Chapter Six
Marco
I adjusted the small magnifying mirror in the bathroom, wiped off a little steam, and then carefully drew a thin line of gray along the lids of my eyes. With my fair complexion and light hair, I usually found black eyeliner too strong—it looked closer to goth than I intended, I thought. But a touch of gray, along with a little blush on my cheeks, really brought out my favorite features.
“Looking good,” Demir said, stepping out of the shower and playfully swatting my ass. I was wearing a pair of bright teal bikini briefs, and I felt my butt bounce from the impact of his hand. I laughed as he wrapped his arms around my chest, then leaned back into his embrace.
Sometimes, I felt like I had a nicer time getting ready in the bathroom with Demir than I did once I was actually out.
“Early night tonight?” I said. “Promise?”
“It will just be Alex, Raul, Paolo, and Sasha,” he said, rubbing his hands across my chest. “You don’t think a quick drink at O’Sullivan’s sounds nice?”
I spun, then grabbed a towel off the rack and began to dry Demir off. My makeup was still sprawled across the sink, but I could finish my eyes later. “No, it’s not that,” I said. “I’ve been wanting to get the group together for a couple weeks.”
“What’s the problem, then? We can always cancel if you need a night in.”
I rubbed the towel down Demir’s back, then took his arms, wiping slowly. His muscles were toned and hairy, and I always loved feeling the contours with my fingers.
“Just wishing we lived in a world where we didn’t have to choose between a night with friends and a night with each other in bed.”
Demir pressed his forehead against mine, and I let the towel drop to the floor. He pushed me back against the sink with a kiss, then stepped back to tug his boxers on. “I hope we’ll have time for both,” he said.
I turned back to the mirror, then stroked a tiny brush against the eyeshadow palette, instinctively going with a soft blue. “Me, too,” I sighed.
Demir knew me well enough that he could tell when I had something on my mind. Once I was done shadowing my lids in, I turned back. He had a T-shirt on with his boxers, and his hair was combed back.
“Do we really have time to start dating someone?” I asked, the question I’d been pondering all week finally slipping out. “If Grayson is up for another date after that disaster…”
Demir frowned. “We do have some things to discuss,” he acknowledged.
“Maybe you can pencil it in your schedule for next week,” I grumped.
Demir grabbed my hand. “Or how about right now? I wanted to watch you try on outfits anyway.”
We wandered back to the bedroom, and it was like the floodgate opened, and all the considerations I’d been worrying over about Grayson came pouring out. I talked about our schedule and how trying to see him again would mean one less date night for Demir and me. I worried about Grayson’s feelings, and whether we might be setting ourselves up to hurt him, seeming more available than we actually were. And as I pulled on and tugged off different pairs of pants, I fretted that Demir and I would screw up and say something insensitive about Grayson’s gender.
“More than anything else though,” I said as I settled on a baby blue T-shirt, “I’m worried about this new addition to the club. Are we fooling ourselves? Are we going to end up even more buried in work than we already are and even more unavailable?”
Demir was sitting on the bed, leaning back on his hands. He let out a puff of air.
“I hear what you’re worried about,” he said. “But I can’t help but notice something.”
“What’s that?”
He leaned up. “You really want to date Grayson, don’t you?”
I jutted my hand against my hip. “What does that mean?”
“You’re not worried about whether you like him or not or whether he’s a good guy. You’re just worried about whether he will like us and whether we’ll be able to show up for him.”
I turned back to the closet but glanced at Demir out of the corner of my eye. “That might be true…” I had been thinking about Grayson a lot, but I didn’t want Demir to think my eye was wandering from him. “How do you feel about him?”
“Good,” Demir said confidently. “He’s solid. It’s like nothing fazes him.”
Relief washed over my body that he didn’t sound jealous. I joined him on the bed and took his hand. “I like to watch the two of you interact,” I said. “I can tell that you respect each other. You don’t butt heads or anything silly like that. You both just seem to look up to each other and hold your own at the same time.”
Demir squeezed my hand. “I love how happy he makes you and how easy it is to relax when we’re with him.”
