“Just don’t ask me for tips on sex with women, because I can’t help you there.”
My jaw drops, and I let out a shocked laugh before kicking him again, harder this time.
“Ouch, shit!” he cries, but he’s laughing too.
I give him a smug look. “I think I’m doing pretty good in that department, as a matter of fact.”
He shakes his head rapidly. “Okay, nope, no. I’m sorry. Shouldn’t have joked about it. I don’t need to know.”
I take a chug of my drink, glad to have shut him up. Although, truthfully, it feels great to be here and be able to talk to my brother about this stuff. We call each other when I’m in Nashville, but it’s not the same.
We sit in a comfortable quiet for a few minutes until Toby yells, “Hey, can one of you bring me the tube please?”
Andrew gets up to do it, slinging it like a Frisbee when he gets to theedge of the water, and then laughing when it doesn’t even come close to reaching Toby and Toby has to wade in to grab it. As he’s returning to me, Addison appears at the end of the path carrying a large wicker basket.
“Hey,” she says. “I brought food.”
I stick my drink in the chair’s cupholder and get up to greet her. “Hi! You didn’t have to do that.”
“But we’re certainly not objecting,” Andrew says.
Addison shrugs. “It’s only sandwiches, plus some cheese, crackers, and fruit.”
Taking the basket from her, I set it down beside our towels. “Thank you. That was sweet.”
She scrunches up her face like she wants to argue about being called sweet, but I don’t give her a chance. I lean in and steal a kiss, pressing my lips to hers for a few seconds before pulling back. She tastes like coconut chapstick, and I almost lean in for more, but then Toby whoops and cheers from the water, making me blush.
“Oh geez, ignore him,” Andrew says, shaking his head. “Actually, I’d better go join him to keep him entertained.” He quickly removes his shirt, tosses it on a towel, then turns and rushes off to the water.
“Real subtle!” I call out after him.
Addison looks at me with an amused twinkle in her eye, and I feel myself blushing again.
“So, um, I told my brother about us,” I admit. “I hope that’s okay.”
She smiles and reaches for my face, sweeping her thumb over my cheekbone. “Yeah, it’s okay, Strawberry. You’re allowed to tell whomever you want.”
“There’s not really anyone else I plan on telling.”
For a second, a dark look flashes across her face, but then she smiles again. “Right. Of course.”
I shake my head. “It’s not that I’m ashamed or anything.”
“I know.”
“I’m not ashamed of who I am,” I insist, because it’s important she understands that. “Or of you. I mean, come on. You’re so hot.”
She laughs and pulls me in for another kiss that’s brief but still somehow leaves me breathless. Then she pulls off her shirt, revealing a simple black bikini top, and the breath gets punched out of me a second time. If I look hard enough, I can make out the outline of her nipple rings under the thin fabric.
“Are you getting in the water?” she asks with a smirk, no doubt noticing where my eyes strayed.
“I will whenever you want to.”
She looks out to the water, where Andrew’s lying on his back on top of the inner tube, peacefully floating along. And then Toby grabs his ankle and tries to drag him where he wants him to go, but he evidently pulls too hard, and suddenly Andrew is flipping sideways off the tube and faceplanting in the water.
He comes up sputtering and laughing and lunges for Toby, who squeals as he tries to climb on top of the tube on his stomach.
“We could just sit here for a bit,” Addison says.
