“Really?” Sara asked hopefully.
Luke cast her thatwhat do you think?look before smiling. “Of course not. But Sierra did. Just for you.”
Her smile beamed up at him before she waddled toward McKenna and Mercedes, who were sitting near the shallow end of the pool.
“Grab a beer, have a seat,” Luke encouraged, twirling his spatula. “I’ve got cookin’ to tend to, and I’ll grab that lemonade.”
When Luke strolled off, Dylan stepped closer. “He does know Cole’s cooking, right?”
Logan laughed.
Several hours later, after the food had been eaten and the fireworks had been witnessed, the party finally wound down. The majority of the people had dispersed, heading home to tuck little ones in bed, but a few brave souls remained. Luke had hired a babysitter to tend to the kids for the rest of the night, so they were the only ones with kids still hanging around. Xander and Mercedes had stuck around to chat it up with Leah Ingram and Shane Gibson, who’d both stopped by—separately, though they now appeared to betogetherif the fact that they were getting handsy was any indication. Logan had moved to join them, now occupying one of the lounge chairs near the pool, while Sam and Elijah had slipped back into the water with Sierra and Cole.
Logan figured he should head that way, too, since that seemed to be where the adults were congregating now that the kids had cleared out, but he wasn’t moving quickly. For whatever reason, he was content to watch, though that was getting more difficult by the second. The party, which had been a family affair earlier in the evening, was taking a turn toward the taboo, something that frequently happened when they all got together.
“If I didn’t know better, I’d think you were playin’ it safe over here.”
Logan looked up at his brother, then back over to where Elijah and Sam were talking to Cole. “Definitely not safe,” he mumbled.
“All right, spit it out.” Luke dropped into the seat beside him. “I’ve had about enough of your whinin’.”
Logan couldn’t help but smile. He’d been on his best behavior today, so he knew his brother was just giving him shit because he could.
“What’s going on with you?” Luke asked. “Y’all having problems?”
Logan didn’t look at his twin. “No problems.”
“Then why the fuck are you keeping your distance from them? You’ve had your ass planted in that seat all afternoon.”
Logan frowned, then pointed across the way. “Not true. I spent a couple of hours inthatseat over there.”
Luke huffed a sigh. “You can bullshit me all night long, brother, but I know when something’s bothering you. And you’ve been acting fucked up for a while now. Spill it.”
Logan watched Elijah as he leaned in and kissed Sam’s shoulder. It brought back memories of the last pool encounter he’d witnessed between them. Two weeks ago, when Sam had returned from Vegas. He’d later learned that Elijah had told her in explicit detail what had transpired between them while she’d been gone. It hadn’t surprised him that his wife had gotten off on the idea of the two of them touching one another. She’d already admitted to wanting to watch.
Not for the first time, he wondered what she would’ve thought if she’d witnessed Elijah sucking him until he came down his throat. Logan hadn’t shared that little detail with Sam yet—wasn’t even sure he wanted to—and since Sam hadn’t brought it up, he knew Elijah had kept it to himself as well.
“Something’s different between you and Elijah,” Luke noted, his voice low enough that only Logan could hear.
“Something’s different,” Logan agreed.
He still wasn’t sure he wanted to discuss this subject with his brother, but he also knew he had no one else to talk to.
“It’s complicated.”
“Yeah?” Luke snorted. “Meaning there’s something between you and Elijah?”
He didn’t cop to it, figuring it wasn’t necessary. Luke was good at sensing these things.
“I didn’t know until Cole,” Luke said softly, drawing Logan’s full attention. “He was my first and only.”
Logan swallowed, realizing what his brother was saying. More so what hewasn’tsaying.
Daring a quick look over at Luke, he said, “Did you know right away?”
“Fuck no,” he said dramatically, as Luke tended to do. “I’d known that man for years.”
“And there was no one before him?”
