioned he had to travel to Atlantic City to meet with his clients who were building a new casino and had hired him to design the logo and create their advertising. Of course, Elijah insisted that Michael use his beach house since it was only a twenty-five minute drive from Atlantic City.
    Michael was more than happy to take him up on his offer since he hated staying in sterile hotels. He preferred places that were more personal and felt more like home.
    But ever since Elijah wrote that article about him for his series on successful small businesses owned and operated by gay men, Michael has been getting calls from all over the United States. He had already turned down several potential clients because the job would have required him to be away for an extended period of time. This casino job was perfect. The work itself was fairly simple, and a majority of it could be done from his office in Cincinnati. He just had to fly to New Jersey to make his presentation to the board and get their final approval. And since Ang and Eli were back home keeping his mom company he decided he could leave a few days early and spend the weekend enjoying the sunny beach and ocean breezes.
    In fact, he couldn't wait to put on his swimming shorts and jump in the ocean, to wash away the grime of travel. He used the key Eli had given him and unlocked the front door. The interior of the beach house was bright and modern. To the left of the open foyer was a large open living room decorated in deep blues and turquoise. There was a flat screen TV hanging on the wall over a stone fireplace. The opposite wall was lined with bookshelves. Eli had a thing for books. Michael continued his tour through the dining area and into the spacious upscale kitchen. Michael definitely planned to use the professional grade stainless steel stove to cook himself a delicious seafood feast he could enjoy on the deck he could see through the French doors. The ocean was visible beyond the dune behind the deck. He couldn't wait to dive in and decided he could further explore the house later. He set his laptop on the granite countertop and strolled down the hall looking for a bedroom he could change in.
    He opened the first door he came to and was relieved to find it was the master suite. He was not relieved, however, to see the suitcase sitting opened on the bed. He had forgotten all about Eli's warning that his friend Cole sometimes used the house on the weekends to relax. Michael remembered reading about Cole in one of Eli's articles. He was a chef or something.
    Michael just hoped he wasn't as high maintenance as Eli because he really did want to relax while he was here. He backed out of the room and went farther down the hall to the second bedroom. It wasn't as large as the other one, but it had its own bathroom as well and what looked to be a comfortable queen sized bed. He threw on his swim shorts, grabbed his beach towel and headed down the path from the deck to the beach.
    ****
    Cole was being lulled to sleep by the soothing warmth of the sun and the soft melody of Christina Perri's voice. His arms were crossed, and his sweaty cheek was resting on his hands, when he had that eerie feeling someone was watching him. He lifted his head and opened his eyes and immediately focused on the sexiest pair of feet he had ever seen. Holy shit , he