Page 9 of Free Wind (Lifeguards of Barking Beach #2)

Damo was honestly pretty sure Cody was the one usually in charge in that relationship even though he was younger and half Liam’s size. But there was something about seeing him in Liam’s lap that had made Damo…

Interested.

He wasn’t even sure why. Maybe just something about being with someone bigger and stronger.

He seemed to attract petite girls, and while he liked that a lot on one hand—liked holding them and scooping them up, covering them with his body and feeling their soft tits squish against his chest—he wondered what it would be like with someone bigger and stronger than he was.

Not that there weren’t big and strong chicks out there.

Fine, he wondered what it would be like with a bloke.

That word Blake had used—intimate—rang in his head. He wanted that. He’d had it with girls, but the idea of getting that close to a guy excited him in a new way.

Damo swallowed a mouthful of beer, his fingers digging into the stubbie holder.

He didn’t tell Blake how he’d crept back out of the tower that night with a huge boner and waited in the dark under the Norfolk pines lining the boardwalk, half ashamed at being a perv and half dying to wank right there.

Doing multiplication in his head had gotten him back in control. He’d always been crap at maths, and figuring out seven times eighty-two took all his focus.

He’d waited until Cody and Liam came out, then ran up and pretended he’d just arrived. They’d walked back through the car park with him after he grabbed his phone, holding hands easily.

“I’m really proud of him,” Damo said. “Liam, I mean. He was so deep in the closet for ages. None of us knew until we found out about him and Cody.” In a heaps dramatic way, but he didn’t go into that.

“You never suspected?”

“Nah. I mean, he’s so…manly. You don’t imagine footy players being on the other team.”

“Speak for yourself.” Blake’s cheeks dimpled. “I imagine it often.”

Now Damo was totally imagining it too, and his face went hot again. He drained the bottle and stood, needing to move or he’d fidget out of his skin. He was in a gay clubbie’s living room talking about fancying footy players.

He walked back to the ocean painting over the TV. “This, um, this really is cool.”

Silence stretched out, and Damo turned to find Blake stepping slowly toward him. “I understand how seeing Liam and Cody together piqued your interest. And are you still curious tonight?” Blake asked, his voice even lower.

Damo’s belly tightened, his dick pulsing. “Maybe.”

“You’re a terrible liar, aren’t you?” Blake put down his beer on the coffee table and held a hand out for Damo’s empty bottle, depositing that too.

“Usually.”

Though he was a liar. He’d never told anyone about what it was really like at home. On the beach, he cracked jokes and talked about hot chicks and kept a smile on his face. But that wasn’t actually lying, was it?

Blake’s smile was warm like honey in tea the way Mum made it when Damo was sick. “I like that.”

“But you know I’m into girls, right? I’ve always liked girls. Tits are the best. Chicks get me off big time.”

They really did—he wasn’t bullshitting. He paced the living room, too much energy zipping through him.

“You can like both girls and guys. You can like anyone you want.”

Damo bit his lip. “You wouldn’t get aggro if I backed out?”

Blake pulled a face, and his voice lost that smooth rumble. “No. I want the men I fuck to be a hundred percent willing.”

Fear and a deep, secret thrill spiraled through Damo. “Do you—are we going to actually—” He’d screwed his fair share of chicks, but not in the arse, and he’d definitely not had it done to him. Blood rushed in his ears.

At first, he thought the buzzing was from the panic—and excitement—filling him. But Blake dug his phone out of his pocket.

“Shit, sorry,” he said, brow furrowing. “My Mum texted. She should be fast asleep.”

“No dramas.” Maybe an interruption was a good thing.

Damo peeked at his own phone to make sure he didn’t have any messages. The lock screen was blissfully empty aside from his favorite pic of Barking at sunset, the sky painted orange and pink and red and reflected on the swells.

Blake sighed as he tapped out a text. “Sorry,” he repeated. “She’s fine. Just can’t sleep. Putting this on silent now.” He put the phone on the table face down. “So…”

“Um…”

They laughed awkwardly, and Blake’s gaze flicked to his phone.

“Are you sure you don’t need to talk to her?” Damo asked, shoving his hands in his pockets. Yeah, maybe it was a good idea to slow down.

“Let me just make sure that she’s not…” Grabbing his phone, Blake trailed off and tapped out another message before waiting.

“She right?” Concern crept in around Damo’s jangling nerves.

“Yeah. I…” Blake exhaled noisily, eyes on his screen. “She had a stroke a few years back. I had to go home to help. Dad didn’t know which way was up.”

“Shit.”

Damo wasn’t sure what he was feeling. Not that he was happy to hear it, but it was a weird relief somehow that Blake had to deal with something similar. Damo could probably tell him all about home—

The calming warmth that filled him curdled in a flood of acid. No. He didn’t want to talk about home. Not tonight. Couldn’t he have this night just for himself?

Still looking at his phone, Blake said, “Even though the stroke was relatively mild, they needed me.”

For three years? “I get it.” Eventually—if there was more than tonight—he’d tell Blake how much.

Breathing out, Blake’s shoulders loosened. “Okay. She’s not having any symptoms, and—” He smiled tenderly. “She says she hopes I’m having a good night out.”

After putting his phone face down on the table again, Blake grimaced. “Really hot, huh? Nothing like a guy bringing you home and texting his mum.”

All Damo could do was step toward him and press their lips together like his life depended on it.