Nick was baring it all. Everything was getting dumped on the table. He felt vulnerable. It scared him. Shepard could have easily thought it was too much drama and walked away from it all. From him. He wouldn’t have been able to blame him, either. It was just a man running from a burning building instead of into it. Nick wasn’t only dealing with a messy divorce and a nasty custody battle, but now he had a father who wanted nothing to do with him. His life was falling apart, as if he had picked up a handful of sand and let all the grains run through his parted fingers. All that was keeping him solid was Shepard. He was keeping him from thinking about everything else going on his life. He offered a moment of peace and serenity that not even the beach could give him, and Nick used to love coming out to the beach. He always found a way to relax when the ocean was feet away, whether it was by just letting his toes sink into the sand or grabbing a board and catching a wave. He hadn’t surfed in a long time, but he remembered it being a great stress reliever back in college.

Now, it felt like he was being swallowed by a monster wave every single day. Then Shepard came along with the life vest, ready to pull him to shore. He looked away from the foamy waters and to Shepard. He was looking incredibly handsome, with hair that was slightly mussed up from the wind, and cheeks that were tanned from the sun. It was a moment he couldn’t resist. He leaned in for a kiss. Their lips were already familiar, parting almost instantly, their tongues dancing together. Nick brought a hand up and grabbed the back of Shepard’s head, feeling his fingers slide through his hair, grabbing at it as they kissed harder.

“You’re an incredible kisser,” Shepard said when they separated, sounding a little out of breath.

“It takes two to tango,” Nick replied. His smile matched Shepard’s. He had to go back in for another kiss. He felt the urge rise through him. Their lips met again, their tongues going back to business. A soft moan rose from Nick’s throat. The sound of the ocean surrounded them. From the slapping of waves on shore, to the gulls that squawked nearby, to the wind that swirled around the rock formation that bordered them.

When they separated again, Nick couldn’t help but notice the front of Shepard’s pants were looking fuller. Nick didn’t have to look down at his own lap to know he was the same. Shepard bit on his lower lip. It was a move that drove Nick wild. He thought Shepard already looked sexy when he was doing regular things, so when he started doing sexy things, Nick was taken to another level. A level where his reason and logic were a little blurred and his brain would hand the wheel over to less thoughtful command centers. His dick twitched in his briefs.

He was feeling risky. There was no one on the stretch of beach in front of them, and everyone by the pier was obscured from view by the huge dark black rock that sat next to the bench. Nick reached down and grabbed the growing bulge in Shepard’s pants. He smiled as he pushed in for another kiss. This one hotter than the last. Nick could feel Shepard growing in his hand, his cock pushing up against the zipper of his jeans, aching to break free.

I’d hate for him to break his jeans, guess my only option is unzipping them.

Nick’s thoughts were hazy but his senses sharpened as he grabbed the zipper and tugged it down. He was hearing the ocean cheering them on, but he was also listening for the sounds of anyone approaching. They were concealed from the popular section of the beach, but people could still walk down the shore and pass by their hidden little bench as they collected seashells. They would have no trouble seeing Nick collecting his own conch shell.

Shepard looked around, his eyes a little wider than usual. He looked down at Nick’s hand, which had already pulled down his zipper.

“Right now?” Shepard asked, a little sheepishly. It turned Nick’s body ten degrees warmer. He reached into Shepard’s jeans and gave him his answer. Yes. Right now. He licked his lips and bent down as he pulled Shepard’s hard cock and balls from the front of his briefs. He didn’t pull anything down in case they needed to make a hasty exit. Nick was feeling daring. Not only were his hormones raging, but his adrenaline was pumping, creating a rush that was intoxicating. Shepard was already leaking a clear drop of precome. Nick licked it up, and then ran his tongue down Shepard’s shaft. He looked up at Shepard, who appeared to have worked past any nerves he had been feeling. He lifted his ass off the bench, pushing his hard dick deeper into Nick’s mouth. Nick couldn’t get enough. He opened wide and went down farther, gripping the base with his hand, saliva dripping down, blotting the gray briefs Shepard was wearing.

He kept blowing him for a few more minutes, curling his toes into the sand as he tried to deep-throat Shepard. He came up for breath, the bright sun causing him to squint his eyes. He glanced around, making sure no one had snuck up on them. Shepard looked like he was in another world, a sexy grin on his face, his eyes locked on Nick’s as Nick continued to hold Shepard’s throbbing cock in his hand. He used his free hand to pull down the zipper on his own pants. Unlike Shepard, Nick had decided to go commando (he never learned his lesson from that one presentation). He pulled his cock out from the front of his jeans. Now both men were exposed, the ocean breeze caressing both of their hard dicks.

“My turn,” Shepard said, licking his lips as he leaned down. He took Nick in his mouth and went to fucking town. He worked up a lather, spitting on Nick’s cock and using it as lube while he stroked the lower half of his shaft with his hand and worked the top half with his lips. Nick was in heaven. He kept his eyes open, just in case someone walked by, but all he wanted to do was shut them and let his body float away with the pleasure.

Shepard’s tongue swirled around the head as he continued to apply pressure with his hand to the base. Nick was getting closer. He could feel his core tightening.

“Come up,” Nick said.

“Is there someone coming?” Shepard asked, sounding a little concerned, his hand moving to cover his dick.

“No, no,” Nick assured him. “I just want to jerk you off.”

“Oh, well in that case,” Shepard said, grinning. He opened his legs more and pushed his cock out into the air, as if saying “come and get it” without opening his mouth. Nick spat in his palm and grabbed the velvet-soft length. Shepard did the same, spitting in his hand and reaching over to grab Nick’s cock. They started off slow, their hands acting as though they were memorizing each other by touch alone. Nick leaned in and kiss Shepard, their strokes becoming faster. Nick tightened his grip. He knew exactly what he liked when he was jerking himself off, so he figured Shepard would like it, too.

And it seemed to be working. Shepard was grunting, his ass lifting from the bench, thrusting his cock harder into Nick’s closed fist. Nick did the same. Shepard’s hands knew exactly what to do. He was throbbing in the man’s grip. They were both getting so close. Nick squeezed his grip a little tighter. Shepard had his eyes closed now. Nick could tell he was about to come. He aimed his cock out toward the sand, and sure enough, Shepard blew. He moaned as his cock pulsed in Nick’s grip, blowing rope after rope of come out onto the sand. All the while, he kept his hand on Nick’s hard cock.

Nick was pushed over the edge as soon as Shepard finished, returning back to his strokes. The sensation was all too much. Nick leaned forward and aimed his dick at the sand, coming an equally impressive amount at his feet, grunting and moaning and twitching all the while Shepard still had his hand tight around Nick’s dick.

“Wow,” Nick said, leaning back on the hard wooden bench.

“So is that why the ocean’s so salty?”

The question caught Nick off guard and drew a big laugh out of him. “Yes, I think that’s exactly why.”

“Gross,” Shepard said, laughing along with Nick. They stuffed themselves back into their pants and zipped up. Shepard leaned over and rested his head on Nick’s shoulder. Nick couldn’t believe what he had just done, and how fucking hot it was. They stayed quiet for a few moments, taking it all in, watching the ocean waves rise and crash on the shore. A seagull swooped down into the ocean in front of them, cutting its beak across the water, coming up empty. Still, no one walked by them. It felt like they had taken a mini-trip to a secluded paradise, even though Nick could still hear the occasional “ding ding ding” of people winning prizes on the pier.

Shepard lifted his head off Nick’s shoulder. “I love you,” Shepard said. The words almost mixed in with the sounds of the ocean and yet sounded worlds apart at the same time. Nick wasn’t expecting it, but he could also see how it was also the perfect time to say it.

Nick felt Shepard tense for a moment. He realized that the words most likely slipped through Shepard’s lips without much thought behind them. A spur of the moment thing, reflecting the deepest feelings Shepard had.

“I love you, too,” Nick said into Shepard’s ear, giving him another kiss on the cheek before turning him around so they were face to face. Shepard looked part relieved and part in shock. He was smiling, which only made Nick want to kiss him even more. He pulled him in tighter and brought their lips together. Nick may not have been planning on falling this hard, this fast, but life rarely ever followed the plans. In fact, he was quickly learning that the best things in his life happened because life bucked the plans. Emma was unexpected and also the light of Nick’s life. Hell, even medical school wasn’t even in the plans, not until his third year of university when it was almost too late. And of course there was Shepard, a man who came barreling into his life from left field. He defied the plans and opened Nick up again to love. He knew he felt it from the moment he laid eyes on Shepard. It was dimmer back then, easily pushed aside and attributed to devilish good looks. But Nick had known there was something much deeper than that, and he wondered if that was what caused him to initially fight it off. He hated to think of how close he had been to pushing Shepard away permanently. From picking on him with dumb questions to physically pushing him away, when all Nick had really wanted to do that night was pull him in and never let him go.

It was all fear. And he was letting it all go. Like an anchor dropped into the waves, the rope getting cut free, the weight disappearing from Nick’s shoulders. He was no longer scared. He knew that Shepard was the one. He could trust him with Emma, he could see Shepard raising her right alongside him. It was something he had been thinking about for weeks now. And there were some days when the fear had been stronger, gripping at his throat, threatening to overtake him and cause him to shut down again. But that never happened, because what they had was so much stronger than a baseless fear.

It was love. They had pure, unadulterated love.