“Do you think I should—”
“Who wants a Singapore sling?” Eric walked onto the patio, carrying a tray laden with three frosty glasses.
“Oh, baby,” Ron said and swam over to the edge where Eric was crouched. “That looks great.” He took one from the tray and turned back to Sean. “Hey, man, you want one? He makes the best mixed drinks.”
“No thanks.”
“Oh, shit,” Eric said and got up to head inside. “I forgot that you don’t drink. Hold on. I made some iced tea.”
Now he felt like a prick. “You don’t have to. It’s okay.”
Over his shoulder, Eric flashed a bright smile before disappearing behind the french doors.
“He likes to take care of people. It’s hard for him to turn off the doctor thing,” Ron said before sipping on the Singapore sling. “It is fun to play doctor and patient though. How come this doesn’t creep you out?”
“What, you and Eric?”
“Yes,” Ron said.
What was he supposed to say? I’ve watched two guys fucking in the shower, kissing in the same bunk, jacking each other off in the rec hall? “I don’t know. It just doesn’t bother me.”
“Iced tea on the rocks,” Eric said as he held a glass of tea in one hand and a frosty Singapore sling in the other.
Sean took the iced tea. “Thanks.”
Eric padded over to Ron, who’d stepped out of the pool, and pulled him into his arms. The pair was a contradiction. Eric, with his lean muscle and long waist, pulled Ron, the linebacker, into his arms and nuzzled his neck. Sean wanted, needed, to look away. The intimacy made his chest tighten. God, he needed to get away from it all
“So, big guy, you going to stay for dinner? I’m making lasagna. I think Ron got a movie.”
Could he really take all the cuddle time between the two men? “I don’t know. I have an early shoot tomorrow.”
Ron gulped down half of his drink. “Seriously, I made your set time for eleven o’clock, man. I rented Transporter 3. Come on, you came over here. You can stay for a while.” He waggled his dark eyebrows. “Free food, I know you have to eat. With a body like that, you probably eat twelve meals a day.”
The guys were partially right. He ate like a horse when he had the money for food. The two men were so nice, and he really didn’t want to be alone. For the first time in his life, he didn’t want to just escape into a world of Legos and Star Wars movies. “Okay, sounds good. But you have to let me help do something. I’m not a bum.”
Both men looked at each other. Eric spoke first. “You’re not a bum, Sean. You’re our guest. And besides, I’m kind of a kitchen snob.”
Ron pulled Eric to his mouth for a hot kiss. “No, baby, you’re a kitchen slut. There’s a difference.” Both men laughed and pulled each other in for a hug.
Sean remembered Abigail’s sweet smile when she found her small dining-room table set for breakfast. He could be normal. Making pancakes for her blessed him with a glimpse into a life he didn’t even know existed. Being a husband, a father, had never appealed to him before, but Abigail’s smile made that distant thought a possible reality. At least it had. What the fuck now?
Eric slid into the pool and tried to lift himself, clumsily, onto a raft. “It’s settled, then. You’ll stay for dinner and a movie. Babe, come over her and help me get up on this damn thing.”
Ron waggled his eyebrows over at Sean. “Sure, babe, I’ll give you a hand.”
Sean realized why Ron gave him the sly look when he planted his big hands on the man’s ass and massaged his way into helping Eric up onto the faltering raft. Sean dunked under the water, waiting for the burning in his lungs to force him to take a breath and make the decision to live another day.
* * * *
“Crap! Crap! Crap!” Abigail chanted while sitting in her parked car. Sean’s truck was tucked neatly next to Ron’s car in Eric’s driveway. “Stupid! I can’t do this.” She pulled the cell phone from her purse and hit Ron’s contact number.
“Hey, girl, are you hungry?”
“Ron, I…um, I’m not feeling so good. I’m just going to stay home.” She pressed on the brake and put the car into reverse.
“Really?”
The tap on her window made her jump. She looked over. Ron stood there, gawking in the window. “Get out of that car, Abigail. Now.” Ron jiggled the door handle.
She put the car back into park. “I can’t, Ron. I can’t. Please, let me go home.”
“No go, girl. Come on. Turn the car off. Let’s go.”