Page 49 of The Arrangement
“Yeah, it’ll be fine. You got any more junk food?”
I snorted. “I’ve got a loaf of french bread in the pantry. We can make french-bread pizza with the leftover sauce and toppings.”
We killed the rest of the wine. Opened a second bottle and killed that. Ate french-bread pizza and the last of the mint chocolate chip ice cream. Played a ridiculous amount of video games.
And in the end, we dragged the mattress off my bed and into the living room when we were finally ready to pass out while talking about life.
Hands down, it was one of the best nights of my life. Also, one of the scariest.
17
ROME ASHBRIDGE
As the firstrays of sunlight stretched through the front window, I woke utterly confused about where I was and why I was there.
But a soft snore next to me jerked my attention to my left, where I discovered messy red hair against a dark blue pillow and Liam’s handsome face relaxed in sleep.
In a flash, it all came back.
The truth about what had happened that day.
His mother.
All the doubts, hurt, and questions.
The kiss.
All the kisses.
My God, kissing Liam was like tasting heaven.
We hadn’t kissed too many more times after we’d finished talking and raided the kitchen. All of them had been soft and tentative, as if Liam kept pushing himself to check that what he was feeling wasn’t some fluke.
The frustrating part was that Liam pulled away each time the kiss got a little hungry and desperate. I didn’t know if he was afraid of me trying to take it too far or if he didn’t trust himself.
I was content to let him move at his pace.
Okay, mentally, I was prepared. Physically, my dick was arguing to show him how much fun sex with a guy could be.
After making french-bread pizza, killing the last of the wine, and playing more video games, we’d moved furniture so we could drag his heavy-ass mattress into the living room like a pair of insane miscreants. We’d fallen asleep after three in the morning, still talking. He’d told me some crazy stories about his parents and the constant restrictions he’d been under while growing up. He didn’t talk too much about his ex-wife, but it felt like that part of things was stewing in the back of his mind. I wondered if maybe he’d married Fiona to get his mom off his case, which would have sucked for him and his ex.
But in the early, quiet hours, I could roll onto my side and watch him at my leisure. The only sounds in the house were the steady hum of the heater pumping warm air throughout the town house and Liam’s soft snoring. He’d found a pretty two-story town house to rent that was great until we’d had to maneuver a queen-sized mattress down the stairs. I was not looking forward to returning it to the second-floor master bedroom. All the rooms were painted bright primary colors and filled with stained dark wood. The most decorated spots were the living room and kitchen. Unopened boxes filled the rest of the rooms.
Liam’s snoring cut off, and he made some low grumbling noises as he smacked his lips, drawing closer to waking. A smile tugged at my lips as he kicked at the covers, pushing them around his feet. He shoved a hand into the soft pajama pants he’d pulled on last night and fondled his morning wood, releasing a groan of pleasure.
Oh, come on!How was I supposed to behave when he started doing that? My own morning wood hadn’t subsided yet, and now there was this. Forget it going away now. I wanted to scoot across the mattress and slip my hand into his underwearso I could help him get off while swallowing all his moans of pleasure.
Part of me said I shouldn’t watch. I was being a total perv. He was at least half-asleep and didn’t realize that he had an audience.
On the other hand, we’d spent half the night kissing. It wasn’t pervy to want to see the person you were attracted to pleasuring himself.
Unfortunately, the show ended too quickly. Liam opened his eyes to see me smirking at him, just a foot away. A gasp broke from his throat as he ripped his hand out of his pants and frantically grabbed at the blankets, attempting to pull them up to his chin.
“What-what are you doing?” he stammered, which only made me laugh.
Being the devious, horny bastard that I was, I scooted across the mattress and wrapped my arms around his waist, pulling him to me while I nuzzled his neck. The best squawks and yowls erupted from him as if a chicken and a cat had gotten into a backyard brawl.
“Rome! No! You promised! No touching in bed.”
