Touch And Go - Aiden Bates Page 0,60

a moment, and then peeled the blanket back to get a good look at him. “Are you…regretting anything?”

“No, definitely not.” He pulled me in for a sweet kiss and peppered my cheeks with them for good measure. “I’m just embarrassed about them.”

“Your brothers?”

“Yeah. I’m so sorry. They just walk right in whenever they want. I really try to enforce some privacy, but it hasn’t done any good. As you know.”

“Hey, it’s okay. I mean…I don’t have anything to hide.” I gave him a wink, threw back the covers to show him my best centerfold modeling poses. He laughed and trailed off into a moan when his hungry eyes caught sight of my erection.

“Again?”

“Why not? We need to shower, right?” I jumped up, grabbed a towel, and shook my ass on the way out while he laughed and chased it. It clearly wasn’t the right time to ask about the nature of our relationship, but I wasn’t going to miss the opportunity to have fun until I got some answers. Especially since they probably weren’t going to be the answers I wanted to hear.

17

Derek

I did my best to come as quietly as I could when Seb jerked me off in the shower, but the way Matt looked at me when we joined them at the dining table told me I hadn’t done such a good job. I could read his disappointment, and it weighed as much as any stress I’d ever suffered. But I liked Seb, and I wasn’t going to stop seeing him until I wanted to. I bit back the urge to lecture Matt about minding his own business and was surprised at how badly I wanted to defend what I had with Seb. Which was…what exactly?

Seb clearly liked me, even the morning after, and I had absolutely no regrets about what happened. I’d been holding back when I said it had been in the top ten nights of my life. It was more like it was in the top three, and the fun we’d had in the morning had punted it into the top spot. I wasn’t sure how we could go from where we were to more, but the afterglow was real. I had Seb holding my hand under the table, and that was all that mattered.

“Here we go, bacon is done.” Eli brought over a tray heaped with scrambled eggs, bacon, and the pièce de résistance—his quintessential chicken waffles.

“Are you kidding me?” Seb’s eyes practically bulged out of his head. “This looks gourmet as fuck.”

Eli scoffed and took a seat. “It’s not.”

“It is.” I handed Seb a plate. “Trust me, go hard on the chicken and waffles.”

“But the eggs look so good.”

Eli slapped Richie’s hand when he reached for extra bacon. “Hey! Those two need the calories more than you do.”

Richie recoiled like a wounded puppy. “Um, excuse me, but you don’t know what I got up to last night!”

“Do tell.” Eli challenged with raised eyebrows, and Richie immediately pursed his lips and shook his head. He was notorious for kissing and never telling, even when extra bacon was on the line.

Matt grunted and bit into a piece of chicken while I heaped my plate with all of the fixings and Eli sat down with Uno’s head in his lap, looking up at him with sad, begging eyes. She got a piece of bacon for her trouble, and then moved around the group begging for more.

“So why the early morning wake-up?” I asked.

Eli chuckled around a bite of waffles. “Early? It’s almost nine.”

“You’re kidding.” I spun around and glimpsed at the clock. “I start work at ten.”

“You do?” Seb asked.

“You won’t have time to eat all of that then…” Richie snatched a piece of bacon from my plate and bit into it with a victorious smile until Uno shoved her snout onto his lap and successfully wrenched it from him with her most sorrowful look.

“You and Uno are still off work?” I passed Eli the maple syrup and tried not to panic.

“Mm-hmm. They don’t need me back yet, and I need the break.” Good. He deserved time off, and I appreciated having him around, especially now with Seb’s safety was in question.

“What do you do?” Seb asked Eli.

“What doesn’t he do?” Richie reached for a piece of bacon from Seb’s plate, but I intervened and handed him one of mine.

Seb pointed his fork at Eli and squinted suspiciously. “Are you a chef?”

Eli grinned and retied his dark hair into a bun. “Very generous of you to