Page 37 of Saving You

Ridge burst into laughter. Oz swore he could feel the rumble of it coursing under his skin. ‘You think I’m gorgeous?’ he asked when he took his hand away.

Oz rolled his eyes. ‘That’s what you fixate on?’

Ridge grinned and shrugged one shoulder. He looked roguish and playful, and God, Oz wanted him even more. ‘It’s not the worst way I’ve learned someone was into me.’

‘Tell me.’

Ridge went red in the cheeks, making his faint freckles stand out. ‘That’s a story for another night.’ Oz ignored his rush of disappointment as Ridge took a deep breath. ‘You know this doesn’t all have to be fake, right?’

Oz blinked at him.

‘We don’t have to date. We don’t have to be boyfriends. Your life is complicated, and so is mine. But we can have fun while we’re in this…if you want to.’

Oz felt something hot and tingling crawling up his spine. ‘Have fun?’

Ridge leaned in. ‘We don’t always have to kiss for show. We can kiss because it feels good.’

Oz swallowed heavily.

‘And we can do other things.’

“Other things,” Oz whispered aloud.

Ridge nodded. ‘Not tonight. It’s been a lot. Too much.’

‘Yeah,’ Oz couldn’t help but say. It had been. As much as he wanted Ridge—and fuck did he want him—there was no way he could relax enough to have the kind of fun Ridge was talking about. And if he was going to do this—if he was going to agree to hook up with the hottest man he had ever known—he wanted to be fully in.

He wanted to be present and enthusiastic. He wanted to remember every second of it with joy and passion. Not on the heels of his mother, once again, making him feel like shit.

So yeah, what Ridge was saying was suddenly the only thing Oz wanted. ‘Yes.’

Ridge looked a little surprised. ‘You sure?’

‘Very. I…’ His finger hovered at his chest. Then, he lifted his hand and tapped his temple with all four of them. ‘I know you heard me in the bathroom.’

Ridge looked only a little ashamed. ‘I didn’t mean to. You were loud.’

That’s what Oz had been afraid of. But he supposed if anyone was going to overhear, better him than Oz’s family. ‘I was thinking about you.’

Ridge grinned softly. ‘I know.’ He lifted his free hand and traced fingers along Oz’s jaw, then over his lips. ‘You said my name.’ Oz chased the touch with his tongue, licking away the tingles Ridge’s warmth left behind. ‘When can I see you again?’

‘When do you have a free night?’

Ridge’s brow furrowed, and then he said, ‘Every Monday. Lane takes Ina and Briar out once a week, and I don’t pick her up until eight. And every other Saturday, she has a sleepover with Rex. I sometimes work on those nights though.’

‘Fit me in where you can,’ Oz said. He had no right to ask for more. They weren’t real boyfriends, after all. He was setting thatboundary because if he didn’t, he wouldn’t be careful, and Ridge deserved better than that.

Ridge lifted his hips and wriggled his phone out of his pocket. He scrolled through what Oz assumed was his calendar, and then he smiled. ‘Ina and Rex have a school event this Sunday. Frey is taking them to the zoo after. I’m off work at eleven in the morning.’

‘I don’t work Sundays,’ Oz said.

Ridge set his phone down, then cupped Oz’s cheek again. ‘Sunday?’ he mouthed.

Oz nodded, then whispered, “Kiss me?”

Ridge met his gaze, then leaned in, and he did.

CHAPTER NINE

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