Blake took a deep breath, trying to calm his agitation. “I understand that. Regardless, Cooper is my son, and I need to help him financially. Please.”

  Tasha smiled softly. “All right. I’ll discuss with Tony, and the three of us can come up with a plan.”

  He exhaled slowly. “A plan sounds good.” Even if Cooper wasn’t keen on having a relationship with him—something Blake really didn’t want to ponder—he would help him financially.

  “Right. Speaking of plans, we’ll be out there a week—arriving Friday, wedding Saturday. Meet you Sunday? We can see how it goes. It’s short notice, I realize. Not sure what your schedule’s like.”

  “Whatever works best for you. I can have a chat to my boss about taking a few days off. I’ve got some time accrued.”

  She smiled, looking relieved. “All right. We’re heading down to Bremer Bay for two nights to see the killer whales. Coop’s obsessed. Depending on how you and he feel, maybe you could come with?”

  “Absolutely! I’d love it.” He wasn’t sure exactly where Bremer Bay was, but it didn’t matter. He’d be there.

  “Okay. We’ll see how things go, yeah?”

  He nodded again, trying not to think about the possibility of things going badly. “Have you—he doesn’t know anything about this yet? Meeting me, I mean.”

  “Not yet. That’ll be for tomorrow after school.” She lifted her shoulders in an exaggerated shrug, her thick, sculpted eyebrows rising in tandem. “Suppose we’ll see how he reacts. It’ll be up to him in the end if he’s keen to meet you so soon or not.”

  “Of course.” Blake tried to keep an even expression on his face while his mind pleaded, Please like me! “If he doesn’t want to meet me for whatever reason, I’ll respect that.” Even though the idea of it made him want to spew.

  Tash tilted her head, gazing at him, assessing. Behind her, shadows from a lamp painted a beige wall and ceiling, the corner of a painting in view, though Blake couldn’t make out more than a green shape. “You really do seem grown-up.”

  “You too.”

  “Yeah, I guess we’re proper adults or something. Rumor has it, anyway. I have two brilliant kids, so I suppose I’m doing all right. Did I tell you about Rosie?”

  After Tasha spoke about her daughter, he said, “They both sound amazing. Cooper’s brilliant, huh?”

  Tasha beamed again. “He is. I realize I’m extremely biased, but yes.”

  “He must get the brains from you.”

  “Didn’t you have a scholarship to uni, or am I remembering wrong?”

  “Yeah, but I’m a garbo now.”

  “Council job with benefits, right? That’s smart, mate. Not that I don’t love working for a nonprofit, but sometimes I think I should’ve become a tradie.”

  “What kind of nonprofit?”

  Tasha told him about the food bank she worked for before saying, “By the way, do you have a boyfriend?”

  He actually almost said yes, which was crazy. “I just started seeing someone, actually. It’s still new, but…” He shrugged.

  Tash laughed, the most loudly and genuinely since they’d been speaking. “But you fancy him quite a lot.” She grinned. “Nah, don’t deny it. Your whole face lit up.”

  “Did it?” He realized he was grinning too, and his face flushed warm all the way down to his chest. “Yeah, I… I like him. Still early days, though.”

  She sat her chin on her hand and said in a teasing tone, “Come on, tell me everything.” She straightened. “You don’t have to tell me anything, though. I didn’t mean to overstep.”

  “All good. I…” He inhaled and breathed out slowly. “This has been quite a week. I’m a clubbie here at Barking Beach, and I’ve had this crush on a lifeguard. And he actually likes me back. Then I became a father overnight. Haven’t had this much excitement since… I think this is probably the most exciting week of my life, actually.”

  She smiled sympathetically. “Exciting and terrifying?”

  “Definitely.” He laughed. “I didn’t plan for any of this, and I usually have multiple contingencies in place. Didn’t see this coming. Not that going on a couple of dates with a guy compares to having a son.”

  I have a son.

  “No, but tell me more about this hot lifeguard.” She waggled her eyebrows. “If I can’t live vicariously through my gay secret baby daddy’s love life, where can I?”

  Blake grinned. “His name’s Damo. Like I said, he’s a lifeguard at Barking.”

  “The new Bondi, right? It’s on our to-do list, actually. Living in Parramatta, we don’t get to the beaches too often, and Coop wants to see it even though it’ll be crowded as hell.”

  “Maybe Damo can give you a tour or something. Show Cooper the lifeguard tower and all that. If Coop wants to. If he even wants to meet me. And if Damo’s able. I shouldn’t be making any promises for him.”

  “It’s all right, you’re not. Actually, if everything goes well, maybe you could bring him to Bremer? Or another friend? Might help take the pressure off. So it’s not just you feeling awkward with us. Our daughter Rosie will be staying in Perth with her grandparents. She’s too young for the whale watching.”

  “That would be amazing.” He could ask Kat, but the idea of going to Bremer Bay with Damo to whale watch made him feel like the sun was shining. Damo would love it.

  “You met at the beach?”

  “Yeah. Kind of a funny story, actually. Could have been tragic, but it wasn’t.”

  She leaned back on her leather couch and sipped from a glass of red. “I’m all ears.”

  So, Blake told the mother of his child how he’d helped Damo with the panicking tourists, and she laughed and smiled in all the right parts, and hope filled him like a balloon.

  It was all new with Damo and Cooper, but Blake’s confidence swelled. Look how well this talk with Tasha had gone. The new plan was in motion.

  Chapter Eleven

  “I might be in here,” Baz said over the radio, his usual low drawl sharp.

  “Yeah, you’re in for sure,” Damo replied, keeping his binoculars trained on the head out the back.

  From the tower, Damo watched Baz going flat stick in the buggy across the sand to reach the south end. It was a safer place to swim, but the patient had drifted way too far out and was tiring fast.

  There was fresh chatter behind him in the tower, but Damo stayed focused on the man who was about to be rescued. Mid-morning, the crowd wasn’t hectic yet, but there were enough on the sand that it was eating into precious seconds before Baz finally made it.

  He hopped out, taking off his blue uniform shirt and picking up the rescue board in one smooth movement that came from years of experience.

  “Come on,” Ryan muttered, standing beside Damo and watching through another pair of binos, the chatter falling silent as they watched Baz punch through waves with powerful strokes. Water shone on his bald head and brown skin before he disappeared beyond a swell.

  Damo’s heart thumped as the patient disappeared as well—before popping up again. A few moments later, Baz reached him, and everyone in the tower exhaled. Damo kept watch until Baz and the patient were back on shore, listening to Ryan talk to—

  “Hang on!” Damo spun his chair to find Lachlan Yang with another lifeguard they all called Ronnie thanks to his horsey grin and ginger hair like Ronald McDonald. “The Shark returns! Shouldn’t you be in an office tower? Where’s your suit and Rolex?” He stood and held up a hand for a slap-shake.

  Lachlan shook Damo’s hand with a smile that didn’t seem as big as usual. “Left them in the Bentley.”

  Ryan threw an arm around Lachlan, his grin showing off the little gap between his front teeth. His brown hair was short and messy and his white skin was rosy where he’d gotten too much sun on his nose. He had another fresh tattoo inked on his lean torso. This one looked like a horse, which struck Damo as ironic since Ryan’s surname was Bullock.

  He’d initially been called “Bull Jr.” when he’d joined the service by the older guys who’d known his father, but he’d genuinely hated it so much that they’d relented.

  Ryan said, “He doesn’t need them anymore. He’s back in action.”

  Ronnie shared a surprised glance with Damo before saying, “Wait. Sharky, you’re coming back to the service?”

  Lachlan shrugged, but it was anything but relaxed. “Yep. Missed all your ugly mugs too much.” He was tall with light brown skin and dark hair, his white teeth straight and even. But his smile was definitely not the usual wattage. He was still gorgeous, and—

  Don’t think about Lachie being gorgeous!

  Wait, why not? I’m allowed to.

  No, you’re not! You have a boy—you have Blake. Who could maybe be your boyfriend. You have a boy Blake.

  He was definitely allowed to think about Blake. Which was good, because he did almost every second he wasn’t concentrating on his job. Apparently, Damo was more vanilla than he thought. He’d never considered himself a prude or uneducated about sex, but bloody hell!

  What Blake had said down in the garage under the tower was living in Damo’s head rent-free. None of his girlfriends had licked his arsehole, and it had never occurred to him to lick theirs.

  After how far he’d gone with Blake that first night, he didn’t mind that they’d slowed down a bit. While part of him was dying to suck Blake’s cock again and have his own sucked—and try that arse business, definitely—he didn’t mind catching his breath.

  For now.

  God, he wanted to kiss him now and—

  The radio in Damo’s hand squawked to life, and he dropped it with a yelp. It clattered onto the floor and he scooped it up as his face burned. He answered Baz, who cleared the patient he’d brought in to the beach, and Damo ordered himself to focus on work. He’d be seeing Blake in a few hours.

  Six hours and forty-two minutes. Er, approximately.

  He tuned back in to the conversation going on a few feet away as Ronnie asked, “Coming back as casual on weekends?”

  “Nah,” Ryan answered for Lachlan. “We’re both full-timers again. I tried that job out at the mine, but all that money wasn’t enough. I need to be by the water.” He tightened his arm around Lachlan’s neck. “Lachie couldn’t stay away either.”

  “Far out. It’ll be like old times,” Ronnie said as Teddy entered the tower. “Right, boss?”

  Teddy said to Ryan, “Next, I’ll grow my hair back and your old man’ll waltz through the door again.”

  Ryan’s face soured. “Yeah, nah. That arsehole can stay in Queensland.”

  Teddy frowned, but didn’t say anything.

  Damo asked Lachlan, “You’re not a lawyer anymore?” in the sudden silence, opening his mouth and jamming in his foot. Ryan glared daggers.

  Lachlan flushed. “Well, I am, but, uh, I’m taking a break.”

  “Don’t blame ya!” Ronnie quickly said. “No better place than Barkers.”

  They all nodded and agreed, trying to smooth over the awkwardness as Teddy gave Lachlan his uniform, and Damo felt like the world’s biggest pork chop since clearly something had happened.

  Lachlan had been a lifeguard all the way through law school before leaving for a fancy job in one of the posh office buildings in the CBD. He’d left shortly before Cody and Mia had joined, and it had barely been a couple of years.

  Ryan clapped a hand on Lachlan’s back. “Come on, bruv. Let’s get you back in uniform and hit the beach.”

  Damo scanned the water with the binoculars—and his mind started randomly turning over the word. Binoculars. Binos. Bi. Bisexual binos. Biiiiiiii. Did it fit him? What was the other word people used? As he watched swimmers playing at the south end, he rolled that word around on his tongue.

  Then he was thinking about Blake’s tongue, and he was going to cop it if he got a hard-on in the tower. Jesus, he’d never live that down if he still had a job.

  As Teddy checked medical equipment in the first aid area, Ronnie sat and wheeled close to Damo, keeping his voice low. “Whaddya reckon happened with the Shark? Never thought we’d see him back in blue.”

  “Dunno. It’s definitely weird.”

  Lachlan had gotten that nickname—the Shark—when he’d gone to law school, and they’d all joked about how they’d hire him to defend them when they got in trouble.

  Had he always been gorgeous?

  Duh, obviously. Damo remembered Lachlan’s sister had been a babe. Their dad had been Asian and mum white, and they were both beautiful. What he wasn’t clear on was if he’d really noticed Lachlan’s looks or if he was viewing everyone differently now. He’d been curious for a while, but had he always subconsciously noticed blokes like he noticed chicks?

  He wasn’t sure, and it probably didn’t matter anyway, but as Damo watched the beach, he wished he had a perfect, easy answer.

  Later, Lachlan was in the tower for his break as Damo got ready to hand off control of the tower to Ronnie. Lachlan grimaced. “I see the microwave isn’t any cleaner.”

  Damo laughed. “No, but it’s the new guy’s duty to give her a good scrub.”

  “Too right,” agreed Ronnie. He watched the surf with the binoculars.

  “I’m not new,” Lachlan grumbled, and he was definitely gorgeous, Damo decided. Not that it mattered—he had Blake, who was also gorgeous.

  Did he have Blake? It had been less than a week, and it wasn’t like they needed to declare they were boyfriends. Why was Damo getting so hung up on labels? Bi, boyfriends—he needed to chill and go with the flow. He was at work. He was supposed to be laid-back except when someone was drowning.

  Now he was thinking about home, and he tensed as he did another scan, fingering the purple cord around his neck. Mum was working a double, and he hadn’t actually seen her in a week. What would she think about Blake? Tabby would like him. Wouldn’t she?

  “It was worth a try, mate,” Ronnie said to Lachlan before falling silent. He watched something on the beach intently before sitting back. “Hey, what’s the deal with Ry’s old man? He was pretty aggro about him.”

  Lachlan sighed. “Yeah. Ry moved to Queensland with his parents when we were about fifteen. He moved back after high school—he’d never wanted to leave Barkers, and he and his dad had a falling out. His parents split a few years back, and he blamed his father.”

  Ronnie asked, “His old man was a lifeguard here?”

  “Yeah. Taught us to surf. He’s still a lifeguard out on the Gold Coast.”

  “Guess he’s a real dickhead?” Damo asked as he watched a group of kids splashing in the shore break north of the flags. Close to the flags, but still outside the safe zone.

  “No!” Lachlan cleared his throat. “He made a mistake, but Mr. Bullock wasn’t a bad bloke. He was cool.”

  “Cool,” Damo echoed as he scanned the water.

  “Anyway. Ry’s my best friend, and he has every reason to be aggro. Guess I just have a soft spot for his dad. We were both lifeguards because of him.” His face clouded. “Are, I should say.” He fiddled with the wrapper of the frozen burrito he was going to microwave.

  “Bloody brilliant to have you here, mate.” Damo stood and slapped Lachlan’s back.

  He gave Damo a small smile. “Thanks. Good to be back. Filthy microwave and all. It’s like I never left.”

  Despite his curiosity about why the hell Lachlan had apparently given up his job as a lawyer, Damo bit his tongue for once. “I’m going out in the pink buggy. Ronnie, you and Sharky have fun.”

  “Just Lachie,” he said. “I’m not a shark. Never was.”

  “Exactly what a shark would say,” Ronnie replied, and they all laughed, though Damo wasn’t sure Lachlan’s heart was in it.

  After his shift ended late afternoon, Damo was happy to change into street clothes, pulling on board shorts and a tee. Feet still bare, he said bye to the guys on the pack-up shift and hopped down the sun-warm wooden stairs.

  The grass in the park behind the beach was springy underfoot, and he was practically skipping, his backpack slung over a shoulder. Scanning the long, narrow car park, he realized he had no idea what Blake drove.

  Huh. This thing with Blake really was brand new, wasn’t it?

  Beachgoers were drifting away, but the after-work crowd were stalking, creeping up and down, waiting to pounce as a spot opened. There were only spots on either side making two long rows, the car park built years ago before Barking became so crowded. Overflow parking was desperately needed, but there really wasn’t room unless they bulldozed the park, and residents had fought it for years.

  Damo stopped in front of the cafe and took off his sunnies as if that would help.

  “Oi!”

  His heart skipped, and he spotted Blake down the end of the car park with his hazards on, standing half out of a small SUV waving. Knowing he was grinning like a fool, Damo practically sprinted down the footpath before forcing himself to slow.

  The car was running, and it was blissfully cool inside. “G’day,” Blake said from behind the wheel as Damo climbed in.

  Damo lurched forward and yanked him into a kiss. Blake tasted like coffee and kissed him back hard, their tongues meeting. He slid his hand into Damo’s hair, which was tangled from the dried salt water that Damo should have rinsed off. It tugged, the nerves flaring on his scalp, but Damo didn’t mind.

  Blake broke the kiss. “Sorry.”

  “No worries.” He ran his hand through his hair awkwardly. He’d been too eager to rush out. Why hadn’t he taken five more minutes? “Bit of a mess.”

  “I like it.” Blake murmured. “You’re like a selkie.”

  “A what?”

  “Mythical creature that lives in the sea and shifts to human form.”

  “Like a merman?”

  “Kind of. A cousin.” He brushed back Damo’s hair. “You’re definitely a saltwater creature.” His gaze dropped. “Do you ever wear shoes?”

  “Got my thongs in my bag. Besides, I wore shoes to the club on Friday, remember?”

  “That’s true.” Blake’s gaze darkened. “I remember.”