“Seriously, though, if you ever need a designated driver or need help when you’re out, you can call us,” Cade says.
“Thanks, I appreciate that. I don’t know what you think I’ll be getting up to, though.” I push back my chair and take a swig of water before standing up to join the men, who’ve already made their second cupcakes disappear.
“It’s your birthday. You should live it up,” Cade says.
Logan’s voice comes from behind, right before his hands circle my waist and he lifts me off the ground. “And you should have a birthday dunk in the pool!”
Before I even know what’s happening, I’m hitting the water sideways, Logan’s hard chest pressed against my back as we go under together. He lets go of me once we’re submerged, and I push back to the surface, sputtering.
“You jerk!” I’m not really mad, but I’m rattled from the surprise. When he surfaces, I scoop a handful of water and send it splashing into his face.
“Hey, hey, stop!” He’s laughing hard as he blocks another spray of water I send in his direction. “I had to do it. It’s a tradition.”
Knox slides into the water from the edge of the pool and makes his way toward his brother. “Tradition? What are you talking about?”
“It’s a new tradition. I started it today.” With a wicked laugh, Logan lunges toward me for some sort of followup attack, but I’m faster and dive to the side, out of his reach.
Cade and Ryder jump in and rowdy roughhousing ensues, most of it between the brothers, but occasionally ensnaring me. At one point, Ryder lifts me out of the water and dunks me back in, and when I resurface, my bikini top slips down, exposing a nipple.
Luckily, my back is to the men, so I quickly fix the problem before they see anything, but after that, I keep my distance rather than risk another wardrobe malfunction. I really don’t know what I was thinking with this suit.
Always up for competition, one of the guys starts shooting baskets and it quickly turns into a game of horse. I join them and hold my own for a while, though I’m still the first one out because all of them have had much more practice playing the game in this pool.
I sit on the edge, dangling my feet in the water and cheering them on, trying to focus on the outcome of their shots and not on how their muscles flex while they’re shooting the ball. Recent memories of how their hands felt on my bare skin keep trying to break my focus. I’m apparently starved for affection, desperate for any sort of physical contact.
The game goes on for quite a while, coming down to Logan and Knox battling it out for the win, neither of them missing, despite how creative and challenging the shots become. I playfully root for Knox, still salty about Logan dunking me into the pool, and I cheer loudly when Knox is eventually victorious.
I’m looking out toward the ocean when Ryder swims over to me. “Want to go down to the water?”
During a recent visit, I found a fossilized dolphin vertebra on their beach and mentioned how I’d love to look for more. Shells and other interesting finds on Four Points Island are usually quickly picked over by vacationers or locals on the often crowded beaches. Though the beach here at the Evans’s house isn’t private, I’ve never seen anyone else on it.
“Sure, that’d be fun.”
“Guys!” Ryder calls out to his brothers. “We’re going down to the beach.”
I wrap a towel around my waist and slip into my flip flops. I kind of wish the guys would put shirts on so I wouldn’t have to keep struggling to avert my eyes, but none of them do, so I make my way down the narrow path through the dunes surrounded by four bare-chested men with their gorgeous tans and their attractively tousled wet hair.
I keep my gaze fixed on the horizon and hope that today is just some strange anomaly, and that next time I’m with these men I’ll go back to seeing them like brothers instead of sex objects.
Once we’re by the shore, it’s easier to ignore their bodies as I scan the clusters of shells, seaweed, driftwood, and other items that have washed in on the ocean waves.
Ryder looks out for shells like I do, occasionally picking something up and offering it to me for inspection. Knox and Cade also spend some time beachcombing, mostly looking for rocks that they skip out into the surf.
The five of us have traveled a good distance down the beach when Knox turns and calls Logan’s name.
Logan is still walking, but lagging far behind us. We all stop and wait as he jogs to catch up, his perfectly toned body making him look like someone out of Baywatch casting.