Page 73 of Best Friends, Tennessee

I met his eyes now, just as steadfastly as he’d been looking at me.

I had to show him that I wasn’t afraid. Inside I was like a goddamn fireworks show of nerves and anticipation and I don’t fuckingknowwhat—but I was daring myself to not let him slip away.

Not again. Not right now.

For once, I needed to keep him with me.

“I told you I want it,” I said. “And I meant when I said I’ll do anything with you. I know you like giving as much as you like receiving. Remember all those times you told me about it?”

My heart was pounding as I watched his eyes travel up and down my face. “Didn’t think you even liked hearing those stories.”

“I liked knowing you knew how to show someone a good time,” I said. “You always sounded like you were good at it.”

“I do okay,” he said, with the undertone of someone who definitely does a lot more thanokay.

Ori probably didn’t remember, but over the years he’d told me at least a handful of stories about guys who said he was their best fuck ever. He wasn’t exactly a heartbreaker, because he never pretended to be committed to them, but he was a… sexual heartbreaker.

Guys would beg him for just one more fuck pretty frequently, from what it sounded like.

I sucked in a deep breath of evening air as a breeze blew past, goosebumps breaking out on my skin. “So, I want to know.”

“You sure about that?”

“What do I have to do, write up a contract sayingI want to be fucked by Ori Adamsand sign it in front of you?”

He chewed on his lower lip, his eyes flaring wide.

The truth was slightly more scattered. I wanted him tonight more than I’d really ever wanted anything in my life, but there was also the fear. Fear of the unknown, in a way I’d never thought about before.

But the thought of his cockinsideme did something to me that was a lot closer to a craving than anything else.

“You are going to drive me fucking crazy,” Ori said, a look of slight disbelief still on his face.

“Hope so,” I said, breaking away from him in one quick movement. He hummed at the loss of touch and truthfully, I felt it just as much.

I turned and strode back toward the house, grabbing the forgotten grilled chicken along the way. I went inside and popped it into the fridge for later, heading straight to the shower and putting the water on hot. I was moving quickly so Ori didn’t have time to wonder if I was suddenly going to enter some state of shock, deciding Ididn’twant to get fucked by another man.

I was so far past caring about any of that now. I needed him to see that I was all in.

I was stripping naked as Ori rounded the corner into my master bathroom, his eyes going right to my cock.

“Rinse off with me,” I said. “Don’t want your first time with me to be when I’m all sweaty and filthy from yard work, do you?”

He bit down on his lower lip. “I’d take you while you were dirty, Finn, trust me,” he murmured. “But I want to rinse off right now, too. One rule.”

“What is it?”

“You can’t touch me in the shower.”

“Give me a break.”

“Not because I don’t like it,” he said, giving me a teasing glance as he pulled off his shirt and tossed down his jeans. “I just want to see if you can do it.”

“Is this some test?” I asked, stepping in the shower after him. “Because youknowI can do it. I’ve showered with you before.”

“I know,” he said, grabbing the body wash and starting to lather himself up. “So you can do it tonight, too.”

“You want to torture me,” I said.

---