Page 65 of Neighbors With Benefits

It took all of my willpower not to choke on the fries in my mouth. I made my face a mask of surprised curiosity. “Oh yeah?”

Bash shrugged. “Sure.” His cheeks reddened slightly, and he picked at the nachos.

Over the past few weeks, Bash and I had talked about pretty much every topic in the world. But we had never discussed sex. At least, not directly. It felt like wading into the deep end of a pool—I wasn’t sure where the bottom was, and I was feeling out my own comfort level.

But I’d had several beers by this point, which gave me the courage to say, “Threesomes,plural?Look at you, having so much fun!”

He shrugged again, and said with a smirk, “It’s been a while.”

“That’s the dream for men, right?” I said. “Sleeping with two women at the same time?”

“Yeah, I guess…” His blue-eyed gaze colliding with mine. “I’ve never had that kind of threesome, though.”

Confused, I started to ask what he meant.

Then I realized.

His threesomes involved one woman andtwo men.

“Oh.”

“To be clear,” he added, “I’m not an enlightened bisexual like Cat. I’m extremely straight.”

“Yeah, of course.”

“But yeah…” A distant look came to his eyes, and he smiled. “They’re fun. Alotof fun.”

“I bet. Especially for the lucky woman!”

“All right, now I’m the one over-sharing,” he said.

“Not at all!” I said. “I’ll balance things out by over-sharing too: I’ve never had a threesome.”

I had never talked about my sex life like this with a guy. It was strangely freeing. Just a topic like any other, without guilt or baggage attached. It was nice.

A thoughtful expression came to Bash. “Most people haven’t, I assume.”

A thousand questions came to me. How long ago did it happen? Who was he with? Was he in a relationship with the woman, or was it a one-night stand?

Before I could ask any, the waiter was at our table. “How about another round?”

“Absolutely,” Bash said. “We’re celebrating, after all!”

We never got back to that subject while we finished our meal, but it wasn’t awkward. Bash was easy to be around, and we were both tipsy from the beersandfrom our Pickleball victory.

“You were so competitive,” Bash said while we walked home. “I didn’t know you had that side of you!”

“Neither did I! I don’t know what came over me. I got into such a nice groove.”

“It was a sight to behold. I’m glad you’re onmyteam.” He put his arm around me and gave me one of those weird half-hugs as we walked. “I’m glad you’re my friend. You’re really awesome, Jazz.”

“Same!” I replied, smiling on the outsideandthe inside. “Honestly, I was kind of worried things would be awkward after Aiden went out of town, but I feel really close to you.”

“You’d better,” he replied. “I’m just as cool as Aiden. Cooler, even.”

“It’s not a competition,” I scolded.

“Everything is a competition! Even lighthearted Pickleball games!”

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