Page 76 of Plays Well With Others

It’s a statement of the obvious. But I don’t want to keep it inside me.

“Well, yeah,” he says with a smile, then there’s that vulnerability again as he adds, “But you like knowing.”

My chest goes tingly. A little fluttery. “I feel like I have a good secret.”

He kisses the blooming bruise on my shoulder. “You’re learning my secrets too. Want another?”

I turn to my side. “Yes.”

He cups my cheek. “I want you to stay the night.”

It’s half a command but half a request too. Like he knows a sleepover isn’t a sure thing. Like he can’t just demand it even though he wants me here.

“Is that the secret?” I ask.

“That I want you to stay over? Yeah. But my other secret is this,” he says and takes a beat, holding my gaze as he drags a thumb along my chin. “How much I like fucking my best friend.”

I shiver. It’s a sex compliment, but it feels like there’s something more to it. Like I’m a brand-new discovery to him too.

He nuzzles my neck, and this post-sex affection is addictive. “And I want to fuck you in the morning too.”

Oh. So that’s why he wants me to spend the night. Easy access to sex.

For a second, my chest feels heavy with that awareness.

But that’s silly since thisisa sex thing. We’re ultra-sexing.As friends.Besides, I want all the orgasms too. “I want to stay,” I say, and that’s true.

I want more in the morning. I want as much as I can get before this arrangement comes to its inevitable end and we return to friendship only. That’s the only guarantee, and I’d be wise to focus on that—friendship—since that’s what will be left when we leave the bedroom.

After we clean up and get into bed, he tugs me close and curls an arm around my stomach, spooning me against his warm, naked skin.

Just like that, it doesn’t feel as if I’m here for easy access, or for friendship for that matter—not as he spends a good, long time kissing my neck and my shoulder and my hair. Till he’s yawning and murmuring, “Come with me to Jason and Beck’s Halloween party.”

“An un-date?”

“A date,” he says sleepily, then drifts off.

I don’t know if he meant to ask me on a date or an un-date, but either way, I’m saying yes.

25

DANGEROUS GROUND

Carter

This is boyfriend territory too—morning breath.

Mine’s gone, since I just brushed my teeth. But what about Rachel?

Would she be insulted if I left an extra toothbrush out for her on the bathroom vanity? Or grateful? I stare into the mirror, dragging a hand through my messy bed hair.

Ah, screw it. Some things are just universal. No one is a unicorn with sparkly rainbow breath when they wake up.

I yank open a drawer, grab an extra toothbrush thanks to the gift bags from the dentist, then set it on the marble counter.

I adjust it a little bit. Hmm. What if I leave it by the cup? Yeah, that works.

I return to the darkened bedroom, the half-light of early dawn streaming through the windows. It’s six and she’s still sound asleep.

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