Corbin shook his head.
“Couldn’t I be his boyfriend for the night?” he asked, pointing at Ethan.
That was until Will crossed his arms over his chest, and he got the hint that the man he was dating wasn’t exactly thrilled that he had a preference when it came to playing boyfriend.
That wasn’t happening, and he was a little too willing to play that role.
“Never mind,” he said. “Tough audience. I was kidding. Tonight, I love a bear. No one is more shocked at that than me.”
Gene wasn’t happy about any of this. Honestly, it was giving him anxiety. Gabe was an asshole, and he knew the man was just itching to call them out.
“The bottom line is that we can’t let on that Ethan and I are a couple. Then, Greyson is up the creek along with us. He’s about to lie to Gabriel Rothschild, our boss. He gets bitchy when that happens. We have to play this game and successfully pull it off. Ethan is off of the scene until morning. I mean, I’ll take Will. If you want to go hide, Corbin, Will and I will stay here, and he can play my boyfriend until my partner is‘here’.”
Will was willing to help them out. This was, after all, their fault. Had they not hijacked their vacation, then Gene and Ethan wouldn’t have walked down the beach, and they wouldn’t have found the body.
They owed them.
“I am an attorney,” he offered. “In case anyone gets question-y, I’m more than willing to cozy up to a bear and play boyfriend to make sure you and Ethan are safe.”
Corbin didn’t want his man to have to do that. He would work, and he’d play the role.
It was time to man-up.
“So, bear. Do I get to hold your hand? Make kissy faces at you, or call you cute nicknames?” he teased, trying to be funny. “Oh, I know. We can kiss too.”
Yeah, no.
Someone wasJUSTas territorial as Gene.
Apparently.
Because once more, Ethan shoved Corbin so hard that he fell back into the surf. The man went under, and when he came up, he was sputtering.
“Will you guys please stop doing that?” he asked. “Seriously! I have sand in my underwear!”
No, Ethan wouldn’t.
“Hands off the bear, and no kissing him. He’s mine,” Ethan warned. “I’m bitchy enough. I’ll flirt with Will. Don’t make me play Top for your man because I’m well-versed in how to do that.”
Oh, Corbin got the picture.
“You’re mean like him. He ruined you.”
Yeah, well, Corbin didn’t know the half of it. Gene had made him nice. That mean was born and bred into him on a reservation.
The man they were discussing helped Corbin out of the water.
“What if there was more than one body, and I landed on it?” Corbin asked. “That’s gross.”
What was really gross?
That their vacation was literally boned because of a moonlight walk on a beach.
But of course it was.
Because that was just their luck.
* * * Blackhawk & Cantrell * * *
