Page 13 of Tangled With You

“Oh, please.” Her voice practically dripped withexasperation, and she stood back, holding the door open for him to enter.

He hesitated, but then sucked it up and stepped into thedanger zone.

“So you’re in third grade now?” she continued, closing thedoor behind him. He heard the whirr of the door’s autolockunderscoring her words. “You want to explain to me how you just snap yourfingers and make all that go away? Did that work for you? You’re happilyswimming in the just friends vibe now? Is the water warm?”

Ollie pressed two fingers to the bridge of his nose. She wasright. Rewind? Not even possible. He sighed. “You’re kind of a pain in the ass,you know.”

“I get that a lot. I’m protective of my friends, and he’s atthe top of the list. You’re high up, too. If the situation were flipped, he’dbe the one I was lecturing. God knows I’ve called him out enough for being anasshole.”

“But today I’m the asshole.”

“Oh, yeah. Big time.” She crossed her arms over her chest,then leaned against the wall in the entry area. “Except you’re not. Not really.You’re just confused. So screw your head on straight and make good choices,okay?”

Ollie opened his mouth to speak, then shut it again.

“What?”

“You’re a good friend. To Trevor and to me.”

She grinned. “Love you, too.” She cocked her head toward theliving area. “Want coffee while you wait?”

Everything that had tightened inside him since she’d startedragging on him relaxed. “Yeah. That would be—”

He didn’t finish the thought because he heard thedistinctive beep of the code being entered into the front door’s keypad lock.

“And that’s my cue,” Leah said, wiggling her fingers as shescooted out of the entryway. “Catch youlater. And good luck,” she added with a wink.

Ollie watched her go, then turned back in time to see thedoor open and Trevor stop short. “Ollie. I didn’t know you were here.”

He’d obviously been on a long run. A small towel hung aroundhis neck, and his skin glistened. A plain white tee was plastered to his chest,highlighting his pecs. A tiny bead of sweat trickled down his temple, and Olliehad to fight the almost overwhelming urge to lick it away.

Rewind, indeed.

“I, uh, brought your car back. It’s in the garage.”

“Great. Thanks.” He shifted his weight from one foot toanother, drawing Ollie’s attention to the damp running shorts that left verylittle to the imagination—and at the same time had his imagination firing inways he’d never before experienced.

Ollie forced his attention back to Trevor’s face assomething soft but demanding fluttered in his chest.

Trevor tilted his head to one side, his brow furrowing. “So,do you want to hang? Or do you need a ride back to your place?”

“Actually, a ride would be great.” He could hear his pulsepounding in his ears, so loud it drowned almost everything else out. Everythingexcept his nerves. “But first there’s something I meant to give you lastnight.”

“Yeah?” He pulled the small towel from around his shouldersand mopped his face. “I’m intrigued.”

“Me, too,” Ollie said. And before he could talk himself outof it, he took two long steps forward, slid his fingers into Trevor’s damp hairto cup his head, then pulled him close and kissed him.

Chapter Five

God, it felt like heaven.

Trevor’s hair brushing his fingers, Trevor’s lips firmagainst his own. Ollie could hear his pulse pounding in his ears, and he was solost in a haze of desire that it drowned out everything else, including thereality that Trevor wasn’t kissing him back.

Trevor wasn’t kissing him back.

A frisson of ice-cold terror shot through Ollie. Fear thathe’d completely miscalculated. That Trevor truly did want to just rewind backto friends. And now Ollie had gone and set them up for ruin all over again.

But that thought faded as quickly as it had come because inthe space of a heartbeat, Trevor went from rigid ice to bone-melting heat. Hislips parted, and his tongue teased a low moan from Ollie, then a gasp as thekiss became deeper. Wilder.