Page 49 of Asking For a Friend

“Stop being a prick and ask him. Perhaps he wasn’t in the mood without you. Go get a tree and all the decorating shit with him. It will be a good way to get you out of bed for more than ten minutes. I’m out and about. I can call in and ask if you’d rather?”

“No, don’t fucking come here, Ellis. Look, I’ll think about it. He isn’t awake yet. I may be able to get home and back again before he wakes up.”

“Christ, Hesketh, I despair of you. You can’t leave him asleep. What’s he going to think if he wakes up to an empty house? Just grow a fucking pair of balls and ask him. I expect a call within the hour.”

“Great, arsehole.” Too bad he doesn’t hear it. He’s ended the call, the wanker.

“Who are you insulting at this ridiculous time of day?” Lando stands in the doorway in only a pair of skimpy bright blue briefs. He yawns and scrubs his hands through his messy hair.

I smirk.

“How bad is it?”

“On a scale of what? Sexy bed hair to fingers in the plug socket bad?”

“Don’t tell me. I don’t care. Who were you swearing at?”

“Ellis.” I roll my eyes. “Isn’t it always?”

“What does he want that you don’t?”

“Christmas dinner. Us, at his place.” I make sure to keep my voice flat. I don’t want him to think I’m asking him to decide.

“Oh.” He blinks. “And you don’t want to. I thought you’d be well into that?”

“It is. I do. I mean, it’s what I usually do, but this year is different.” Shit, is he going to make me say it out loud? All my worries about him being pissed off because he doesn’t want to go or because he does and I don’t want him to. Oh god, there are too many bloody variables.

“It sounds nice. You said us, so I’m guessing I’m invited too.” He smiles, and I relax, but a second later, he frowns again. “Unless you don’t want me to come. Is it a you-and-them thing?”

How could he think that? “What? Of course I want you to come. It’s probably more you than me. Sophie loves you. They have two adorable twin girls who I’m lucky enough to be godfather to.”

“Then why do you think I won’t want to go?”

“Well, it’s not like you’re overflowing with Christmas decs or anything Christmassy. I didn’t know if you celebrated.”

His cheeks flush a pretty pink, and he ducks his head. “I wasn’t feeling it this year. I didn’t know if we’d be together, and that was enough to make me want to forgo the whole thing. I love Christmas, but if I was alone, I didn’t want a reminder of the holiday.”

“Oh, baby.” I grasp his hands and pull him against me. “How about we decorate your house today? I need to go back to mine and grab some clothes, but after that, we can get all Christmassy.”

He nods against my chest. “I’d like that. Can I come too?” He lifts his head, uncertainty lingering in his gaze. Does he think I’m not coming back? How can he still doubt us?

“Sure, but I’m not running away, I promise. I’m all in.” I press my lips to his, and he immediately parts them, allowing me access. I taste the mint of his toothpaste as he strokes his tongue alongside mine. He slips his hands around my waist, grabs my bum, and pulls me in tighter. His dick hardens against the swell of mine. With a groan, I hoist him up. He wraps his legs around my waist, bucking his hips forward. I slip my finger inside his briefs to his hole and brush against the puckered entrance.

“Fuck me.” Lando’s voice is gruff.

“Lube?”

“I’m still slick. Just fuck me.”

Hell if I’m going to say no. I bend over the table and lower him on his back onto the cool surface. He shoves his underwear down his legs and flicks them off his feet while I open the towelling robe I’ve taken from his room.

Lando’s eyes roll back in his head as I sink in deep in one long, smooth stroke, filling him. “God, I will never have enough of you.” I suck on the skin on his shoulder, adding to the myriad of bruises I’ve already made on his body.

“Harder,” he cries.

I grab his shoulders and slam back in. His body shakes as his orgasm builds, my own already racing up my spine.

Until my fucking phone rings. Ellis’s ringtone blares out. Lando narrows his eyes to tiny slits. “Ignore it,” he says through gritted teeth.

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