Page 48 of The Arrangement
“Fucking.”
I groaned. “Slut.”
“Hey! We don’t slut-shame!” Rome shouted, half-joking and half-serious.
“Sorry.”
“So, in middle school, I figured out I liked girls. That was easy. Everyone assumes boys like girls. After I kissed you, I learned that I also liked boys. For me, it’s pretty even. I’m attracted to both roughly the same. It’s not like that for all bisexuals. Some can be seventy percent girl attraction and thirty percent boy attraction, but you’re still bi. Anyway”—he waved a hand in the air as if trying to brush aside his digression—“after I finished college, I dated someone who identified as nonbinary. What they wore often changed according to how they felt that day. That relationship made me realize I was defining my sexuality too narrowly, so I revised it to pansexual. I’m attracted to beautiful, thoughtful, fun, kind, smart people.”
My stomach churned as I asked, “And your parents?”
Rome shrugged. “Don’t care. Wear a condom. Be safe. Watch your back. Don’t get married without a prenup. The usual shit. My mom is super supportive and asks a lot of questions out of curiosity. My dad is supportive, but you can see that he doesn’t understand it.”
“What about Sydney? You always seemed really close to your cousin.”
“Only because she was constantly around. But she’s fine with it all.”
“Is she…”
“Oh my God, she’s so fucking vanilla. Straight. Married to a very straight white man. Thankfully, he’s a liberal, or she would have kicked his ass to the curb long ago.” Rome sank a little lower on the sofa, his brow furrowing in thought. “She presents this totally normal, average, straight exterior to the world. I wonder if Sydney and her husband are super kinky in bed. Like the whole sex dungeon thing with swings, floggers, bird masks, and leather assless chaps.” He stopped and shuddered hard. “Ew. Why did my brain go there?”
“Because you’re demented.” I chuckled. My head dropped to the side so that I was staring at him. These cute wrinkles formed at the corners of his eyes whenever he smiled. And now that we’d kissed, I had the craziest desire to touch those lines with my fingertip. “Bird masks?”
Rome threw up his hands and huffed. “I don’t know. BDSM, tying people up, and all the super-kinky stuff really isn’t my scene.”
“What’s your scene?” I whispered.
My oldest and newest friend turned his head toward me and instantly captured my mouth in a soft kiss that heated on the second pass. This time, I didn’t hesitate. I jumped in, losing myself in the caress of his tongue, the pressure of his lips as they moved against mine. Even the bristle of his beard was interesting, adding its own unexpected allure to the mix that got my heart racing.
Sure, the act of kissing was the same, but there was also something different about it. Rome was more forceful this time. For a moment, I fought him for control, which was fun, but it wasn’t until I relinquished that control, let him take the wheel, that a moan slipped from me. The rush of pleasure was a heady, intoxicating thing. I didn’t want it to end. Fuck, I wanted more.
Rome pulled away, ending the kiss. My eyes opened slowly as my brain proved sluggish coming back online. Rome lifted his hand to my cheek and rubbed his thumb along the edge of my bottom lip, sending all these tingles through my body.
“My scene? Having fun and making my partner feel good.”
“Yeah.” I exhaled. I could totally believe that about him.
He suddenly sat up, returning his hand to his lap. “I’ve got an idea.”
“That’s scary,” I muttered out of habit.
“Let’s have a sleepover.”
“What?” That was like being splashed with cold water when I was still floating in a warm sea of bliss. I jerked upright, my brain shooting into panic mode. What would happen if Rome and I slept together? Did he mean for us to have sex? The second kiss was a lot better than the first, and I had a feeling that they were going to progress in that direction quickly, but did I want that? Was I ready for sex?
“Hey!” Rome snapped. “Get your mind out of the gutter!” He reached over and smacked me in the center of my forehead, jolting me from my dark and somewhat filthy thoughts. “I meant sleepover like we did as kids. Sleeping bags, junk food, and video games all night. Not falling asleep until dawn. No sex. No touching. At most, maybe some more kissing.”
“Oh.” I stared wide-eyed at him.Wow. I had not been expecting him to suggest that.
“I thought we could talk more. It would be easier if I was on hand to answer any more questions and stop you from panicking. Plus, you have a giant video-game collection, and we haven’t made a dent in it yet.”
Stopping me from falling into another swirling panic would be a good thing. There would be things I’d want to ask him later too. Right now, everything was overwhelming. I hadn’t even dealt with the brainwashing of self-hate I’d gone through with my mother.
“Only problem is that I don’t own any sleeping bags,” I said.
Rome nodded. “That’s fine. You can sleep in your bed, and I’ll crash on the couch.”
“You sure?”
