Melting - Sean Ashcroft Page 0,43

my grip on Hayden’s hand and dragging him toward the fire. “There are marshmallows up there.”

“Can’t believe you’re wearing the rainbow swim trunks,” Hayden said as I dropped my shorts, ready to rush into the water and cool off for a few minutes before we all settled in for the evening.

“Can’t believe you’re not wearing any,” I said in response, pausing to look up and down the beach. “No one would notice, y’know. There’s almost no light left.”

“I’m not getting in the water in my underwear,” Hayden said.

“Who said anything about underwear?” I teased, grinning at him and accepting the playful swat to my leg as making us even again.

Hayden was sitting cross-legged on a rug Seth had brought—just as well, because we didn’t have one.

Seth seemed to have about fifty, which was surprising preparedness for him.

“Isaac’s coming,” I said, folding my shorts neatly to make sure Hayden got a really good view of me back and front. “Sure you wanna leave me alone with him?”

“You’re not gonna be alone with him,” Hayden said, settling his stuffed otter in his lap so it had a view of the beach. “And you’d never hurt Andre. And,” he added, voice dropping a little. “You know you’ll be coming later.”

My mouth went dry.

“Go play,” Hayden said, shooing me. “I need thinking space to come up with a name for my new friend.”

I glanced at the otter, then at Hayden, and my heart soared.

Suddenly, I didn’t particularly want to leave him at all.

I closed the distance between us again, bending down to kiss the top of his head and breathe in the familiar scent of his hair, chest filling with happiness as the closeness settled over me.

“Wes,” Seth called, already running toward the water. “Come on!”

I laughed, nuzzling Hayden’s hair another moment, and then stepping away.

“Back soon!” I promised, following Seth out to the retreating tide, eager to wash some of the sweat of the day off.

He squealed as I scooped him up, ran into the water, and then dumped him into the waves, but instantly got his own back by pulling one of my legs out from under me and getting me soaked through.

We play-fought as Andre and Isaac waded in around us, keeping a safe distance at first but eventually getting dragged into the fighting when Seth’s foot hooked Andre’s ankle and tipped him over, leaving Isaac rushing to his rescue.

Somewhere along the line, Seth ended up in my arms with his legs wrapped around my waist. Now that the heat of the day was washing off me and the sun was setting, the water was getting cold.

He was just using me for my body heat.

“Mark asked me to marry him today,” Seth whispered in my ear, and I couldn’t help gasping in surprise.

It’d been inevitable, I’d been sure it was coming, but I didn’t know it’d happen today.

“On the fourth of July?” I asked.

Seth shrugged. “Says he couldn’t leave it any longer if I want a fall wedding, which I do. You’re invited, by the way.”

“This year?” I asked.

“He’s had the venue booked for eighteen months,” Seth said. “Because of course he has. That was easier than asking.”

“I take it you said yes?” I asked, still in awe.

“No, I’m inviting you to a wedding that’s not happening,” Seth teased. “Of course I did. He’s the love of my life, whatever anyone else says about him. I don’t want to lose him.”

A lump sprang up in my throat.

Yeah, I thought, glancing toward Hayden tucked up in the dunes. Me neither.

But this was a happy moment, and I wasn’t going to ruin it for Seth.

I pecked him on the lips, grinning broadly at him. “I’m so glad you didn’t end up with me when we both turned forty and didn’t want to be alone anymore,” I said. “No offense.”

“None taken,” Seth said, grinning just as broadly. “I’m sure the sex would’ve been great, I love you with all my heart, but he’s the one, y’know?”

“Yeah,” I said. “Yeah, I know.”

“Seth gets a kiss, but I don’t?” Hayden asked as we came back up the beach, caught red-handed constructing a sandcastle with Mark.

Not just any sandcastle—this wasn’t dumped out of a bucket with a moat hastily dug around it, this was a work of art.

“They’re so good with their hands,” Seth enthused, moving to sit beside Mark as Hayden offered me a towel he must have begged, borrowed, or stolen from someone else.

Mark, probably.

Group sugar daddy that he was.

“You do get a kiss,” I