The hot water rained down on my back, likely in danger of running cold, but we took our time, gliding together, finding our connection once more.
“I love you. I wish you’d talk to me.” Her voice sounded far away, soft and fairylike, barely more than a whisper of her thoughts.
I wanted to. But I didn’t know how. Every time I tried, the words tangled up my tongue. So I just kissed her instead, stealing the words and pushing my hips against hers. We made love slow and sweet in between kisses and I love yous and tiny moans of pleasure. Her orgasm wasn’t the kind we’d elicited from her body by the fire outside. It was gentler. The kind where she dug her fingernails into my back and promised to never let me go.
When I came, it was with the knowledge that it might be the last time.
I hoped it wouldn’t be. But after tomorrow, after I grew the balls to do what was right, it wouldn’t be up to me.
When we finally emerged from the shower, both of us wrapped in towels, we found Rowe and Heath already in bed, their hair wet. The sheet pulled up over but low enough that it was clear they were both naked beneath. The sheet barely covered their junk. They’d been watching something on Rowe’s phone but they stopped when we entered. Their gazes flew right to Mae, and Heath patted the spot between them.
Mae dropped the towel, shameless, and wriggled beneath the sheet, in the space they’d left for her. “Why is your hair all wet?”
“Took a shower in the lake since you two were hogging all the hot water.”
“Ew. There’s fish and stuff in there.”
“They didn’t seem to mind. They got a nice long look at Rowe’s huge cock. I’m sure that made up for disturbing their peace.”
Rowe rolled his eyes. “I’m not that big.”
I sniggered. “The fish probably thought it was a giant eel and swam off terrified for their lives.”
Mae giggled and then yawned.
It was contagious. A sleepy feeling crashed over me, too. I flicked the bedroom light off and kicked Rowe over until I had a sliver of the only mattress in the house.
“We need a bigger bed,” Rowe grumbled. “King-size ain’t cuttin’ it with you two around.”
“If your giant cock wasn’t taking up so much room, we’d probably be all right.”
Heath snorted on his laughter, joining Mae’s giggles, and Rowe grumbled good-naturedly. All four of us settled down, Rowe and Heath snuggling Mae tight between them.
Rowe glanced over his shoulder at me. “Glad to see your shitty sense of humor has returned. Even if my penis is the butt of your jokes.”
He was asleep before I could come up with a witty reply about penises in butts.
I waited for sleep to take me, too.
It didn’t come.
Instead, I found myself waiting for the sun, growing increasingly agitated with every minute that passed.
When the first light of dawn finally crept over the horizon, I left with it.
19
Mae
I woke, hot and sweaty in the middle of a Heath-Rowe sandwich. I lay on my belly, one leg and arm over Heath’s muscular frame. The other was stretched uncomfortably behind me, resting dangerously close to Rowe’s morning erection.
I ached from head to toe, especially between my thighs, but it was the pleasant throb of a night of great sex, and I wouldn’t have swapped it for the world. I circled Rowe’s cock with my fingers right as a little voice yelled out in panic from the next room.
All three of us flew into action, Rowe jerking out of my grasp and stumbling for the door, desperate to get to his son. He crashed right into a wall in his half-dazed state, which was probably just as well because it woke him up enough to realize he was still naked.
“It’s okay, Rip. I’m coming!”
Heath was already throwing a pair of shorts at him when Ripley’s cry started up in earnest.
Rowe’s expression crumpled in dismay, and he looked at me in panic.
I kept my voice calm. “It’s not personal. He just woke up somewhere new and he’s scared. Go. He’ll be fine as soon as he sees you.”
Rowe nodded and ran for the other room. I pulled a sheet up around me and Heath and I peeked out the door, watching as Rowe tripped on Ripley’s bag of things. “Hey, buddy!”
It didn’t stop him from crashing into the floor.
I winced. Heath laughed.
So did Ripley. He stopped crying instantly, his giggles as sweet as spun sugar. “You fell.”
Rowe laughed, too, crawling across the floor to Ripley’s foldout bed. “I didn’t. I just wanted to be down here on the floor with you.”
“Pfft. Totally fell!” Heath called.
Ripley looked our way with interest. His eyes lit up when he saw me.
“Mae!” He scrambled to his feet and flung himself at me.
I knelt just in time to catch him, Heath grabbing my sheet when it threatened to fall.
“Hey, sweetie. I’m so happy to see you. Are you ready to have a day of fun?”
“Yeah!”
I couldn’t help it. I knew I was overstepping but I kissed his soft cheek and then sent him back to Rowe. “Go back to your dad so I can get dressed.”
As soon as the sentence was out of my mouth, I clapped a hand over it, realizing what I’d said. Ripley didn’t call Rowe Dad. And it was already so much that he was here, he didn’t need me confusing him any further.
I widened my eyes at Rowe and mouthed, “Sorry!”
But if Ripley had noticed, he didn’t comment on it.
Rowe worried his bottom lip, but his expression slowly evened out as Ripley carried on as normal, running in excited circles around his new bedroom.
I closed the door quietly, and Heath and I got dressed. We met Rowe and Ripley in the kitchen fifteen minutes later. Rowe had already started making breakfast for everyone, and Ripley played with a bunch of flowers that sat in a glass in the center of the kitchen table.
I sat and smiled warmly at him. “What have you got there? Those are pretty. How did you pick them so fast?”
“I didn’t. I like this one. It’s orange.”
“It is! Clever boy,” I praised.
Rowe glanced over his shoulder at us. “Flowers were there when we came out. Liam must have picked them this morning before he left.”