Page 28 of The Marriage Policy

“That was good. Thank you.” I grab my plate, stand, and take his too. “I’ll do the dishes since you cooked.”

“I won’t argue,” he teases.

“Somehow, I didn’t think you would. Remember that time when we were kids and you hid all the dirty dishes instead of washing them? Like your mom wasn’t going to notice all her dishes disappearing.”

He laughs. “Yeah, didn’t think that one through. And then she made me wash them all, and not only were they harder to clean, but my room stank like old food for two weeks. You helped me clean up, though…and wash the dishes.”

I toss a grin over my shoulder. “Most of them. I washed most of them.” He’s always hated doing dishes.

Eric grabs his crutches and walks over to me. “One of the reasons I love you, husband.” He kisses my cheek, then pumps his eyebrows like he does when he’s being silly. “TV night?”

“Works for me.”

“I’ll be back.” He heads to his room, and I wash dishes, stressed out that he’s going to come out half naked again and I’m going to be the worst best friend ever who is suddenly popping boners thinking about said best friend. This new development isn’t pleasant…at all.

I finish the dishes just as Eric comes out in…yep, the shorts with his underwear waistband showing. I guess that’s better than in just his underwear, but what the fuck. Is he trying to kill me?

Living with him feels harder than it used to. Was I always noticing him like this? It was a lot easier to ignore when we weren’t sharing such a close space.

I sit in my corner of the couch, but Eric immediately lies down with his head in my lap. He feels totally comfortable with me, and I’m suddenly perving on him. Awesome. This is why I’ve always been so cautious when it comes to the wholebeing around each other naked.

“What are we gonna watch?” Eric asks.

“What do you wanna watch?”

“What doyouwanna watch?”

I roll my eyes. “How about that show where the people get stuck in that small town and creepy things come out at night to kill them? I’ve heard good things about it.”

“Bet.” Eric has always loved horror-type shows.

I go into the streaming service as Eric rolls to his side, nuzzling his face into my thigh. This is nothing new. He’s the cuddliest person I’ve ever known, and his favorite person to cuddle with happens to be me. I’ve always loved that about us, but now it’s making me nervous. I’ve done so well with not ever even allowing myself to consider Eric as anything more than a straight friend I’d never hook up with or fall for, but this marriage is already giving me random Eric-induced hard-ons.

The show starts, and there’s a slight glare from the overhead light, but I don’t want to get up and turn it off.

“You’re not petting me. You always pet me.” He turns slightly and looks up at me.

He’s right, and I like doing it, love the feel of Eric’s hair sliding through my fingers. It’s something I do for him that no one else does. “You’re the most spoiled person I’ve ever met,” I say, but then I do exactly as he wants—as we both want—scratching his scalp and playing with his hair.

He makes a soft moaning sound which is very new and not helping my current situation.

“Um…” Eric says a few minutes later.

My heart jumps. I’m scared I’m poking him in the head with my dick or something. He freezes, and my cock is safely away from him, so I whisper, “What?”

He rolls over slightly and says, “Look.”

My gaze travels down his body to see his shorts tented. I whip my head in the other direction. “What the fuck, Eric?”

“I’m hard.”

“No shit. Why did you tell me to look at it?”

“Because it’s weird and you’re my best friend.” He sits up, our show forgotten. “All you did was pet me like you always do.”

“Yes, I’m aware.” And this is super awkward since I’m keeping my head turned away from him. I’m not sure if I can look Eric’s direction without my gaze going to his dick.

“Why do you think it happened?”

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