Boldly, Emma tossed away the towel she’d been using to protect herself from the chilly autumn air. It was light outside, but the sun was quickly journeying westward.
When Brooke crept out of the downstairs bathroom in nothing but a big blue beach towel, Emma switched on the hot tub and told her to get comfy while she shed her clothes. She left them in a pile on a patio chair.
Naked, Emma stepped into the tub and submerged herself beneath the rolling bubbles. “You can look now,” she told Brooke.
Reclining, with her head tipped back against the edge and her eyes closed, she sighed. “I can’t. Too relaxed.”
Emma giggled. She waved her hands, enjoying the feel of the moving water. “I know. I can’t believe Ed doesn’t use this thing.”
Waking up a bit, Brooke straightened in her seat. “Well, he lives alone and never has a steady girlfriend, so why would he use it?”
“For sore muscles?” She assumed that was why he had it, to help him relax after a long day.
“I guess.” Brooke shrugged. Taking her beer off the tub’s ledge, she took a sip. “It’s nice in here. This was a good idea. Thank you for inviting me. I can’t believe Gabe never told me about you. How long have you been dating Ed?”
With a beer bottle tipped to her mouth, Emma shook her head. Swallowing, she set the bottle aside. “We’re not dating.”
Brooke frowned. “You must be. Ed doesn’t bring women around, so that must mean you’re special.”
Emma tried not to read too much into that. She already feared her feelings for Ed were stronger than they ought to be. The last thing she needed was to start thinking she meant something to him, too. Something more than a charity case that happened to be an easy lay.
“Nope, just fuck buddies.”
Emma was pleased that her language didn’t seem to bother Brooke. Instead, Brooke took up her bottle and reached across the water with it. “Cheers to that.”
After a lengthy drink, they sat listening to the jets.
“That’s how Gabe and I started out,” Brooke admitted. “Fuck buddies.”
“How long have you two been together?”
“Not that long. We just moved into an apartment together.”
Emma scrutinized her. “You sound conflicted. You don’t want to live with him?”
“No, I do,” Brooke quickly assured her. “It’s just, it’s really fresh, you know?”
She didn’t, but she nodded anyway.
“It’s a long story, but we didn’t always get along. In fact, he used to be really mad over some stuff I did like ten years ago, but this summer, after Kevin and I broke up, things with Gabe just sort of clicked.”
Emma assumed there was a lot that Brooke had left out in that brief recap, but one thing stuck out above all others. “You used to date Kevin?” Emma indicated with her beer to the house. “That Kevin? The one in there?”
Brooke grinned. “Yep. That Kevin. We dated in high school, then had an on-again-off-again relationship.”
No wonder Gabe had looked so ferocious when Brooke greeted Kevin. “Isn’t that awkward?”
“Not really. Kevin and I are friends, and he was the one that finally broke it off.”
“And Gabe doesn’t mind?”
Brooke glanced over her shoulder toward the house. “No, he knows I love him. That’s why I’m excited about living with him, but like I said, it’s a new relationship, which makes me a little wary.”
Understandably so. They sat in companionable silence. Emma picked up her phone and flipped open a music app. Classic rock blared through the small but powerful speakers.
“You went to high school with the guys? They’ve been friends for a while, then?”
She and Ed had shared a lot over the past week. She thought she was getting to know him, but most of their conversations had centered on the day-to-day things. His job, her job prospects, and what they would have for dinner. They talked a little about family, but she didn’t know much about his friends. He’d mentioned a few names in passing, but nothing concrete.
They still hadn’t talked about their time in the army.
Brooke bobbed her head along with the tune. “Yeah.” She smiled. “What do you want to know?”
Emma lit up. She was pretty sure she’d just found a new friend and, more importantly, a probable ally in the fight to win Ed’s affection. “Everything.”
“Well, Gabe and Nick have been friends the longest. They went to public school together.”
“What’s Nick’s story? He’s really—” Emma hunted for the right word “—friendly.”
“Oh, he’s a huge flirt. And I don’t think he even means to do it half the time. A few years ago, he started dating Gabe’s little sister, Amelia.”
“And now they’re getting married?”
“Right.” Brooke nodded. “All the guys went to the same high school, but only Gabe and Nick attended the same elementary school. The rest came from different feeder schools, so they grew up all over the city. Kevin and Gabe met in grade nine; they both tried out for the football team. I met them shortly after that.”
“What about Ed?”
“I was out of school for a year, and that’s when they started hanging out with Ed. As far as I know, Nick and Ed played for the basketball team. I missed most of that year, but I was around for their graduating year. Kevin and I were dating then. Everyone was trying to figure out what they would do with their lives.”
“Ed said he wanted to play ball professionally.”
“That’s what we all thought.” Brooke flicked her fingers at the surface, causing little water spurts to splash up. “He even had scholarship offers. He was scouted by a couple of different schools. He had it all, but then he went into the army. It surprised everyone.”
Emma grimaced. “What do you mean by had it all?”
“Well, there were the scholarships and the scouts. He was the best player on the team. He was class president.”
“That doesn’t surprise me at all.” She remembered him saying something about running for class president. When Brooke went quiet, Emma got suspicious. “What else?”
“He was dating one of the most popular girls in school,” Brooke confessed. “She was a cheerleader but also on student council. One of those girls you wanted to hate because she was just so pretty and perfect, but you couldn’t because she was actually really nice, too. They were pretty serious.”
Emma’s stomach churned. “What happened?”
“I’m not really sure. All of a sudden, they were over.” Brooke shrugged. Emma wondered if that was the truth or if she was hiding something. “I don’t know if any of the guys ever figured out what happened, and I wasn’t really around then. After high school, I got a job a few hours away, and other than the odd visit, I didn’t really come back until this summer.”
Emma considered the new information she’d been given. How had he gone from being in a committed relationship to refusing to let any woman spend the night? Any woman, that was, until she’d come along. But there was no way she compared to his high school girlfriend. It sounded like they’d been the perfect couple. They’d probably been named prom king and queen.
“Tell me how you came to be here.” Brooke sipped her beer. “I mean, I know Ed’s dated in the last ten years, but I’ve never met any of them. I don’t think the guys have either. No steady girlfriends.”
“I’m not his girlfriend.” Despite how it felt, she wouldn’t make the mistake of thinking their relationship was more than just sex.
“I’m telling you, it’s significant that he let us meet you.”
Emma wasn’t convinced. “Honestly, he’s just doing my uncle a favor.”
“What do you mean?”
“When Ed was in the army, my uncle was his commanding officer. I was stationed in Afghanistan during Operation Attention, helping to train the Afghan National Army. When I came home, Uncle Cain asked Ed to look in on me.” That was putting a nice spin on their first meeting. “I’ve taken advantage of his hospitality. That’s all there is to it.”
Brooke picked up her drink. “I really doubt that.”
Emma didn’t want to argue over it. She hoped there was some truth to Brooke’s opinion, but she would not push it. Something had obviously happened with his first relationship, something horrible. It was something that kept him from getting close to anyone else.
The jets shut off. Emma had half expected Brooke to panic when the bubbles stopped and their naked forms became more visible, but she didn’t. Calmly, Brooke picked up her beer bottle. Emma reached over to the ledge, coming half out of the water to restart the jets. Her bare ass was above the water, but if Brooke wasn’t going to be bothered by a little nudity, then neither was she.
When the jets came back on, Brooke asked a question that Emma hadn’t been entirely prepared for. “I’ve always wondered about Ed. Is it true what they say? Are black guys really bigger, you know, down there?”
“Um…” blinking, Emma stumbled for a response. “Stereotyping much?”
Brooke blushed. “Shit. That was bad of me, wasn’t it? Sorry.”
They were quiet for a moment, and Emma wondered how to get the conversation back on track.
“I shouldn’t have asked that. I’m so sorry.”
Emma shrugged. “When it comes to sex, I doubt race makes a difference. Some people are good at it, and some people aren’t.”
Brooke nodded. “Of course.”
“I will tell you this, though,” Emma glanced at Brooke. “It’s the best sex I’ve had, but that’s just because it’s him. He’s thoughtful, and—” blushing, Emma stuttered “—I don’t know, the way he moves, the things he does, where he focuses his attention—it’s just incredible. I never knew it could be like this, you know?”
Nodding, Brooke released a breath and seemed to relax again. “Yeah, I get that. That’s what it’s like with Gabe. It’s special.”
Special wasn’t a strong enough word.
When she thought about her life after Ed was gone, it ate her up inside. She dreaded when he decided he’d had enough and kicked her out. Yes, the sex with Ed was amazing, but she didn’t think it had much to do with race and had everything to do with Ed.
It hit her then that Mark and Liam had been right. She was in love.
Not that she’d admit it.
She picked up her beer and drained the last of the liquid from the bottle. She placed it on the rim of the hot tub. “Empty.”
“Mine, too.” Brooke motioned to her bottle.
“I’ll order us some more.” Emma carefully reached for her phone to text Ed.
“What?” Brooke wondered.
“I asked Ed to bring us two more. He said, Gabe said Brooke’s his DD and can’t have anymore.”
“Yeah, I really shouldn’t.”
Emma texted Ed back and was soon rewarded with a ping as her phone lit up to announce his reply. Emma grinned as she read it.
“What’s that one?”
“I told him to bring me another, and he said, Gabe says no, because I might see Brooke naked.” Emma quickly mashed buttons, playfully engaging, before she could change her mind.
“Tell me what you’re typing,” Brooke insisted.
“I said that he leaves me with no choice but to go in naked and wet to get one.”
Once she put her phone on the ledge, Brooke splashed her. “You’re bad. I love it!”
Soon, the sliding glass door opened. Brooke squealed and ducked down as low as she could without drowning. Emma just laughed.
Ed walked out, one hand covering his eyes, the other holding a beer.
Emma paddled over to the stairs. “Aw, thanks. I was just joking, you know.”
“I know how you are. I didn’t want to risk it.” Ed smiled.
“Hey.” With a hand on his arm, Emma stopped him from leaving. She slid up close, rubbing her naked breast over his forearm and accidentally drenching the front of his shirt in the process. After pressing a quick kiss to the underside of his jaw, she whispered, “We should do this again sometime. You know, without Brooke and without your clothes.”
“Speaking of Brooke, you’d better get back in the water.”
Emma glanced over, but Brooke had averted her gaze and was peeling the label on her empty bottle instead. Since Ed had masked his eyes, he had no way of knowing they had relative privacy.
Emma started to descend, but Ed blindly reached for her. Finding her hand, he raised it to his lips. He gave her palm a warm, wet kiss that left her skin tingling. “Yes, we should definitely do that sometime.”
Even after Ed had disappeared back inside, Emma’s heart fluttered.
“I see what you mean,” Brooke said, drawing Emma’s attention. “You two have definite sparks.”
Based on the way she felt, Emma thought that might be an understatement.