4. Ryder
Chapter 4
Ryder
One of the main drawbacks of having such pale skin was that whenever I blushed, it was obvious. That, and I burned easily. I wasn’t usually shy or anything, but I didn’t have the most experience when it came to sexual nuances or even knowing all the flirtatious signs. Working at Legends, however, I was learning quickly. Get drinks into people, combined with loud music, and they become less sexually inhibited.
When Finn unbuttoned my shirt, my body shuddered at his touch, his fingertips brushing against my skin. Then the goosebumps burst across my body. My reaction to him was obvious, and that right there had my face and ears flaming. He said nothing as he practically undressed me in front of everyone.
I couldn’t figure out why for the life of me until he explained he was loosening me up for a pool party rather than an outing to a coffee shop.
Finn was a model, so I supposed he would know fashion better than anyone.
After he touched me, I wanted more. I’d never been touched by a man beyond shaking hands, and I would’ve loved Finn to have been the one who opened me up to the world of sex with a guy. But he was the boss’s stepson and hands-off.
Finn threaded his hand into the crook of my elbow and led me to a group of men—gorgeous men. I looked around the party and didn’t see one average-looking person. Work was like that, too. Everyone there was attractive.
“Let me introduce you to some friends of mine. Well… ‘ friends ’ is stretching the word. They work with me as models, but the competition is fierce, and those who are in power try to keep the dynamic alive, forcing us to do their bidding without complaint.”
“Sounds… terrible.”
Finn chuckled and pressed his shoulder against mine. I felt cold when he pulled away. “Oh, it has its moments. It can be fun, too, and plays into my need to be the center of attention.” He smirked at me. “And I love attention.”
He didn’t have to try. Finn exuded confidence and beauty. Everywhere he went, people watched him.
For his party, he wore tan linen shorts with a white linen button-up, which was open like mine, exposing lean, lightly tanned abs. On his feet were leather sliders, showing off smooth, pedicured toes. I wish I could have seen his beautiful green eyes to know if they sparkled in the sun like gemstones. I only got to see them in the darkened club.
While grateful to be invited to his party, I felt inadequate and out of my league, surrounded by the beautiful and wealthy, reminding me of how far removed I was from these people.
We stepped up to three men, chatting and drinking, looking like they belonged.
“Ryder, this is Casey, Edwin, and Sean. Everyone, this is Ryder. He works at Legends, but I hope we’ll become good friends.”
They looked a lot like Finn, wearing linen and standing out like perfectly gorgeous gods.
I put on my Legends persona and reached for each of their hands, but none reached for my hand, probably because they were holding their wineglasses. Still, it was off-putting. I dropped my hand. “It’s a pleasure to meet you.”
All three raised their glasses to me but said nothing. Well, that was awkward, if not a bit rude. It just showed that even if someone was good-looking, it didn’t mean they were friendly or kind. I’d quickly learned people from Washington, DC, were often like that. I rarely came across someone genuinely kind. My roommates were pretty cool. Most people were assholes, making me miss back home. But there was no going back home. I couldn’t.
I chose Washington for a reason. It was everything my hometown of Blair was not. That was the point.
When a server stopped by with a tray full of assorted beverages, Finn plucked a wineglass of white wine and handed it to me. “Try this. You’ll love it. It’s my father’s favorite, called Pouilly-Fumé Clos du Calvaire Dagueneau, 2008 vintage.”
I inhaled the aroma and took a small sip, pretending I was familiar with wine. While I was a bartender, patrons usually drank cocktails—drinks that would add to their inebriation faster. It was smooth and tasted good, but anything else about it, I was clueless.
“Delicious,” I said.
Finn snorted a laugh and picked up a lollipop from the tray, unwrapped it, and put it into his mouth, rolling it as he grinned at me. “You have no idea, do you?”
The heat spread across my face again and straight to my ears as I shrugged. “You caught me.”
His model friends scoffed at me. Whatever… pretentious assholes. At least Finn was nice and didn’t leave me hanging out alone and out of place.
“I can make complicated cocktail recipes, but patrons at Legends generally don’t drink wine. If they do, they already know exactly what they want,” I finished.
“You have a wonderful flair for drink-making,” Finn said before looking at his friends. “He makes a perfect Ramos Gin Fizz, which is incredibly difficult to make. It requires vigorous shaking during the process, creating the perfect foam and consistency. Ryder is flawless at it.” He clinked his lollipop on my glass in cheers. “Father and I hadn’t expected that when he hired you.”
“I took a strenuous course on mixology to expand my knowledge and try to work at a club. I wanted to be more of a mixologist than a bartender, and I found I’m kind of good at it,” I said.
Finn grinned crookedly at me. “That you are.”
As the day wore on, I liked Finn’s model friends less and less, so I stopped caring and eventually just ignored them.
Finn never left my side as we watched the band, ate, and drank more—well, I did. As evening approached, he opened birthday gifts and money he probably didn’t need, and then we had some cake.
As the crowd dwindled, I felt warm and light, like I could float off into space. All the wine I’d had left me buzzed and comfortable. Any residual awkwardness was long gone.
My new friend took my empty wineglass and handed it off to one of the many servers, and then he handed me a water bottle. I was too disoriented to know where he even got it.
“Drink,” he ordered when I just stood there.
“Oh…”
I twisted the cap and took a sip.
“All of it.”
Okay then …
I chugged it all back, and when I finished, he took it from me and gave the plastic bottle to someone before he took my hand in his and tugged me to walk with him.
“You didn’t bring a swimsuit, did you?” he asked.
“Ah… no.”
“ Tsk . You can borrow one of mine. We’re nearly the same size. A couple of inches in height shouldn’t matter.”
Finn’s hand felt right in mine, and I wished our fingers were entwined instead.
“So, how old did you turn again today?” I asked.
“Twenty-three.”
I nodded as he led me into his house and up the stairs. His bedroom door was already open, so we stepped inside.
His entire home, including his bedroom, was minimalist, with lots of white, modern furniture, yet it looked comfortable with plush blankets and pillows on his bed. The walls had several enlarged black-and-white photos of Finn modeling.
Because it was dark outside, the lights filled the room with a soft glow, making the simplicity of the room appear warm.
I stared at the photographs and sighed. Damn, he was stunning.
“Let’s find you a pair of swim trunks. I can’t see you enjoying wearing a Speedo .”
I was buzzed enough not to care, but I followed Finn’s lead.
He dug around in his massive walk-in closet, opening a built-in drawer, and pulled out a pair of white swim trunks that were shorter than I would normally wear.
“These will look hot on you,” he said.
Finn set the shorts and his Speedo on his bed, then reached for my shirt and pulled it off my arms. I trembled again as his fingers touched my skin.
A small smile twitched on his mouth. Did he notice how I reacted to him? God, I hoped not.
“The sun did you some good, Ryder. I love the splash of color on your cheeks and nose. It also brought out some freckles. So cute.”
That was probably my idiotic blushing.
He stood so close to me I could smell him. His skin had hints of the sun on it, with a lingering cologne that carried woodsy scents. It was fresh and light.
“Every time I get to see how green your eyes are, it’s dark,” I blurted as my blushing nearly burned my face off.
Finn beamed at me. “Like my eyes, do you?”
I nodded.
“I like yours, too. They’re such an unusual hazel color with flecks of red. They’re stunning, really.”
“Thanks,” I mumbled.
Finn stood back a little as he removed his button-up, tossing it onto his bed, then he unbuttoned and unzipped his shorts, letting them fall to his ankles before kicking them away.
My body swayed a little, and my heart rate picked up speed as I watched him get undressed. His lightly tanned skin was fully stripped of hair, looking smooth and soft. It took all my drunken power not to reach out and touch it.
Finn didn’t just have a light dusting of freckles on his face, but on his shoulders and arms, too. He had a lot of them, but they were pale.
As if he were alone in his room, he tucked his thumbs into the waistband of his white briefs and pulled them off.
Holy… Oh, god… Finn was naked.
My eyes instantly pinged at his cock, and my jaw nearly dropped at the sight of the piercing through his slit… Jesus . I quickly glanced away before he caught me gawking. Out of the corner of my eye, he turned his back to me, so I looked at his body more freely. He had a bubbly ass, but it wasn’t big, and it was as flawless as the rest of his skin.
Then he bent over to pull on his Speedo and… Oh god… my lungs constricted, and the pounding in my heart threatened to burst from my chest. For a flash, I saw his puckered hole. It called to me, and I nearly reached out to touch it.
My cock pulsed a little, trying to stir to life, but I mentally beat it back. How humiliating. The blushing was bad enough. Before I got caught staring or getting a hard-on, I turned to face the bed and grabbed the swim trunks.
Once he had his pink swimsuit pulled all the way on, he tugged me over to the full-length mirror hanging on the wall and turned me to face it.
“Get undressed and into the swim trunks. I’m so ready to cool down in the pool.”
“Uhm…”
“Shit, I’m sorry. I guess I’m just used to being naked. Models are often naked in front of groups of people and each other. They poke and prod you, touching you in places that make you feel uncomfortable, but you’re never allowed to complain, or else you’ll never work again. You have to say ‘ yes ’ to everything. Hours are grueling. You’re never fed… Basically, models are just living, breathing hangers.” Finn huffed a laugh. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to say all that.”
“Why do you do it, then? You don’t seem to need the money.”
“While grueling and lonely, and you have no real friends, I love the work, and as I said, I love the attention. Runways are my favorite, though rough. But you get to travel the world, meet famous people, and be gorgeous. In a way, I’ve been immortalized in magazine spreads. Right now, I’m on a break to get some physical and mental rest.”
“Aren’t you worried you’ll lose your job?”
“We are allowed to take breaks now and then.”
I huffed a self-deprecating laugh. “Right… stupid of me.”
He rested his chin on my shoulder, still standing at my back and looking at me in the mirror. His body against my back was so hot to the touch, like he just emitted heat. I really liked him touching me, but I worried my dick would react and he would notice.
“You could be a model yourself, Ryder.”
I smiled shyly and shook my head. “Nah, that’s not for me. Working in a club is so different from how my life used to be, and that’s good enough.”
His hands rested on my hips, still looking at me so intently in the mirror that I had to glance away.
“Get undressed and put those swim trunks on. Hurry now. I want to get into the water.”
With a deep breath, I pulled off my jeans and kicked them away. Then, without overthinking it, I pulled off my boxer briefs.
I quickly glanced in the mirror to see Finn not looking at me, giving me much-needed privacy before I promptly tugged on the swim trunks.
When they were on, he turned back to face me and reached around, adjusting the shorts. I closed my eyes and willed my cock to behave when he inserted his long fingers underneath the legs of the shorts, all the way up between my thighs and sac. His fingers grazed my nuts for a second before tugging and adjusting the fabric.
God, I swore, I couldn’t find any breath, desperate for oxygen.
“Just as I thought. They look fucking perfect on you.”
I wanted to ask Finn if he was interested in me. Or had he just touched me unintentionally? Why would he even be interested in me? It had to be the model in him. As he said, he was used to being touched like that and being naked around others. It was probably nothing, along with my buzzed brain.
“We have towels in a warmer outside by the pool,” he said, stepping away and grabbing my hand again.
This time, my breath hitched when he threaded our fingers together.
Strangely, by the time we came outside to the pool area, everyone was gone—not one party straggler remained. Even Mr. Porter couldn’t be found.
A staff member stepped up to Finn and gave a nod. “Can I get you and Mr. Jennings anything?” he asked.
“Can you bring us two tumblers of Jameson 18-Year-Old Limited , neat, and two bottles of water, please?”
The man gave a single nod again and walked off to get our order.
Finn sat on the edge of the pool, dangling his legs in the water. I sat next to him. The water was surprisingly refreshing, but not so cold that you had to get used to it.
The server returned shortly after, handing us our tumblers of whiskey.
“Thank you,” Finn told him. “We won’t need anything else.”
When the man walked off, Finn and I clinked glasses. I took a sip as the burn from the alcohol went down. It was fairly smooth, but I wasn’t used to drinking hard liquor. I was generally a beer man.
Finn tossed his back like a shot, and I did the same, not wanting to fall behind. Then he stood and dove into the pool.
“Come in!” he yelled when his head popped above the surface.
Feeling even more buzzed than before, I slipped into the water and rested against the wall, treading water since it was too deep to stand in. I spread my arms over the edge to hold myself upright.
Finn had a greenish-blue glow cast onto his face from the lights of the pool. He had a smirk on his face as he swam toward me so close I could see every little water droplet on his face.
“I like you, Ryder.”
I nodded stupidly and looked away, unable to tell again if he was hitting on me. I had so little context to go on.
“Yeah, I like you, too.”
He reached for my face, cupped my cheek, and forced me to look at him. “No. I like you more than that.”
Oh, god… Mr. Porter would not be pleased.