Love Is Always Write Volume 4

stop by for you around five when I do a last check of the area."
    "Great."
    "Head on home before you get any colder. Maybe you should stick to hiking today, or will you get lost?"
    Dan glared at him. "I'm not completely helpless you know."
    Parker laughed as he rowed away. "Sure you're not."
    Did he really think Dan couldn't take care of himself? Was he right? Back home he was fine, better than most single men. Out here, he wasn't doing so good. But he could learn, couldn't he?
    ****
    Dan tried to fit his big frame into the camper's shower. He'd taken a long hike, trying to work off his nerves about having dinner with Parker. He'd spent the early afternoon alternating between looking for excuses to bow out of dinner and convincing himself he could go and have fun and be fine with Parker being straight. But every time he imagined Parker with that sly grin on his face, Dan's mind spun out fantasies of all the things he'd like to do to Parker, if he were interested, if that grin meant more than it did.
    Now he had less than half an hour until Parker would stop by and Dan didn't want to greet him all sweaty and gross. But getting clean in a space better suited to bathing a small dog wasn't easy.
    By the time Dan shut the water off, he'd bruised his knee and nearly dislocated his shoulder. As he got dressed, he debated once again whether he was really going to let Parker make him dinner. The promise of real food alone was enough to make him wiling to suffer through hours of conversation with a painful hard on and no chance of relief by anything but his own hand.
    Parker was right, left to his own devices he was going to be eating lots of soup and sandwiches. At least he could grill. He'd be able to manage hot dogs and burgers at the very least. Based on the way things were going though, he'd blow up the grill somehow and Parker would have to come to the rescue, extinguish the fire, and save the forest.
    Dan looked up and nearly choked. Parker was standing right outside the camper. He could see Parker, which meant the ranger had been able to see Dan while he was getting dressed. He'd been so focused on not killing himself in the shower and deciding what to say to Parker than he'd forgotten to close all the curtains. The camper was in an out-of-the-way, shady section of the camp, so most likely no one else had seen him. At least that was some comfort. Was tonight going to be a non-stop run of embarrassment? Could he convince Parker he had any sense at all?
    He pulled on a T-shirt, grabbed his fleece jacket and stepped out of the camper. "Am I running late?"
    Parker shook his head. "Nope, I'm early." If Parker had seen him bare-assed he was polite enough not to tease him about it.
    "Great, I …um…"
    Parker studied him. His chest tightened. He could hardly breathe. He really wanted to spend the night with this man. But his brain knew he needed a friend more than a lover. He just wished his cock agreed. "You don't have to make me dinner."
    "I know, but I want to."
    Dan couldn't bring himself to refuse. "Ok, where do you live?"
    "I've got a cabin about a half mile up the trail. I just bought a house a few miles from here, but I agreed to live in the ranger cabin for the summer. I'm trying to renovate the house, so I go out there on my days off."
    "Really! That's awesome!" Dan realized he sounded a little too excited again. "Sorry, I'm an architect, and I love old houses. I specialize in restoration."
    "You do?" Now it was Parker's turn to light up with excitement.
    Dan's heart sped up. He'd put that smile on Parker's face, and he wanted to do it again. "I do. In fact, contracts to restore a few of the historic sites along the Savannah River have kept me going for the last few months."
    "You're from Georgia?"
    "Yeah, a little town named Loudin, thirty miles outside of Savannah."
    "I've heard of it actually. My ex-wife is from Umstead."
    Ex-wife. Not that there weren't gay men who married women out of duty or denial but … he needed to stop wishing Parker was gay and just accept his friendship. "I know Umstead. It's not far from Loudin at all."
    "My house was originally built in 1905, and I'm trying to restore it to its former glory. I want to do things right. I've done a lot of research, but if you were willing, I'd love for you to come have a look one day. If you'll be around awhile longer, that is."
    Dan nodded, trying not to look too eager. "I think I will be. I don't have any set plans for my summer. I'm taking a