“No.” Liam sighed loudly. “I don’t think he hates me anymore. I wouldn’t call us friends but maybe he’ll do more than grunt at me sometimes.”
Jude was an asshole. He chopped the vegetables harder, feeling like shit. Liam was a sweet boy. He didn’t deserve to put up with Jude’s moods.
“I know.” Liam laughed. “Eye candy for days!”
He’d been called worse. Jude found solace in the water. The physical outcome was just a bonus.
“I’m so excited!” Liam’s voice rose again. “I’ve put off the playroom until you come. You are helping me get it all set up. It’s not like I can go next door and ask mister sexy neighbor to help.”
Jude froze when Liam said the wordplayroom. No. He must have heard wrong.
Liam giggled. “Yeah, sure, hey, mister sexy, would you come put together my changing table? Oh, and if you aren’t busy later, could you also put a diaper on me.”
His fingers went numb, and the knife clattered onto the counter. Jude had to grip the granite edge of the counter hard to keep his knees from buckling.
“He’d probably pass out or punch me.” Liam’s voice started to fade away. Like he was moving away from the open window.
Jude was fighting to breathe. Liam was a little? He just might pass out like Liam had joked but not for the reason Liam thought. This couldn’t be happening.
Chapter Four
Jude
He couldn’t stop glancing toward the beach. Even coming up with a job pruning and watering his plants as an excuse to be out on his deck. They didn’t have yards in the neighborhood, but Jude did love his plants. The plants were the only thing that he had at his house that had no connection with his past. Jude had bought each plant after Sam was already gone, putting his nurturing into something that he didn’t have to fear would die and leave him alone.
Jude had considered getting a pet but was afraid that he’d once again be left alone if something happened to this animal. Plants were much easier to keep alive, it appeared.
The sliding glass doors in each house led to a wood deck that had enough room for some furniture, a bar-b-que pit, and of course his plants. The gate on the opposite side of the deck opened straight onto the sandy beach. The water was only feet away.
Jude enjoyed the setup.
He could go to and from the water without interacting with anyone mostly.
That was all before Liam entered the picture.
The man that was sound asleep in a folding lounge chair that he’d dragged out near the water. The sun was high in the sky. The rays beaming down on Liam and everyone else out in its direct path.
Jude didn’t normally care what people did on his beach, but Liam had fallen asleep while reading a book and it had been over an hour already.
He shifted uneasily on his feet.
Liam was going to burn.
He was going to get dehydrated.
It hadn’t even been a full week since Liam had moved in, and he was already breaking commonsense rules when it came to being out in the sun. Jude growled. This was just unacceptable.
Jude slammed down his water spray bottle before heading inside. He quickly filled a glass with ice before pouring from the pitcher of lemonade that he’d made earlier that day.
Stomping through the house, Jude muttered to himself.
This had nothing to do with what he’d overheard the previous night. It didn't matter that Jude knew that Liam identified as a little. No, Jude was just looking out for his new neighbor. Being neighborly, or whatever bullshit he could come up with.
The sand was hot on his bare feet and Jude had to avoid the mass of tourists that were in his way. By the time he was standing in front of Liam’s lounge chair, the glass already had condensation sliding down the sides.
Liam didn’t move as Jude blocked the sun from him. Jude’s shadow covered the other man and the sand around him.
At least it appeared that Liam had put sunscreen on before he came out. While Liam’s face and chest were a bit on the pink side, he hadn’t burned quite yet.
