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She meets my gaze, a hint of curiosity in her eyes. “Any suggestions?”

“Hmm . . . well . . .”

We’re obviously joking around, but how will she react if I take things a step further? Only one way to find out. I lean forward, moving my mouth tantalisingly close to hers but halting just before our lips touch. The ball is in her court—she can either close the gap or push me away.

She closes the gap, her lips meeting mine, and just like the last time, the kiss quickly becomes passionate, our tongues dancing and exploring. She edges closer, her tits pressing eagerly against my chest, her heartbeat syncing with mine, both of them pounding fast.

As before, I feel myself getting hard, only this time my cock gets trapped in my jeans as it grows. Wincing, I have to reach down and adjust myself. If there’s a subtle way of doing that, I’ve not learnt it—she notices, of course.

She giggles, breaking apart. “It never takes you long to get in the mood, does it?”

At the loch I was embarrassed, but I’m not today. In fact, when her eyes drift down, far from feeling self-conscious, a thrill shoots through me. I enjoy watching her study the contours of my jeans, like she’s trying to decipher a secret code. There’s curiosity in her gaze and perhaps a hint of amusement on her lips.

“We agreed it was a compliment, remember?” I remind her. “And anyway, your eyes aren’t complaining.” I can’t quite keep the smug tone out of my voice. She’s still not torn them away, and I’m revelling in her attention, experiencing a surge of masculine pride. Throughout most of my teens, erections have come at inopportune moments and have been things to conceal. There’s an exhilarating freedom in finally showing off my bulge without shame.

“Staring isn’t nearly as fun as touching,” I add cheekily.

It’s this that causes her to look up and meet my eye. I stare right back at her, holding her gaze, not backing down. I can’t quite believe I had the guts to say that, but my cock is straining against my jeans, aching for her touch.

Iona bites her lip, glances away for a moment, then makes eye contact again. “Lewis,” she says hesitantly, “did you know that in the animal kingdom it’s usually the male birds that are bright colours?” She pauses, as if second-guessing herself, then continues, “They’re also the ones who perform fancy dances to impress females.”

“Er . . . okay?” Given a million chances, I’d never have guessed she’d reply with that. Am I not thinking straight because all the blood in my body has gone south? What am I missing?

“If there’s going to be any touching involved, there’s something you need to do first.” She opens a drawer and takes a small packet out.

“A condom? Aye, no problem, I can put that on. Protection is a good idea.”

“It’s not just any condom. It’s . . . a glow-in-the-dark one.”

I raise an eyebrow and sit up a little straighter. “Aye? Why have you got that?”

“It was a present. From Erin. As a sort of . . . joke.”

“All right, you’re going to have to explain.”

“Well, Charlotte and Erin were sharing stories about things they’ve been getting up to since they got here—encounters with boys, I mean. Then they turned to me, and . . . being a virgin, I didn’t have a lot to discuss. But I felt I had to offer something, so I told them about how you kissed me at the loch. I mentioned that you got an erection and that we had a bit of a laugh about lightsabers.”

Ah, earlier Erin said something about how meeting me was quite “illuminating”. So that was another lightsaber pun.

“You told them about our night at the loch?”

She grins sheepishly. “Sorry! But honestly, compared to some of Charlotte and Erin’s anecdotes, mine was so tame. You got a hard-on—so what? It’s perfectly natural. Anyway, a couple of days after I told that story, Erin handed me this. She dared me to try to get you to put it on the next time I saw you. So I was thinking . . . ” She tosses me the condom, and instinctively I catch it. “How about it?”

“Wow, this is a bit . . . left-field. I’ve had a lot of sexual fantasies—many of them involving you, actually—though none have ever gone like this. But . . . okay, let’s say I put it on. Can we then get down to it?” I shoot her a mischievous smirk. That seems a fair deal to me.

“Not quite. Going back to my chat about male birds . . . the condom will give you the bright colour you need, but you’ll still have to perform a courtship display.” I frown in confusion, so she adds, “A dance, Lewis. In the dark. With the lights off. Just your . . . thing waving about.”

I throw my head back and laugh hard. “This is a wind-up, right? It’s a good one. Very funny.”

“It’s not a wind-up. But if you don’t want to do it, that’s fine. We can both remain sexually frustrated virgins. Your choice.”

I narrow my eyes, thinking through this incredibly strange offer. “All right, just hypothetically, let’s say I do this. Do we then get to . . . ‘mate’?”

“Well, maybe not mate—at least, not today. I’d rather work my way up to full-on sex. But I could definitely have some fun with . . . you know . . .” She nods at the bulge in my jeans.

A pulse of heat surges through me down there. I lick my lips, imagining her soft, warm hand wrapped around me, stroking and teasing me. Fuck!

“That sounds . . . good,” I say, struggling to keep my voice steady. “But it’s not enough. If I dance for you, your clothes will be coming off afterwards. I will strip you naked and inspect every inch of you. Every . . . inch.” To drive my point home, I lower my gaze to her tits and drink them in, picturing how beautiful they’ll look when I unclasp her bra. Never before have I stared at them so brazenly, but given she openly studied my hard-on, it seems only fair.