brother sending a search party after us.”
He chuckles at that. “What, are you ashamed that you fucked your secretary?”
It’s funny, because no, I’m not ashamed…but I also know the trouble it would cause, if anyone knew.
Explaining how I’d first found Finn at the club would be hard enough; explaining that I’d used the resort’s tubs for sex with him would be impossible.
“Scoot,” I tell him.
There are plenty of towels, and I quickly try to dry myself off. There’s cum stuck to my chest hair, to my pubes…I’ll have to shower later.
“Oh hell,” he says. “How did my clothes get so wet?”
He’s reaching down to the floor, pulling up his shirt out of a puddle.
“I didn’t think we were that crazy,” I said. But sure enough, our gyrations have ruined his clothes.
Mine, meanwhile, are safe and dry over there near my tub.
He’s trying to squeeze out the water, but it’s not much use.
“God, would you get my phone? Is it working? Will you hold onto it? Agh, look at my socks.”
“I’m sure we could offer a perfectly innocent explanation for all this,” I say.
“Good luck with that. I don’t really want everyone knowing what just happened.”
Turning the tables, I laugh and say, “What, are you ashamed that you fucked your boss?”
He flaps the shirt, trying to get its wrinkles out, before pulling it on. It’s difficult, the cotton wants to stick to his arms, to his chest, it won’t pull down correctly. “I mean, you joke, but… I don’t want people to think I’m sleeping my way to the top. I’m not like those guys at the club. I can make my own way, without…without…”
“Good,” I say. “I’m glad to hear you say it. This had nothing to do with work.”
“Nothing at all.”
“So you won’t expect a promotion or a raise or anything, just because we came together.”
“God no,” he says, trying to suppress a grin. “Although if we’re going to do this again, I might demand an expense account to buy some more work clothes.”
I raise an eyebrow. “So…you want to do this again?”
He laughs, no longer able to hide his delight, and I love seeing it, it makes me feel so good when I look at his face.
The man in white is puzzled when he sees Finn dripping wet, but a few hundreds peeled off my money clip keep him from asking any questions. He pockets the bills with gratitude.
“There is a bit of a puddle,” I tell him.
“There always is,” he says, in a voice so forlorn I can’t help but give him one more hundred.
“Dang,” says Finn once we’re out of earshot. “You’re making it rain. Why don’t you ever give me cash like that?”
“Because that would look bad. Untoward. It’s different with the help. You and I have a professional relationship.”
It’s all we can do to keep from laughing like schoolboys. There’s this secret between us now, and it binds us close together.
When we reach the door to the house, he pauses.
“I… I’m not sure I can go in like this. I feel like people will know what happened.”
“We’ll tell them you fell in the river.”
“Yeah, that’ll convince everyone.”
At first I thought he was joking, but no, I can tell he’s serious about this. He’s embarrassed, nervous. His hand is tracing the scar over his cheek.
What must it be like, to always worry what other people think? To have their judgments of you actually matter, to have them affect your life?
It makes me angry. Makes me want to defend him, like I might punch the first person who asks about his clothes.
But that’s not the right thing to do.
“Let’s go into town. I’ll buy you something. Some…overalls and a straw hat? I don’t know what they sell here.”
“Nice,” he chuckles, “although can I point out that your car has leather seats, and you don’t want them to get ruined?”
A quick jog back to the man in the spring-house, a few more bills transferred to him, and I’m back out with an armful of fluffy white towels. “Here, we can protect my car with these.”
“Don’t you look— Um… Well,” says Noah, when he finds us back at the house. He peers at Finn’s Welcome to Superbia t-shirt. “When you said you hadn’t packed a change of clothes, I would’ve loaned you something, you know. Something better than this.”
Finn laughs. “It’s a souvenir.”
“We have a gift shop, and I promise you, the selections are better than this. Anyway, I’m not actually here to judge your clothing choices. I’m