Summer Boys

Ferris Stuart has two missions to accomplish while on vacation on Oahu: research for a new Hawaiian Islands themed hotel and have a little fun, something he hasn’t had much of since his partner died two years ago. So far he’s managed to halfheartedly accomplish the first task; however, he’s failing miserably at the second. That is, until a charming islander shows him both the locale and how to start living again.

Excerpt: Summer Boys

Ferris smashed his cell phone to his ear, trading the hum of traffic, the endless rolling of the sea, and the squawking of birds for a well-intentioned chewing out—but a chewing out nonetheless.

“Jeez, man. You’re in paradise! Try to loosen up and have a good time,” his brother Riley ordered.

Loosen up, have a good time. Much easier said than done. Even now, after two long years, Connor rose first and foremost in his mind, relegating anything else to relatively unimportant—including Ferris’s job of nurturing the concept for his and Riley’s latest investment. The swaying palms, the perfect temperature, and even the cheesy souvenir trinkets conjured memories of his late lover’s breathtaking smile and rapid-fire comments. Look at that! We have to get that for your mother; she’ll love it! Oh, did you see this? Don’t you think it’d look great in the living room? Please, that’ll look so nice…

Connor would cling tightly to his arm on the pathway that meandered around the expansive hotel grounds, maintaining a running monologue of everything he saw, felt, tasted, or touched. Steel bands tightened around Ferris’s heart. Oh my little magpie, how I miss you.

Before he could squeeze any words out, his brother added, “Look, I’ll bet the place is crawling with hot surfer dudes who’d love to show you around.” A long pause followed, and then, more softly, “Let them. Only, make sure you get what you’re there for.”

What Riley said next Ferris couldn’t rightly recall. He entered the hotel’s gardens and his brother’s voice faded into the background. Ferris’s entire attention zeroed in on the sight before, or rather, above him. Clad in the distinctive khaki uniform of the hotel’s grounds keeping personnel was the single most beautiful thing Ferris had seen since arriving on Oahu. Given the island’s gorgeous aqua waters and exotic vegetation, that said a lot.

Huge, almost disproportionate thigh muscles bulged, and ass cheeks so tight Ferris wanted to toss a quarter to see if it would bounce rolled like twin coconuts beneath the man’s knee-length shorts. The bronze god perched on the slender bole of a palm tree. On either side of him, more uniformed men hacked away with machetes at withered branches, sending them crashing to the ground to be retrieved by another worker. While most of the tree pruners clung while they swung, the man who’d caught Ferris’s attention appeared totally at ease thirty feet above ground, relying on his ratty tennis shoes and safety harness to keep him upright.

“Bro?” If Ferris didn’t stop right now and stare his fill, he’d walk smack into the bole of a palm tree for the looking up. “L… let me call you back.” He snapped the phone closed and successfully slid it into his pocket after missing twice, mesmerized by the acrobatic display and lovely play of light and shadows across the gardener’s muscular arms.

The vision chopped off two ailing fronds for every one removed by a coworker. Then, while the other workers crawled down one tree and up the next, aided by climbing gear, the man disconnected his safety harness and leapt. Ferris sucked in a deep breath, expecting him to crash into the pile of debris gathered below. Instead, with unnatural grace, he landed perfectly on the next palm, deftly snapping his harness back into place.

“Dammit, Miko! How many times do I have to tell you? Save it for the freaking show!” an older man on the ground bellowed, glaring up from under the brim of a hardhat. The aerialist flashed a smile, teeth white and even against his dark skin.

“Just practicing, Uncle! You wouldn’t want me to fall down and go boom with kiddies watching, would you?” Throaty laughter washed over Ferris, carrying all the warmth of a tropical breeze. It took him a moment to notice a pair of twinkling eyes studying him. The lid over one dropped in a flirty wink. Heat raced up Ferris’s cheeks. Busted!

Before he could make a hasty retreat, the man, Miko, called out. “If you’d like to see more, come to the luau tonight. You’re sure to get an eyeful.” The intriguing enigma resumed methodically hacking away at dead leaves. Ferris took that as his cue to mosey down the walkway, one of many other camera-toting visitors to the dream vacation locale of Hawaii.

As he rounded a wall of dense shrubbery he heard “Uncle” holler, “You can stop showing off now, kid, he’s gone.”

Figured. Just another local, cruising for easy pickings among the “summer boys,” as folks back home called them. Well, no one had ever before accused Ferris of being easy, and on Oahu, “summer” lasted year ‘round.

Still, the fascinating tree-trimmer plagued his mind and, after completing his tour of the gardens, instead of his original destination of the beach, Ferris returned to his room to enjoy a nice, leisurely stroke off to the memory of dusky skin and merry mahogany eyes.