Saugatuck Summer (Saugatuck, #1)(71)
The sounds of f*cking were all around under the low pulse of club music, some of it coming from thin-walled rooms with the door shut, and some of it from rooms that were wide open. I couldn’t bring myself to look at those, not yet. It felt wrong to gawk, even if they’d left the door open in an invitation to do just that—or possibly join in. And I could feel eyes upon me, upon us, from patrons both young and old—from muscle-bound gym rats to solidly built bears to saggy, middle-aged guys with wedding bands nearly embedded in their pudgy fingers. I kept my head down and let Jace wave off any attention that might be offered.
Maybe I was just too provincial for this shit.
And yet, despite my discomfort, I was at least a little turned on. Not fully; I wasn’t more than half-hard under that towel (which, unless matters changed drastically, would remain firmly around my hips, thank you very much), but tension was winding tight in my nuts, sending pulses through my cock.
If I could have identified what was generating those pangs of arousal, I might have asked to pursue it. But I couldn’t. Everything was a tumult of nerves and confusion and revulsion, mixed in with that almost-reluctant thread of eroticism.
We paused by a line of booths, some of which had men on their knees near the wall. Oh wow. Glory holes. I looked at Jace and he was gnawing his lip with that hungry look he got when he saw something he wanted.
“You like doing that?” I murmured to him.
“Don’t know. Never tried it.” He sighed deeply.
“Why not?”
“Because in that particular fantasy of mine, I’d really like to be the one on my knees.”
“Why—” Then I remembered his little issue with the taste or texture of condoms. He couldn’t live out that fantasy without taking a risk he’d rather not take.
Man, that sucked. So to speak.
I stood watching him watch the cocksuckers for a while longer, then I got a little brave.
“What about after I get tested next month? I mean, it won’t be the same as a stranger, but . . .”
His eyes danced as he looked over at me and smiled. “I’m okay with role-play.”
I smiled back, pleased to be able to offer him something he wanted and couldn’t have from just anyone.
“Wanna go check out the hot tub?” he offered, and I nodded. I hoped the scent of chlorine would help cleanse some of the mélange of sweat, cologne, musk, latex, and cum that was assailing my nostrils.
The maze gave way to more open spaces. A glass-and-tile-enclosed steam room was off to one side, and further along was a lounge of some sort, but before that, we came to the Jacuzzi. I was glad Jace had advised me to wear the waterproof film over my new nipple piercings, because I wasn’t sure I trusted anything, even the heavily chlorinated water, to be sanitary. It bubbled and foamed and steamed, the chemical fumes so heavy they burned my eyes. We laid aside our towels and sank into the water, claiming a space on the benches lining the sides.
For a hot tub, it was huge. There were only eight or so men in there now, but it could have easily seated twenty or more. Three of the men were in the far corner in a tangle of limbs, twined so closely around each other that only the occasional contrast in skin tone made it clear there were different people in that spot at all. Clouds of steam wafted up to obscure them, but their sounds rode over the low roar of the jets. Scattered around the sides of the pool, other men relaxed, ignoring them or watching unabashedly. Some even appeared to be stroking themselves underwater, and their attention wasn’t just on the threesome in the corner. Speculative looks slid our way, and I thought by now that Jace’s protective alpha-male vibe must have been pretty clear—or maybe it was just the way I was hanging on to him like I was going to be eaten otherwise—because when someone approached us, he leaned down, murmuring in Jace’s ear rather than mine. Jace replied softly and turned his attention to me, speaking against my ear.
“This gentleman wants to know if I’d be willing to loan you to him. He thinks you belong to me. What do you think?” He punctuated the question by sucking on my earlobe.
I gasped, and turned to him wide-eyed. Anyone who didn’t know Jace’s face as well as I was coming to wouldn’t have recognized the hint of a smirk and the gleam in his eyes. He knew goddamn good and well I wouldn’t be okay with that. He was just trying to wind me up.
And f*ck me if it wasn’t working. That coil of tension below my waist, the one tugging my nuts up nice and snug, got just a little tighter.
Two could play that game. For the first time, I let myself really look at another man here. He was in his mid-to late-thirties and very, very butch. He wasn’t ripped, but there were slabs of muscle under a slight, beefy paunch; I had no doubt he was f*cking strong. As in, he could break me in two, because he towered over me. He wasn’t unattractive, especially if you liked bears, but he was a little scary and the erection that hung from his hips over the bubbling water was downright terrifying. He could break me in more ways than one.
Still, I let myself give actual consideration to the notion, even if I already knew what my answer would be. And I let Jace see me do it, in case he decided to get too complacent in his role as my “owner,” because that so was not what we were about, however out of my element I might be at the moment.
Jace’s lips moved against my ear again. “If you agree to it, my one condition is that I get to watch. And not just to make sure everything is safe.” To emphasize his point, he caught my hand under the water and pulled it into his lap.