Page 74 of On Thin Ice

“I’m just saying, the night shouldn’t end any other way but you and me in the hot tub.”

“Stop asking,” Jacob grumbled, but he heard how tempted he sounded.

“What if I promise to stay on my side?” Finn offered. His grin turned wicked. “I won’t touch you, unless you want me to.”

Finn seemed to be laboring under the mistaken impression that Jacob wasn’t burning for him—touching or no touching.

“You have a lot of faith in my self-control,” Jacob pointed out.

“Not really,” Finn said cheerfully.

So that was the game then. Push Jacob until he gave in,gratefully, and Finn got what he wanted.

But it wouldn’t just be Finn, would it? Because Jacob wanted this too. So badly, it was practically a miracle he hadn’t pulled Finn up a dozen times during dinner—every time he was funny or charming or kind or heart-stoppingly gorgeous—and dragged him to the bathroom.

Self-control, my ass.

Jacob let out a breath. Then another. There was every indication that this would be a massive disaster, a garbage fire in the making. But before it blew up, it promised to be very,verygood.

And,a voice inside him that sounded remarkably like his brother’s said,you haven’t had enough of those very bad, very good things in your life. You’ve been so fucking careful. Enjoy this while it lasts. Whatever it is.

He put the car into drive and pulled out, heading not towards the college but his house.

Chapter 11

Finnwasprettysurehe meant it.

I won’t touch you, unless you want me to.

All the way up until they arrived at the gazebo-topped hot tub and Jacob shed his jacket, then leaned over and began to fold the cover back.

The drive here had been conducted in almost total silence. Finn had stopped pushing, because he had a feeling he’d pushed Jacob just about as far as he could.

Maybe tonight they would just really climb into the hot tub and keep to their respective sides, and that would be the beginning and the end of it.

He’d be disappointed, sure, but Finn was starting to understand that thegoalwasn’t even the enjoyable part of this. Just spending time with Jacob was amazing, in a way that he’d never experienced before.

The man had a dry sense of humor that Finn loved, and his kind smile lit Finn up from the inside out. That wasn’t even going into how much Jacob had supported him and was justplaintherefor him. Believed in him, in a way Finn didn’t think anyone else ever had.

If this had been just about sex, Finn was fairly sure he could’ve convinced Jacob to go for it pretty early on. But now, they were wading, metaphorically and soon to be literally, into waters that Finn wasn’t familiar with.

HelikedJacob. And he was pretty sure that his dad was right, and the reason Jacob kept insisting that they couldn’t hook up was because he liked him too. More than he should.

That realization added both clarity and complexity.

“And here I thought I was the king of overthinking everything.”

Jacob’s words interrupted Finn’s thoughts.

He’d toed his shoes off now, not just removed his jacket, and he was leaning down, pulling his socks off too.

“No,” Finn said, swallowing hard. When he’d conceived of this plan, it had seemed more arousing and less terrifying.

Well, truthfully when he’d conceived of it, he hadn’t been entirely sure he could convince Jacob to take him back to his house, nevermind to get naked together in his hot tub.

But Jacob’s fingers were currently unbuttoning his shirt, and Finn could see his bare feet peeping out from under his slacks. It felt painfully intimate.

“Don’t tell me you’ve gotten cold feet,” Jacob said casually. “You can’t be worried about what you look like. You wore that suit, didn’t you?”

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