Page 51 of Dared

He swallowed, his Adam’s apple bobbing, and I ducked down to kiss it.

“Can we maybe…get naked?”

Fuuuuck. I hadn’t expected him to go there, not yet, but now the question was out there, whispered against me like a secret, and honestly, I was as nervous as he was. This was taking our friendship to a whole new level.

“Uh. Shit. Sorry. Never mind. Can we pretend I didn’t say anything?”

It took me a second to realise that Leo had stiffened beneath me, his words coming out in a panicked rush. Oh, fuck. I’d been so lost in my head that I hadn’t even responded to his question.

“Yes. No. I mean, fuck. Sorry.” Pressing my face into the pillow next to him, I groaned.Okay, try again, Finn. Lifting my head, I stroked my fingers through his hair, brushing it away from his eyes as I met his gaze. “Leo. Sorry. I was thinking…complete honesty here, I’m nervous.”

“You are?”

“Yeah.”

His brows pulled together. “Why?”

“Uh…because I don’t really know what I’m doing here…whatwe’redoing here. I’ve also never been naked with another manbefore, not counting communal changing rooms. I don’t want to do anything wrong.”

His lips curved into an O, and his eyes widened, dark pupils eclipsing the green. He looked so fucking gorgeous, all turned on and wanting me. I couldn’t even believe this was happening.

He blinked and shook his head, dislodging my hand that was resting in his hair. “I didn’t even think about that. I thought you knew what you were doing.”

“I really, really don’t.”

“Oh. Okay. Maybe…maybe we can work it out together?”

“Yeah?” My lips curved upwards.

“Yeah.”

Where to start? Kissing. Kissing was good and safe, and we knew what we were doing there. We were pretty much experts by this point. Just as I lowered my head, Leo’s hand slid down my back to the hem of my T-shirt, and he slipped his fingers beneath, onto the bare skin of my back. I could feel them tremble against me, but he stroked upwards. How could one simple touch feel so good?

“Off,” he murmured, and if that was what he wanted, that was what I was going to give him. I lifted myself upright, moving to straddle his thighs, and then I tugged my T-shirt off. His gaze darkened as he dragged it down my body, stopping when it reached the obvious tent in my shorts. Then he licked his lips, and that was fuckingit.

“Off, now,” I said hoarsely, pushing his T-shirt up. I needed to feel his skin against mine right now. My little lion arched upwards, the graceful movement of his body a complete contrast to the way he yanked his T-shirt off impatiently, throwing it somewhere on the floor. The next thing I knew, I was lying on top of him, all that warm, bare skin beneath me, and he was grasping at my shoulders, pulling me closer. As if we could even get any closer. Our kisses became deeper as we rolled aroundon the bed, hands touching every inch of bare skin. My dick was harder than it had ever been, and I was almost certain that Leo was in the same predicament as I was.

“Baby,” I panted, rubbing my fingers over the waistband of his shorts. “Wanna take these off?”

“Mmm. Please.” He was so fucking hot, writhing beneath me, and I couldn’t get enough. He ducked his head. “Same time?”

I melted for him.

“Anything you want. Anything.” I rolled off him, my hand going to my shorts. “Now?”

His response was a jerky nod, and in the space of fifteen seconds, we were both fully naked in front of each other for the first time. Leo curled over, and doing my best to ignore my own nerves, because I was naked in front of him for the first time, I reached out, stroking down his arm.

“Let me see you, baby. Please.”

He flushed, his eyes squeezing shut, but he slowly uncurled his body, baring himself to my gaze. He was so fucking brave, and he was giving me his trust, and it was a fucking gift.

I was saying the words before I could think them through, not even caring how inappropriate they probably were for me to say to a friend. He needed to know.

“You’re so fucking beautiful, Leo.”

His eyes flew open. “Really?”

The sheer disbelief in his voice had my throat threatening to close up. How did he not know how gorgeous he was?

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