Total pages in book: 143
Estimated words: 138844 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 694(@200wpm)___ 555(@250wpm)___ 463(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 138844 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 694(@200wpm)___ 555(@250wpm)___ 463(@300wpm)
In another life, maybe. I could’ve easily made a move on my best friend. If he wasn’t interested, he’d let me down gently, and he’d make sure shit wasn’t awkward after. If he was interested…he’d be safe.
I watched in silence as he hauled out soda, stacked pizza slices wrapped in tinfoil, and something in a Styrofoam box. When he flipped it open, I saw something deep-fried, possibly mozzarella sticks. And wings. We loved wings.
He plated everything and set the first one to sixty seconds in the microwave. Then he slid me a Coke along the counter and found a spot across from me, at the island.
“No witty comeback from KC Hayles,” he noted. “You must be miles away.”
Quite the opposite, huh? I was right here.
“Do you ever bottom?” I asked.
He was taken aback by the question, and I couldn’t blame him. We’d never discussed sex on that level. Sex was a topic reserved for kink in theory, with subs involved.
“I’m not opposed to it, if I were to meet the right man I’d have that chemistry with,” he said unhurriedly, as if choosing his words carefully. “But it hasn’t happened thus far, and I feel more at home in being a Top.”
I nodded slowly, the words resonating. I felt the same way.
I hesitated with my next question, because I wasn’t sure I wanted to know the answer, and it was fucked up. I had no right to be…yeah, what was I? Territorial was too strong of a word, but I did feel possessive of what we had as best friends. I couldn’t say I longed for the day he met the man he was going to marry—if that was his thing. I knew kids weren’t.
Before I’d met Noa, that hadn’t been my scene either. He was special. More than that, he wasn’t an infant or a toddler. I couldn’t imagine waking up in the middle of the night because a baby was screaming bloody murder.
I cleared my throat and opened my Coke, and it was much easier to pretend I found the can interesting.
“You’ve never introduced me to a boyfriend,” I said.
Okay, so it wasn’t a question as much as a statement.
“No,” he confirmed.
Was that all he had to say? We weren’t kids anymore. We couldn’t even see thirty in the rearview. I hoped I’d long since shown I accepted and loved him the way he was—and that I was nothing like my folks.
The microwave dinged, and Lucian didn’t move.
I felt parched as fuck, so I gulped from my soda.
The earth wasn’t spinning as fast anymore. I wasn’t worried I’d have to throw up or anything. The falafel was doing its job, soaking up alcohol and settling my stomach.
“I don’t know who I should’ve introduced you to,” he added after a while. “Any relationship under four months is too short to know what’s going to happen, and I’ve only had one or two going over that time.” He paused briefly. “I thought about asking you to come out for beers with me and Eli, my first sub, but first we couldn’t find a date, and then we broke up. I wanted to explore more high-protocol, and he just wanted the extra spice in the bedroom.”
Extra spice in the bedroom.
Fuck. It was too easy to picture him pounding into some lucky fucker—
What the hell was wrong with me?
I wasn’t actually jealous. I didn’t feel that way about Lucian. He was simply him. That was it. We went way back, he was safe, we had each other’s backs, we’d been through a lot together, and, yeah. If I was jealous of anything, it was of the intimacy. The freedom of being able to go nuts on someone you really wanted. Acting on attraction, fucking a tight ass, sucking cock, licking up every ounce of masculinity—
I pinched the bridge of my nose.
Please stop.
I needed to sober up more.
Hearing the floorboards creak, I opened my eyes again, only to see Lucian returning to the microwave. All while he was removing his tie and folding his suit jacket over the stool on the other side of the island. He dropped two cuff links on the marble counter before he switched the two plates and reset the timer for one minute.
With his back to me, he untucked his shirt and bent down to take off his shoes.
Fucking hell, I just wanted to grab him. Feel him, kiss him, touch him greedily, and pretend tomorrow didn’t exist.
Was I actually gonna…
I swallowed hard and took another swig of my Coke, then set it down on the counter.
If I did…would he go for it?
The possibility alone, the mere chance, that I could be kissing a man within the next minute or so was enough to make my head spin. And it would be Lucian. Other than Noa, he was the most important person on the planet for me.