“Now that we’re being honest, I need to get a few things straight.” I snorted at my own joke. “You said you didn’t want anything to change between us. But you do now? Or?”
“That’s a whole other pot of paint.” He frowned. “Is that an expression?”
“I don’t know. It doesn’t matter. I know what you mean, so explain.” English could be elusive if it was your second language, especially during emotional moments. I knew well where Marin was coming from.
“That was why I didn’t tell you before. I don’t want our friendship to change, but I’d love for the physicality of it to evolve.” He smacked his tentacles together in front of him, then unstuck the suckers with a suction sound.
Was he nervous? Be still my heart!“Spell it out, Marin. I need to hear this.”
“You’re so fucking hot, you scrambled my brain and my cephalopod instincts since you got off that plane. I’ve been fighting between wanting to respect you as a friend and pinning you to the wall with my tentacles.” He wrapped his tentacles around his waist, then held them there with his hands.
My heart raced. Was he fucking serious?
Play it cool, Kert.
“Since you fooled around with friends, I’m putting myself on the menu, just saying.” My tone was as casual as I could muster, but my voice came out comically high. “You can, very respectfully, rail me until I can’t walk.”
He chuckled, his expression relaxing. “It won’t make it weird between us?”
“That ship has sailed, my friend.” I lifted an eyebrow and pointed to the suction marks all over my body. “We fell asleep together before. Shared a room for five years. I think our friendship is solid, and sex can make it better. Right?” Hopefully, we weren’t making a huge mistake.
The soft smile on his face eased my fear of rejection. “Yeah, true. And you’re going back to Germany in January, anyway.”
Way to put an expiry date on it, man.
I could have Marin the way I’d always dreamed of, even if it was only for a short time. “Exactly. Let’s have fun.” I nudged him with my foot and grinned.
Just don’t break my heart.
A few weeks of fucking should help appease my heart eyes for him enough for them to go away. I’d never fallen for any of my fuck buddies, so it must be a good solution to my years-long issue.
I had to tell him I meant business and needed him to fuck my brains out. It was time to get my game on.
Chapter Eight
Marin
With a smirk on his face, Kert jumped to his feet and disappeared into the bedroom.
The t-shirt reached his mid-thigh, revealing his leanly-muscled legs with a dusting of hair that I was yearning to touch for hours. I loved it when he wore my clothes, marking himself as mine, even for a short period of time. My friend, of course.And lover?
Burying my hands in my tentacles, I groaned. What the fuck had I done?
What if I fell in love with him even more then he’d leave in a few weeks?
Kert was worth the heartbreak.
He came for me. Fuck. I hadn’t expected my reaction to him being in danger to be so visceral—my emotions took control of my body, leaving my brain behind. He’d been so damn close to that fire. The instant relief of his being unharmed ignited some primal instinct in me. I had to touch him, claim him, make him moan for me. Witness him be the most alive he’d ever been.
The way he’d fallen apart under my touch had been nothing short of magical. Terrifyingly addictive.
One taste of Kert’s lips on the ice skating rink had been enough to turn me into a needy teenager, jerking off every morning and night when Kert couldn’t see me.
Then the fucking couch incident. My instincts had lit on fire faster than the fabric and I had to make sure Kert was okay, then I couldn’t stop touching him and my tentacles went haywire on his body. Through the suckers I had tasted his sweat, his ass, his cum and reveled at the needy noises he’d made. Because of me. For me.
Deep in my gut, a vague sense of dread twirled. Our friendship was solid now, but with sex in the mix, it could all go tentacles up.
Unfortunately, I was stupid and I couldn’t have kept my hands and tentacles away from Kert unless he’d told me to. Which he hadn’t. So jeopardizing our friendship for the sake of getting to touch the sexy krampus had been my only option.
