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“Oh? That’s all you have to say about it? What a way to trample on my ego,” he mocks, then pulls back and licks the tip of my nose.

I scoff and wipe off his saliva. “I’ve definitely not forgotten about it.”

“I bet you think about it when you’re being encountered by the others. I can’t help but have youth and stamina on my side.” He winks.

My shoulders tense, pulling up.

“Fuck, sorry. I was only messing. Just stupid boy banter,” he rushes to explain.

“No, it’s not you. I just haven’t really been with any of them. Well, not with Bry since you, and not with Noah and Nate since before…” I trail off. Maybe I shouldn’t have admitted that. I’m still struggling to be ready for things, but a huge part of me craves that care and intimacy with them all. I just don’t always know what part of me is winning.

“Do you want to be?” My mouth opens, then snaps shut. I don’t know how to reply. “Because none of us are going to do anything if you say you aren’t ready for it.”

“But no one is trying anything. I did bring it up with Bry and Noah, and the talking helped. I just don’t want to feel like I’m only a friend; I want more than that,” I admit, and a flush sweeps up my cheeks. “I like how it feels when you all touch me.”

“Honeybee, we’re always going to be best friends. Except you have the added bonus of not only owning my heart, but my dick too,” he quips, and a wide, goofy grin stretches across his cheeks.

“Oh my God! This is supposed to be a serious conversation,” I squeak, covering my face with my hands.

“That was serious. I just signed over my two most important body parts to you.”

My fingers part, and I look through the gap, trying to gauge what to say to him. I rear back when he leans in and presses his forehead to my knuckles to peer at me.

“Okay, okay. Thank you for trusting me with them.” I sigh in exasperation and bite my lip to avoid confessing how much I love his brand of silliness.

“Would this be a good moment for me to kiss you?” he asks, his eyes flicking to my mouth as he slowly leans in.

A smile tugs unbidden at my lips. I didn’t realise how much I needed his sweetness.

“You may,” I whisper.

An unexpectedly soft, wistful kiss is pressed on my lips.

“Even sealed with a kiss. No take backsies.” His words fall breathlessly, even though we’ve barely tasted one another.

“Good.”

Our mouths meet again, lips parting instantly as we open to one another. His tongue flicks into mine first, and his groan has my fingers threading through his hair, desperate to hold on.

I need and crave this connection with them; they’re the anchor that tugs me back when my mind wants to retreat and sink deeply. It still makes no sense that I don’t react negatively to their touch, that my body sees them as a place of safety, a place to finally release the tension and let them protect me. Even though I still get nervous, and I’m still struggling with insecurities, it’s reassuring to know I don’t recoil when any of them touch me.

Max’s arms wrap around my torso, and he draws us closer until I’m pushed up against him, our hearts racing against one another. The kiss is slow, languid at first, like we’re just enjoying one another. When a hand strokes up my spine and along the back of my neck, I reach out and fist the strands of his hair.

The needy moan that fills the space could have been from either, or both of us, then our kiss quickens, turning heated and consuming.

A hesitant knock on the door we’re pressed against has us reluctantly pulling apart. Max’s heavily lidded, glazed expression has a lick of satisfaction that warms me.

I did that to him.

“Dinner’s ready,” Noah announces from the other side.

“Okay—”

“Give us a minute,” Max cuts in, his voice deeper and ragged.

Noah chuckles from the other side, and I know I’m flushed pink at being caught.

“The. Worst. Timing,” Max pants out. His head thuds against the door beside me, and the ends of his curls tickle my cheek.