Rescued From Paradise

By H J Perry

Two hot men. One deserted tropical island.

Mr. Don't-Touch-Me Wade O'Rourke has never allowed anyone to get close to his heart, or into his bed. Perhaps he's not wired that way. He's not gay. He was brought up to know it's not possible in his family. But he's not attracted to women either. He keeps up appearances for the sake of his family because it's the thing to do— never mind his family traumas or that he hates his life. And he has reasons to hate his homophobic uncle, too.

Outgoing, optimistic, and carefree Adam Bennet comes from a long line of earthy people— gardeners and farmers. After his parents died, he was raised by his wise grandmother. He helps her run her shop. 

When Wade and Adam meet on an airplane, they don't quite hit it off. They survive a crash landing on an island paradise where they have to join forces to survive. Will Adam take a chance on love with the seemingly straight man? When love blossoms, can it survive the rescue and return to their American small town?

This full-length, standalone novel contains: Two hot guys and a deserted island. A man damaged by his homophobic upbringing. A virgin who never thought he'd want to be touched that way. Coming out in a small town. Steamy man on man love action and a happy ending. ***58,000 words.

• Language: English
• Publisher: H J Perry
• Release date: Jan 20, 2018
• ISBN: 9781386732457

H J Perry

HJ Perry lives in the English countryside BUT is learning to accept having words translated into American for an international audience.  Having worked in the construction industry for years in real life, her fictional characters also often work in that macho, male-dominated environment. HJP has also been a political activist campaigning around LBGT issues since the 1980s. She enjoys visiting museums, watching films, and live theatre. But most of her spare time she spends reading. You will find lust, sex, desire, and love in her books. They are for an adult audience.

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Rescued From Paradise © H J Perry 2017

LoveLight Press

Cover design by ResplendentMedia.com

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. No part of this story may be used, reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means without written permission of the copyright holder, except in the case of brief quotations embodied within critical reviews and articles.

This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the writer’s imagination or have been used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual events, locale or organizations is entirely coincidental.

The author has asserted his/her rights under the Copyright Designs and Patents Acts 1988 (as amended) to be identified as the author of this book.

This book contains sexually explicit content which is suitable only for mature readers.

First LoveLight Press electronic publication: October 2017.

Follow H J Perry at BookBub.com

Helen J Perry's website

What it this book about?

Two hot men. One deserted tropical island.

Carefree Adam Bennet comes from a long line of earthy people— gardeners, herbalists, hippies, and farmers. His grandmother taught him and his brothers to live off the land, to heal themselves, and above all, to trust their intuition about a person or situation.

Mr. Don’t-Touch-Me Wade O’Rourke wouldn’t dream of something so pedestrian as living off the land. His family is monied, and formal. Taking his place in his uncle’s company is the thing to do— never mind that he hates his life, and he has reasons to hate his uncle, too.

When Wade and Adam meet on an airplane they don’t quite hit it off. But they’re the only two survivors of a crash landing on an island paradise, they have to join forces to survive.

Will Adam take a chance on love with the seemingly straight man? Underneath Wade’s business suit, which he once wore like armor against intimacy, is a hard body and a tender heart.

When love blossoms, can it survive the rescue and return to their American small town?

Prologue | Adam

Asquawk in the distance jolted Adam out of his daydream and he moved back through the pool, out of the direct path of the waterfall. A bird, no doubt, yet Adam still glanced over his shoulder.

A familiar dark, handsome figure stood on the bank beside the pool. Was he watching? No, staring at Adam in the water. That lack of respect for privacy was unusual. Adam glanced down. The water was deep enough here and the waterfall contributed to a foaming, bubbling surface. There was no way the man could see Adam's erection or read Adam's mind, full of impure thoughts.

Want to join me? Adam shouted out over the sound of cascading water.

Would you mind the company?

I wouldn’t mind at all. Good thing about our tub: Plenty of room for two, although it is a little cool today.

Maybe if Adam concentrated on something neutral, the cold water in the pool would also help to dampen his ardor.

Watching the man on the bank strip out of his few clothes was not advisable. Adam couldn't help himself, though. He couldn't be a model of strong willed self-discipline all the time. And anyway, he couldn't see anything.

The man slipped into the water in his clothes, and then began removing them. He was always exceptionally modest, which was a great shame because Wade had a gorgeous body. He ducked beneath the surface, swimming closer to Adam. Emerging with his hair drenched, the water droplets glistened on his shoulders, clinging to the hairs on his chest and running down his arms.

Have mercy on my beating heart.

Why are you standing underneath the waterfall? Taking a shower? the man asked.

But Adam could barely concentrate on the conversation that followed while also willing his erection to subside and his heartbeat to normalize.

After a few difficult minutes, Adam thought he might be able to exit the pool with some dignity and discretion. I’ll leave you to a tranquil bath.

But before Adam could move, Wade closed a hand over his wrist. Adam. Wait. I wanted to ask you something. There was an urgency in his tone.

Sure. Adam bent his knees to sink into the pool again so they were at the same level in the water. What’s on your mind?

He opened and closed his mouth; looked at Adam and then the water.

Silence.

Wade obviously had difficulty vocalizing whatever it was he wanted to say. He didn’t release Adam’s wrist, nor did Adam pull away from him.

Wade shifted his hold to lace his fingers together with Adam’s.

Okay. That was strange. Nice. But strange.

Adam floated closer. Is everything okay, Wade? You’re kind of quiet on me now.

Yeah, I just... I need to... Wade frowned. Talk. It's weird. I don’t know how to say it.

A hundred things went through Adam's mind. He smiled. Say what you’re comfortable saying, at a pace you’re comfortable saying it. There’s no rush. I think we've got all day.

All day and forever to talk about anything on their lonely tropical island, whatever it was. There was no urgency.

Wade stood and pulled Adam flush against him.

Of all the things on Wade's mind, Adam never expected this.

Or Wade's erection pressing against Adam's stomach under the water.

Both were surprising, and more than welcome.

And then Wade's mouth was joining his in a heart-stopping passionate kiss, which prevented Adam’s mind from wondering too much about anything.

Adam melted against him, his arms circling Wade’s neck, their bodies pressing  together.

Reaching between them, below the water, Adam’s hand wrapped for the first time around Wade’s thick, long cock.

Wade gasped. Adam, wait. I just need to go slow.

Chapter 1 | Wade

What would happen if Wade deliberately missed the flight? It would allow him to extend his visit, as he wanted, and not feel too guilty about it.

No one had to know.

His accommodation on this business trip had been a small room with a double bed, instead of the king size typically found in the States. Easy to forgive when accompanied by such a spectacular view, though. He stepped out of his room right on to the sandy beach. Wade found himself regretting that he hadn’t called home and come up with some excuse to stay.

When Wade’s uncle had sent him to the tropical island to look into a building opportunity, Wade jumped at the chance. Anything to get him out of the sleepy little town of his childhood, and away from his overbearing family.

While he wasn’t exactly a fan of flying, he did enjoy the travel. Enjoyed it as much as he could, at any rate. He’d sat through the standard business pitch. Several investors were looking to build a small resort on this little, out-of-the-way island at the southernmost tip of a long line of tiny islands in the Caribbean.

The timing was perfect, they’d said. They were right. The island was small enough that the real estate would be prime pickings to build on if they could snap up the land before the landowners grew wise to the value. The company negotiating the rights from the government said it was only a matter of time.

The investor group hired a car to take Wade back to the airport. The clouds hung low over the island, ready to unleash its payload of rain, but Wade wasn’t paying the weather much attention. His mind circled around and around. Situated at the southernmost tip of an archipelago of islands, Maona was the least built up regarding amenities.

It was probably for the best that he was heading back. He hadn’t packed for an extended stay on a tropical island or a vacation.

And there was a fair amount of guilt because he'd never taken a girlfriend on any such trips. Despite pressure from his family to find the right woman and settle down, he'd not visited any beautiful places with a lovely woman. He'd had girlfriends but had never felt close enough to any of them to want to actually go on vacation with them. He preferred his own company.

His parents wouldn’t admit it, but he knew they were trying to match him up with Irene. Every time he told them Irene was a girl who was a friend but not a girlfriend, either they didn’t hear him or they couldn’t accept it.

Girl—he really meant woman. She had a brilliant mind which she put to good use as one of the top paralegals in Dreamer’s Folly.

She was as smart as she was lovely and knew how to dress to show off her incredible figure to its best advantage. Not that it worked on Wade. He wasn’t attracted to her physically. Despite not having a deep attraction to her, Wade did think highly of her. She was a good match and would make a good wife one day.

To someone else.

To shake himself out of that disastrous train of thought, he turned his attention to the view outside the window. The pristine white sands of the island were everywhere, and a small part of Wade wanted desperately to stop the car so he could get out and walk.

To walk and keep walking and maybe just... keep walking some more.

But life would never let him go. No matter how much he ran from it, it would find a way to drag him back.

He didn't necessarily like it.

Correction, he didn't like it.

But he knew how to cope.

He pulled his leather attaché case to him and teased out the business cards of the investment group looking to develop the resort. Making a note on the card with the name of the island. When he got back stateside, he would give them a call.

Perhaps he could get in on the ground floor. Finally owning a small place in this serene paradise for himself. To have a place to escape to when life overwhelmed. That wasn’t so bad, right?

Surely no one would begrudge him that little bit of selfish happiness?

But as the airport came into view, reality settled heavily on him again. Of course, it was selfish. And it wouldn't be encouraged in his family.

Blood always came first. No matter how difficult, the expectation of family loyalty was primary. Failing to close ranks for the family was tantamount to treachery. Planning an escape, however fleeting, equaled treachery.

Wade dealt with enough misery on a daily basis; he wasn’t about to start rocking the boat further.

The driver pulled up to the curb and helped Wade unload his few bags with still enough time before boarding to visit the small gift shop that he'd spied on his way through earlier in the week. He’d pick up a magazine to keep him entertained until the plane went through the unpleasantness of climbing to cruising altitude.

Once the fear of crashing subsided, he’d be able to sleep on the flight. At Miami International, he'd catch a bite to eat while waiting for his connection and be home not long after dinner.

He wondered, for just a brief moment, could he miss the fight, Wade pushed the thought aside and headed in the terminal for his flight back home.

Duty to his job and to his family won out.

All things considered, Wade was good at what he did, taking the lead on new business ventures and expanding the customer base of the company. He made good money. And, of course, the traveling was a bonus.

He certainly hadn’t counted on working for his uncle of all people, the domineering family patriarch; the man who was the source of some of his worst childhood memories. Working for his uncle’s business, every day at work he confronted reminders of what happened—the ugly scenes he’d witnessed while still a child.

Chapter 2 | Adam

I feel horrid abandoning you at the airport, Adam, Sehela said as she swerved around the donkey cart plodding down the single lane road that led to the small airport.

There’s no need to apologize, Adam said. He practiced his deep breathing. Sehela drove far too rapidly on a road that could easily end up overturning their aged Mini. It coughed when she shifted into fourth as she opened up for the straight road ahead.

I hope we don’t miss your flight. She glanced at her dashboard clock and then jerked the steering wheel to avoid the pothole that yawned out in front of the car. Two wheels on the shoulder made for a bumpy ride until she bounced back onto the roughly paved road again.

It’ll be fine. Gran taught me years ago that I am exactly where I need to be, at the time I need to be there. I can’t imagine there are exceptions. Adam smiled at the village’s wise woman.

Decades earlier, when Adam’s grannie had set off on her path of learning about the art of herbal healing, she'd studied for many years alongside Sehela.

And now Adam concluded his own stint of residential study. He'd stayed with her for six months. In that time, he’d learned more than he ever could’ve imagined. Not just about herbs, but about how life and the universe—whatever one called the mystical force that imbues life, and how it brings together people and events—operates on its own timetable and for its own agenda.

And how humans, if they were in tune with it, could open the pathways to a destiny greater than they imagined.

At least, Adam interpreted it that way. It became his philosophy on life, and he made sure to hold tightly to it when things started to look glum and bleak or just not so good.

Right now, he focused on keeping his breathing smooth and even as Sehela drove like a crazed woman on roads that weren’t intended for such speed.

They were racing the clock.

The rainclouds on the horizon were so dark, they were almost green. Adam knew what that meant back home in North Carolina. On the island of Maona, it meant something similar.

Only there would be a lot more of it.

Situated in the Atlantic Ocean, nestled in a small string of archipelagos off the coast of the Bahamas, Maona had started to open up to tourism. Not as popular as its sister islands in the Atlántida Archipelago, the tropical lifestyle still remained traditional, unhurried and relaxed, which made it most attractive.

Maona epitomized a tropical paradise.

Except in that moment with the impending rain. Not just rain, but a storm which threatened access to the remote village home of Adam’s current hosts and increased the pressure to get home and indoors as quickly as possible.

They had been ready to leave on time to get to the small, rural airport. They'd delayed to tend to a family with a sick child, and so they’d left much later than they anticipated. And now, not only did they need to make sure Adam got through the small airport's process which stood in for customs to meet his flight, but Sehela needed to get back to the village before the rains washed out the roads.

As the airport came into view, three small twin-engine airplanes sat on the tarmac. It looks like I’ll make it in time, he said, a soft sigh of relief escaping his chest. As much as he loved the tiny island and his time spent with the wise woman, Adam was ready to go home.

He missed his hometown, Dreamer’s Folly, and his own house; he missed his grannie and his brothers. Reliable electricity was a bonus, as well as inside running water. And his bed. He really missed his bed.

Never more so than the last few nights.

And mornings.

Recently, his body had sprung to life with renewed vigor and the hardest morning wood.

With little to no opportunity to meet men on the island, Adam's sexual self had shut down, up until a few days ago. Suddenly, it was as if his libido knew he was going home and his sex drought could be about to end.

Not that he hadn’t had a good time. Staying in the house with his mentor was amazing. The small house felt a little cramped with a lanky American guest in addition to Sehela, her husband, and three children. Nevertheless, at no time in the past six months did the living arrangements feel too crowded. Much of their time was spent outside due to being in a tropical zone. And with their mutual interest, they roamed the countryside in search of wild herbal flowers and tended to the small garden which grew the rest of Sehela’s herbal staples.

After learning much about herbal cultivation and preparation, Adam was ready to go home. Even so, he was no less thankful for the opportunity to learn from someone his grandmother held in such high regard.

Breaking to a hard stop, Sehela killed the engine outside the drop-off curb. She leaped from the car to drag the bag from the trunk and met Adam as he climbed out of the small vehicle.

I’ll miss you, Sehela. Thank you so much. For everything. Adam set his backpack next to the bag on the ground and pulled her into a fierce hug.

When they separated, she held his hands and pulled them to her forehead. You have been a good student, Adam. I am glad to have met you. May you have a safe journey to your home and may your life's path take you to the place where wishes and dreams come true.

The weighty words threatened to make Adam cry. His eyes pricked as he blinked them back. For all that he wanted to go home, the sudden desire to not leave her struck him. He hoped to return. He intended to return.

No, don’t give me that face. You feel in here, and Sehela placed her hand over his heart, that your time here is at an end. A new place waits for you now. Rise up to greet it.

She was right, of course.

I’ve never been good at saying goodbye.

Then let’s say, until another time. She smiled and rose to her toes to kiss his cheek. Now. Make sure you have your boarding pass and ticket out before you go. Send your grandmother my love.

Adam ducked to pull his wrinkled ticket out of his backpack. It had seen better days. It'd been printed a month ago when they went into the main town on the island. Holding onto it for so long meant that it'd taken a bit of a beating as he’d shuffled his things in and out of his bags. Ink splotched where he’d been caught in a downpour, just like the one coming, as he'd tried to get from the car to their small house in the village. If he squinted, he could still make out what it said, mostly. The island only had one small airport; there really shouldn’t be any confusion.

I should go.

She waved to him one more time and climbed back into the Mini. With a cough and a sputter, she zoomed off. With a little luck, she’d be back home before things came to a head and the roads turned into streams or rivers.

With a pang of sadness, Adam watched as the small car disappeared along the long road.