Series: Fever Falls Series by Riley Hart
Total pages in book: 89
Estimated words: 85157 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 426(@200wpm)___ 341(@250wpm)___ 284(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 85157 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 426(@200wpm)___ 341(@250wpm)___ 284(@300wpm)
The thing that was making things tricky was that I couldn’t stop watching him. I hated myself for it in some ways, but I was drawn to him, always had been—to his kindness, his humor, his work ethic…just Beau. When he’d look at me, I always jerked my gaze away. I made sure to drink a few beers, which helped dull the part of me that worried about how much I looked at him or talked to him or enjoyed being around him.
When we finished, I realized I wasn’t ready for Beau to leave yet. “Wanna swim and cool off?” I asked. “We can grill up some dinner. I went grocery shopping.” That wasn’t a strange question. Two friends swim and have dinner together.
“That when you saw Linc?” he asked.
“Why do you say it like that?”
“Like what? I didn’t say it like anything.”
“You—”
“You want me to go swimming with you?” His brows knitted together as if it was a strange question. “I don’t have swim trunks.”
Then my brain started going haywire because I couldn’t figure out why he was looking at me or why I was so nervous about asking him to swim with me. I almost backed out of it, but that meant he would leave, and I really wanted to hang out with him. “Oh no. Whatever will we do? I mean, I don’t have clothes or anything,” I said sarcastically.
“You want me to borrow swim trunks from you?”
“The only other option is skinny dipping, and I like you, Campbell, but I don’t want to see your ass.” I didn’t. There was nothing wrong with wanting to if I did, but I didn’t. I don’t, I don’t, I don’t.
“Your loss, Carmichael, because it’s a fine ass. I’ve never had anyone complain.”
I trembled. Fuck, why in the hell was I trembling? I gripped the porch railing, trying to ignore the waves tracing down my spine. “Eh, I’ve seen better.” I shrugged as my brain fired off questions: Why did you say that? Have you, Carmichael? Have you really seen better?
Stop it!
“Come on. I’ll get you something to cover that hairy ass of yours, and get us another beer.”
“I’m okay on the beer, and you say that as if there’s something wrong with a hairy ass,” Beau replied as we went back inside.
“You like hairy asses?” sort of tumbled out of my mouth. Why had I asked that? What the fuck was with my mouth and the shit that came out of it?
“I’m sure you don’t want to talk about that.”
“What? Just because I’m straight, I can’t want to talk to my friend about his preferences?” Well, now I had to talk about it, to prove a point and all. I grabbed a beer from the fridge, opened it, and took a swallow.
“Typically, yes,” Beau replied.
Again, now I had to keep going to prove to him I wasn’t like the guys he was talking about. “That’s not me. You’re free to talk about hairy or non-hairy asses as much as you like.” Another drink. “But didn’t Lincoln say you were a bottom? Doesn’t that mean…” Drink, drink, drink.
“Oh God. Stop. I can’t talk to you about this, and don’t ever say bottom to me again. It sounds weird coming from you.”
“Fine, but for the record, I was okay with the conversation. You’re the one who was uncomfortable.”
His eyes fired up like I’d seen them do so many times. I’d basically just put us in competition without realizing it, a place we were familiar with from growing up. We’d always loved one-upping each other. “Fine. You wanna do this? We’ll do it. I like hairy ass, smooth ass, just male ass in general. There are certain things I like and appreciate about both. And just because I’m a bottom and lose my fucking mind when someone is playing with my ass, doesn’t mean I don’t appreciate another man’s ass just as much.”
Drink, drink, drink. Oh fuck. I drank my beer already?
“Too much?” he asked.
“Nope.” My voice came out rough, my throat parched, and yes, I knew it shouldn’t be, considering I’d just inhaled a whole beer. “I’ll go get those clothes now.”
“You do that.”
“I will.”
“I’ll wait right here.”
“I’ll be right back,” I replied…realized how crazy I sounded, and finally actually went.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Beau
Beau tries to protect me too much, but I know he loves me. ~ Love, Kenny
I did my best to pretend not to notice the way Ash watched me. I’d failed most of the day, but made it a point to try harder after the ass incident. I attempted to keep my distance from him when we were in the pool, tried to swim and relax and do my own thing, but this was Ashton fucking Carmichael we were talking about. He commanded attention even when he didn’t try…and most of the time, he tried. It was absolutely impossible to ignore him then. Everything about him was impossible, and he made me do and feel weird things. Like how weird I felt about seeing the picture of him and Linc. I knew it had to have been just the two of them running into each other, but it had made me feel…weird. There was that word again.