One drop hits my cheek, then another trickles down my jaw, and by the time I scramble to my feet, my hair is sending rivulets down my collar, and I need windshield wipers to see through my glasses. I fumble them into my pocket and offer a hand to Fen, who’s still sitting on the ground, shell-shocked.
“All good?” Sadie calls, having already retreated to the shelter of the porch. She holds her camera up, punctuating the question, and Fen snaps back to himself and lets me haul him to his feet. His shocking pink hair hangs in his eyes, and the deluge is starting to do very interesting things to his white pants as he spins in a graceful circle, throwing his arms in the air.
“Fucking fabulous,” he says, voice pitched to carry over the thunderous patter of the rain.
“This is gonna get messy real fast.” The words spoken are half to myself—an acknowledgment of how far gone I am already as this lyrical creature twirls closer. He’s a haze of shimmering color and wet skin, begging to be caught, to be touched.
“Then let’s get messy.” He sidles into my space, his head tipped down against the rain, and peeks coquettishly from beneath his lashes.
It’s all the invitation I need. Cupping his jaw in my hands, I tilt his face up to meet mine. His hands fist in my shirt, and he has time to shape the words “oh my god” before my lips descend on his and the world falls out from under me.
Some trembling part of me tries to keep it cautious—a soft dip to see if he tastes as sweet and pink as he looks. But then he gasps, and his arms slide up to twine around my neck. His skin is cool from the rain, but his mouth is hot and eager andyes, so fucking sweet that I can’t help but deepen the kiss. There’s no resistance, only the slide of his tongue along mine, silky and uncharacteristically tentative, like my wonder is contagious and he’s feeding it back to me. A small, helpless sound breaks from his throat, and my blood surges.
Without thought, I wrap my arms around his waist and pull him to me, like I could kiss him with every part of me if I could get close enough. My dick thickens in my shorts, and when he rubs his stomach over it, I groan against his lips before breaking away. I don’t release him, only drop my forehead to his and whisper, “Think she’s using a telephoto lens?”
“Not sure she needs one from less than twenty feet away.” He giggles, stealing the last of my breath. “That was a really good kiss.”
A flush of pride further heats my blood, and I drop my hands to his hips, caressing that captivating trail of lace, now soaked and clinging to his slippery skin.
“Can we do it again?” I ask.
“Yes, please.”
This time I hook my fingers in the lace and haul his hips to mine. He meets me hungrily, tangling his grip in my hair to tug me down and swallow my moan. Everything swirls in a clash of textures—the cool rain soaking my shirt, the bite of his nails on my scalp, the impossibly slick heat of his tongue.
And just as I’d imagined, the lace has left its subtle texture on his skin, an erotic etching under my thumbs as I stroke over his hip bones. I could stay here forever, kissing him like this, but then he shivers violently in my arms, breaking the spell.
“Oh shit. Are you cold?” It’s inconceivable, given the fever raging through me, but of course he is. We’re both soaked to the skin, and the temperature has dropped twenty degrees from the mid-nineties of the afternoon.
“Only on the outside,” he murmurs, then glances toward the house. “But maybe we should get out of the rain?”
“Sure, yeah.” Reluctantly, I release him, then—sending my dick a firm mental message to calm down—take his hand and lead him back to the porch.
Sadie is already packing up her stuff as we climb the steps.
“I’m gonna get out of your hair,” she tells us. “You guys were amazing. You’re going to love the shots.”
“Thank you.” Fen squeezes my hand. “I can’t wait to see them.”
“Do I need to, like, sign anything, or…?” I ask.
“I have your number. I’ll send over the paperwork later. Right now, I want to get back to my hotel and take a hot bubble bath.” Slinging her camera bag over her shoulder, she offers us a warm smile. “Seriously, thank you so much for stepping in at the last minute, Ollie. I think it worked out better than any of us could have hoped. And don’t worry, I can see myself out.”
And then she’s gone, and Fen and I are alone.
Distracted by the kiss, and then the awkwardness of saying goodbye to Sadie while trying to hide my half boner, I haven’t reallylookedat Fen until now. While I stand bedraggled in my waterlogged flip-flops, soaked shirt clinging to my chest and shorts dripping onto the painted floorboards, he’s even more magical, all his colors sharpened by the storm.
He scrubs a hand through his hair, tossing his head so the wet strands fall into artful disarray. The cotton of his cargo pants isn’t that thin, and they aren’t even soaked past the top few inches, but it’s enough. Enough that when he moves past me toward the door, those sinful pink panties peek through—a heart-shaped splash of color framing the top of his perky ass.
When he glances back, he catches me staring, and his smile turns wicked.
“You coming?”
Swallowing hard, I nod and follow him into the house.
The air-conditioning hits us like an arctic blast as soon as we step inside, and Fen shivers again, wrapping his arms around himself.
“So…” he says, glancing toward the hallway where Sadie’s footsteps echo. “What now?”
