Read Just Ask for Free Online Page A

twenty-one.”
    “Yeah, and I didn’t have the time or the desire to go to an ocean after that.” How could a man make a shrug look sexy? But Jordan did, and Ryan tried hard to remember this man was not for him.
    “You’re thirty-something.”
    “Twenty-nine. Two years younger than Blake.”
    Ryan nodded. How sad to be twenty-nine and to have never swum in an ocean. Thank God, he had background information or he’d really dislike Jordan right now. But Blake had told him tons about Jordan, enough for Ryan to see through the smoke and mirrors to the real man beneath the facade. His dad’s accident had been hard on him, growing up the eldest a test of early manhood, and when Jordan should have been enjoying life, his childhood had ended.
    Jordan needed to live, desperately.
    “You need a challenge,” Ryan informed him.
    “My life is filled with challenges, the most recent one finding a blue, Hawaiian shirt.”
    “And you succeeded.” Ryan swallowed his misgivings and decided to leap into the challenge pool with both feet. Hopefully, the challenge pool was filled with water or something, or he was failing miserably.
    Ryan stood and yanked his shirt off over his head. He glanced at Jordan, sitting a little taller in his chair, his chest rising a little quicker. Ryan unbuttoned his shorts, slid down the zipper, and let them fall. He’d gone commando, so he was naked in the moonlight, semi-erect, and he hoped to hell he didn’t scare the shit out of Jordan. “Let’s go, Hill.”
    “Where?” Jordan’s entire frame had gone rigid in his chair, eyes wide. His Adam’s apple bobbed, once, twice.
    “We’re going to swim in an ocean. Naked, because I bet you’ve never done that, either. Knock off two bucket list items in one stone’s throw.”
    “Ryan—”
    “Chicken?” Ryan crossed his arms over his chest. He could see Jordan fighting the urge to cast his gaze down Ryan’s naked body. His lips curved into a slow smile. “Last one in buys beer tomorrow.”
    Jordan hesitated a second, then stood and yanked his shirt over his head without unbuttoning it. The shorts hit the ground next, then his boxers. He was every bit as hot naked as Ryan had anticipated. All lean muscle, his cock semi-erect as well, his skin pale in the torch light mixing with moonbeams. They’d remedy the paleness this weekend, too. But first, a dip.
    “Ready?” Ryan challenged. “It’s a straight shot to the water from here, nothing in the way, nothing in the water. Just run and dive, or you’re buying beer.”
    The dim light danced off Jordan’s deep brown eyes and the conflict warring behind them as he glanced down the beach to the shimmering water. His gaze, unreadable, intense, snapped to Ryan’s. But Jordan nodded, drew in a breath, and nodded again. He took the step to the edge of the porch where the railing opened up down three, wide steps to snow-white sand. “Ready.”
    “Then go.”

Chapter Three
    Jordan leaped off the porch, over the three steps, landing lightly in the sand, unable to believe he was doing this. He, Jordan Hill, was running naked down the beach, in the dark, to dive into an equally dark and hopefully warm ocean filled with sharks. Sprinting at break-neck speed next to a very attractive, naked man. The same man he had fantasized about during a hand job worth his fortune.
    So hard, this challenge. Impossible. Each stride ripped air from his lungs, torturing his muscles, his blood racing at Mach speed through his limbs.
    If he were naked in the boardroom, negotiating a multi-million dollar deal, he’d be way more comfortable. Slapping millions down on waterfront property, buying a baseball team, hell, giving all of his fortune to some squeaky clean charity that helped sick kids. All less scary than this run.
    But he was doing it and kicking Ryan’s ass. The sand here was a little deeper, spraying up under each kick of his feet. Then the sand turned damp, hard, and compact. He hit a shell on the ball of