“How long until they get here?” I ask when he makes his way out of the garage carrying an ice chest. “Wait—” I rush over to grab it from him. “Let me get that for you.”
He rolls his eyes but follows behind me anyway as I carry it out the back door and leave it to the side of the gravel path that leads to the boat dock, where the boat is waiting for us.
“They should be here any minute.” Hunter lifts his hand to shield his eyes from the sun while he looks around. I have some sunglasses in my car; I need to get them before we go on the water so he’s not uncomfortable.
I hear the crunch of tires on gravel and hold back my eyeroll. It comes from a good place, because Trent is my friend, and Kian is Hunter’s friend. I just wish we had a little more time with each other before we were bombarded by our friends. It still seemssurreal to know that I confessed my feelings for him last night, feelings that have been brewing for eight, almost nine, years. And to know that he feels the same way.
Repeating his words inside my mind from last night, my stomach flutters in anticipation of our future. He loves me. Hunter loves me. And I’ll do whatever it takes to keep his love.
Even dealing with friends.
I take a deep breath and follow behind Hunter as he goes back up to the house to welcome our guests. His ass looks great in the tight shorts he has on, the material stuck to his skin and showing off the muscular globes.
I have to subtly readjust my dick in my trunks, not wanting to pop a boner in them because it would be painfully obvious.
Hunter embraces Kian when he steps out of Trent’s truck, and I accept a hug from Kian as well. Watching Trent hug Hunter doesn’t affect me like I assumed it would, because Hunter’s mine.
“I am so ready for this, I brought snacks too.” Kian reaches into the back seat and pulls out two bags filled to the brim with plastic bags, rustling while he moves to follow Hunter into the house. I hear them talking about how the bookstore has been doing since we’ve been gone.
“Nice place, how much did it cost you?”
“You don’t even want to know.” Trent laughs and claps me on the back. “But definitely more than the park youboughtfor your boyfriend.”
“Sorry that not all of us can inherit millions of dollars,” Trent snarks, but he has a smile on his face.
“It wasbillions,actually. If you want to talk shit, you at least have to get your information correct.” Trent’s laugh is loud, and I let out a chuckle of my own.
“So sorry, I'll do better next time.”
I’m exhausted,and so is Hunter, if the way he’s snoring is any indication. His head is propped on a towel on the hull of the boat, snoring softly while I guide it back to shore. Kian isn’t any better, except his head is in Trent’s lap as Trent runs his fingers absentmindedly through his sleeping boyfriend’s hair.
“Are you staying the night?” I ask quietly, not wanting to disrupt the two sleeping men. I don’t know how Kian is when he wakes up, but sometimes with Hunter, his attitude equates to the devil’s incarnate.
Trent ponders, and I know he doesn’t want to be a bother, so I do the friendly thing, the thing Hunter would expect me to do. Even if I would rather have the house alone with Hunter.
“Stay the night, it’s already getting late. And Hunter wanted to do hot dogs and marshmallows over the fire tonight.” I look down at the man in question, his face pressed against the towel, making his lips poke out in a slight pout. He’s so beautiful, sleeping and all.
“Only if you’re sure, we already intruded today. I kept telling Ki that you two wanted time for yourselves, but he was adamant that Hunter invited us and we couldn’t tell him no. I don’t know if I was more worried about pissing you off or pissing Kian off. But as you can see.” He waves his hand, and I know what he means. I can deal with Trent’s attitude, or even Kian’s, but I never want to push Hunter like that.
I cut the engine and let the boat drift close to the dock. Trent gently scoots his legs out from under Kian’s head, taking extra care not to jostle him, and jumps off to tie it off to keep it from floating away. Neither Hunter nor Kian moves from their sleeping positions, but their snores are synchronized as I startto unload all the items off the boat and deflate the tube that they used all afternoon. It was entertaining trying to throw them off of it, especially since I had Trent keeping an eye on them. I enjoyed it more than I expected to, and maybe having Trent and Kian here wasn’t so bad.
When we have the boat unloaded, I look at Trent, and he looks at me. “Should we just carry them inside?” I take in Hunter, he’s not much smaller than I am, but I do work out quite a bit more, so I could carry him to the cabin. I just hope it doesn’t make him feel emasculated.
“We’re gonna have to,” I tell him, stepping back onto the boat and squatting down to bundle Hunter in my arms. Lifting him from the ground causes a twinge of pain in my back and my ass, but when he nuzzles his face into my neck and exhales sleepily with his eyes still closed, I don’t mind.
Trent follows me up the path, careful to avoid the loose rocks, because heaven forbid one of us trips. I would definitely laugh if it were him, though.
I carefully push the door open with my shoulder, being careful not to hit any part of Hunter against the door frame. I hold the door open with my foot so Trent can come in as well.
“Where should I put him?” Trent asks quietly, trying not to disturb the sleeping man in his arms.
“Just on one of the couches, I’ll put Hunter on the other one.” The three couches make a box around the TV and fireplace, and I place Hunter on the one that faces it, tucking a pillow under his head and covering him up with a blanket off the back of the couch. I don’t know if he’ll be cold or not after spending all day out in the sun, but he can always kick it off if he gets too hot.
My sunglasses are propped haphazardly on his head, and I pull them off and tuck them into the pocket of my swim trunks. I kiss the crown of his head, smelling his coconut and honey scent mixed with the freshwater smell from the lake. His rosy cheeksare more flushed than usual, and I kiss both of his cheeks and the scar on his upper lip before I back away.
Trent deposits Kian on the other couch and kisses him on the forehead.
I go into the kitchen to grab some water and wait for Trent so we can talk without fear of devil one and two.
