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“Why’d you write me that letter?”

Eli’s gaze snapped to his. “I’m not really sure. It seemed to work for Freddie.”

“Except Freddie never gave Annie his letters.”

That seemed to stump Eli for a moment. “Oh. Right. Well, either way.” He brought one hand up, sliding it underneath Nolan’s T-shirt. “It worked, didn’t it? Unless by try it out you meant sitting on my couch for a spell, in which case⁠—”

“Eli,” Nolan interrupted, his stomach tensing at the feel of Eli’s cool palm against his back.

“Hm?”

“Shut up and kiss me already.”

Grinning, Eli did, and fireworks went off in Nolan’s head.

He definitely should’ve mauled him the minute they walked in here.

Eli’s lips were wet and warm, and the feel of him against Nolan was . . . fuck. It was fireworks on an energy drink multiplied by a thousand. Eli dug his fingers into Nolan’s hair and his tongue slid against Nolan’s, and honestly . . . in this moment, Nolan would’ve given him anything he wanted.

Nolan walked him backward until Eli’s butt hit the back of the couch, but in his enthusiasm, he went too fast and Eli fell backward onto it with a squeak that turned into giggles.

“Shit, Eli, are you okay?”

Spread-eagled on his back and still laughing, Eli wriggled his T-shirt up and over his head, revealing cut abs and a smooth chest that made Nolan want to pounce on him. “This kind of reminds me of the time me and my friend Harry were arm wrestling on his couch and I fell off it when his mom came in.”

“Were you arm wrestling?” Nolan asked, rounding the couch to kneel on it next to Eli. “Or were you arm wrestling?”

“Just arm wrestling. Harry is very straight. Take your shirt off please, Nole.”

Nolan complied because what the fuck else was he supposed to do when Eli asked so nicely and smiled at him so innocently.

There was nothing innocent about the tent in his pants, though.

Nolan tossed his T-shirt aside, then laughed when Eli hooked one foot around his hip and yanked him down.

“Better,” Eli muttered before Nolan’s mouth landed on his again.

Eli tasted like sin and joy and everything good in the world. His mouth was as hungry as Nolan’s, and his hands were everywhere at once. Nolan settled into the V of his legs, and when their erections brushed and Eli moaned into him, Nolan yanked his lips away to trail them down Eli’s chest. He was delightfully freckled here too, and it was intoxicating.

“You know what this reminds me of?” Eli said somewhat breathlessly.

Nolan had to laugh as he raked his teeth over one of Eli’s pert nipples. “What?”

“Remember when we had drinks last fall? And you told me about Amber?”

Groaning, Nolan dug his forehead into Eli’s sternum. “I really don’t want to talk about Amber.”

“No, I know, this isn’t about her. But after you dropped me off at home that night, I walked over to Zanetti’s.”

Nolan looked up at him. “Didn’t I drop you off after midnight? What was so pressing that you had to go over that late?”

“My drunk ass thought it was super important to vent about the fact that you had a girlfriend—yes, at that time of night—and I ended up staying the night on Zanetti’s couch with Mr. Wiggles.”

There’d been another man in Eli’s life? “Who the actual fuck is Mr. Wiggles?”

Eli waved a hand. “That’s not important. My point, if you’ll stop interrupting, is that I was drunk and sad but also horny ’cause, like—” He waved a hand again, this time at Nolan. “—look at you. And I almost jerked off on the couch.”

Nolan waited for the punch line, but when Eli just smiled benignly, Nolan said, “That’s it? That’s the end of the story?”