Chapter Eleven

Victor

When Leeson's elbow had connected with my ribs, bringing me out of a pleasant haze of warm sleepiness, I'd nearly fallen off my lounger. Only when he'd made a show of pointing to the pool did it register why he'd done it.

"Get over there," he'd hissed.

I hadn't needed to be told twice. My self-consciousness about my pale skin had nothing on my desire to get Mr. Polished away from Denton. We might not have had an auspicious start with the interruptions, but Denton wasn't going to be taken from me by someone else, not when he'd declared himself bisexual. I'd scowled all the way to the pool"s edge before coming up with a ploy to get Denton out of the water.

A part of me remained in shock at my bold move and calling Denton my boyfriend. Another part was even more shocked that he'd not contradicted me. Yeah, that left me in need of something stronger than a fruit drink. I'd required something strong enough to stop me from having a panic attack at what I'd done. It wasn't in my nature to make such a move. I had little dating experience before Davey and he'd chased me, not the other way around. After him, well, I'd not initially been interested until Denton, who I'd assumed was straight.

"Yes, I do," I replied, watching him with interest when color diffused his cheeks until they were a dark pink.

"Right… okay… if you're sure…"

Why was he stuttering?

I glanced at Leeson, who was muffling his giggles with the back of his hand. When I returned my attention to Denton, unclear what the heck I was missing, I pronounced my nod just to be clear. "I am."

When he spun around muttering under his breath, "karma, I'm beginning to hate you," I once more looked back at Leeson.

"Am I missing something? What does he mean about karma? Is that what Mr. Polished guy's name is?" Strange names were a thing, weren't they?

"How would I know what his name is?" Leeson spluttered in between bouts of deep belly laughter. "I haven't met the guy officially, but I like your nickname for him, Mr Polished."

"Behave, Lee," Garrett muttered sternly, tipping his sunglasses down his nose from his seated position at the table next to the sun loungers where Beckett, Quinton, Nolen, Haines and Teo, the rest of the wedding party, sat with a subdued-looking Ollie.

The bunch were friendly. Of the eight of us invited to Leeson and Garret's wedding, only Teo was family. There was a planned ceremony in Florida on our return for Leeson and Garrett's other family members. Teo, Leeson's brother, was the only male family member brave enough to come on a gay cruise. He was Leeson's older brother and was sharing with Nolen, who was an old school friend of Leeson's. Haines was a chocolatier who was friends first with Garrett and married to Quinton, who had the most amazing laugh. One he unleashed when Leeson attempted to smother his glee using his hands, and failed as he bodily shook with uncontrolled giggles on the lounger next to mine.

What was I missing? Why was he laughing so hard?

Most of the men's eyes held mirth when I swept my gaze around the table, at a loss to what I'd somehow missed. "What gives?" I mouthed at Leeson, doing my best to control the heat wanting to flood my already flushed skin.

When he finally answered, "nothing," Denton was back carrying two glasses which looked like he'd visited a farmer"s market to gather every fruit imaginable.

"Wow, I don't remember the cocktails yesterday having so much fruit in them," I murmured as I took the glass Denton offered me, wearing what I'd describe as a guilty look.

He shrugged nonchalantly and walked over to the one remaining empty seat at the table, placing his glass down with a thud before sitting. Droplets of water clung to his golden skin and light danced off them. They glistened and drew my attention to the musculature of his shoulders and chest.

I licked my lips, the hand not holding the glass tingling at the memory of freely touching that warm, wet skin. To stop my thoughts from heading in a direction that could cause me a problem, I took a sip of the cocktail after fighting my way through the bowl of fruit to get to the edge of the chilled glass.

Even though I'd eaten a big lunch, the first sip of the fruity cocktail hit like a pissed off ice hockey player launching himself at another. Of all that was holy, the liquor crashed through my bloodstream with equal force to a hurricane. I blew out a breath, about to place the glass down, when I caught Mr. Polished placing his tiny backside on a sun lounger directly opposite us.

My eyes narrowed, and I brought the glass back to my lips, giving him a warning look. When he replied with a confident grin, I took a big gulp of the drink, knowing I was going to need liquid courage if I wanted to keep the guy away from Denton. To do that, I was going to have to continue the pretense we were indeed boyfriends. Not that I had a problem with that, I would just need to remind myself it was fake and not real. I could do that? Couldn't I?

I lounged back in a way I hoped made me look sexy, trying not to think about the fact I was neither polished nor sculpted. One glance around the poolside and I realized I fitted in with a good seventy-five percent of the men there. Average. Which I was happy with, I didn't have the energy or money to spend on looking like Mr. Polished.

Was that what Denton liked?

Didn't girls go in for all that beauty stuff? I frowned, trying to recall conversations with Nese about her visits to the beauty parlor. Several sips later, my mind buzzing with the alcohol, I was none the wiser about whether Nese had indeed mentioned anything in particular Denton liked her to do.

Draining the glass of the cocktail, I eyed the remaining fruit. I shrugged to myself and, feeling more than a little tipsy, fished it out, enjoying the fruity hit of liquor.

When I turned in Denton's direction to get his attention for another drink, I found his gaze was on me. It sent a thrill of pleasure through me and I gave him a lopsided grin, waving my empty glass at him.

Something flashed in his eyes and disappeared before I could register what it was, however, he got up and came to me.

"I need a refill." I offered a bright smile, hoping he'd continue to play along, like earlier. "Can I have the same, babe?" I asked, keeping in character, aware Mr. Polished hadn't shifted his attention from us—from Denton.

There was a long pause before he took the glass. "Are you sure?"

"Oh yeah, I'm only just getting…" I tugged on the waistband of his still wet swim shorts playfully, giving him a salacious look, "revved up, babe."

With my knuckles brushing against his stomach, I didn't miss how the muscles quivered beneath them.

"Revved up," he gasped out in a breathy tone I wasn't familiar with.

It was easier to nod when my gaze followed his to where my hand was and the impressive bulge just a short distance from it, which left me dry mouthed. From my sitting position, I could see he was semi-erect, and it became obvious he was a grower.

Was that due to me?

My ass cheeks clenched tightly, imaging it was and just how he'd feel inside me with the thickness and length of his cock.

"Like what you see, honey pie?"

His husky voice cut through my fog of lust, and I blushed when I realized I'd been intently staring at his cock. My attention moved away from dangerous territory, back to the amused and sexy smirk Denton wore when our gazes clashed.

"Drink… I need…" I blew out a breath, attempting to get my head and body to work together, though with how aroused I was, that felt impossible. "A drink… yeah… that's what I want… need, another drink," I stammered and, at the same time, yanked my hand out of his shorts, more than a little embarrassed at my obviously dorky behavior. Well, that and getting caught ogling him.

Denton lowered into a crouching position in front of me, the strain on his shorts becoming more defined, making me tremble with desire. The touch of his hand to my knee scorched my skin like the sun above. "Are you sure about that?" he enquired, his eyes twinkling. "We could go back to the room… chill for a bit?"

Room! He wants to go back to our room…

"Why?" I blurted out, when me, naked, riding his cock, was what I came up with, then I cursed myself for questioning him when we had an audience. An audience that was listening with a snort of amusement coming from Leeson's direction and a couple of chuckles from those in the peanut gallery—at the table.

"Thought you might be tired after last night."

Room! He wants to go back to our room…

Then I got a vision of me naked, riding his cock and I cursed the lack of any kind of covering over my lap. My body was fully on board with what Denton was obviously suggesting, but then my brain kicked in. If we left the pool now, it would be totally obvious to the rest of the group what was happening and my stomach squirmed at the thought of being so blatant. I frantically tried to think of something to say that wouldn't feel like a rejection.

At that moment, I caught movement across the pool, where our friend Mr. Polished had set up camp. He was staring, so adding as much sass to my expression as I could, I slowly and purposefully walked my fingers from the waistband of Denton's shorts, up to his chest.

"That's sweet of you to think of me," I said, when my fingers reached his firm pec, "but I had a nap while you were in the pool. Besides, I fancy staying for the water polo."

"Water polo?" Denton asked, wearing a look of alarm.

"Yeah, it was on the app. I'm pretty sure this is the pool it"s happening in. I've never played before. I thought it might be fun to…play with balls," I said, looking up to flutter my eyelashes at him as he swallowed, hard.

Obviously still feeling the effects of the cocktail, I let my hand linger on his chest for a moment before rolling over on the lounger, making sure to give my hips an extra little wiggle in the process.

"Oh, before you head back to the bar," I said, as innocently as possible, "would you mind covering my back and thighs with some more cream?"