Page 140 of Lost in the Dark

Maybe that’s what I wanted, considering my diagnosis.

Maybe I was just horny for life.

I snorted, and closed my eyes.

Iwoke up from my nap feeling like a fairytale princess—I was refreshed, and there were birds singing outside. I got out of the sleeping bags and unzipped the tent—Jo was nowhere to be seen.

“Jo?” I asked, wondering if he’d wandered off to pee. “Josiah?” I called, with just a hint of nervousness.

“Over here!” he called back, from behind the camp’s periphery.

I walked on a leaf-blurred trail to where I’d heard his voice, and soon I heard the sound of running water. Josiah was sprawled out on a boulder, near a river’s beach, all of him glistening with water from a swim. His clothes were in a neat pile beside him, but he still had boxer briefs on—I strongly suspected that he’d be naked, if I weren’t near. “I was about to take a nap myself,” he said.

I picked my way over to him. It was hotter out here, without the shade, and with the rocks reflecting heat up. I lived in Miami, but I couldn’t have told you how long it’d been since I was on a beach. I’d taken it for granted, for forever, but now I desperately wanted to swim.

Also, I really had to pee.

“Is it safe?” I asked him.

“Absolutely,” he said, moving to lie on his side and face me. “Plus, I’ll keep watch.”

My hands paused from where they’d been tugging my shirt up. “You can go back to your tent if you want.”

“And what if I don’t want?” he asked lightly.

If he didn’t want...well maybe turnabout was fair play. Because if he wasn’t a hundred percent gay, I’d been told I had a nice ass. I finished pulling my shirt off, and then peeled my jeans down, which left me in a white lace bra and pink cotton undies—and clearly left Jo hard; his dick was pressing against his briefs, helping to wring the front of them dry.

I pretended to ignore that for his sake—and to shove back the thoughts I was having about running over there and riding him for all he was worth. Luckily for my common sense, my urge to pee became paramount, which helpfully felt unsexy. I waded out into the water, until it was just beneath my breasts.

I held my nose and then dunked under, letting the chill water cool me off, so I could rise up again with a scootch more sanity. I swept my wet hair back, letting the sun hit me, closing my eyes, struck by that pervading sense of rightness I’d had, almost ever since I’d crashed last night.

My reverie was interrupted by his voice, though. “You’re fucking gorgeous, Lizzy.”

I blinked back to life, more stunned by his comment than threatened by it. I wanted to look down at my body—which was industriously betraying me, right-now-this-very-moment—and say, “Oh, this old thing?”

I didn’t feel beautiful—not in Miami, at least. I was all factory parts, which wasn’t to put the women who weren’t down, but just an acknowledgement that my full breasts weren’t as perky as Some Influencer’s, and that—after torturing myself by scrolling through her whole feed—I knew Eric’s new girlfriend didn’t have any belly fat and her thighs didn’t rub.

“I’m sorry,” Josiah said, and when I looked up at him, I saw his concern on his face.

“Don’t be,” I said, stopping him, fast. “It’s just been awhile since I heard that and all.”

One of his eyebrows crept up and he frowned. “But...you have a boyfriend?”

I blew air through pursed lips. “Had.The whole thing’s definitely past tense.”

“Idiot,” Jo muttered, on my behalf.

I took a step forward, so that the water dropped down to my hips. “Look—I clearly turn you on.” His erection hadn’t subsided, so it was pretty obvious. “But I know you and Reeve are a thing, and I don’t want to be a homewrecker.” Even though I fuckingneededto get laid. “So maybe one of you have a hot brother you could call up?”

He tossed his head back and laughed, a beautiful sound. “Christ, wait till I tell Reeve—”

“Oh, please, don’t,” I begged, feeling myself go red.

“No—he’ll fucking love it,” he said. Then he reached down and stroked himself through the cotton of his briefs. “But here’s the thing, Lizzy. Reeve and I are a package deal. No one gets one, without the other. And anything you do, or we do—I’m going to tell him about. That’s just the way it is.”

He kept touching himself as he spoke, daring me to watch, and so I did. I couldn’t have helped myself. It was mesmerizing. “So...you’re partners?” I guessed.

“What we are is complicated,” he said, then raked his eyes over me. “But I’m not going to lie to you and tell you you’re unattractive, or that me looking at your dark nipples under that lacy white thing doesn’t make me hard.”

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