...“You’re going to get tan lines.”

Kieran Phillips pulled down his sunglasses, the only thing he was wearing, to reveal blue eyes twinkling with mischief. “How else are the folks at home going to know I was in Mexico?”

“Send them a postcard.” Chris Montgomery sat down on the edge of the lounger and leaned in to kiss his lover for the first time in four months, not caring that he was overdressed in his rolled up trousers and shirt sleeves or the intimacy might earn Kieran a certain amount of unwanted attention if he responded the way Chris hoped.

Kieran didn’t seem to care, curving his hand around the back of Chris’ head to urge him in closer.

“When did you get in?” Chris asked when they parted.

“Last night. I was supposed to get in this morning, but my schedule freed up and I figured why not?” Kieran teased his fingers under the hem of Chris’ shirt. “And you look like you haven’t slept in a week. Everything all right?”

It was closer to four months, and not due to missing Kieran. Instead, he and his department in the Pittsburgh Police Department had had to deal with an ugly string of drug deals that, in the end, had been perpetuated by one of their own, a sergeant in the narcotics squad who’d been assigned to Chris’ precinct. Though the case was resolved, the fallout lingered, both in their unit’s reputation and in the shaken morale of his people. Chris hadn’t been able to get out of Pittsburgh soon enough.

“Work’s been hell,” he finally said.

Kieran turned his attention to the buttons on Chris’ shirt, undoing them one by one as he spoke. “Would it help if I told you I’d gotten us an upgrade to a beach cabana with private service, far from the maddening crowds, where no one but the seagulls can hear us?”

“It helps seeing you again. The rest is a bonus.”

“Why, Christopher, that almost sounded romantic.”

“Don’t get used to it.” He slipped off his shirt to revel in the strong Mexican sun. “God, that feels good.”

Kieran’s laughter warmed him even more than the sun. “You make it too easy.”

Chris leaned in to indulge in the skin-to-skin contact. “I’ll be a pushover until tomorrow. By then I’ll be back to my usual charming and challenging self.”

“Then I’ll have to take advantage while I can.” Kieran worked at the fly of Chris’ khakis. “But first things first. You are too overdressed for the present situation.”

Chris caught his hand. “Stop. We’re in public.”

“It’s a nudist resort, Christopher, which you picked out.”

“If you take my pants off, I’m going to start fucking you, and we’ll get arrested, nude beach or no.”

“So much for romantic.” The timbre of his voice said Kieran didn’t mind so much. “But you have to admit, you do look rather ridiculous as the sole clothed person here.”

“The waiters are clothed.”

“Fine, the sole non-staff member.” Despite Chris’ hold, Kieran still managed to get the pants open and his fingers inside to dance over Chris’ aching cock.

“Screw it.” Using his grip around Kieran’s wrist, he hauled him up into a full-bodied kiss that was probably enough to get them kicked out as it was. “How far away is this love nest of yours? Because there’s a changing room over there and it might give us enough cover to take the edge off.”

Kieran laughed and pulled away to grab a linen robe hanging on the back of the lounger. “I see your lessons in patience need reinforcing. Again. You can last a five-minute golf cart ride.”

Chris hauled him back into his embrace. “I don’t know if I can.”