Page 55 of Lumi

“Me!” He pulled out his phone and a headset. “I’ll entertain Damian while you close your eyes and do a guided meditation. I can’t take away the handcuffs, but this is going to feel like an escape, I promise.”

“Can’t I just listen to music?”

“Sure, or a podcast if you want. The gift is that you can check out for a while.”

I took the headset and phone. “Thank you, Nathan. This is thoughtful of you.”

“My pleasure.”

Rolling onto my side, I scrolled through songs to pick out something to listen to when a text popped up on Nathan’s phone.

Babe, I’m so horny for you! Look how wet I am.

I turned to the men, who were already talking while stretching in the sun while I was under a beach umbrella.

“Nathan, I’m going to use my phone. I can’t relax when women are sending porn to your phone.”

“Oh, fuck. Is it Lucinda?”

I looked at the name of the sender. “You have her in your phone as Lucifer’s sister.”

Nathan snatched the phone, and unlike me, he opened the message and tilted his head with a small smirk. “Wow.”

“Can I see?” Damian leaned over, but Nathan pulled the phone back.

“It’s private.”

Damian shoved Nathan’s shoulder. “What is it with you Robertsons? Last night, Lumi got a dick pic, and now ye’re getting fanny pics. I want a new phone with more action.”

Nathan chuckled. “I thought you had tons of action. Liv said that you used to be a player. Now that you’re single, I figured you’d be back in the game.”

Turning my back to them again, I connected the earphones to my phone and put the earpieces in. Their voices were lower now, but I could still hear them, even when I put on some calming music.

“It’s true. I used to be good with the lasses when I was yer age, but that’s a long time ago. Maybe it’s because I felt so trapped in my marriage to Siobhan, that now that I’m single again, I’m not interested in random sex. This time, I’m lookin’ for that special woman I want to spend the rest of my life with.”

I didn’t react because I didn’t want the men to know I could hear them, but I closed my eyes and felt my gut contract in a hard knot. If only I could get over my fear of Damian’s rejecting me again, maybe I could ask him if there was a chance for us.

“What about ye, Nathan? Why are ye still here if this Lucinda is waitin’ for ye? There’s no need for ye to babysit me. I understand what it’s like to be young and horny.”

“But that’s the thing. I’m not! It’s weird, and you’re going to think I’m an eejit, but I have women interested left and right, but no one that makes me want to rip their clothes off.”

“Maybe ye just haven’t met the right one yet.”

“Could be, but it’s like there’s been a shift. I used to get nervous when approaching a woman to ask for her number, but now my pulse doesn’t even race. It’s like I’m only doing it to chase that feeling of excitement that I used to get, but it doesn’t work anymore. Now I have all these numbers and women texting me, but often I can’t be bothered to respond. What’s wrong with me?”

“Are ye asking me if ye’re gay?”

I could hear Nathan laugh.

“Nothin’ wrong with being gay,” Damian said. “Two of the toughest colleagues I have are gay.”

“I didn’t say there’s anything wrong with it, and it could explain why I’m not feeling the big buzz with women these days, but then why haven’t I met a guy that I find sexually attractive?”

“Hmm… let me get this straight. Ye’re bored with women, but it wasn’t always like this?”

“No. It definitely wasn’t always like this.”

“So, when did it change? What happened?”