Gently, Julien urged Luis up out of his lap. Luis’s state was obvious, but no one commented. Karim was quick to get up and Luis was put down in his spot on the blanket.
Then Julien was standing, plucking at the tie around his waist. Luis watched as the gauzy robe came off, and Julien was in just a dark pair of swim briefs. They left little to the imagination.
He’d been just as affected as Luis.
“Karim?” Julien called as he started toward the water.
“Right, yeah. A swim,” Karim stumbled to follow, then turned back to Luis. “Back in a bit, call if you need us,” he said.
Luis nodded, watching the two of them go down to the water. It was nice to have a moment to breathe, to process what had just happened.
His lips were tingling, his whole body buzzing with arousal. He’d kissed Karim and he’d kissed Julien. They… liked him. Wanted him.
It felt like a dream.
He watched the two of them wade into the water, deeper and deeper. Then he saw them curl together, the two figures becoming one.
Luis thought they might be kissing. He touched his own lips, feeling the ghost sensation of memory. The fluttering feelings, the pulse of desire.
Could this really work out?
He really, really, wanted to believe it could.
##
That evening, after getting ready for bed, Luis went to their room again.
“Come in,” Julien said, gesturing to the bed where Karim was sitting on his phone. Julien was just pulling on a robe over his sleep pants.
Luis took a seat and Julien walked over, bending and kissing him once, tenderly, before turning to Karim and giving him the same.
He hadn’t kissed Luis since the beach, and it made him almost shiver.
“Be right back, and we can settle in for bed,” Julien said, turning for the bathroom.
“Tease,” Karim called after him, and Julien laughed. Then Karim’s attention turned to Luis. “You look star-struck.”
Luis rolled his eyes, pretending he wasn’t embarrassed about how true that was. “Shut up.”
“Make me,” Karim said.
Luis turned to look at him. Suddenly Karim was close, there was only a breath of space between them. Luis was allowed to kiss him, he realized. They wanted this, he wanted this.
Luis closed the space a little timidly, and kissed Karim. He tasted again of minty toothpaste, and smelled like the vanilla of his soap.
These kisses came slower between them. In bed, winding down, they were more subdued. Almost intimate. Karim’s arm wrapped around him, holding him, and Luis almost moaned into his mouth the way it sent spindles of shivery feeling through him.
Eventually, they broke apart to breathe. Karim grabbed his hand and shuffled up the bed, pulling Luis with him. At the pillows, Karim shoved him down and leaned in, kissing him again.
“Wasted no time I see,” Julien said sometime later, thick with amusement. Luis had no idea how long it had been, lost in the kisses passing back and forth.
“He’s hard to resist,” Karim said. His lips were kiss swollen, his eyes shiny and dark in the low-light.
“You’ve got two more minutes,” Julien said.
Karim groaned, his weight dropping heavier on Luis. “C’mon Jules,” he whined.
“One minute forty-five seconds.”
