Perfect Can't Endure - 11. Tuesday

My eyes shot open, and I immediately rolled into a protective ball as Bear pounced on me, trying to lick my face. Bear left me alone, seeing he couldn’t get me, and looked over towards where Asher was blinking, confused.

“No you don’t,” I said, grabbing Bear’s collar and pulling him into a headlock. I wrestled with him, flipping him onto his back, and gave him a belly-rub. He immediately melted, woofing happily, and Asher reached over me to pat him, waking up fully.

“Thanks,” he laughed, kissing my cheek.

“Mmm, you’d think I’d get a real kiss for that,” I mused playfully.

He pressed his lips to mine, a smile blossoming on his face, and I smiled back at him as he pulled back a little.

“My hero,” he sighed dramatically, and kissed my nose. I put my hands on his hips and pulled him on top of me, so our chests were pressed together. He wiggled, settling into a more comfortable position, and rested his elbows on either side of my head, supporting his weight. I wrapped my arms around him happily, and he gave me a peck on the lips before pulling his head back and smiling at me.

“You’re so cute,” I told him, running my hands over his smooth, muscular back.

He wiggled his hips against me, grinning, and I moaned involuntarily.

“Mmm, make that sexy,” I said softly, putting a hand on each of his perfect mounds and slowly massaging them.

He stuck his tongue out at me and dodged my attempt at nipping it, rolling off me and standing up.

“Aww, baby!” I complained. “Stay a little longer?”

“We have to get this place ready for the party,” he said, holding out his hand. I took it, and he pressed it to his lips, his eyes dancing as he kissed each of my fingers.

“I don’t want to,” I sulked. “I just wanna stay here and love you.”

Asher shook his head, smiling playfully. “We gotta go,” he said, letting go of my hand and turning, knowing the threat of him leaving would be all it took to get me out of bed. I stood up and grabbed my phone, quickly texting Frank and telling him to come over before following my beautiful boyfriend. He’d gone into the closet, and I walked in after him, running a hand through my hair and smiling to see him trying to decide what clothes we should wear. He’d already picked out some for before the party, and he was holding them in his left hand. I wrapped my arms around him from behind, putting my chin on his neck, and he leaned back into me, sighing happily.

“How about we wait until we’ve set everything up?” I suggested. “Then we can come back in, pick out what clothes to wear, and have a nice shower.”

“Hmm, a nice shower?” Asher asked, turning his head to kiss me as I rested my hands on his flat stomach. I moaned assent, and Asher pulled back for a minute. “What exactly does a nice shower entail?” he asked sexily.

I kissed him again before answering. “A nice shower is when I get to play with my favorite toy,” I told him, my right hand sliding down his abs to fondle his rapidly hardening member.

He moaned, his eyes closing, and I kissed the side of his neck, slowly stroking him.

“Ben,” he sighed sensually, and I let go of his cock, my hand wandering back up to his stomach to join my left hand in hugging him to me.

“I guess we’ve gotta go now, huh?” I whispered into his ear.

He whimpered in protest, and I stepped away from him, teasing. I let my hands trail across his abs before returning to my sides, and he turned around, wanting more.

“Now who’s the one being responsible?” I asked playfully.

“I don’t want to be the responsible one,” he said, his sexy voice sending shivers down my spine. “I want to be the one writhing in pleasure beneath you.”

He could see how much he was turning me on, and he took a step forward for every one I took backwards, until my back hit the wall and he pressed his naked body against mine.

“Asher…” I protested weakly, trying to organise my thoughts.

His mouth did wonderful things to my neck, and any semblance of order in my mind blew away. My arms crept up again, my hands grabbing onto his round cheeks, and I pulled him into me with more pressure, making him moan into my neck.

“OK, you’re right, let’s go!” he said cheerfully, detaching himself from me abruptly and turning to walk out of the room. I grabbed his hand before he could get away, and I interlaced my fingers with his, raising our hands in front of me.

“Why do I even like you?” I asked, teasing him. “You’re so mean to me.”

“I don’t know,” he said, giving my hand a squeeze. “Why do you?”

“Hmm,” I said, pretending to have to think about it. I raised our hands, pushing one of his fingers so he extended it, and I tapped my lips with his finger thoughtfully. The amused smile he gave me made it worth the effort, and I kissed his finger quickly.

“I think it’s because you’re so funny,” I said, still acting thoughtful. “Well, maybe not. It could be because you’re so handsome, or because you have the sexiest voice I’ve ever heard, but I like to think I’m not that shallow. ‘Cause you’re such a sweet person, then? No, it’s more than that. Maybe it’s because you’re so cute, or because you make me melt when you look into my eyes, but I don’t think so.” I had his attention now, and he’d stopped walking to look into my eyes. “Maybe I like you,” I said, pulling him into my arms, “because you’re you, and you are the most perfect thing I’ve ever encountered.”

He leaned into me, flattered, and pressed his lips to mine, but I smiled and pulled away slightly.

“I don’t think it’s that, either, though,” I said, taking a moment to admire how cute he looked when he was curious before continuing. “The reason I like you…” I whispered, making him lean in further to hear what I was saying, “is that you have an amazing cock,” I whispered, before groping his crotch, snatching our clothes out of his hand, and stepping away from him, grinning peevishly.

“You bastard!” he accused, grabbing his shirt and shorts from my hands and starting to get dressed.

I snickered, putting my own clothes on, and he glared at me.

“It’s not funny!” he insisted. “That was so sweet, and then…!”

I laughed again, and I could see a bit of amusement find its way onto his face.

“OK, maybe it was a little funny,” he admitted. “You’re still an asshole, though!”

I smiled at him, groping his ass one last time before he hid it beneath his shorts, and snapped my fingers for Bear. “I don’t have reasons for loving you,” I told him, not joking anymore. “I love every part of you for how they form… you. There’s nothing I’d change about you, and there’s no one thing I love more than the others. It’s you that I’m in love with, not any trait or quality you have.”

Asher smiled, taking my hand again, and as we followed Bear up the stairs I knew I was forgiven.

“Your cock is really nice, though.”

“BEN!”

____________

 

We walked into the kitchen, starving because we’d skipped breakfast to get more work done, and we found that Tommy had made us French toast.

“What’d you do?” I asked, immediately suspicious, and Asher laughed.

“Nothing,” Tommy laughed. “Just stocking up on goodwill.”

“Well there’s a really easy way for you to do that…” Asher hinted, smiling at me as I sat down.

“No, Asher, you’ll have to satisfy yourself with Ben,” Tommy said tiredly, as if they’d had this conversation a lot before.

I burst out laughing, and Asher couldn’t decide who to focus his glare on. Eventually, he threw himself onto my lap and glared at Tommy, and I wrapped my arms around him, letting my hands rest in his lap as I peeked out from behind his back to grin at a laughing Tommy.

“What Asher was saying is that we’d owe you if you’d give us the house for today and tomorrow morning.”

“Your sex habits are getting wilder and wilder,” Tommy said, shaking his head.

I snorted. “No, we’re having a party.”

Tommy nodded, understanding. “If you guys want to be the local swingers, it’s none of my business. I’m just glad you gave me warning in advance so I didn’t walk in on anything.”

I shook my head calmly, hugging Asher closer to me. “Frank’s gonna be here,” I said. “He’d never forgive me if I left him out of a party.”

“Oh, OK,” Tommy said, done joking. “You’re still gonna stay in the closet at home, then?”

I nodded, and Asher pulled his plate across the table, putting it beside mine and beginning to eat. I started eating too, keeping Asher in my arms, and Tommy began clearing everything we didn’t need.

“So why do you need our goodwill?” Asher asked, swallowing.

“Yours in particular, but it seems to be the same thing,” Tommy teased.

“What do you mean by that?” I asked, not sure if he was insulting us or not.

“I mean that if I got you to agree to my request, it’d mean Asher agreed too,” he said.

Asher shrugged, leaning back into me. “Can’t deny that,” he said, smiling.

“So why do you need Asher’s help, then?” I asked, curious.

“My friend’s coming over for dinner tomorrow, and I want to have a good meal ready to prove I don’t just eat pasta all the time,” Tommy said. “Since Asher’s the only one who can cook…”

“So, what do you think?” Asher said, turning to me.

I smirked at Tommy as he realized his teasing had turned back to bite him, and I pretended to think about it. “Well,” I said, as if it was a huge decision. “I don’t know…”

Tommy glared at me.

“I don’t like the idea of my boyfriend being used to lie to your friends, Tommy,” I teased.

“It’s not lying,” Tommy said, clearing off the last of the table except for our plates. “It’s just… presenting misleading information.”

I looked at Asher, but he just grinned. “It’s up to you,” he said, wiggling slightly to make me put my arms around him again. I gladly complied, leaving my food, and he took over feeding me.

“Ugh, you guys are so pathetic,” Tommy said, shaking his head.

I grinned, and Asher brought the fork to my mouth, getting a drop of syrup on my lip by accident. He twisted, leaning in, and touched his tongue to my lip, catching the drop before it got messy.

“I swear you guys do this stuff just to make me leave you alone,” Tommy said.

“We do,” I admitted, grinning. “We’re way less kinky and way more sexual when you’re not around.”

“Fine, you win,” Tommy said. “I’ll go. Just think about it, K?”

“Yes, we’ll be your kitchen slaves,” I told him, “As long as you give us the house from after dinner tonight until lunch tomorrow.”

“Done,” Tommy said, grinning. “By the way, I’ll have your Jell-O pool ready for an hour before your party. That’ll give you long enough to have your fun and clean up, right?”

Asher and I nodded, trying to keep straight faces, and Tommy shuddered and retreated to his floor.

We burst out laughing as soon as we heard his door close.

“I can’t believe he’s actually doing it!” Asher exclaimed, and I grinned.

“He’s gonna be so freaked out,” I snickered.

Asher turned around to look at me, mischief in his eyes. “We should freak him out even worse, tomorrow, when his friend’s over,” he suggested, and my face lit up.

“What do you think, the pathetic lovebird routine, just exaggerated?” I asked.

Asher nodded, grinning. “Imagine what his friend’s gonna think!”

“He’s never gonna visit again,” I agreed, laughing. “At least not until Tommy explains.”

Asher paused. “Do you think Tommy’s…”

I considered it for a second. “I’ve never really thought about it,” I admitted. “I don’t think so, though. I don’t think he’s even bi.”

Asher nodded, relaxing back against me. “Good. I didn’t want to chase his boyfriend off or anything.”

I grinned. “Anyone that Tommy would date wouldn’t even blink,” I laughed.

Asher snorted. “Yeah, they’d be used to worse,” he said. “Let’s finish getting ready for the party now.”

“Where’d that come from?” I teased. “Eager?”

He shook his head. “No, I just want to make sure we’ve got enough free time,” he told me, wiggling his hips on my lap. “I want you.”

I moaned into his ear as he teased me, and he stood, adjusting a large bulge in his shorts.

“Aww,” I complained. “Teasing me again?”

“Always,” Asher said, smirking, and kissed me.

“I love you, you know that?”

Asher smiled, real happiness in his eyes, and I stood, putting my arm around his shoulders.

“What now?” I asked, getting back on topic.

“We should probably set up some kind of markers through the forest so everybody can find the way,” he said. “Do you think Tommy’s got any string around here?”

I shook my head. “I doubt it. Let’s just use flour.”

Asher nodded, and we got a big bag of it and some balloons and started out, walking out to the road. We tied the balloons to a tree, indicating that this was where to stop, and we began walking back, throwing handfuls of flour every once in a while to mark the way.

When we got back, we were laughing and thoroughly covered in flour, both needing a shower. Bear had been stained white, and he looked indignant. We decided to take him to the lake, since he looked like he wanted to ruin our bed in revenge, so we walked down to the boathouse and jumped in fully clothed. Bear eagerly followed, and the water turned pale white as we splashed around playfully. When we were clean, we headed back to the house, locking Bear out and going downstairs. We began stripping our clothes off before we even reached the bathroom, and we were naked together in the shower in record time. Asher immediately slammed me back against the wall, catching my grunt with his mouth, and my hands couldn’t get enough of his ass. His hand splayed against my abs, feeling how he made my breathing accelerate, and he slid to his knees, looking up at me seductively. He looked so sexy as he took the head of my cock into his mouth, his eyes holding mine and a naughty look on his face, and my mind was lost in pleasure.

___________

 

I gave Asher’s pleasure button one last tickle before pulling my fingers out of him and licking the remaining cum off my lips, and he pulled me to my feet, his lips seeking out mine. We broke our kiss after a minute, our fingers entwining as we stepped out of the shower together, and we toweled each other off with the least amount of kissing and stroking that could reasonably be expected. When we were dry and sated, we headed back outside, collecting Bear, and gave everything a final once-over. It all seemed to be in order, so we went indoors to start dinner.

“What should we make?” Asher asked, and I thought for a moment, leaning against the counter. Asher put his hands on the granite on either side of me, trapping me there, and pressed his body against mine, his tongue pushing into my mouth and exploring me. His hands roamed all over my chest, and I slid mine up under his shirt, pulling it halfway up his back as I appreciated his flawless skin. That was, of course, the moment that Tommy’s door opened, and Asher reluctantly stepped away. I took a double handful of his shirt collar, pulling him back, and matched his passion for a moment before releasing him. Tommy saw us straightening our shirts, and shook his head.

“Let’s just have pasta,” I suggested, as if nothing had happened.

“Yeah, that sounds good,” Asher said, and we started to work.

Tommy set the table while we cooked, and when we were done we all sat down, loading our plates and digging in. It didn’t take us long to finish, and then I started a group text between Fiona, Erik, and I. Frank had responded, confirming that he’d be coming, and Fiona and Erik had been successful in their parts, too.

The party was on!

Asher and I retreated to our floor to wait for Fiona and Erik to come over, and we gave Tommy his 10-minute warning on the way down. He promised he’d be gone before they showed up, so we sat on my bed, silly grins on our faces. Asher leaned against me, and I wrapped my arm around his shoulders, kissing his hair.

“Better get our fill of cuddling out of us now, 'cause with Frank at the party we’ll have to stay closeted,” I said sadly.

“Mmm, a full night of cuddling in ten minutes?” Asher asked, considering. “That’s gonna be hard.”

I smiled, ignoring the obvious joke. “You’re so cute sometimes, you know that?”

“Only sometimes?” he asked, arching an eyebrow and pretending to be offended.

I nodded, grinning. “Only sometimes,” I confirmed. “The rest of the time I want to tear your clothes off, so I’d describe you as sexy, not cute.”

Asher straddled my knees, sitting in my lap, and he kissed me, smiling. “You know,” he told me, playfully tapping my nose with his finger, “sometimes, I really love you.”

I kissed him, and he hugged me, resting his head on my shoulder.

“I’m starting to regret having this party,” he sighed. “I just want to stay here, with you.”

I leaned back onto the bed, so he was lying on top of me, and kissed his head. “Yeah,” I agreed. “We should just leave, go camping again and never come back. I could happily spend the rest of my life alone with you-” I broke off as he started to kiss my shoulder, telling me how much he liked my idea. “We could just canoe off,” I continued, breathing heavier with arousal, “and we could camp on random islands, and have sex every twenty minutes-” I gasped as his teeth dug into my shoulder slightly, teasing me even more. “We’d have to bring Bear,” I said, panting, “but he’d make it more fun anyway. We could spend the rest of our lives together, with no distractions from each other…” Asher sighed, letting go of my neck, and kissed me on the cheek.

“I love you, Ben,” he said, and teasingly bit the tip of my nose. “But we need to go.”

I sighed, straightening up so he ended up in my lap again, and he grinned at me mischievously as he felt my erection underneath him. I raised an eyebrow, taking hold of his ass and pulling him into me to prove I wasn’t the only one, and he kissed my nose before standing up. We held hands as we walked out to the shed, and then we took the dirt bike and the ATV out to the road. We’d only just arrived when a car pulled up and Fiona and Erik piled out.

“Thanks, Mom!” Fiona said, waving goodbye, and the car continued towards Asher’s house. “She hates turning on narrow roads like this,” Fiona explained, when she saw we looked surprised. “Or maybe she’ll stop in and visit Bernie and Martha, I don’t know.”

Hopping off the ATV, I nodded and grabbed the cooler from Erik, getting it secured to the four-wheeler before holding up the keys and grinning.

“So which one of you’s gonna drive?” I asked.

Fiona’s hand shot out slightly before Erik’s, but I pretended not to notice, tossing the keys to Erik. I wanted to make Fiona squirm when she had to hold onto him, and she glared at me, knowing my game. I shrugged innocently, heading over to Asher and getting onto the bike. “We’ll see you guys soon,” Asher said. “We just need to ask my grandparents for the boat.”

“Good idea,” Fiona said, nodding.

“You know that woodpile by the beach?” I asked.

Erik’s eyes narrowed as he thought. “The beach on your island?”

Asher shook his head. “The other one.”

“You have another beach?” Erik exclaimed, disbelieving.

I nodded, grinning. “It’s not hard to find. Can you guys start bringing wood to the boathouse?”

Erik and Fiona nodded, both grinning in anticipation. “This is gonna be the best party ever,” Erik said, getting on the ATV. Fiona got on behind him, giving me another glare, and I kissed Asher’s neck, daring her to do the same while Erik’s attention was on the keys. She shook her head violently, and I heard Asher laugh before the engine roared.

“See you guys soon,” Asher told them, and drove off. We passed Fiona’s mom coming the other way, and we pulled over to the edge of the road to make room.

“This remind you of anything?” Asher asked me as the car came towards us down the narrow road.

I hugged him tighter, and he turned his head enough that I could lean forward and kiss him. “I doubt I’ll fall in love with anyone in that car,” I told him, grinning.

“You better not,” he laughed, putting one of his hands over mine as the car passed us.

I kissed him on the back of the neck as he started forward again, and I smiled as we made our way to Martha and Bernie’s, remembering the first time we met.

It didn’t take long for us to reach the house, and when we did, we parked the bike out front and knocked on the door.

“Hey, you haven’t forgotten us!” Bernie said, grinning. “Here for the boat?”

“How’d you know?” Asher asked, surprised.

“Well you wouldn’t be coming for a visit this late, so that means you need something, which could only be the boat,” he answered. “It’s all yours,” he said, smiling. “I’m guessing you need to be somewhere?”

We nodded sadly. “Sorry!” I said. “We’ll come back for a visit sometime soon, we promise.”

Bernie chuckled, shaking his head. “You two are pathetic,” he teased. “Something tells me nobody else has seen much of you lately, either.”

We smiled at each other. “No, we’ve been kinda caught up in… us,” Asher said, putting his arm around my shoulders.

Bernie smiled. “Good, you should be. See you guys, then!”

“Yeah, thanks!” Asher said, as we turned and began to walk to the water. We jumped into the boat and started it, and I went to sit in the bow as Asher drove us out around the point and into our bay. Erik and Fiona saw us pretty quickly, and they waved as we drew closer.

___________

 

We were all scattered around the edge of the cliff near the bonfire, Fiona’s music blasting louder than I would have preferred, and you could see who’d been drinking beer and who’d had coke. Frank had chosen beer, and he was well on his way to drunk, along with a few other people there, and the rest of us were being amused at their antics. I’d had a little bit of beer, not intending to get drunk, but it had been enough that the new faces were a blur, and the names were beyond me. Nobody seemed to mind, 'cause most of us were beyond that. Asher was a little bit tipsy, and his slightly intoxicated grin was doing more to my state of mind than the alcohol. We’d been jumping off the cliff a lot, so most of us were in our swimsuits, and between Asher, Fiona, Erik, and I, we’d managed to keep everyone out of the hut. The hard part of that seemed to be over, because most people were starting to look for their clothes now that it was past midnight. I looked at the keys in my hand for a moment before handing them to Fiona, who grinned at me.

“Good choice,” she laughed. “I would not have let you drive a motorized vehicle right now.”

“I’m not that drunk,” I said, smiling. “Too drunk to drive, but I’m barely even tipsy.”

Fiona rolled her eyes. “Then go fix that,” she said, grinning. “I don’t do alcohol anyway, so I’ll drive us back, too. You and Asher can get wasted with the rest of them.”

I shook my head, laughing. “This is more than enough for me, I’m sticking to pop for the rest of the night.”

Fiona rolled her eyes. “We’ll see if that’s still the same when I get back, then,” she said, smirking, and left for the boat.

“Hey,” a voice said quietly behind me, as a hand touched my shoulder. “There you are. Having fun?”

“Yeah, although I’d love to have some quiet time with you,” I replied just as quietly, turning to smile at my boyfriend.

Asher mmhmmed his agreement, and we watched the remaining people together for a minute. We’d been together most of the night, but we’d had to split up every once in a while so we didn’t look too suspicious. It had been at least fifteen minutes since I’d last seen him, and his face in front of me again made me realize how pathetic it was that I’d missed him.

“Bernie was right, you know,” I said. “We are totally pathetic.”

Asher grinned. “I’d rather be totally pathetic with you than respectable alone,” he said, bumping his shoulder into mine. “Let’s go get some pictures, you haven’t been using your camera as much as you’ve wanted to tonight, I can tell.”

I smiled at him thankfully, and we joined the few people remaining.

____________

 

“OK, you’ve taken enough pictures of us,” Fiona teased. “Now we need some of you! Frank, Asher, Ben, Erik, get in there!”

We obediently shuffled closer to each other, and Fiona raised the camera. “Come on, act like you know each other, at least,” she huffed. We put our arms around each other, laughing. Frank was on one side of me, and Asher the other, so Frank put his arm under Asher’s around my shoulder, his hand making me jump as it touched a sensitive part of my shoulder. He looked over, surprised, and I saw his drunken eyes widen as they moved from the hickey he’d touched to Asher, with his arm comfortably around me, and back. I panicked, knowing exactly what it looked like.

Fuck!

“Is that a hickey?” Frank asked, disbelief and drunken confusion in his eyes.

I heard Fiona gasp loudly, and we all looked at her. “Oh shit!” she cried, burying her face in her hands. “I’m so embarrassed!” She turned, running off, and I saw everyone looking from her to me and back, surprised.

“Nice,” Frank drawled drunkenly, holding his fist up for me to bump. I did, blushing furiously.

I love you, Fiona! I thought, unbelievably thankful for her quick thinking and willingness to help. She’d totally saved my ass, and I rushed off to go thank and pretend to comfort her. I found her not far out of the light of the campfire, waiting for me with her hands on her hips and a grin on her face.

“You owe me bigtime,” she said, handing me the camera just before I caught her in a hug.

“Thank you so much,” I said, almost shaking with relief. “You don’t understand how bad it would have been if he’d found out…”

“You’re squishing me,” she laughed, pushing me away. “And, to top it all off, I got the picture.”

I let her go, but I couldn’t stop smiling at her. “Honestly, you’re a lifesaver. I owe you so much by now!”

“Yep,” she agreed, grinning, but she got a little more serious after a second. “You guys should have been more careful, though,” she told me. “What were you thinking?”

“We weren’t,” I admitted, grimacing. “I didn’t even know I had a hickey until Frank saw it.”

Fiona nodded, shrugging. “It worked out this time, although now everyone thinks there’s something between us. Just keep the hickeys in places other people won’t see next time,” she laughed.

“Don’t worry, Asher and I are gonna come out anyway, we’ll make sure your name is cleared.”

“Good,” she said, grinning. “I’d hate to have to deal with the bad parts without getting a taste of the good,” she joked.

I laughed. “Hey, if I was straight, I’d be all over you.”

She giggled, but then glanced over at the campfire. I followed her gaze, finding Asher looking longingly over at us. He wouldn’t be able to see us, because he was in the light and we were in the dark, but we could see everything, and I watched him, smiling.

“It’s a good thing you’re not,” Fiona said, nodding towards Asher. “You really love him, don’t you.”

It wasn’t really a question, but I nodded anyway. She put her arm around me, pulling me in for a one armed hug, and I smiled.

“I’m happy for you,” she told me, letting go and grinning. “I never knew you before you met Asher, but I’ve seen how much happier you are now that you’re dating, so I can imagine what meeting him did to you.”

I nodded, agreeing. “He’s the best thing that’s ever happened to me,” I said, wanting to go back to him again already.

She patted my back, and then pushed me towards the circle of light thrown by the fire. “Get back there,” she said fondly. “Seeing you two separated is painful for everyone involved.”

I smiled, but grabbed her arm and pulled her with me. “You’re coming too,” I informed her.

“No, I want to get away from the music for a few minutes,” she said. “It’s giving me a headache.”

I nodded. “Let’s turn it off and round everyone up, then. We should be heading back now anyway.”

“OK,” she agreed. “We can probably all make it back in one trip, right?”

“No, I don’t think we can,” I said. “Asher and I can swim, though; some privacy with him would be nice anyway.”

Fiona laughed and marched off to mute the music, shaking her head, and I headed over to Asher again.

“Hey Ben,” he said as I approached, smiling happily to see me. I had to stop myself from kissing him in greeting, and we were both quiet for a minute, all too aware of how we couldn’t act normally around each other. Our silence was broken when Fiona unplugged the speakers, making everyone go quiet.

“Everybody back to the boat!” she yelled.

“For such a pixie-like girl, she’s got powerful lungs,” Asher laughed, as everybody began heading down to the beach. “You’re a lucky guy, she’s definitely a good catch,” he teased, his eyes sparkling with amusement.

I snorted, showing what I thought of that. “She is a nice catch, though,” I agreed.

Asher nodded. “Let’s go,” he said, very obviously refraining from taking my hand. “We should catch up to everybody before we get left behind.”

“Nuh uh,” I said, catching his shoulder when he turned to go. “Fiona’s telling them we’re cleaning up here and then swimming back.”

He broke out into a grin, and I had to smile. “Let’s put out the fire first, otherwise they could see us.”

We dumped the cooler full of melted ice onto the flames, extinguishing them, and made sure the embers were all out before turning back to each other. We both glanced away as we heard the roar of the boat’s engine, and then I looked back just in time to catch Asher as he hugged me.

“I’ve missed getting to touch you,” he said, pulling his head back. “It’s been fun, but I like getting a break from it like this.”

I nodded, pressing my lips to his. “I feel bad for thinking this, but I kinda wish I hadn’t invited Frank. It would have been more fun if I’d been able to do this whenever I wanted to,” I said, slipping my tongue between his lips and groping his ass.

He moaned quietly, his hips grinding into mine. “Yeah, anything’s more fun when you do that.”

I chuckled quietly, resting my forehead against his. “I’m gonna miss sleeping with you tonight,” I told him.

He nodded, grimacing. “Oh well, let’s just have fun while we can. Our type of fun,” he said, grabbing my crotch suggestively, “can wait till tomorrow.”

I looked around us. “It’s probably past twelve, that means it’s not today anymore,” I said, trying to lawyer my way into getting sex and hoping he’d ignore the flawed logic.

He laughed, taking hold of my hand. “It’s always today,” he said, pulling me towards the house. “Now let’s get back before they tear up the house too bad.”

I nodded. “See you there tomorrow,” I laughed, walking into the water.

He smiled. “Yeah, but before we go…” He grabbed my shoulders and pulled me close, kissing me passionately until we were both gasping for breath. “Just to tide us over,” he panted, stepping back. “Now let’s go.”

I smiled happily, and we swam off to rejoin the party.