Ant’s bravery disappears, and he scratches his chest absentmindedly. “Oh, I don’t know how to swim.”
One of my fondest memories is teaching my nephew Gael how to swim. We had so much fun that day, laughing and splashing. He was maybe twelve, but still such a little boy. By then, I had stopped avoiding my family and was trying to be a more active participant in between my trips into hell. Ant never had anybody to show him how to swim. The realization makes my heart ache.
I hold up my hand. “No time like the present. Let’s get in the water.”
I raise my chin at Levy. “Are you going to join us, or…?”
Levy rubs his inked belly, self-conscious, then takes down his shorts. Aye, Dios mio—he’s adorable. Thankfully, Ant’s anxiety disappears when he spots Levy’s beaver-themed boxers.
“Are you seriously wearing Buc-ee’s boxers?” Ant asks, pointing and laughing.
Levy scrunches up his face, taking the joke in stride. “I’m a proud Texan. Shut up.”
Everyone else cracks up, and I send Ant a confused look. He explains that Buc-ee’s is a world-famous chain of ridiculously huge gas stations in Texas. Clearly, I need to get out more.
Even in gas station boxers, he’s so fucking sexy I have to fist my hands at my sides. I want nothing more than to take him into my arms and rub my palms over his adorable bit of belly. I imagine his strong thighs straddling me as he rides me, my cock buried in his perfect, round ass.
Fuck. Pay attention. Now would be a very bad time to develop a boner.
We all take off our shoes and walk down the well-maintained path to the water.
“Did you do this?” Nacho asks Levy, gesturing to the manicured trail.
“Yeah. I stayed out here a few times before I had water or electricity,” he says, pointing to an electrical pole on the fence line and the wire running from it to his trailer. “Which meant I had some time on my hands. I like getting in the water first thing in the morning and figured I didn’t want to have to think about shoes or anything like that.”
Nacho elbows him lightly. “Do you even bother with clothes?”
Levy shrugs, flicking a glance at me. “I don’t sleep in clothes, so…no.”
“Duly noted. Don’t come down here early in the morning.”
“Damn right,” I mutter.
Nacho turns to me. “What?”
Shaking my head, I answer as innocently as possible, “Oh, I didn’t say anything.”
He squints his eyes at me, then looks to Levy with a troublemaker grin.
“Don’t,” I warn him.
“I won’t. I’m just over here, minding my own damn business,” he whispers back, practically laughing at me.
“Shut it.”
Nacho mimes zipping his lips shut, and we walk into the water.
“Shit, this is a spring,” Bram says as he gingerly walks toward the middle.
He’s not as heavily tattooed as Levy or Nacho, but he’s impressively built and stoic in a way that reminds me of Superman. Nacho shivers as he enters the water and plasters himself to Bram, hugging him close. Amusement tips Bram’s lips, and he returns the hug, kissing Nacho’s forehead.
Bram doesn’t strike me as someone who would enjoy overt public affection, so he must be both deeply in love with Nacho and very comfortable with us.
Ant, in the meantime, stays near the shore, the water barely up to his ankles. I hold out my hand to him, and he takes it, stepping carefully into the deeper water.
“Shit, this is so fucking cold,” he curses in Spanish. “If I survived all that shit to die of hypothermia, I am going to be so pissed.”
Laughing at the dark humor, I give my nephew a side hug, rubbing some warmth back into his arms as we stand in the gentle current.
