Nor could he bring himself to ask.

“It wasn’t hypothetical,” Gannon finally said, drawing Cam’s attention once more.

“No?” Another smile formed on his lips.

“Well, maybe a little.”

Cam laughed. While he was entirely too buttoned-up, and a definite ten on the nerd scale, Gannon came off as confident and self-assured, but for some reason, the slight hint of insecurity in his tone was endearing.

Cam still wasn’t sure what to think about all of it. He was enjoying the flirting, but he wasn’t sure he wanted it to go further than that. Not yet, anyway. He’d met plenty of men, had a few relationships that had gone zero to sixty in three-point-five seconds, and that wasn’t what he was looking for, either. In those cases, the fiery crash had been imminent, something Cam had absolutely no interest in repeating.

So rather than sit there and entertain the notion of jumping at the opportunity to go out with Gannon, he decided it was time to call it a night before things did get awkward.

Finishing off his beer, he tossed the empty bottle into the cooler and then got to his feet. It was impossible not to look down at Gannon, who was staring up at him. Heat infused him as Gannon’s dark eyes slowly raked over him from head to toe, but he ignored it.

Okay, he tried to ignore it.

“It was good talkin’ to you,” Cam said, lifting the cooler. “But I better go.”

“Me, too,” Gannon said, getting to his feet.

Rather than walk away, Cam found himself nearly face-to-face with the taller man. At five eleven, Cam wasn’t short, but Gannon still had a couple of inches on him. And though Cam probably outweighed Gannon by twenty, maybe thirty pounds of muscle, he found he liked that for some reason.

“I guess I’ll see you on Tuesday?” Gannon sounded uncertain.

“You’ll see someone on Tuesday,” Cam clarified with a small smile. He didn’t plan to be the one to take Gannon and his crew out on the water, but he wasn’t going to say as much.

He’d been tossing around the idea since Gannon had showed up at the marina on Friday, but now, with this strange attraction, he knew he needed to put some distance between them. He’d learned the hard way that rushing things didn’t usually work in his favor. Add to that the distance thing…

Reckless or not, Cam wasn’t interested in gambling with that area of his life. Not at this point.

Gannon’s dark gaze searched his face and Cam felt a tightening in his groin.

“Well, I hope it’s you I see,” Gannon said softly.

Cam didn’t know what to say to that, so he offered a smile and a casual tilt of his chin before forcing himself to walk away.

“Can I get your number?” Gannon called out after him.

“Maybe next time,” Cam said, not looking back.

“So there will be a next time?” Gannon hollered, his deep voice following Cam on the breeze.

Cam shrugged and kept walking.

It wasn’t that he didn’t want to see the look on Gannon’s face; it was that he didn’t want Gannon to see the smile he couldn’t seem to wipe off his own.

Unable to stop grinning like a fucking school boy, Gannon finally made his way to his car after standing on the pier and looking out over the water, replaying the strange turn of events over and over in his head. Once settled inside, relaxing against the cool leather with the air conditioner on high, he took several deep breaths to calm himself. His body was humming from the brief interaction with Cam.

There was no doubt about it, the man fascinated him to no end.

The attractive, tattooed bad boy had snagged Gannon’s attention for sure. It had been a long damn time since he’d had to play the cat-and-mouse game, and he had to admit, it was better than he’d remembered. Especially with Cam.

Maybe it was the fact that Gannon could tell Cam was interested that made it worthwhile. Even though he seemed hesitant, Cam couldn’t completely hide his reaction. And Gannon liked that. Or possibly he simply liked that Cam was making him work for what he wanted, something he was very familiar with. As far as Gannon was concerned, the best things in life didn’t come free. And he’d learned that lesson well over the years.

When he pulled out onto the main road that would lead him back to Austin, Gannon’s cell phone rang. He answered the call with the Bluetooth.

“Where are you at?” Milly asked. “I’m sitting in front of your house and you’re not here. I thought you said you couldn’t go out because it was a work night.”

Ah, crap. “I’m driving.”

“Where?”

“Burnet.”

“Burn— Wait, what?” The high-pitched shriek in Milly’s voice told him she’d put two and two together. “You went to the marina? Oh, my God.”

Oh, my God was right, Gannon thought.

“Did you see him?”

“Yeah,” Gannon said with a sigh, his eyes focused on the road in front of him.

“And?”

“And what? I saw him. End of story.”

“There’s never an abrupt ending to a story like that. Did you talk to him?”

“Yeah.”

“Did you ask him out?”

“Kinda,” he admitted, still grinning.

“What do you mean, kinda? Either you did or you didn’t.”

“I mentioned it, but I didn’t come right out and say it.”

“Gannon David Burgess, do not tell me you let that man get away without getting a date with him.”

“I’m gonna see him on Tuesday,” Gannon told her. “Boat. Lake. Remember?”

“I can’t believe you went out there,” Milly told him.

He couldn’t, either, and now that he had, Gannon knew he wouldn’t have a minute of peace. Not from his own thoughts of Cam and not from Milly’s inquisition.

“So, how’d he look?” she asked, her voice resounding through his speakers.

Gannon thought about the way Cam had looked when he’d stood up to leave, that dark gray sleeveless T-shirt molded to his broad shoulders and wide chest, showing off the tattoos covering his muscular arms. The way the soft gray cotton had narrowed down over his slim waist. And the white and gray shorts that had hung down just past Cam’s knees, giving Gannon a view of his impressive calves.

The man made Gannon’s mouth water.

Not for the first time, he wondered what Cam looked like naked. Did he have more tattoos on other parts of his body?

“Christ,” he mumbled to himself, ignoring his dick as it stirred to life.

“What?”

“Nothing. He looked … good.”

“Liar. Did you check to see if his nipples are pierced?”

The question made Gannon choke, and while he sputtered in an attempt to catch his breath, Milly laughed at him.

“I’ll take that as a no,” she answered for him. “Okay, well, since it’s obvious you’re not gonna be back for a while, I’m going out. I was hoping, if I showed up, I could convince you to go with me, but I see you already had plans.”

“Are you going out with Gary?”

“I don’t know.” She sighed. “Maybe.”

“Milly, be careful,” he said softly. “If you need anything, call me.”

“I will, I promise. Bye for now,” she said in a singsong voice.

“Later.” Gannon disconnected the call and focused on the drive.

An hour later, once he’d parked in his garage and made his way into the house, Gannon didn’t bother turning on any lights as he went. There was no need. He was simply going to go to sleep. He had an early meeting tomorrow, and as far as he was concerned, the sooner he could get Monday over with, the faster Tuesday would arrive.

And that was the day he looked forward to most. Although he dreaded the idea of going out on a boat, he would get to see Cam. Maybe. And that was incentive.

Can I get your number?

Maybe next time.

So there will be a next time?

There would definitely be a next time.

Though Gannon had done something completely out of the norm by showing up at the marina tonight to see Cam, he knew he had to play it cool. He wasn’t going to chase after the man. Putting himself in Cam’s line of sight, sure. He wasn’t above doing that. But he knew that desperation wasn’t an appealing quality. In anyone.