by Mia Terry
“I’ll even let you get mushrooms as an optional extra.”
“Totally worth it,” Ollie replied. They looked up and saw that the other men were gathering their things together.
“We’re going to have coffee back at our villa looking up at the stars,” Jai said. “So Rhys you’ll have to come back with us for a coffee because we can’t break the party up yet.”
“Then Ollie will just have to drive me home again,” said Rhys. He was a little disappointed the group had chosen not to linger. He had so enjoyed their company and loved the easy way that everyone showed affection for one another without needing five drinks in order to do so. As they left the restaurant, each man made a particular point of thanking their wait staff and asking to pass their compliments to the kitchen. From the smiles in return, Rhys could only assume the staff had enjoyed the pretty men as much as they had Ollie’s presumably generous tip.
As Rhys stood outside the restaurant, Jai firmly took his arm. “You must come in our car. If we let you go with Ollie, you’ll just convince him to take you home and we want you to come for coffee.”
“Despite appearances and as welcome as you are with us, this isn’t actually a kidnapping,” Luke added. “You can tell my boyfriend no. It isn’t a term he hears much, but he is reasonably good at obeying it.”
Rhys could see that if he insisted, he really could go home right now. The fact was, he wasn’t ready to say good-bye to both the group and the admittedly handsome man who was standing by with a hopeful smile in his direction.
“One coffee and then I really will have to go home,” Rhys agreed. “That’s if Ollie really doesn’t mind making a second trip.”
“If it means we get to keep you out longer. Absolutely not.” Rhys knew Ollie was amiable, but he could also see in this particular instance he was genuinely sincere.
“Okay,” Jai agreed before Rhys could even think about getting in an extra word. “And because I believe your word, I’ll even let you ride home with Ollie.”
In a seeming whirlwind, Rhys found himself in the car with Ollie next to him. “We got very well managed there,” Rhys laughed looking over at Ollie.
“I know,” Ollie replied, with a wry smile as he started up the car. “I don’t know whether to be on my knees grateful that he extended my time with you or slightly insulted he doesn’t think I could manage the same on my own.”
Rhys was glad the soft light from the dash hid the slight pinking of his cheeks. There had been other confident men in his life who’d been happy to pursue him but few, if any, who made him feel as complimented as he did when Ollie made his interest clear. Also, the idea of Ollie on his knees didn’t make breathing any easier.
He was flustered enough that they made the short drive back to the resort in relative silence. Luckily, the contentment of a good meal and the good company was such it was a comfortable rather than awkward silence.
As they pulled into the driveway of the resort and negotiated the security measures, Ollie looked over at him and asked with a slightly worried look on his face. “You like them, don’t you?”
That Ollie looked worried was sweet. It meant Rhys’s opinion meant something to him. However, it was also a bit of a worry, in that he might think Rhys was the kind of guy to pass judgment on those lovely men.
“Piss off,” was all Rhys could say, as they pulled into the parking area. “Of course, I bloody like them. They are great.”
The brightness of Ollie’s smile surprised him. “I hoped you weren’t that good an actor. I really love them, obviously. I lucked out the day I became friends with Kris.”
As they spoke, they skirted the gardens. As if by mutual agreement to maintain the privacy of their conversation, their normally quick strides had slowed to a barely moving stroll. It seemed they both craved those last few moments of privacy and they lingered on the edge of the perfectly maintained gardens.
With Ollie still smiling, Rhys braved the question that had been niggling at the back of his mind since he had seen just a split-second expression of panic appear on Ollie’s face when his work was mentioned.
“Talking of good actors,” Rhys began, hoping he wouldn’t be told to bugger off for his nosiness. “What’s going on with your work? I could see that it’s stressing you the hell out.”
“You’ve known me all of twenty-four hours,” Ollie said, going for classic misdirection. “How on earth can you tell when the others can’t?”
Rhys smiled and admitted the plain truth. “You’re nice to look at. What can I say, I was watching closely,” Rhys shrugged. “Anyway, I wouldn’t bet that Kris won’t carefully question you, at some point. I don’t think he was very much fooled by your casualness.”
“Yeah, probably not.” Ollie conceded. “It’s his bloody twelve stepping. You put someone that smart in enough group meetings and it's like he develops a superpower for figuring out lies and misdirection.”
“What was it tonight? A lie or misdirection?” Rhys asked.
He could see in Ollie’s hesitation that the man was most probably deciding if he should play dumb. But when he answered he did so relatively openly.
“It’s obviously not something I’ve discussed with the others yet, but I’ve had a job opportunity come up and I’m trying to decide whether I should take it.”
“Out west in the country somewhere?” Rhys asked. He couldn’t really see Ollie as a country guy, but the man was friendly enough he could probably fit in, even if he would make a rather stylish addition to most Australian country towns.
“No. The Gulf States. My company is expanding out there and I’m the most qualified in that kind of equity banking to head up the project.”
“But you’re gay.” Rhys spat out. He knew he was stating the obvious, but the last time he’d checked any kind of homosexual activity was very, very illegal in those countries where their laws stemmed from their highly religious way of life.
From the look on Ollie’s face, Rhys’s misgivings weren’t the only ones here. However, Ollie shrugged, mirroring Rhys’s earlier action. “The company believes I can make them the most money on the project and their cultural advisor has said that as long as I remain discreet, I shouldn’t run into any legal problems.”
“The problem is solved then.” Rhys didn’t even try to hide the sarcasm in his voice. “As long as you are a gay man who acts straight you can go on making money for your company and a country that might beat or imprison you if you dared to start a relationship with another man.”
“And that judgment is why I decided it might be best for the harmony of the holiday that I hold off on telling the rest of the crew,” Ollie replied.
His voice was almost its normal charming tone. Only someone listening carefully would have noticed the thin note of frustration in it. Rhys knew he had been judgmental as fuck, but really what was Ollie thinking letting himself in for this. Rhys had been so jealous of the man tonight, with his close group of gay friends. Now the man was voluntarily going to be working in a country where he would have to hide an essential part of himself.
“I won’t tell them,” Rhys conceded. “Although I think you should talk to them yourself.”
Ollie’s sigh made him sound a hundred years old. “I’m not ruining our holiday. Their reaction will probably be like yours and what’s the point of fighting it out when I haven’t even made my final decision.”
He looked so stressed that Rhys let up, even as strongly as he believed Ollie needed to be convinced. “Hey, my lips are sealed,” Rhys said, forcing a smile. Ollie wasn’t the only one who could take on a mask of affability. “I’ll shut up under surf instructor/student confidentiality.”
The smile Ollie offered in response was genuine, and Rhys couldn’t deny a little shakiness in his knees. “Thanks,” said Ollie.
With that subject off the table, and the resulting awkwardness between them, they started moving towards Ollie’s cluster of cabins again. Rhys could appreciate the attention to detail at the resort. The me
andering paths were well lit enough for them to move easily through the darkness, but the lights weren’t bright enough to pierce the bubble of intimacy that remained around them, despite their difference of opinion.
Arriving at the cabins, they could hear low laughter. There was enough of a seductive ring to it that Rhys and Ollie couldn’t help but exchange looks. Ollie’s expression held both an amusement but also an aroused anticipation Rhys was sure was mirrored in his own eyes.
“Fair warning,” Ollie said, his mouth suddenly close to Rhys’s ear. “These boys might get a little wild.”
“Warning,” Rhys scoffed. “Hell, that’s an advertisement.”
Ollie’s chuckle was low, and his mouth was still in close enough proximity for Rhys to feel the huff of air coming out of his mouth. That was enough to create a resulting shiver down his back.
They climbed the stairs. Rhys wasn’t worried about what he would see. The love between both the couples was obvious, as were their possessive attitudes towards their respective partners. Getting wild would be one thing, but he definitely would not be walking into some partner-swapping orgy where he would be expected to participate.
As he got to the top of the stairs, what he saw though was enough to make the air leave his lungs and have all blood flow straight to his dick.
Chapter 5
If Ollie hadn’t already been a little overwhelmed by the closeness of Rhys, the scene in front of him would have certainly added to his emotional vertigo.
The only lighting on their shared verandah and pool deck came from the pool lights, which highlighted the naked bodies of Jai and Luke. The fit, very pleasing, naked bodies of Jai and Luke. The day-bed next to the pool contained a similarly naked Billy and Kris. Only a hastily draped towel hid the actual mechanics of what they were doing, but from the position of Kris’s hand and the look of ecstasy on Billy’s face it didn’t take an expert in gay sex to know exactly what was going on.
One word, “hot,” came out of Rhys’s mouth so gently, but fervently, that Ollie was sure it was involuntary.
And that utterance took Ollie’s dick from interested to rock hard.
“How long were we chatting?” he asked Rhys.
“Long enough,” replied Rhys, smiling. He looked at Ollie when he answered, but obviously couldn’t resist the urge to turn his head back to the masculine beauty on display.
Their conversation must have brought Jai’s attention to their presence. “Hey, slowpokes jump in. The water is beautiful and we can’t have this amazing private pool and not partake.”
The water really looked inviting, but Ollie was suddenly worried Rhys would feel he’d been brought here under false pretenses. “Sorry,” he said, softly, to Rhys. “We offered you coffee not naked swimming. I can make you a cup or even take you home.”
Rhys’s sparkling eyes reassured him. “Don’t worry I know you didn’t all lure me here. He’s right, who could resist the water. Anyway, I can see Luke’s not even up to a game of naked Marco Polo, so I figure I’m safe.”
Ollie looked over to where Jai and Luke were now lazily circling each other up the end of the pool. Yeah, it was pretty obvious that as much as Luke was enjoying being free in the water with his partner, there wouldn’t be any accidental water collisions from his end. From how he wouldn’t meet their eyes, they would be lucky to get much in the way of conversation from him at all.
Rhys pulled his shirt over his head and Ollie was transfixed. He’d had a front-row seat to the same chest this morning, but this disrobing came with the added bonus of being unexpected. And on the beach this morning there hadn’t been a soundtrack of half-choked-back groans, which told them just how close one of Ollie’s friends, was to orgasm.
When Rhys pulled at his pants, Ollie had to glance away or risk looking like the world’s biggest perv. He was sure if he saw all of Rhys’s skin in this moment, he’d just stand there transfixed and with an even bigger bulge than the one about hit the cold air. So, Ollie busied himself with throwing his own clothes on the nearest pool chair, ignoring the expense of the clothing choices he had so carefully made earlier in the morning.
He only got a flash of Rhys’s body as the man quickly hopped in the pool before him, but the moment was long enough to commit the image to his memory. Long legs, muscular thighs, and a perfect ass were all memorable enough he knew he’d be pulling on his own dick at the memory in his near future. The ambient sound told Ollie just how close to orgasm Billy was, and that was enough to make him dive straight into the pool. Luckily the insulating effects of water were enough to block out the actual moment of completion. Ollie couldn’t pretend he’d never fantasized about his friends before, even in only a speculative way. But he certainly didn’t need the current object of his affections actually knowing that. So instead, he concentrated on the sensuality of the water against his completely bare body and the freedom of swimming out here under the trees. After swimming almost the full length of the pool underwater, he surfaced near where Rhys was standing in the shallower end, looking up the stars. Not far away were Jai and Luke, lazing up against the underwater shelf.
“This wasn’t the worst idea,” said Rhys, including them all in his statement. “There was a time in my life when no surfing safari was complete without a midnight skinny-dip, but it has been a while since I’ve done that. There would always be one night when a group of us would get drunk and run into the sea.”
Ollie laughed. He liked the idea of a younger wilder Rhys partying like that. “How does this compare?”
“Well less waves to accidentally slap you on the dick. So not too bad thanks,” Rhys said with a smile.
Looking over at Rhys, Ollie was both grateful and disappointed to learn when you were in the pool, things were far less highlighted than what you could see standing above. Much of what was below the water line was now in shadow. Maybe it was for the best, for the sake of any pretense of friendship, Rhys didn’t know exactly how hard Ollie was at his closeness.
Though Rhys might have had the same idea, because he finished his previous thought with, “Also this is an improvement in that there are no straight boys around to get weirded out if things are anything but completely soft.”
“Tell me about it,” said Luke, joining in their conversation. “There were quite a few nudie runs from a party to the dam that I just couldn’t do in case I got a rogue boner.”
Jai’s hand reached out across Luke’s chest and tugged at a nipple. “I, on the other hand, would be a little hurt if you could get in a pool naked with me and not get turned on.”
Ollie and Rhys looked at each other and, without speaking, seemed to communicate that discretion was definitely the better part of valor for the sake of Luke, who was looking in equal parts turned on and vaguely mortified. So, they turned as one and swam out towards the other edge of the pool.
When they reached the other side, Ollie turned to Rhys and said, “Apart from being glad you’re here for the very obvious reason I’m loving your company. I can only offer my thanks that you haven’t made me the desperate single voyeur.”
Rhys chuckled in reply. “I can understand that one. Though those two seemed to have finished up.”
Ollie looked up to where Kris and Billy were now exchanging the kind of lazy kisses that came from each having reached a very satisfactory completion.
Their easy affection pulled at him and made him only too aware of the lack of it in his life.
“I think the love is actually worse than the sex,” spilled out of his mouth.
Okay, so that was more truthful than he was usually comfortable getting. What was it about this man and Ollie’s new habit of confessing to him?
However, Rhys gently smiled in a way that spoke of understanding. “Yeah, live porn is one thing, but bloody obvious soul-mate-ness is the real kicker. Though I’d remember tomorrow morning not to sit on that seat and be careful of any towel I picked up.”
“Tell me about it,” Ollie leaned in, his voice low and confidential
. “The last window I leant on against at their house, was one they delighted in telling me, they’d fucked against only half an hour previously.”
Rhys’s laugh was deep and got Ollie right in his core. “A habit of theirs is it.”
Ollie nodded, enjoying the feel of their wet shoulders rubbing against each other almost too much to reply. This here was enjoyable enough that he didn’t even have enough headspace to envy his friends. A beautiful man was close, he had the warmth of gentle arousal in his gut, and he was in this spectacular environment with the sound of the trees gently moving around them and the stars shining in a way they never did in the city.
They sat there for some long minutes, both not saying anything, heads tipped back in unison towards the sky, just their shoulders and arms in contact. Eventually the night-cooled water sent a shiver through Ollie’s body.
“Cold?” Rhys enquired.
“A little bit,” Ollie answered. “How is it that you’re not?”
“I’m a water-baby remember,” Rhys replied. “When you spend your life in the surf, you just get used to it. Though I have some shitty memories of big wave surfing in Argentina in winter when the water was bloody freezing and even my wetsuit didn’t seem to do the job.”
Ollie was suddenly even cooler when Rhys moved away from him towards the steps of the pool. However, the cold became a distant memory as Rhys’s shining wet body was fully exposed to the night air as he climbed out of the water. Holy fuck, that was shining perfection right there. That ass was muscularly bitable, and the strength in those lightly furred legs was something Ollie desperately wanted to feel wrapped around him.
Ollie didn’t even look at his friends as he hurried out of the water himself. There was a sudden very unfamiliar possessiveness in him about them getting to enjoy this sight. In his head, Rhys was his. This beauty, this moment, was something he wanted for him alone.
Also, there was something intrinsically embarrassing about your friends seeing exactly how hard a naked man was making your dick. So, with that in mind, Ollie hurried over to the chairs and managed to cover up his rock-hard cock with one of the soft white towels supplied.
