Bridgette’s laugh was bright. “He will be thrilled to hear it. Though he’d like it more if you showed it to him.”
Arlon grinned over the mouth of the jug. “I’ll bet he would.”
Ever since his conversation with Magda on the road into town, Arlon felt like he had a better understanding of the other wizards of the Crux. Sex was a casual sort of thing here, just like it had been among Vian’s Wolves. But unlike the Wolves, the fact that sex was a part of the job felt like a safeguard against being stabbed in the back if he allowed himself to get close. And since his relationship with Fawn had devolved into complicated, messy emotions, the idea of sex with no strings attached was growing more tempting by the day.
Arlon took another sip from the water jug only to catch Garrett’s eyes tracing him through the fabric of his shorts. Yet as Arlon lowered the jug, Garrett’s eyes snapped away before the man asked, “You up for another round?”
Arlon smirked, trying to ignore the heat that had crept up his neck. “Depends. You looking to get beat again?”
Garrett laughed even as that competitive glint lit in his eye. “It was a lucky maneuver. Caught me by surprise, is all.”
“I don’t know, love. I think you’ve created a monster by training him,” Bridgette said.
Garrett swallowed a mouthful of water before he met his wife’s eyes. “You know, wasn’t until you started coming down to watch that I started losing.”
“Do I make you nervous?” she teased.
Garrett hummed, his gray eyes smoldering. “In all the best ways.”
Bridgette’s smile was bright. “Well, if I’m such a distraction, why don’t I just leave?”
“But then you’d miss out on me pinning Garrett again,” Arlon said as he nudged Garrett in the ribs.
Garrett groaned. “Gods, Ihavecreated a monster.”
Bridgette hummed, her eyes twinkling with amusement as she looked between the two of them. “Is that a promise, Arlon? Never thought I’d enjoy the sight of my husband getting pinned by another man quite so much.”
The sultry wink Bridgette aimed at Arlon made his heart forget its job for a hot second. He took another long drink to avoid trying to find a response.
“As often as you cuck me, it seems like you’re itching to be the one in the chair,” Garrett teased. He set the water jug aside and leaned back on his elbows, spreading his legs out on the mat to cool off.
Over the lip of the water jug, Arlon couldn’t help but sneak a look. Unlike him, Garrett always sparred without a shirt, and the airy shorts he wore left little to the imagination. From how close they got while sparring, Arlon knew that he wasn’t the only one with… good proportions.
Bridgette chuckled as she walked across the mat to her husband, her airy summer dress flowing as she planted one sandaled foot on his chest. With a stern shove, she pushed him flat, pinning him under her foot. Her voice adopted an edge of warning as she asked, “What’d you just say?”
Garrett bit his bottom lip, his gray eyes turned to thunderclouds. “You heard me.”
The energy seemed to crackle between the two of them, like a spell waiting to be cast. It made the hair on Arlon’s neckstand to attention, his mouth suddenly dry as he watched them out of the corner of his eye. Bridgette considered her husband before she finally lifted her foot.
“You know, Arlon,” Bridgette said, and something in her voice shot straight to his groin, “I wouldn’t mind watching one more round.” She looked at him with eyes that burned like coals. “And if you pin him again, you can fuck him if you want.”
Arlon’s heart leapt into his throat, cutting off his response. She winked as she retreated to her seat along the wall, and Garrett chuckled as he sat up, rubbing his chest. Arlon fully expected him to laugh the suggestion off, yet when Garrett looked at him, desire was written plainly on his flushed face.
“I mean… I’m alright with that,” Garrett said, and the quiet hope in his voice rang in Arlon’s ears like a bell.
Suddenly, Arlon had to reassess every moment he’d spent with the other man. The times he caught Garrett looking when they were in the baths, the brush of a half-hard cock during a grapple that he had sworn he’d imagined. It all dawned on him like a slap to the face.
Garrettwantedhim. And going off the look on Bridgette’s face, maybe she did, too.
Arlon froze like a mouse caught in a corner. He didn’t know what to say, what to do as his heart raced faster than it ever had during a spar. With the two of them looking at him, waiting for his answer, he felt like he was teetering on a knife’s edge of fear and desire.
Because he wanted them back. And being faced with the reality of that terrified him for reasons he couldn’t put his finger on.
“I’m sorry, that was a stupid suggestion,” Bridgette said, taking his silence for a refusal. Yet the disappointment in her voice jolted Arlon out of his own spiraling thoughts.
“No, no. It’s not,” he said before he cleared the nervoustremble from his throat. He looked at Garrett as he asked, “But what would happen ifyouwin?”
Garrett seemed to read the fear on his face. “Whatever you want to happen.”
