Ian had made it clear he wasn’t interested in BDSM, but sometimes I wondered if he tried too hard to deny it. He said he didn’t understand Finley, but I paid attention to the way he watched Fin around Aidan, the way he watched them interact, and damn, did I want to explore that flare of curiosity he tried to hide.
I wouldn’t, of course. The last thing I needed was to get involved with someone who wasn’t sure when it came to BDSM.
Ian floated away from Jordan and Finley, who were still playing around. He watched them, his hand skimming the water, before his gaze flittered to me. He didn’t wink or smile or flirt the way Jordan would have, just wrinkled his nose and studied me, until Finley jumped on his back, distracting him.
“Here you go.” Aidan handed me a margarita, and I forced my attention away from the two boys I’d been obsessing about since I got there.
CHAPTER FOUR
Ian
“Sir, will you please come swimming with us?” Finley begged Aidan after Jordan whispered to him that he really wanted to get David in the water with us.
“What? I’m not enough for you?” I found myself saying, pulling Jordan toward me and wrapping my arms around him. His eyes flared with the same surprise I felt in my chest. What the fuck was that? So I dunked him instead of contemplating it.
He pushed up and broke the water, his voice soft and just for me when he said, “Jesus, you couldn’t have gotten flirty with me before I decided to try and play with David? I had no idea hooking up with you was even an option.”
I hadn’t either, and I didn’t know if it really was. “That’s not what I meant. You always have sex on the brain.” Not that sex was a bad thing to think about.
Jordan frowned.
“I’m coming, I’m coming,” Aidan replied. Finley always got his way with Aidan, who came off as this really closed-off hard-ass, but who loved Finley in ways I’d never seen in my whole life. He was all mush when it came to my best friend.
“I’ll go change,” David said.
“Need any help?” Jordan asked, and I rolled my eyes.
David cocked a dark brow at him. “Be careful what you ask for, pet. I just might take you up on the offer, and you need to make sure you can handle it.”
For the first time, Jordan was struck quiet. David chuckled before going inside, and my stomach twisted uncomfortably.
Aidan dived into the water and resurfaced right beside Finley. He pulled my friend into his arms, then looked over his shoulder at Jordan. “Is there something I should know?”
“Just testing the waters…Sir,” Jordan replied.
“Jordan wants to play with David,” Finley added.
“Gee, thanks, Fin.”
“Sorry, Jordan. He’s my Sir, and I didn’t know it was a secret.”
I was surprised when Aidan’s gaze flittered briefly over to me, and there was something foreign there, as if he expected me to feel some kind of way about it. “You boys are trouble.” He pulled Finley closer and said, “Kiss me.”
“Yes, Sir.” Everyone else was forgotten as Aidan and Finley made out.
“God, he’s so lucky. I want a rich, older man,” Jordan teased.
“Why do you do that? You make it sound like it’s about the money, but I don’t think it is.”
Jordan was frowning again. I was pretty sure he hadn’t expected me to say that, and I hadn’t either. The words had simply come out, but the fact was, I believed they were true.
“I…” Jordan started just as I said, “There’s your fuck.” I nodded toward David as he came out, effectively changing the subject.
Not gonna lie, David was gorgeous. He wore a red Speedo that looked great against his sun-kissed skin, and he had a huge bulge, flat, cut abs, and a dusting of hair between his pecs. He stepped into the pool, and Jordan immediately swam over to him.
“Hi.” Jordan grinned.
“Hi.” David took hold of Jordan’s chin between his index finger and thumb. “Is there something you’re looking to ask me? Something you want?”
Jordan straightened his back. “Yes.”
“Not today. I’ll give you my phone number, and we’ll talk soon,” David replied, and I sank down below the water and swam toward the other side of the pool. I felt a hand wrap around my ankle, then let go. When I resurfaced, Finley was there.
“Are you okay? What’s wrong?”
I shook my head. “Nothing. I’m fine. Just gonna miss you, is all.”
“I’ll miss you too.”
I pulled my head out of my ass after that. We swam for a while, Finley hanging all over Aidan, Jordan flirting with David.
About an hour or so later, Aidan said, “Time to put the rest of the food together while I get the meat on the grill.”
“Yes, Sir,” Finley replied with a grin.
We hung out and chatted as the food cooked, Aidan going back and forth to the grill, Finley inside the house. Jordan was laying it on thick with David, who was eating it up. It felt…weird. I felt left out.
“Oh, this looks like a nice seat.” Jordan sat on David’s lap.
“Next time ask,” David said, but didn’t tell Jordan to get up. Instead, he put a hand on Jordan’s waist, fingers right above Jordan’s Speedo, rubbing his hip bone.
I watched the movement, and it was…fuck, it was hot, but then who wouldn’t think so? They were both gorgeous, David broad where Jordan wasn’t.
“I have another leg if you want it.”
My eyes snapped to David’s. Shit. I’d been staring.
“I can make room,” Jordan added playfully just as I said, “No thanks. Not interested.”
“Gee, thanks,” Jordan answered, and I wished I hadn’t said it. Why in the hell was I wishing I hadn’t replied that way?
“How’s work going?”
My gaze found David’s again as I considered his question. “It’s work. I have two shitty jobs. How good is it supposed to be?”
“It was similar for me when I started school. I was broke, and while I had scholarships and loans, I knew it would be worth it. I worked my ass off, two jobs, studying all night. It’s a good thing to have a strong work ethic, no matter what the work is. There’s nothing to be ashamed of.”
Yeah, but he’d been going to college to be a fucking surgeon. This was my life, all I would ever be. Still, I hadn’t known David had struggled. He seemed the type who’d had money his whole life. “Thanks…I, um…I appreciate what I have.”
“I know you do.”
The hairs on my arms stood on end. I felt under the microscope, like both David and Jordan were dissecting me. I rubbed a hand over the back of my neck and stood. “I’ll see if Fin needs any help.”
I went into the kitchen, where Finley was pulling a pasta salad out of the fridge, and asked him, “Do you need anything?”
“I’m good. Thanks. Hey, you sure you’re okay?”
The truth was, I felt a bit jealous of Jordan…or David…or Jordan and David. Hell, I didn’t even know which one. Maybe I was jealous of everyone, because I was being weird about Finley and Aidan too. “Yeah, I’m just stressed. Bills and stuff.”