Page 45 of Courting Danger
“Visiting my mom’s parents was always like stepping into another world,” Ocean said. “Not just because of the clothing optional thing, but with how much of a real community it was. They had greenhouses and garden patches and orchards out there. People fished in the river that ran through the property. Others gathered berries and mushrooms. Everything was prepared in the main kitchen or outside on grills. Folks ate together, talked, played checkers, cards, and all kinds of board games. They had a library and story circles. It wasn’t until I started traveling that I realized it wasn’t weird at all to live that way. People still live like that in other parts of the world, in these huge extended families that are just awesome to be around.”
“What kept you from going to live with them after your mom passed away?” Pope asked.
“They’re way up in the mountains,” Ocean admitted. “Too far away from the ocean for me to ever be able to stay there for long. I visited, though, and I know I can go back anytime I wantto. They’re awesome. I’ve just got too much salt water in my veins.”
“It’s a hell of an addiction, isn’t it?” Pope said, feet propped up on the coffee table.
It didn’t feel like a hotel room. It felt like home, and it dawned on Roan then that it wasn’t because of the furniture but the men he was with.
“Yeah,” Ocean replied. “Not looking for a twelve-step program to cure me of it, either. That’s one vice I intend to hold on to for the rest of my days. Goddess willing, it’s where I’ll be when the end comes, too.”
“Long as that end is decades away,” Pope added, as Danger paused on a movie Roan positively loved.
“Who’s up forSharknado?” Danger asked. “Looks like they’re running a marathon tonight.”
“Doubt we’ll make it more than two movies,” Pope said, “but it’ll be a fun diversion.”
“I doubt I’ll…make it one,” Ocean muttered, words broken by a yawn. “But I loveSharknado.”
“Same.” Roan replied as Danger clicked the button.
Ocean’s hair fanned across his leg, the soft strands begging to be stroked, so Roan did, only to hear Ocean mutter.
“Make that half a movie.”
