Warm lips came down to meet his, a soft sigh escaping him as he kept his hands folded against his chest. He wanted to reach for Gannon but forced himself not to. This would have to be enough for now, until he could sort through the myriad emotions that seemed to have bombarded him unexpectedly.

It was after ten when Cam docked the boat, then headed back to the marina with Gannon beside him. For nearly two hours, after Gannon had shocked him by his affirmation that they would see where this thing between them was going—exclusively—Cam had tried to relax.

It wasn’t easy. Even now, as he held Gannon’s hand, making his way up the pier toward the office. His heart was doing a strange skipping thing in his chest. The most difficult thing for him to wrap his mind around was how effortlessly Gannon managed to maintain control when Cam could so easily allow things to get out of control.

Without saying too much, they’d managed to settle things between them and had enjoyed a couple of hours on the water. Cam had forced his more pressing thoughts out, refusing to deal with them until later, until he wasn’t with Gannon. Gannon’s presence overwhelmed him, made his brain fuzzy, and he wasn’t sure that was a good thing. Not always.

So they’d enjoyed an evening with little conversation. And it had been nice.

Sure, there’d been some heated making out, but it hadn’t made it past that. And because of that, Cam was pretty sure his self-control was all tapped out.

“Hey, Cam!”

Cam’s head snapped over when he heard Dare’s voice calling from the darkness. He scanned his surroundings, trying to see where it was coming from.

“Cam, get over here. Now!” There was a vibrating tension in Dare’s tone, one that told him this wasn’t a casual invite. Something was wrong.

With Gannon close on his heels, Cam jogged up the pier. When he rounded the office, taking in the scene before him, he came to a stop in the parking lot, feet skidding on the gravel.

“Fuck,” he grumbled when he saw the group of guys facing off roughly twenty feet from the office doors.

“What’s goin’ on?” Gannon asked when Cam released his hand.

“Who fucking knows.”

In front of him, backlit by the bright headlights from someone’s truck, Teague was facing off against three guys, all of whom were bigger than him. Not that Teague couldn’t handle himself. The guy might’ve been smaller—measuring in at roughly five nine, probably somewhere in the one sixty range—but he was fast. Cam knew firsthand that Teague could hand out a beating as well as any guy twice his size.

What he didn’t know was what the fuck had started this confrontation.

“What’s up?” Cam kept his tone firm as he approached the men. “There a problem?”

Dare was standing a couple of feet behind Teague, while two guys stood behind the one Cam assumed was the instigator. He’d never seen the guy before, but that didn’t mean anything. When it came to the lake, people came and went as they pleased. And it wasn’t uncommon for things to get out of hand once people started drinking and having a good time.

But this looked personal. Teague’s hands were balled into fists at his sides, his chest rising and falling evenly, his eyes narrowed on the guy with the beer gut who was practically in his face. The other two behind him didn’t seem to be worried about what was going on around them. They were also focused on Teague.

Awesome.

Three against one. How Teague managed to get himself into predicaments like this, Cam didn’t know.

“What’s up?” Cam repeated when it was clear no one was paying any attention to him.

“This little fucktard was flirtin’ with my fiancée,” the big guy grumbled.

“Bro, trust me, I’m not the least bit interested in your fiancée,” Teague countered hotly.

“Oh, yeah? That’s not what she fuckin’ said.”

Fucking fantastic.

While the verbal brawl ensued, Cam came to a stop a foot away, close enough he could insert himself between the two men if necessary. Not that he planned to, because he wasn’t looking to get laid out in the parking lot tonight. But he damn sure wasn’t going to let a fight go down, either. The last thing he wanted was the police to come out or for Teague to go to jail. They’d been down that road before and it wasn’t pretty.

“So what can we do for you?” Cam questioned, letting his irritation reflect in his tone.

“Who’re you?” the big guy asked, hands on his hips as he came to face off with Cam.

Great.

“I’m just a concerned citizen,” he retorted.

“Well, you can go fuck yourself.”

Cam rolled his eyes. This was not going to end well.

“Seriously, man,” Teague said, “I’m not interested in your girl. Hell, I’m not interested in anyone’s girl.”

Shit.

As much as Cam respected the fact that they all lived openly gay, that they were lucky enough to live in a community that mostly supported them, he knew when not to flaunt that shit.

Now was a good example.

It wasn’t going to help matters by taunting the big, burly guy who was itching for a fight.

“Dude, he’s fuckin’ gay,” the genius in the group announced merrily.

Had to love smart rednecks.

“So you’re tellin’ me you’re a queer?” Beer Gut questioned, eyebrows forming a V on his sweaty forehead.

“Fuck you, dumbass,” Teague bit out.

“Teague,” Cam reprimanded.

“No, fuck him. The fat fucker thinks he can come down here and start spoutin’ bullshit. I don’t have to take that shit.”

No, he didn’t. But making the situation worse by provoking him wasn’t helping.

The big guy took a step toward Teague, and instinct had Cam stepping between them, coming face-to-face with the snarling asshole.

The guy was big, but Cam was bigger. Maybe not in height, but overall, Cam knew it wouldn’t take much to take him down.

“Get outta the way,” the guy spat.

Cam’s nostrils flared as the smell of beer combined with the guy’s foul breath blasted him in the face.

“Not gonna do it,” Cam said calmly, trying to breathe through his mouth. “And I’m only gonna ask you once to leave. What happens after that is all on you.”

The guy laughed, twisting around to look at his friends. “You hear that? The girly boys are threatenin’ us.” The man snapped back around, his face hard, his eyes narrowed on Cam’s face.

“Trust me,” Cam stated firmly, keeping his voice low. “You really don’t want to do this.”

“Oh, I do, ass-fucker,” the man hissed. “I definitely do.”

“Never heard that one before,” Cam muttered.

The guy growled.

Damn it.

Cam fucking hated this part.

He knew he had to take the first punch—he had no intention of spending the night in jail, period—and that always hurt like a motherfucker. So, he stood right where he was as the guy reared back. He watched as the fist came directly toward his face, but before it made impact, the big guy was being rammed from the side, a pained sound escaping him as he went to the ground.

Lulu, who was at Dare’s side, started to bark furiously, moving forward, then back.

Cam looked over to see Teague tumbling down on top of the guy, practically sitting on him as he wailed on him with both fists. Cam only had a second to stop one of the other two from interfering while Dare grabbed the third guy. He looked up to see Gannon watching them, his eyes scanning the area. It looked as though he was making sure no one else interfered while Teague laid into the guy, pummeling him.

Grunts drifted on the breeze as both men rolled a few times. When Teague was back on top, the sickening thud of fist against flesh sounding in the night, the guy behind Cam made another attempt to interfere. Cam stopped him with a shoulder, holding him back. Cam stood his ground while Teague let out some of his anger, but he knew he couldn’t let it go on. He wouldn’t put it past these assholes to call the cops and press charges.