Ryan couldn't stop himself from laughing. He could see now that they’d never been in any serious danger, but the fact that Oscar was disappointed he hadn’t come within a few yards of being a crocodile’s lunch was…
Well, it was definitelysomething. Oscar wasn't like anyone Ryan had ever met before.
“I'll take you to see one at the zoo,” Ryan joked.
“Gonna hold you to that,” Oscar said, heaving himself up and groaning with the effort. “Oh, man. IfIhurt after that fall, you must be in pain.”
Ryan shrugged. “I've got a little padding and it was a soft enough landing. I'm mostly covered in mud.”
“Me too,” Oscar said, looking down at himself.
Freddie had wandered a few yards away, his phone out to take a picture of the alligator. At this distance it’d be little more than a blur, but Ryan got it. If he had any friends to show it to, it would have been a pretty cool thing to show them.
Unexpectedly, Oscar grabbed Ryan's hand again. He squeezed it tight, then used his grip to reel himself in and press a kiss to Ryan’s cheek.
“Think we can ditch him and go clean up?” Oscar murmured conspiratorially, nodding to Freddie.
Ryan glanced over, hesitating. They were supposed to be courting donors, and that meant making Freddie happy, but…
“Unless you wanna invite him to join us?” Oscar teased, a broad smile spreading over his face, his dark eyes glinting mischievously.
He wasn’tthatinvested in making Freddie happy.
“I don’t think I’m quite there yet,” Ryan said. He probably never would be. The idea of a threesome was cool in theory, but he wasn’t sure he could actually handle it in practice. It’d feel too much like walking in on his wife screwing his best friend all over again.
Too much like he wasn’tenough. Like he’d never be enough.
Besides, he wasn’t remotely attracted to Freddie.
“I’m kidding,” Oscar said, reaching out to push a stray strand of hair away from Ryan’s forehead. Mostly, he succeeded in getting mud on Ryan’s face and in his hair, but the gesture was nice all the same.
Besides, Ryan already needed a shower. Needing one a little more didn’t make all that much difference to him. He hadn’t been covered in dirt like this since he was a kid, and it was actually kind of nice.
Maybe it wouldn’t hurt to have an adventure or two while he was here.
“I want you all to myself,” Oscar added, running his fingertip down Ryan’s nose.
“So you’re covering me in mud like some kind of… I dunno. What animals do that?”
Oscar laughed. “I can’t immediately think of any, but I’ll get back to you.”
“No rush,” Ryan said, glancing over at Freddie again, who was finally coming back toward them.
“I’ll take care of him,” Oscar said. “You start thinking about your reward for saving me.”
