Page 32 of Father Figure

My spine prickled. Didn’t every guy my age hate being called too young? “I’m not playing a game,” I defended hotly. “I just…I want Cass.”

“I'm not saying you shouldn’t have him; I’m just telling you to be careful. Be smart.”

Sam was green-lighting me? Had we sailed through the Bermuda Triangle and lost all sense of reality? “Why do you do that? You always act like you don’t like me, but then you turn around and do or say something nice.”

“What makes you think I don’t like you?”

The way he said it, so smooth and deep, made me feel like we were playing a game of cat and mouse, and I was the mouse. His tone set off all kinds of warning bells in my head.

“The way you act! You’re always pointing out my mistakes, making me feel like a silly little kid.”

“I point out your mistakes so that you’ll learn. This boat can be a dangerous place if you don’t know what you’re doing.” He brushed his lips over the shell of my ear, making my traitorous dick twitch. “Do I really make you feel like a silly little kid? I certainly don’t see you that way.” Sam trailed the tips of his fingers down my arm, and I shivered. “Entertaining, yes. Cute, definitely. But not silly. I think you’re very, very sweet,” he purred. “Sometimes reckless, sometimes foolish, but ultimately very sweet.”

“In Barbuda, you called my dick a pricklet.”

He shrugged. “That was back when I didn’t like you.”

“I thought you just said you did!” God, he could talk in circles.

“I do, now.”

Ugh! Samson Barlowe was an infuriating man! “The water was cold, you know, and I was soft.” Why am I defending my dick size?

“Is it soft now?” he asked, dropping his gaze between my legs.

Not for long. “Why did you hate me?”

“Hate is a strong word.” He brushed a curl behind my ear, then slid his fingers down my neck. “Maybe I was jealous of you. Did you ever think about that?”

“Jealous? Of me? Why?”

Sam placed his thumb across my jugular, and I swallowed hard. “When I’m on the boat with Cass, it’s our time together, our space. This is my territory, and now you’re encroaching. I didn’t like it.”

How could he be jealous of me? It’s supposed to be the other way around! “I feel the same way. I don’t like sharing.”

Sam moved his thumb over my jaw until it covered my lips. He traced over them lightly and I parted them. That’s when he slipped his thumb inside, just the tip, but it was enough. He was inside my body for the first time, and it was enough to make my dick rock hard. I felt so confused, getting hard for him. I thought only Cass could do that to me.

“Sharing isn’t so bad, you know. Maybe you should give it a try. You might like it.”

Was he talking about Cass? Was he talking about sex? Whatever he was talking about, my dick was on board with sharing.

I turned, coming face-to-face with him. “Maybe… maybe I could learn… H-How to share. Maybe you could show me.” Cass and Sam played together, so did that mean he would join us? I thought I’d have Cass all to myself, but would it be so bad?

He slipped out of my mouth and traced his wet thumb over my lips, making them glossy. Then Sam leaned in close and breathed warm air over my wet lips, making everything in my body rigid, not just my dick.

“I would love to show you, little Nicky.”

Little Nicky. Oh my God, so hot. Much better than him calling me kid.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

When I hired Nicky for the summer, I thought it was going to be the best one of my life. Instead, it was shaping up to be the longest summer of my life.

He was becoming an obsessive thought. Since the moment he’d offered that outrageous proposal, I had thought of little else. Here I was, thinking I should be ashamed of myself for my budding attraction to him. But in reality, Nicky was gunning for me, and he was coming in hot. There was absolutely no way I could hold out much longer. I intended to put up a good fight, though, for the sake of morality and whatever allegiance I might owe Brian.

I was preparing for a four-day jaunt to Key West and back, stocking up on supplies, giving the boat a good cleaning, and pretending like I wasn’t going out of my mind waiting for Nicky to show up. As much as I was dreading being alone with him, the other half of me, the half not ruled by guilt and sense, was thrilled. I felt jittery; like I’d downed three energy drinks in a row.

Glancing at the dock for what must have been the six hundredth time, I saw Nicky finally jogging toward me. He was breathless and pink-cheeked by the time he reached me.

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