Ash laughed again and gave me the wide grin that had only gotten more addictive over the past six months. “I think Ilovethe Summer Picnic,” he said. “I think it’s my new favoriteholiday.”
I turned to face him fully. “Ashley, do you remember what I told you the last time you teased me in public?” I hooked one finger in the front pocket of his shorts and he allowed me to tow him around to the far side of the van, where we’d be somewhat hidden from the other people setting up theirbooths.
He pursed his lips like he couldn’t recall, but his dancing eyes said he remembered it as well as I did. “I believe you said,payback was a bitch?” He tapped his lips thoughtfully. “Yeah, I’m pretty sure that wasit.”
I pushed his shoulders against the smooth, white metal and held him there. As always, he let me. His eyes dilated withwant.
“And do you remember what happened after that?” Idemanded.
He swallowed. “Oh yeah,” he breathed. “Iremember.”
My own throat got thick at the need in his eyes. I’d made him pleasure himself for hours, his golden skin splayed out against the white comforter of our bed as he’d alternately jacked himself and impaled himself with the biggest toy in our collection. And only when he’d been sweating and wild-eyed, practicallysobbing, had I finally, finally fucked him and let himcome.
I shivered beneath the burning summersun.
“The woods are like twenty feet away,” Ash whispered. “I’m a trained operator. No one will even notice ifwe…”
But his voice trailed off as a big, black pickup truck pulled in through the loading entrance and parked directly behind our van. I squeezed my eyesshut.
“Fuck this town,”I whispered. “Fuck all its cockblocking residents. Fuck summer. Fuck picnics.We areleaving.”
Ash laughed, equal parts amusement and frustration. He thunked his head back against the van once and sighed, then straightened, putting a few inches of space between us. “Later. Every single thing you’re thinking of, we’ll do it,” he promised. “Anything you want to do to me, any time. I’m yours,remember?”
Yeah, I remembered. And it was onlybecauseI remembered that I was able to raise a hand in greeting when Julian Ross stepped out of his truck and waved at us, when what I really wanted to do was flip himoff.
Okay, not really. I liked Jules. He was a couple of years younger than me and a decent guy… when he wasn’t the only thing preventing me from fucking Ash against atree.
Jules pulled a folding table from the bed of histruck.
“Hey! Need help?” Ashoffered.
“Hey, guys! Nah, I got it.” Jules gave us a shy smile. He wore cargo shorts and a green t-shirt, both slightly too large for him, and his mop of black hair fell across his forehead, as always. He still looked like the kid who’d been a couple years behind me in school, rather than the trained veterinarian he was now. “I brought my ownassistant.”
A second, very familiar person came around the back of histruck.
“Ethan Scott? Shit, I didn’t know you were back in town!” I took a step forward and offered him myhand.
Ethan grinned, wide and bright, and I remembered my grandmother used to call him Sunshine, for really obvious reasons. His hair was golden blond, his skin was dappled with freckles, and when he smiled, it lit up a room. He shook my hand and pulled me in for a quickhug.
“I’m back in town for a week,” Ethan explained. “Came back from Boston to see the fam and to check on Parker, make sure he was re-acclimating to his native land. He seems to be doing pretty damn well.” There was pride in his voice and maybe a little bit of sadnesstoo.
Ethan and Parker Hoffstraeder had moved to Boston for college ten years back, and as far as I knew they’d been roommates ever since. But Parker had moved back to town recently and opened a bar called Hoff’s that had quickly become an O’Leary favorite. I was selfishly glad Parks had moved back, since he and I had always been close, but I could imagine how hard it was forEthan.
“This is my boyfriend Ash,” I said proudly. And then I explained the crazy circumstances of our dating-appmeeting.
Ash wrapped his arm around my waist, tucking me against his side the way he always did when we stood together, like touching me was important to him somehow. I couldn’t explain how much I loved that, or how I’d grown to rely on it over the past fewmonths.
“When you say Parker’s re-acclimating, do you mean stirring up trouble?” Ash asked. “O’Leary gossip says he’s already managed to reignite some old rivalry with… what’s his name?” Ash looked at me. “The hot guy from thediner.”
“Hot?” I asked. “You mean Tim, the emo guy with the long, black hair who never makes eyecontact?”
“Not him,” Ash said, pinching my side. “The other one. Theredhead.”
“Jamie Burke,” Jules supplied. “He and Parks used to have a thing, once upon atime.”
“Did they?” Ethan frowned at Julian. “I didn’t know that. I wonder why Parker never mentionedit.”
Julian shrugged. “Ancient history, Iguess.”
