Page 19

Wyatt

F inn is late getting up as usual. I finish my breakfast and coffee and meet him at the door.

The forecast from the National Weather Service says we’ll have a couple of days of decent temperatures and no precipitation, but all bets are off after that.

There’s a large, wet, wintery system rotating off the coast, and it won’t be long before it blasts our area.

I’d been up since before dawn completing the winterization we didn’t get done the night before.

Now, it’s time to get the wood chopped. Actually, it should have been done weeks ago, but I’ve only managed to get half the building filled before life got in the way.

With no guests this week, I have enough time to get it done, and with Finn’s help, it won’t be a strain.

“Are we going to use chainsaws?” Finn asks.

How much experience he has with power tools remains to be seen, but I won’t prejudge him. “Just to cut the trees down into manageable pieces.”

“Then what?” Finn’s expression betrays his lack of comfort with the work we’re about to do.

I flex my biceps. “Then we use these.”

He chuckles, but I can tell he’s worried he isn’t up for the challenge.

“Don’t worry about it.” I playfully slap his shoulder. “You’ll get the hang of swinging an axe around.”

He nods and follows me out to the quads.

I toss him the keys, and we start the engines.

Finn’s machine sputters and stalls. That’s not a good sign.

I could have sworn I just tested the batteries last week, and everything was fine.

I step over to the quad and ask him to try it again.

He turns the key, and the engine engages.

Roaring to life, the quad sounds perfectly normal.

“Sounds good to me,” I say. “Must have been operator error.” I wink, and his face flushes red—not angry, but embarrassed.

Nothing for Finn to be embarrassed about, and I hope I can be the guy to help him through his insecurities. From what I’ve already witnessed with him, he’s a good businessman, smart, and seems to really care about the guests and the rest of us. A really good guy.

Cute too.

We take the trail that leads from the main lodge down the way to one of the buildings in the rear of the landscaped property.

While it isn’t a distance we couldn’t walk, in case we decide to bring firewood back up to the lodge, we’ll want the quads.

Thankfully, the stock of firewood along the side of the lodge is pretty well-stocked, so I don’t anticipate needing to bring more back, but we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.

I pull up to the outbuilding and turn off the engine.

Finn does the same. There are two trees lying on their sides next to the building that I’ve already chopped down that need to be sectioned.

Finn opens the building, which is partially full of wood, and grabs the chainsaw.

The way he holds it is so cute, but totally wrong and potentially dangerous.

“Here,” I say, taking the tool from him. “Let me show you how to hold it. Always remember, safety first.” I show him the proper hand placement and demonstrate the procedure to start the chainsaw, how to safely handle it, and turn it off. “Got it?”

He nods and holds out his hands.

I hand it to him and step back, watching. Finn is smart and reminds me of his father. That man could be shown how to do something once, and he would never do it wrong again. Finn flips the saw over and turns it on, the tool roaring to life. He steps over to the tree and is about to start sawing.

“Wide stance,” I yell over the sound of the machine. “Once you touch it to the wood, push down with even pressure until you cut it all the way through in one easy motion. Got it?”

I step back again and watch. Finn does as I instruct, and I’m impressed. “Nice work, Finn. While you finish this log, I’ll drag another one over for us to work on.”

“What should I do after I have this one sectioned into moveable pieces?”

“That’s when we start using the axe to cut each piece into quarters so we can stack it in the building.”

Finn starts pulling off his jacket. “I’m getting warm.”

Wait until you start wielding the axe, man . I take the chains and quad out to gather up another fallen tree. There have been multiple dead trees this year that came down during the last storm. They’ll make great firewood once they’re dried out in the building.

After about thirty minutes, I return to find Finn taking a water break. He’s finished cutting the tree into sections but hasn’t yet started chopping.

“Care to make this interesting?” Finn asks. His eyes twinkle with mischievousness. The way he looks at me causes the butterflies in my belly to flutter.

“What do you have in mind?”

He steps over to me and wraps his arm around my shoulders, both of us facing the many sections of wood that still need to be chopped.

Finn gestures widely, like he’s showing me a vast kingdom he’s about to make all mine.

“How about we each take ten of these and see who can chop them into quarters the fastest?”

I never imagined Finn would have wanted to do something like this, but who am I to argue? “I like a good competition, but what do you have in mind for a wager?” I ask.

“Whoever loses has to strip naked and run back to the lodge.”

That gets my juices flowing. Now that’s a wager I can get behind. Literally. Suddenly, visions of a naked Finn running to the lodge, me following close behind on the quad, so I can watch his tight little butt as he runs. Wow. I’ve never been this interested in getting another guy naked in my life.

“Oh, I’ll take that bet,” I say, stretching out my hand to shake on the wager.

Finn’s hand holds mine for a moment, and I don’t want to let go.

It’s like our hands fit perfectly together.

It feels right. Our eyes also meet, and if I could read minds, his would be undressing me—seductively eye-fucking me.

Although I have no intention of losing, I wouldn’t mind baring it all for him.

In fact, it’d be kind of fun to watch him try and look away.

My cock springs to life, and my jeans grow snug.

Damn, I’m horny . While being into another dude is new for me, this feeling of desire isn’t.

We both prepare our work area and bring our axes high into the air. Finn counts to three and declares, “Go!”

I bring my axe down onto the wood with as much force as I can, smooth and steady.

I’ve chopped more wood in my day than Finn, but when I glance over at the wiry guy, I can’t help but be impressed.

He’s splitting the logs as fast as I am, and if I’m not careful, I’ll lose.

Doubling my efforts, I bring my axe down again and again.

Each time, I split the wood with a single chop.

Managing to take a slight lead, I’m starting to feel the strain in my lower back and shoulders. The axe is feeling more like a sledgehammer, and every time I bring the blade down, it doesn’t go quite as far into the log as the last.

Sweat pours from my brow and down my back.

My undershirt is soaked and clinging to me like a suction cup.

Dropping my axe, I pull my top layer off and look over at my competition.

Finn’s hair is dripping and matted against his face.

The strain of the competition is evident in the way he grunts each time he holds the axe aloft.

I’ve never seen him look so intense before, and his eyes are hungry for the win.

The look on his face makes my heart quicken more than the physical exertion of the task. A gust of wind pulls me out of my daydream, and I shiver. My body has already cooled down enough that continuing the competition isn’t going to be easy.

My shoulders slump, and I arch my back, stretching my arms high overhead with a groan.

“You giving up, old man?” Finn asks, a naughty smile plastered across his face.

Old man? Those are fighting words. I laugh to myself as I reach for the axe and stop short, my right shoulder cramping. Damn, I am getting old. “I give up. You win,” I say.

Finn brings the axe down again, splitting his last piece of wood. He shakes his head. “You didn’t quit, I beat you fair and square.”

I look around, and sure enough, I have two more logs I need to chop to finish. How the hell did he beat me? Nodding, I offer my hand in congratulations. As he reaches for it, I pull him off balance and tackle him to the ground.

“Hey,” he says with a laugh. “What do you think you’re doing?” He then shifts his weight underneath me, and I fall on my side.

Before I can even think about a counterattack, he’s on top of me, straddling my waist with his legs. He leans back against my crotch and raises both fists in triumph. “I was an all-state wrestling champ in high school.”

“High school, huh?” I say, pushing my hips up off the ground enough to push my hardening cock into him. He looks down into my eyes and half-smiles. Is he trying to figure out what I’m doing? Or is he planning his next move?

“My mom got tired of kids picking on me because I was skinny and smaller than most of the other boys in high school. It wasn’t until college that I came into my own.

Although, I didn’t wrestle at the University.

” He pushes his butt against me, sending a wave of butterflies fluttering through me.

Finn leans down toward me, his hands on either side of my shoulders.

Without a word, he leans in closer until our noses are nearly touching.

Is he going to kiss me? My heart is pounding as if pleading for him to make the first real move.

Kiss me , I want to say breathlessly. As if reading my mind, he softly kisses the tip of my nose.

Before I can respond, he smiles and lets out a soft laugh before looking away.

Finn quickly gets off me and stands, offering me his hand.

I take it and he pulls me up and says, “Well?”

“Well, what?” I ask.

“Take off your clothes and make it quick.”

He winks before turning his back.

The cold air brushes across my skin as I quickly remove my jeans and boxers.

I stand there, fully naked, my erection nowhere close to hiding my filthy thoughts.

The cool air feels good against my overheated body, but it does nothing to quell the fire building within me.

Finn turns around and whistles, his eyes roaming over every inch of me before coming to rest on one of the finest cocks I’ve ever seen in front of me.

His eyes quickly dart away, and I can’t help but chuckle to myself.

He’s not as unaffected as he’d like me to believe.

“Finn, I know you want this too. I can see it in your eyes, and I can see it in your pants. Why are we playing this game?”

“Weren’t you the one who kind of pushed me away?” he asks. “Why? If suddenly you want me now… who’s the one playing games?”

His words are spot on and hit me in the gut like a stiff kick. He’s not wrong. It’s just that I am scared to have things change between us. But how do I say it without sounding like a stupid teenager. Shouldn’t grownups be able to have these kinds of conversations?

Before I can respond, he looks away from my crotch and into my eyes. “The reason I hesitate is… because if we give in to this, our friendship will never be the same.”

It’s as if he’s read my mind. “Maybe that’s not a bad thing,” I reply, stepping forward and closing the distance between us.

“And if I’m being honest, it’s the exact same thing that scared me about you and me before tonight.

I’ve always wanted a brother… stepbrother.

And here… you’re in front of my face and we are so happy, but I feel like I want… need more.”

Finn looks away and I see his shoulders slump. He’s undecided on how to proceed, much as I am. Do we irrevocably change our relationship on a whim? Can’t sex, just be sex?

I look him over again and realize if I were to do this, it would indeed change everything. I couldn’t in any reality that I can imagine, have sex with him and not fall completely in love.

There’s no way I’m ready for that. I swallow hard. Not ready for any of this.

“Buddy?” Buddy? Really?

Finn turns to me, his eyes moist and his mouth pulling into a tight thin line. “Yeah?”

I am already putting my clothes back on, the game no longer seeming to matter. “Let’s head back, yeah?”

He nods and we silently walk back to our quads to drive home.