I slid my hands around him, up his chest to cup his pecs, tweaked his nipples, pulled him close against me so I could kiss the back of his neck. “I just figured the fake boyfriend deserved a kiss,” I murmured into his skin. He must’ve showered already. He smelled extra-strong of the gel-wash I associated with him. “If I’m making you uncomfortable, I can keep my hands off of you. It’s just that you’re so sexy first thing, all shirtless and offering fried foods.”
He gave a nervous chuckle. “Of course I’m not uncomfortable. But, you know. We only have to pretend around other people.”
Again with the brush-off. If he’d pulled away, instead of leaned back into my embrace, I might have taken it as a fuck off. But I let him go and started looking around for plates.
The thing was, I wasn’t pretending. It was the easiest thing in the whole world to pretend to be totally into Tyler Blakely because, well, I was. But he’d made it clear at the start that he wasn’t interested in a relationship, not coming out of a bad breakup like he was, and I was wary of anything long-distance after getting burned by Miles. Connecticut wasn’t California, but it was still out-of-state. So that first night Tyler and I had met up for negotiations, I’d agreed to everything he’d said.
I hadn’t known how hard I’d fall for him. How hard and how fast.
A few cupboards into my search, I found the plates, and then we worked together to serve up the food.
“Damn, Blakely,” I said around a mouthful of bacon, “what other talents you got hidden in that smokin’ body?”
He snorted, choked, and had to put his fork down. “I don’t know if cooking bacon is exactly a talent. But I figured we could both use a good breakfast, since the day might be…” He made a wincing face at me. “I’d apologize again, but I think that track might be played out.”
I chewed that over with the bacon, and then asked, “What is on the agenda today?”
“Well, I figured we could skip the communal breakfast—but Jon wants the guests to meet up at the lake midmorning for ice-skating, and then…”
Tyler went on, and I tuned out. It hadn’t really occurred to me that we would have to spend so much time with other people. It wasn’t that I was opposed to it, I’d just assumed that most of the kinky guys would want some privacy to, well.
Be kinky.
Still, I was here to play a part, and I’d play it. If it meant waiting until tonight to get Tyler screaming for me, I could wait. Anticipation was an important part of the process for me, anyway.
“Ice-skating, you say?”
“Yeah.” Tyler made a face. “Apparently it means something special to Jon and Cooper. And then the separate stag parties tonight. But don’t get too excited about that—Jon said he and Cooper already had their kinky celebrations back in LA. Tonight is going to be more…”
“Staid?” I guessed.
Tyler nodded. “More Northlake-appropriate.”
It didn’t surprise me. I couldn’t imagine Mrs. Kincaid being chill with the idea of a bunch of kinky gay guys running around the estate the night before the wedding. And besides…”You sure that Cooper guy is into kink? He’s pretty buttoned-up.”
“Wouldn’t you be too, around your family?” Tyler paused, looking at me with a grin. “Or would you drag your guy down the aisle in full leathers?”
I grinned. “My family doesn’t much care what I do, as long as I’m not mooching off of ’em. So—ice-skating this morning, and that so-called stag party tonight for the kinky folks. What’s in between?”
I was hoping that was when we could hang out. And by hang out, I meant fuck like rabbits.
But Tyler sighed—an impressive feat, given that his mouth was stuffed full. “Jonny has a whole schedule,” he said around it, and then swallowed. “I forget what he had planned, but I’m sure there was something.” He saw my face. “I’m sorry, man. You can bail if you want to.”
I picked up a slice of the perfectly crispy bacon and took a bite out of it. “What kind of boyfriend would I be letting you go off by yourself? No, I think I’d like to keep you on a leash, Blakely.” I enjoyed the way he flushed at my words.
“Thanks,” he said softly. “I mean, for coming with me. I don’t think we should do anything obviously kinky in front of the crowd, though.”
“I was kidding, Ty. Of course I’m not going to strap you up and make you get on your knees in front of everyone.” I finished up the last mouthful and stood, picking up my empty plate. As I leaned over to grab his, too, I said, “Even though I bet you’d like that.”
I laughed as he went bright pink, spluttering denials.
Yeah. If not this afternoon, I was definitely going to bang his brains out after the party tonight.
Ice-skating was a busy affair.
It seemed like most of the guests had walked the trail to the lake, enjoying the show along the way of various lights and ice sculptures. Cooper told me that it was a new tradition, started just the year before, of a Winter Wonders walk, and that they were still left over from this year’s Christmas.
My Christmas had been spent alone with a few boxes of Chinese takeout, wondering how Tyler’s was going, so it was nice to feel a little seasonal magic as we wandered down the path. I put my arm around Tyler’s shoulders as we stopped in front of an intricate replica in ice of the main house. These Kincaids had money to burn—or freeze, anyway.
