“We can stop,” Addy suggests again.
“Do you want to?” I force myself to look up into his eyes rather than down at what’s in his underwear.
“No…” He sounds a little uncertain. “We’d be crossing another line,” he blurts out.
“Yeah, we would.”
I let my gaze travel down his body again. His chest is so furry, which I already knew. I’ve also noticed the thick trail of hair that disappears beneath the waistband of his pants before.
“You’re gorgeous,” I whisper.
“So are you.”
He steps up to me and wraps his arms around me. I hold him back, and we stand there for a few minutes, doing nothing at all. I can feel the thunder of his heart. His isn’t beating quite as fast as mine, but it’s clear we’re both ridiculously nervous. Addy is just doing a much better job of pretending to be calm than I am.
“Cake?” he asks.
I laugh. “Is that our safeword now?” My face heats up even more. “Not that I’m suggesting we should…or that either of us have ever…or might want to…” I press my face against his chest.
Addy rubs my shoulders. “I meant it as a suggestion rather than a safeword.” He tips my face up so I have to look at him. “For the record, I want us to take our underwear off and get back into bed, but I’m worried you’re getting more flustered by the second.”
“I am. I’m not normally this awkward when it comes to sex,” I promise before realising what I’ve said. “I don’t mean we should have sex tonight. We’d need to discuss that and figure out if we want to and—”
Addy captures my lips in a gentle kiss. “Relax.”
I nod right before he kisses me again. He holds me tight and lifts me off my feet, probably so he doesn’t have to stoop down as much. His arms are big and strong like the branches of a tree. I’m able to relax into kissing because he’s so good at it. With my feet dangling in the air, I almost feel weightless. I put my arms around his neck to make it easier for him to hold me but don’t put my legs around his waist as I did earlier. We both have erections now, so it’ll either make things even more awkward or feel amazing. There’s probably a fifty-fifty chance either way.
“Better?” he asks, setting me back on my feet.
“Much. I think you’ve discovered a cure for my nervous babbling.”
He smiles and strokes my chin. “I’m not sure we’ve proven it’s a cure yet. We might have to keep trying.”
“For scientific purposes.”
“Exactly.”
Addy isn’t silly often, but he’s always amusing when he is.
He gently pings the waistband of my underwear. “Take it off?”
I nod, take a breath, and step away from him. We take our underwear off at the same time. I’m pretty sure it’s the sort of awkward thing a pair of teenagers would do when they’re about to see each other naked for the first time. Of course I’m incapable of looking at anything other than Addy’s cock, which extends from a thick thatch of dark hair that, like his beard, has some streaks of auburn in it. It has a slight bend and curves to the left. I’ve now officially seen more of my best friend than I ever thought I would. There is no way we can ever go back to the way things were before we kissed. Not that Iwantthem to. I just wish things were less weird.
“Come here,” Addy says, holding his hand out.
I force my gaze up to his eyes again and take his hand. He tugs me to the bed, and we both lie on our backs, which makes things evenmoreawkward. We lie with our hands resting on our stomachs, staring at the ceiling for a couple of minutes. It’s a good thing the heating is on, or I’d be shivering.
Addy is the first to move. He rolls onto his side and puts his hand over mine. I turn my head to look at him.
“You good?” he asks.
“Yes. You?”
He smiles. “Just about.”
I turn onto my side, so I’m facing him. There’s a bit of distance between us, so other than his hand on mine, we’re not touching at all.
“Let’s cuddle up and kiss,” Addy suggests. “It won’t be any different to what we were doing before we got undressed.”
