being honest with myself.
Maybe because he was the boss’s son, which kind of screamed off limits in big neon letters.
“I… have no idea. I’ve only seen pictures of him as a kid. He was… cute? Like, in a chubby little kid way.”
“Isn’t he this… famous… chef… guy?” Seth asked, already getting his phone out. “What was his first name?”
“Semi-famous,” I said. “I dunno, he’s in lifestyle and food magazines sometimes, Mr. Lewis always has me pick them up for him when Hayden’s in there.”
Seth held up a hand to stop me, tapping away on his phone as Andre’s brunch arrived and he gave Pree another broad grin and a thank you, sugar.
He didn’t actually talk like that outside of switching it on, but when he did switch it on, it was flawless.
“You have a wildly successful, hot, rich boyfriend,” Andre pointed out. “Why do you care?”
“You think Mark’s hot?” Seth asked, looking up from his phone.
“You don’t?” I raised an eyebrow, eyeing up Andre’s bacon.
He passed it to me without another word, and this time it was hot and crisp and perfect.
I loved him.
I loved both of them, honestly. I was so lucky I’d found them when I moved here.
“I mean, I do,” Seth said. “I just didn’t think anyone else did, I thought my taste was weird.”
“He’s not exactly Hollywood leading man handsome, but he’s got this… presence. A great-in-bed kinda presence, y’know? It’s hot.”
Andre rolled his eyes. “You two are such bottoms,” he said. “He’s a top, you like him because he’s a really toppy top.”
“Is that why we like you, too?” Seth asked. “Because—oh holy shit.”
“What?” Andre and I chorused.
Seth turned his phone around for us to see a picture of a tall, dark-haired man with square shoulders, deep, soulful eyes the color of the sky before a storm, and the most kissable mouth I’d ever seen.
“That’s Hayden,” he said.
My ears rang for a moment, the words refusing to register.
That’s Hayden.
I could see the resemblance—he had the family nose, exactly the same as his dad’s. I would’ve said it was a little oversized on Mr. Lewis, but in a charmingly avuncular kind of way.
On Hayden, it really worked for me for reasons I couldn’t quite articulate.
“He’s a top,” Andre announced. “Which, again, is why you’re both drooling over him.”
“He’s objectively hot,” Seth argued. “Look at him, he could fuck me on this table in front of all these people and I wouldn’t even be mad about it.”
“You can’t possibly know he’s a top just by looking at him,” I said.
Andre shrugged. “We know when we see each other. Trust me. Top.”
And he was right—when it came to guys, I was such a bottom.
Some girls, too.
“You have to fuck him,” Seth said. “For me. So you can tell me about his eight-inch dick and how he smells like dark chocolate and single malt whiskey.”
“Some of your kinks are… concerningly specific,” Andre said.
“He’s my boss’s kid,” I said.
Off limits. For sure.
Right?
“It’s what Mr. Lewis would want,” Seth said. “He’d adopt you if he could, letting his son screw your brains out makes you practically family.”
“Not positive that’s how that works, sweetheart,” Andre said.
“Fairly sure he doesn’t want his beautiful, talented, gilded son fucking the help, either.”
As soon as the word escaped me, I really hoped Seth wouldn’t pick up on beautiful.
“You’re not the help and you know it,” Andre turned to me. “I don’t have any opinions on whether or not you should sleep with the hot son. Do whatever your heart tells you to.”
“You make decisions about who to fuck with your heart?” Seth asked, brows knitted together in confusion as he sipped his drink again.
Meanwhile, Andre had rescued me from getting roasted for calling Hayden beautiful. I probably owed him another brunch.
I laughed as Andre rolled his eyes, licking bacon grease off my fingers again.
But in the back of my head, all I could think was oh no, he’s hot.
Once I was done cleaning the bottom of the pool—I figured it’d be nice if it was sparkling for a guest arriving—I headed for the outdoor shower around the corner of the house to hose off before I changed out of my swim trunks and back into my clothes.
I definitely wasn’t hoping Hayden was an avid swimmer so I could see what he looked like under the chef’s jacket he’d been wearing in that photo. Cleaning the pool was in no way meant to encourage him to get mostly naked.
That was my story if anyone asked.
As soon as