“No. I’m not naturally modest, and as longas you don’t mind how I’m going to react to seeing you naked, it’s up to you.”His tone was more factual than erotic, but the idea of him getting hard becauseof me made me hard.
That was going to be a vicious circle.
I let out a quiet breath and shifted myfingers so I could caress his arms without it being obvious. This wasdefinitely something we should have talked about beforehand and I was going toapologize about that at some point, but for now, I sighed dramatically. “Iguess swimming sounds fun. But just so Austin knows what he missed out on.”
Everyone laughed, including Austin. Griffinpressed a kiss to my neck that was going to make my already interestingsituation even harder.
Literally.
“Then I think swimming sounds like evenmore fun now.” He nibbled on my ear and chuckled which did wicked things to myinsides. “Because you’re definitely the only one to have caught my attention.”
Somehow I knew just how true that statementwas. But not everyone needed to know that, so I smiled. “Oh yes, we’re going tomake him jealous for a while.”
Until he found his own?
What the fuck was Silas up to?
Some of the tension broke as the decisionwas made, but even though everyone had gone back to teasing and laughing, Icould feel their eyes on us. Wanting Griffin to know that I was on board withthe decision even though I was nervous, I turned in his arms.
Running my hands over his chest, I tuggedon his shirt and raised one eyebrow. When he nodded, I forced myself to relaxas I brought the T-shirt up his torso. There was no way to forget how new thiswas, but somehow it felt right. With the guys by my side, I could feel theirstrength and love as I took the next step.
Tossing Griffin’s shirt to one of thechairs, I tilted my head toward the lounge chair. “Will you sit so I can takeoff your shoes?”
Focusing on him made everything easier. AllI had to do was strip my Dom and get him ready to go in the pool. Kind of myDom. For the moment, putting him in that role made everything easier, so Ididn’t argue with the mental image. Besides, he’d all but said it earlier—he justwasn’t going to rush me.
But since I could do that well enoughmyself most of the time, or one of the guys would push me, he really didn’tneed to do much to get me to that point.
Griffin cupped my face, stroking my cheekwith his thumb, then nodded. “Yes.”
As he sat down on the end of the chair, Iknelt down. The familiarity of the motion had something in my chest tightening,but I just focused on breathing and taking care of Griffin. After the first fewseconds, there was something almost second nature about it. I knew he wasn’tMatthew and I didn’t want him to be anyone but Griffin, but it was still likewrapping myself in a well-loved blanket that I thought I’d lost.
By the time I had his shoes and socks offand tucked carefully under the chair, the nerves that had been whirling insideof me had settled. The warmth and comfort of submitting had taken care of anynegative emotions.
As I rose and stepped back, I stayedfocused on Griffin all while feeling the strength of everyone around me. “Willyou stand, Sir?”
He nodded silently and slowly liftedhimself off the chair. I had a feeling he was trying to give me a few secondsto change my mind, but I didn’t need it. I’d never been afraid of Griffin. AllI could see when I looked at him was my friend, as well as Matthew’s smilingface as he said what a good Dom Griffin would be.
Carefully releasing the closure on hispants, I eased them down his legs before kneeling again so he could use myshoulder to balance with. When he stepped out of the pants, I laid them on thelounge chair behind him and scanned up his body.
I didn’t make any effort to disguise mycuriosity or appreciation of his incredible physique. Years of wearing theheavy equipment and the physical training that had been required had made hisbody a work of art.
The bulge that was barely covered by shortboxer briefs was sexy, but what really drew my eyes were the faint scars thatwere sprinkled over his body from a lifetime of putting his life on the linefor strangers. I could see myself stretched out over him, kissing and exploringevery one, but for now, I settled on trailing my fingers up his legs.
He let out a quiet growl that made it clearhe knew I was playing with him, but if I was going to show off my Dom for thefirst time, I wanted them to be impressed with everything about him. Not justhow sweet and tender he was.
There was utter silence around the pool asmy fingers reached the waistband and started slowly peeling down the tightfabric. As his dick came into view, I had to remind myself that it was inproportion to his body, but it looked long and thick and his knot looked likeit would be incredibly big once it swelled up.
I couldn’t help but react to his scent andjust being that close to him, but I held myself in check and didn’t touch himunnecessarily. Stripping him slowly was one thing, but I wasn’t going to pushthings too far until I had permission or his orders.
When the briefs came to his ankles, hestepped out of them and I set them on his pants. Rising, I let out a deepbreath, trying to figure out what he wanted me to do next, but instead ofgiving me directions, he smiled.
Familiar hands stroking up my sides had meturning my head to see that Dakota had come up behind me. Kissing my cheek, hesmiled. “Let’s get you ready for your Dom.”
I glanced quickly over at Griffin to seehis smile had gotten even wider. Taking that as permission, or at leastapproval of the direction everything had taken, I looked back at Dakota andnodded. I wasn’t sure if my voice would come out stressed and cracked like a teenageror not, so I stayed quiet as he slowly worked my shirt over my head.
When my shirt joined Griffin’s, I leanedback into Dakota’s embrace and closed my eyes for a moment. I felt him pressanother kiss to my face as he reached for the button on my pants. “Kick yourshoes off.”
His quiet order had everything coming intofocus again. Toeing off the deck shoes I’d slipped on earlier, I couldn’t helpreacting as Dakota’s fingers trailed down my legs as the pants slid to theground. Stepping out of them left me in just a pair of tight, nearly see-throughbriefs Austin had given me a few months ago.
