“Do we have a goal in mind?” asked Noah. “Or are we just…”
He stopped as we crested another hill, and our destination finally came into view. It was a slow, shallow embankment, meandering downward to meet the shores of a cool, crystal blue lake.
“Now we’re talking!” Chase cried out loud.
He sprinted past me, dropping his end of the cooler. I watched him strip off his dusty clothes as he went. When he was down to his boxers, he splashed his way through the shallows and dove headfirst beneath the surface.
“That’s not a bad idea,” Noah chuckled. He did the same thing, stripping himself down to his beautiful bronze skin. Wading his way into the water, as Chase laughingly splashed him from where he floated up to his neck.
“A picnic, huh?”
Julian lifted the cooler with two corded arms, carrying it all by himself. Together we made our way down toward a little clearing, not far from the water’s edge.
“Can you think of a better way to spend the rest of the day?” I asked.
He scanned me up and down before delivering a rare, sideways smile. “Probably,” he joked, his eyes still locked on my body. “But this works too.”
Eventually we reached the clearing and dropped our things. Julian interlaced his fingers together and stretched his arms toward the sun.
“Go,” I said, waving him away. “Get refreshed, and all cleaned up. I’ll set things up here.”
He nodded and stomped away, and I enjoyed watching him go. Especially once his work clothes had dropped away, revealing everything but the two churning globes of his tight, boxer-covered ass.
God I love that ass…
He entered the water slowly, reminding me of the muscle-bound guys at Venice beach. The ones who were there to pump iron and flex for the girls, but couldn’t ever really swim.
I turned back to my task at hand, setting up our little area. First I stretched out a picnic blanket and staked it down. Then I unloaded the sandwiches I’d picked up from the grocer, laying them out next to the crackers, cheese, and fruit. It wasn’t extravagant, considering my finances, and I wished it could’ve been more. But these were men that were helping me. They’d gone far above and beyond the normal call of duty, and deserved every bit of pampering I could give them.
Even if it wasn’t all that much.
They emerged dripping wet and thankfully clean, their hair all slicked back from the cool, clear water. I handed out towels. Seconds after getting dry they were devouring everything in sight, demolishing just about everything I’d brought with me down to the last couple of red grapes.
“Sweet fuck this is good,” Chase grinned through a mouthful of cheese. “Awesome idea. Excellent decision.”
“Totally,” agreed Noah. “This is… well…”
I let his last phrase go unfinished, as the rest of us lay basking together in the sun. It was the perfect day, with perfect company. Laughing, talking, taking time for ourselves for once.
Final
ly, I bumped hips with Noah.
“Come with me,” I said, slipping my hand into his. I pulled him to his feet. Yanked my shirt over my head, and stepped out of the shorts I’d been wearing.
His eyes crawled my bikini first. They found mine as I guided him, smiling, in the direction of the water.
“I want to swim, too.”
Thirty-Nine
MADISON
We floated together in the cool, crystal waters, as the sun glinted beautifully off the surface. Noah’s strong arms were secured snugly around my body. My bare legs, wrapped tightly around his waist.
“Kiss me again and I might tell you.”
He did, and this time the kiss lasted a full two minutes. Noah’s chest was hard and perfect and warm against mine. He squeezed me tightly as our tongues danced, my head spinning with such pleasure I could barely remember my own name.