Total pages in book: 90
Estimated words: 87653 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 438(@200wpm)___ 351(@250wpm)___ 292(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 87653 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 438(@200wpm)___ 351(@250wpm)___ 292(@300wpm)
“Last time? When we were kids?” Landon scrapes his hands over the top of his head. “I didn’t freak out then either.”
I huff, sitting further back on my bed until my head smacks the wall. I’m seconds away from pouncing on this man.
His eyes search mine, and I’d give anything for the power to read his mind.
“I don’t know what my boundaries are,” he says, the anger draining from his face. “I won’t know until—”
“No,” I snap, holding my hands by my ears. “Before you even finish that thought the answer is no.”
“How do you know what I was going to say?” A sad smile tugs up the corners of his mouth, telling me what I suspected.
“I’m not going to be the one you experiment with. I can’t be that guy. You’ll need to find someone else.”
I expect him to pull out his phone or make some snide comment about all the girls he can land and that must translate into pulling guys from the gay community, but what he says hits me harder than that ever could.
“I don’t trust anyone else with this.”
I have to look away from him, emotion clogging my throat.
“I want you to be the one I experiment with.”
“I’m not a fucking science lab, Andrews.”
I would be left a pile of rubble when he figures out that he just isn’t into dick like he’s suspecting. My heart couldn’t take it, but I also don’t know if making a clean break after spending the last week pressed against him every night is possible either. I should’ve shut this down the night he reached around me and put his hand on my dick.
“You’re not,” he agrees, his eyes begging. “You’re my best friend.”
Cue the fucking bubble of emotion in my chest.
“That’s a low fucking blow,” I manage, my head shaking as if I could rid it of the words he just spoke.
“It’s true. No matter how much we fight, how much distance we’ve managed to put between the two of us over the years, I’d still die for you, and I know you’d do the same for me. Some bonds can’t be broken with time or disagreements.”
He doesn’t mention heartbreak, and I know that’s how I’ll be left when it’s over and done.
I open my mouth to tell him I can’t.
“I’d do anything for you, Landon,” I say instead.
Chapter 23
Landon
It’s all the consent I need to climb off my bed and cross the room, and despite the look in Rick’s eyes just a moment ago, he meets me in the middle, our bodies colliding like a clap of thunder in the center of the room.
I don’t waste a second, gripping the back of his head and pressing my lips to his. When he moans at the first brush of our tongues together, I feel it in every cell in my body.
If the man in my arms has kept his hands to himself in fear of crossing a line with me, then I’m going to have to show him the lines I know for sure I’m willing to cross.
We’re both panting when the kiss breaks, and I trail my lips over his jaw, spending a moment running my nose down the column of his neck. There’s something about the late afternoon stubble there that makes me damn near feral. I never imagined the prickle of hair being a turn on but fuck if my cock isn’t leaking right now.
“Shirt off,” I growl, stepping back and pulling my own over my head. “Don’t.”
Rick pulls his thumbs from the waistband of his athletic shorts, dropping his hands at his sides instead of shoving them down his hips like he intended.
He looks a little uneasy, as if he’s picturing that being one of my boundaries. I have no doubt he’s going to have a little better understanding of my desires by the time the night is through, but I want each of those to be a surprise rather than opening my mouth and just telling him.
Telling him I want to experiment was probably the wrong terminology. Experience things with him probably would’ve been closer to the truth.
I lift my head, pressing my forehead to his, needing just a second’s reprieve.
“The same goes for you,” I pant, my hands still on his bare sides. I’m finding it impossible not to touch him. “If I do something you don’t want, then—”
“I want it all,” he says, desire in his tone, but it’s also laced with a hint of sadness.
Maybe he doesn’t think I can please him, but I have no intention of letting this man leave the room without empty balls and a smile on his damned face.
I laugh. “Then tell me what you like when I do it.”
I trail my tongue over his lips before nipping at his jawline, my hands circling his waist until they rest on his ass.