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“His plug doesn’t fit my socket,” Ambrose said blithely. “Does this mean I can’t leave a terrible review on TripAdvisor?”
Will gave him a look like he wasn’t quite sure if he was kidding or not. “Well, I’d certainly appreciate it if you didn’t.”
“He’s kidding,” Liam said. “Right, Ambrose?”
“Right,” Ambrose agreed, and rolled his eyes at Liam when Will wasn’t looking. Way to sink a perfectly good arsehole moment.
“Yeah,” Liam said. “We should probably move to the house if we can’t secure the place. I’d hate for Ambrose to be attacked by an army of skinks seeking their revenge.”
Ambrose grinned, and shoved last night’s discarded clothes into his bag, peeling his still-damp boxer briefs off the floor with a slight wince. “We’re taking the rest of the sex basket stuff, right? Because we haven’t used it all yet.” He waggled the vibrator at Liam. “Got any batteries at the house? These are normally a double-A.”
It was Liam’s turn to wince, and the tips of his ears turned a delightful shade of scarlet. Will pretended to be very interested in the door.
It only took a few minutes to get their stuff together, then they set off towards the house. Ambrose wore his backpack and hugged the sex basket to his chest, and Liam held an umbrella over both of them.
“This rain is something, right?” Ambrose asked.
“Middle Creek will probably go over some time today,” Will said, as though that meant anything to Ambrose, but Ambrose nodded knowledgeably in any case.
Despite the crap weather and getting evicted from the honeymoon cabin, he was feeling pretty good this morning. This thing with Liam was new, and it gave him butterflies every time he looked at the guy, but Ambrose liked that. He imagined himself back in Sydney, curled up with Liam on his couch with his cat, watching cheesy old movies and eating cheap, greasy pizza. Then removing the cat from the equation and having filthy drag-down sex, because sometimes a guy wanted to cuddle, and sometimes he wanted to get dirty as hell, and both of those things were valid.
“I think Neve was going to take Marcus to see the Hunter Valley Gardens this arvo,” Will continued, “but that’s probably off now, I’d imagine.”
“The Gardens?” Ambrose asked, looking at Liam. “Do I want to see the Gardens too?”
Liam wrinkled his nose. “Not in this weather. And maybe not in any weather. It’s… Do you like botanical gardens and parks?”
“Um, probably more in theory than practice,” Ambrose admitted.
“Yeah,” Liam said. “Same.”
They shared a quick smile.
“Although I am a fan of certain herbs,” Ambrose said with a wink. Will’s eyebrows raised, and his mouth tightened, and Ambrose took it as a win.
“We could go yabbying down at the dam?” Liam suggested. “Dad keeps it stocked, and we’re already wet. It’ll be fun.”
Ambrose frowned. “What’s yabbying when it’s at home?”
Liam grinned. “You throw a line in with a bit of meat on it, and when the yabbies grab on, you fish them out with a net. You catch a bucketful, and then Mum drags out the big pot, and we have a boil-up.”
Ambrose screwed up his face. “Pass.”
“I thought you liked seafood?” Liam teased with a wink, and Ambrose decided he liked this new, playful Liam.
“Only when it’s served to me on a plate. Not when I have to get dirty and work for it.”
“City boy. So, that’s a no to fishing in the dam and catching your own lunch, then?”
“A definite no,” Ambrose agreed, even though he thought it sounded like it might be fun, and he’d definitely enjoy watching Liam be all wet and wild and Crocodile Dundee—or was that Yabby Dundee? Either way, while he might enjoy it, Asshole Ambrose definitely wouldn’t lower himself to standing around in the pissing rain with a bit of meat on a string, so that meant it was a no-go.
They trudged up the porch steps and into the house, and Ambrose made a point of leaving his wet shoes on even when Will and Liam stopped to take theirs off. He didn’t miss the look Fi gave his soaked sneakers, but she didn’t mention it at first, instead wrapping Liam in a hug, squeezing him tightly as if he’d been missing for six months instead of vaguely inconvenienced overnight. Ambrose was slightly envious, although he wasn’t sure if he was envious of Liam for having a mum who hugged him, or of Fi for getting to put her hands on Liam.
She finally let go and put her hands on her hips. “Now, what on earth happened? I know you had enough sandwiches to get you through dinner, but when you missed breakfast as well, I sent your dad down to check on you.”
“It was those bloody doors,” Will said. “I told Dad the locks were buggered.”
“Yeah. Long story short, broken key, flat phones,” Liam said.
