31. Walker #2
“Damn right you are. And so am I,” he admits, thrusting his hips into me.
I’ve died and gone to heaven. That’s the only logical explanation for what is happening right now. Well, that, or I took a hoof to the head like he did and this is all a dream.
The terrifying thought makes me grip him harder.
He swallows my moans as I buck my release on his lap. He responds by coming a second later with my name on his lips.
He wraps his arms around me and buries his face in my neck as we come down from the high of our orgasms. In a sleepy voice, he eventually asks, “Did everyone see that?”
I chuckle and look around the boat. At some point everyone gave us some privacy and got back in the water, but Knox makes eye contact with me and answers the question.
“If there is one drop of either of your DNA on my boat, you will be staying at the marina to wipe the entire thing down,” he informs me.
Unable to hide my smile, I turn back to Phoenix. “Yep. Everyone saw that.”
He runs a hand over his face. “Fuck. They’ll never let us live that down.”
I lean forward and drop my voice, ensuring no one hears the next part. “As long as you don’t push me away again… and as long as you put your cock in my ass the second we get home…I don’t care if they give us hell every day for the rest of our lives.”
His eyes flash to mine like he’s about to argue, but I clamp my hand over his mouth.
“You want me and I want you. Stop making this more complicated than it needs to be.”
He nods and I remove my hand.
Tracing his initials in the ink on my side, he looks up at me through his lashes. “Fine. But now that you’re mine, I don’t plan on letting you go, so we need to talk about what happens next.”
“We will, but not today. Today, I want to celebrate finally being whole again.” I press another kiss to his lips and wiggle my hips just to feel him beneath me, simply because I can.
“What is it about Knox’s boat that makes everyone so damn horny?” Hudson yells from the water.
“What are you talking about? Who else has spilled their fucking seed on my boat?” Knox quips incredulously.
“You don’t remember when Jake literally launched himself over the side of the boat to jerk off in the water when Dylan was singing that Bieber song?” Hudson asks, laughing.
“No,” Knox replies, “but at least he had the decency to do it in the water.”
“You knew that’s what I was doing?” Jake asks, whipping his eyes to Hudson.
“Bro, of course I knew what you were doing. I’m not gonna lie. I don’t even like dick and I was almost right there with you. Not to make it weird,” he says, looking over at Dylan, “but you’re pretty much everyone’s type.”
Jake makes a face like he’s sucking something out of his teeth. “Are you guys ever going to stop hitting on my husband?”
A chorus of no and probably not fills the air…with Phoenix chiming in, “Never.”
Dylan gives a hearty laugh. “You guys are good for a man’s ego.”
“And terrible for a man’s sanity,” Jake adds before kicking his float right next to Dylan’s, grabbing him by the back of the neck and kissing him to mark his territory.
When he breaks away from Dylan, he turns to face the boat again as I uncap a bottle of water for Phoenix.
The last thing I need is him sobering up later, regretting this entire thing and hiding himself up in his head.
“Phoe,” Jake says with a slight edge of anger in his voice.
When Phoenix doesn’t answer, Jake shouts louder. “ Phoenix!”
“What?” Phoenix asks, half asleep, now stretched out on the bench seat of the boat. His cock still half-hard in his swim trunks, making my mouth water.
“You didn’t think to mention you like dick when I was going through all that shit with Dylan? I could’ve used someone to talk to, you asshole.”
At this, Phoenix sits up. “First of all, you were practically engaged to Cora before you told us that you were gay. And second of all, me coming out to you would not have helped you as much as you think because I hadn’t hooked up with a guy in years.
I could barely stand watching you and Dylan as it was. ”
You know, five minutes ago, I would’ve sworn Phoenix was drunk off his ass. And now…he sounds as sober as ever.
“Which reminds me,” I say, cutting in, reaching out a hand for Phoenix and nodding my head for him to follow me into the lake. I’m hot and sticky and that water is going to feel so perfect. “Can we talk about how you haven’t been with another guy in those eight years?”
Phoenix and I climb down the ladder carefully and share the only float left…which, thankfully is a pool noodle and not the poo emoji inner tube Hudson currently has his ass planted in.
Phoenix and I drape our arms over the noodle, letting our feet dangle freely in the murky water. I notice Phoenix’s gaze dart to my injured wrist, but he bites back any warning about being careful that he wants to give.
Finally, he heaves a sigh. “I mean I wanted to hook up with guys again. There are things a guy can offer that a woman can’t, but every time I tried…
fuck, all I saw was your face and I was hit with a mix of anger, remorse, and longing so fucking bad it knocked the breath out of me.
The one time I got close to closing the deal, all I could think about was the last time I was taking an ass, it belonged to you, and I’d been the only one there. ”
His answer fucking wrecks me.
As I try to figure out how in the hell I’m supposed to respond to that, I notice the rest of the guys have struck up a new conversation, leaving Phoenix and I to hash the rest of our shit out semi-privately, which I appreciate.
They’re honestly the most solid group of guys I’ve ever met, and already, they feel like family.
When the time comes to go back to Texas, I’ll miss more than just Phoenix. A lot more. But missing him will be bad enough, even if we’re technically still “together” when I go.
I slide across the noodle to be closer to him and kiss his shoulder.
“If I had known that night was going to mess with you that much, I never would have told you it was my first time. I hope you know that. I was just so in shock that you were coming on to me, and I didn’t want to miss out on everything that night could have been…
on everything that night was. I needed you to know it was important to me.
That’s all I was trying to tell you with that note.
” As my words hang in the silence, I hastily add, “It’s not an excuse, though, and I really am sorry.
Looking back, I can see how that, along with my mistaken indifference, could mess with you, but God, Phoenix, you were perfect. ”
Phoenix finally turns to look at me and I’m waiting with baited breath for him to shut me down, call this off, yell, something. But what I’m not prepared for is his left hand to leave the noodle to grip my hair and bring my face within an inch of his.
“I’m just really fucking glad I got to you before you got to that pistol. ”
There are tears in his eyes as he slams his mouth down on mine.
How we managed to keep our hands off each other for the remainder of the outing, I’m not sure, but thankfully, Knox brought the boat back to the dock an hour later.
Phoenix insisted he was sober enough to drive, and after hearing about some of the awful stuff they’ve seen when responding to car wrecks as first responders, I know he wouldn’t risk driving buzzed or drunk.
Although, his ability to tolerate that much alcohol gives me a pretty good idea of how he’s been handling his stress the last few years, and a fresh wave of guilt slams into me.
On the ride home things are quiet, so I ask if I can turn on the radio, too drained for another big talk if he’s second guessing everything. At this point, I’ve done everything I can. He knows how I feel about him, about us, and that I want us to be a couple. The ball is in his court.
When he gives me the green light, I turn up whatever station is currently playing from his phone, not wanting to take the time to sync it to mine.
Somewhere Down in Texas by Jason Boland is playing. I’m familiar with the song and I tap my foot on the floorboard. Up next is Amarillo by Morning by George Strait, one of my all-time favorites. When a third Texas-themed song pops up, I’m starting to notice the pattern.
“Hey, Phoe?”
“Yeah?” he asks, his eyes never leaving the road .
“Is this entire playlist themed around Texas for a specific reason?”
His eyes slide to me, but he doesn’t turn his head.
“If I say no, would you believe me?”
“No,” I answer honestly.
“If I say yes, are you going to ask me a bunch of annoying follow up questions?”
“Probably,” I reply, grinning like an idiot until he opens his mouth again.
“Then I plead the fifth, and as soon as our asses walk in the front door, I’m going to shove my cock so far in your mouth you can’t ask a single one of them.”
He doesn’t disappoint. Since reuniting at the rodeo, we’ve shared three intimate moments.
The first one he stopped before it could really get started, the second one was more about apologies and healing from our past than it was about getting off.
Wouldn’t have mattered anyway, since he stopped that moment in its tracks too.
And the third encounter had an audience.
When he throws the truck in park in his wide, gravel driveway and we walk up the steps to the front door, there is no reason we can’t take this all the way tonight.
Thank God.