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Or it would be shit.

But either way, it was easy, and I didn’t have to work too hard or get all tongue-tied or, like, express myself in a lot of words.

Yet, somehow, my lips are moving right now, and I’m talking and telling Rune all the things I’d been thinking about since he darkened the doorway of the bunk room, and fuck. I should not be thinking about this at work.

I should not be asking him to do this here.

Or at all, because I’d meant what I said when I told him the guy I liked would never like me back. Rune’s softened a bit with me. The proof of that is tonight and him not ripping my balls off for fucking up so badly.

But softened enough to want to touch my butt? To let me lick straight into his mouth?

He’s dead silent, and his hand is entirely lax in mine, which is not a good sign. For the sake of my shattered ego and what little pride I have left, I should pull away, roll over, and let him make an unseen escape.

Instead, I cling harder and stare with wide eyes that probably make me look like some kind of terrified forest animal.

Something is seriously wrong with me.

Maybe thirty seconds pass, but it feels like thirty years, and I know if he doesn’t say or do something soon, I’m going to lose my mind. Or I’m going to open my mouth and say something worse than I already have, and everything will be ruined forever.

I’ll have to quit my job and go into witness protection and⁠—

“Easton,” he whispers.

My entire heart tries to lodge itself in the back of my throat. “Sorry. Um. Yeah, sorry.”

“Did you mean it?”

I blink rapidly. “Did I…mean it?”

“Did you mean it.” He doesn’t clarify other than that, except he takes the sound of a question out of the words.

Licking my lips, I shrug. “Yeah. I meant it. You’re so fucking hot, and you’re mean to me, which kind of…makes my stomach feel all squirmy. And, I don’t know. I want…”

“Me,” he says flatly.

I nod.

“As a consolation for the man you can’t have.”

Oh.

God, he’s as bad as me. Everyone in the entire fucking town realized I was ass over tits for this man except him. He thinks I like someone else? I need to tell him the truth right now.

“Well…” I start.

He lets out a sharp puff of air, and my words die in the back of my throat. After a longer beat of silence, he manages to dislodge his hand from mine, but he doesn’t pull back all the way. No, he slides a touch up to the front of my throat, fingers grazing the spot where my pulse is absolutely hammering on the inside of my neck.

“I guess what’s a little kissing between friends,” he whispers. “Right?”

Not what I expected him to say. At all. And I’m once more stunned into silence.

He lets out a very soft sigh. “Will this be your first?”

My brows fly up. “My first kiss?”

He huffs and rolls his eyes, trying and failing to hide a grin. “With a man.”

“Ohhh. No,” I tell him. “I used to get drunk a lot, and I have a ton of queer friends. I was always the fake boyfriend, you know? To chase off the creeps.”