Page 53 of Under Water
Rune flushes immediately. “Shit. I didn’t mean to—I’m sorry. I didn’t think.”
“No. It’s fine. I mean, it’s total therapy-speak, but it is true. People are allowed to fuck up.”
He’s quiet for a beat, and then he reaches out and traces two fingers up my wrist, toward my elbow, then back down again. “You didn’t fuck up though. I heard the call, Easton. I read the reports. You did what you were supposed to do.”
“I know that now. It was…it was hard to accept. At first, I kept thinking if we’d just made it through the intersections faster, or if I hadn’t taken my time getting my bag, or if I hadn’t hesitated when I was grabbing my gear, the kid might have been alright.”
“East—”
“Then I was angry at everyone who was at that pool party for not being able to calm down enough to have one person listen to Sheryl. She’s so fucking good at coaching people through CPR. And why wouldn’t they just fucking listen?” My voice starts to shake. “I still struggle with that one because I know it wasn’t their fault. You can’t predict how you’re going to react in a crisis.” I fall back and cover my face for a second. “I think I would have been utterly useless if I’d been on that hike with Leo.”
“I don’t think that’s true,” Rune mutters.
I turn my head and raise a brow at him. “Rune one week ago would have laughed and agreed.”
He grimaces. “Rune one week ago was still being an asshole because he had a giant crush on you, and he thought you were straight.”
I sit up, my heart in my throat. “You…a crush…? On me?”
“Easton, you know you’re fucking gorgeous. You think I didn’t notice?”
“I thought that wouldn’t matter when you hated my guts,” I tell him.
He sits up on his elbow too, mirroring me, and reaches out. He toys with a single strand of hair resting over my forehead, pulling on the coil and letting it bounce back. His mouth softens into something—not quite a smile, but it’s kind.
“Am I ever going to live that down?” The question is serious, but his tone is playful, and it makes my stomach leap.
“I don’t know. If you give me a good enough reason.”
Rune drags his tongue over his lower lip, then pulls his phone out of his pocket and glances at it before tossing it above our heads. “I don’t know if it’s a good idea for me to prove it to you here. But…” He hesitates, then says, “If you can keep quiet and be good for me…”
Oh fuck. Oh fuck. My dick gets so hard so fast, my head starts to spin with how quickly my blood is rushing south.
“I might have a solution.”
It takes me a moment to answer, and when I do, my voice is raspy and breathless. “What solution?”
“My sister’s in the hospital—”
I sit up. “Oh shit!”
“No. No, it’s okay. It’s a baby thing,” he tells me. His hand moves to my jaw, heavy and warm and soothing, and I settle back down, shifting so close to him now that our knees are knocking together. “I’ll have the house all to myself. Elio will be there, but he sleeps heavy. So if you can promise to be good for me—”
“I promise,” I say in a rush. I swallow thickly, then add, “I can be so fucking good for you.”
Rune closes his eyes and groans, cheeks going faintly pink. I never noticed how many freckles he has, but Jesus, they’re like a night sky. “I thought you might just need a little firm guidance.”
Rolling over onto my back, I press my hands over my face. It’s like every secret, quiet fantasy I’ve ever had bursting to life on his lips and tongue. I am not going to survive this. “I’m gonna come in my pants.”
Rune makes a soft noise. “Yeah? You think I could get you off just by talking you there?”
“Yes,” I groan. My dick is even harder now, and it’s taking all of my self-control not to roll over and hump the swing mattress into oblivion. “If this wasn’t my brother’s sanctuary, I’d let you do it right now.”
He laughs softly, then curls his fingers into the front of my shirt and yanks me into a filthy, hard kiss full of the promise of what’s coming next. “I can’t wait until we’re really alone,” he whispers when he’s done.
It takes me way too long to compose myself, but when I do, I shift over and decide fuck it. I’m done being too cautious. We might not be able to do this at work, but out here where no one can see?
We can belong to each other for this little while.
