Page 103 of Love, Luck & Clusterf*ck

He looked down at our joined hands and his chest rose sharply. “Can I ask why you waited so long to tell me about your breakup? Maybe I could’ve helped.”

“You already did, Stephen. So much. The reason I hesitated telling you was because I was worried about something changing between us. I love our friendship, what we have together, and I didn’t want to ruin it. I didn’t want you acting any differently towards me or for things to get awkward. But then it’s because you’re such a good friend that I didn’t want to keep it from you any longer. Does all this make sense?”

“Yeah. It does.”

Good.Then can you explain it to me?Because I was so confused.

I was falling in love with my best friend.

I’d officially been living with my new best friend for eleven days, twenty hours, and thirteen minutes. Give or take a minute.

I poured myself a glass of sweetened iced tea and glanced out the back kitchen window. Things were going way more smoothly than I ever could’ve imagined. Considering I wanted to rip off his clothes and lick him every chance I got.

I watched the neighbor kids play on their swing set for a while, waiting for Stephen to get home. I’d missed him at work since he’d been gone in meetings all day. I walked in the door ten minutes ago, and I’d hoped he’d be close behind.

I put my empty glass in the sink and wondered what to do about dinner. I could either reheat our leftovers from the night before or just wait to eat when I was out. I wasn’t sure if Stephen would be up for going, but I was planning on meeting everyone from work later.

“Honey, I’m home.”

My face cracked with a wide smile. I hadn’t been sure how things were going to play out both working and living together, but so far, so good. We still drove separately, and no one was the wiser. It was a huge deal to me that we were the only two who knew about our completely innocent arrangement. As far as FiTech was concerned, I was still at Sam’s.

I walked into the family room. “Hey, there. How was….” I could see the tension lining his eyes. “What’s wrong?”

He rubbed his hands up and down his face. “Shitty day. I found out I have to lay off a few people on my team back in corporate. I’ve never had to do that before, and I feel sick about it.”

“Oh, Stephen. I’m so sorry.” I knew he oversaw seven people in his particular department; that’d be wiping out almost half of them.

“I know it’s just a few and some areas have it worse, but.…”

“But these are still people you know. They’re not just faceless numbers. It must be tearing you apart to be the one who has to tell them.”

“Yeah,” he said in a voice that broke my heart.

Without giving it a second thought, I wrapped my arms around him, startling both of us. It seemed odd that we’d never hugged before in all this time, but there hadn’t been a purpose for it. We’d never gotten this close before; the only body parts that’d ever connected were our hands.

It took a moment, but he returned the hug, squeezing me tighter. I couldn’t breathe. Not because he was holding me so hard, but because the sheer act of our bodies touching left me unable to function.

He trailed his hand up to my hair, running his fingers through, tugging it gently. I was vibrating so fast, I was dizzy. It felt so amazing, I was afraid to open my eyes. It couldn’t be real. Nothing should feel this erotic with clothes still between us.

“Thank you,” he whispered right before he pulled away.

The lack of contact left me feeling like I’d been slammed to theground. I craved it back. I was still throbbing and needed more.

I was so screwed.

I took a breath, inhaling deeply. I’d taken a simple hug and turned it into a sexual experience. I’d gotten fucking wet from ahug.

Get your shit together, Perry. All it’d take was one slip-up, one moment of weakness to end us as I knew it. I needed him in my life too badly to let that happen. But dammit! Friends should be able to comfort each other safely without fear of combusting. I’d have to work on that.

“You okay?” he asked.

“Yep.” I walked to the bathroom to do a quick mirror check. Nice. My face resembled a sunburned cherry. I brushed through my hair, ignoring the fact that his hands were just buried in it. “Hey, are you going out tonight?”

“At first I was going to pass, but it’d probably be a good distraction.”

I came out with a big smile. “Great. You need one. It’s not your fault you were put in this crappy situation. Why can’t the people who made the decision be the ones who do the firing? It doesn’t seem fair.”

“That’s the way it works, Perry.”

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