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More words bubble up inside me. Could you be my guy?
The impulse to ask them is so potent, so strong, that I can feel them on the tip of my tongue, fighting for freedom. I have to kiss him a little longer so I don’t blurt something so risky it might destroy our friendship.
But would it? Would asking for more really ruin what we have?
The answer felt clear a few days ago. Maybe even a few hours ago.
Now, it’s mud.
But I want to be sure. I want to know I can hit this pitch rather than strike out looking. So I insist on more of his mouth, traveling across his lips with mine. Maybe I can find the answer to my unasked question in our kiss. When I’m with Luke like this, after we have frantic, passionate sex, it feels like he’d say yes to me.
It just does.
As I nip on his lips, I’m so close to asking. I’m so tempted to do something…dangerous.
I break the kiss, feeling like I’m on the precipice. But before I can even figure out if I have the guts to go for it, he holds up his hands.
“Look. I have jizz hands,” he says, then does a quick shimmy, like a Broadway dancer.
A laugh bursts from me. I can barely catch my breath. Smiling, like he’s so damn satisfied he made me laugh, he pulls away, grabs a shirt from his bag, and cleans up his hands.
Yeah, the side of the road, trapped in a steamy car, covered in our climax, is not the time to ask a no-relationship dude to change his stripes for me.
I need to think this through. Figure out how daring I can be. And at what cost.
By the time we’re on our way, the cars are moving again and we’re cruising. So’s my mind, turning over possibilities and options. “Well, that’s one way to beat traffic,” I say.
“Traffic wasn’t the only thing we beat.” Luke winks at me.
Friendship and romance? Is it possible?
I sure hope so.
At the small bed-and-breakfast in Lucky Falls, Luke checks in first, then waits for me. But the goateed innkeeper in horn-rimmed glasses peers at the screen the same way the brunette did at the rental car agency.
With I’m going to disappoint you concern.
When the guy looks up to meet my gaze through those glasses, he says, “I’m so sorry. There’s been a booking error, Mr. Sloan. We don’t have a room for you.”
I groan, but then bite back the are you kidding me on my tongue. Don’t want to say that out loud.
“I’ll find another hotel nearby,” I say with forced cheer.
Luke turns to me, his expression casual, friendly. “Just share my room.”
Luke. Me. Our lack of restraint. One bed. And my out-of-control emotions for him.
This has bad idea written all over it.
So I say yes.
23
COLD TURKEY RULES
Luke
I’m like a dog. I run with my pack.
So it’s weird that I’m only half-excited to go out with the guys tonight to celebrate Jason’s wedding.
That evening in the hotel room as I button my shirt—a light blue one covered in tiny cartoonish footballs that my sister bought for me—I feel strangely antisocial.
As I appraise my reflection in the en suite mirror, I keep stealing glances at Tanner next to me. I just want to hole up in this room all night with him.
He’s slapping on aftershave. Sure, he’s hot as hell with a towel around his waist. But something else about the moment is messing with me, rearranging pathways in my brain, making me see the start of new connections.
With him.
But maybe this is only the side effect of being in close quarters with him and his cedar. Yeah, it’s wood. That has to be it.
When he’s done, I wiggle my brows and slide in for a hit. “Better get my fix now so I’m not hard all night at dinner,” I murmur against his neck.
He lifts his chin, giving me room to sniff him. “That work for you?”
Closing my eyes, I take another inhale. Yup it works on my dick all right. But it’s making my pulse speed up. Or is that my heart pounding too fast?
It’s a little uncomfortable, so I jerk away but paste on a smile. “I can behave now.”
I wait for him to say I dare you to, because, hello. What else would you say?
But instead, Tanner takes off the towel and turns away. “I should get dressed.”
Heading into the room, he grabs his clothes. He’d seemed more pensive than usual since we arrived. There was no time to dwell on the sudden roomie sitch after we checked in. Jason had arranged for a tee time, so we hit the links and played a round with the guys.
On the course, I tried not to think about the last time I lifted a golf club and how my buddy and I nearly set a mini golf cave on fire with our lust.
