“Not sure. I can ask when we get back,” Bailey said, offering me a tiny smile. “Or if you don’t wanna try there, there are a couple of other places on the marina we can look at. I made a list of the ones you might like.”
“No, that sounds good.”
“Cool.”
Another long moment and I could hear my heart beating in my ears. Could Bailey hear it too?
The heat of the sun was relentless, and I wasn’t sure if that was what was making me dizzy or if it was the glare of the lightoff the water. Either way I wanted to get moving again before I gave myself a headache.
“I’m gonna swim around the boat a little more,” I said, gently pulling back so he had to let go of me. “Want to come too?”
“Sure. Yeah, sounds good.” He bit his lip and wrinkled his face up. “Is the water really salty, or is it just me?”
“I think it’s just you.”
“At least it’s warmer than Skeg,” he said as we began to swim slowly, and I chuckled at the memory of our team trip to Skegness earlier in the spring. We’d all ended up in the water, but that had been the North Sea in fucking April. Not exactly a pleasant experience.
Throwing the coaches in had been fun, though.
“Yeah. Think we could get away with suggesting a training camp here? Or, I dunno, Spain? Anywhere warmer than Skegness.”
“We can try,” Bailey said. “The worst they can say is no.”
“We’ll ask Clive when we get back.”
Bailey hummed, cutting slowly through the water. I could tell he was thinking but I wasn’t going to interrupt. I always hated when people tried to jog thoughts out of me before I was ready, so I tried not to do it to anyone else, even if I wanted to know.
“How do you think Jonny and Devon’s move went?” Bailey asked eventually.
I coughed, trying not to swallow a ton of seawater. “Don’t know. Hopefully well.”
“Do you think Aiden’s still there?”
“No. It’s been two weeks. He’ll have gone back to work.”
Bailey nodded as he reached the ladder to climb back on board, putting one hand on it as he began to tread water. He was clearly lost in thought but trying to hide it. I wondered if his thoughts were the same as mine. But I still didn’t know how to ask without it sounding weird.
I mean, it was weird, wasn’t it? To pine after a guy you’d randomly had sex with twice.
Even if he had completely upended your entire world and made you rethink everything you thought you’d known about yourself…
It was still weird. Right?
“I think you were right,” Bailey said, distracting me before I wandered down yet another Aiden-related rabbit hole.
“About what?”
“I need more sun cream. I think I’m gonna burn.”
I chuckled. “Wow, you can listen.”
“Sometimes. When I have to.”
I nodded, trying not to remember the way he’d followed Aiden’s instructions without hesitation. And how good he’d looked between Aiden’s legs…
“Come on,” I said, gesturing up the ladder with my head. “Let’s do it now before you turn into a bloody lobster.”
Getting my hands on Bailey wasn’t exactly going to help my wandering thoughts, but I couldn’t tell him no.
Not without a reason.
And I didn’t have a good one to give him.
