Fakers (Licking Thicket 1)

And maybe it was just my wishful thinking, but I felt like the first time he said it, he’d been talking about the past… and the second about the future.

I felt too thin-skinned suddenly, my tender underbelly literally exposed to the world, so I ducked my head and pressed a kiss to Mal’s jaw in a total Mal move. I could sense his amusement, but he didn’t call me on it. In fact, he pulled my head down to his chest and started mimicking my movements, drawing circles with his fingertips over my back.

I never wanted to move from this spot.

“Mr. Perfect is even a gold-medal cuddler,” Mal teased, pressing a kiss to the top of my head.

“Am I? I’m a prodigy, then. I’ve never done it before,” I admitted.

“Seriously? Never?”

I shook my head slightly against his shoulder. “Never wanted to, really. I…” I hesitated. “It’s not a thing for casual hookups, you know? Wouldn’t want anyone to get the wrong idea or think I wanted a repeat. And casual hookups are all I’ve ever had.”

Mal held his breath, and I could almost hear the questions he wasn’t speaking aloud.

Does that mean you want a repeat? Does this mean we’re not casual?

But when his hand resumed its motion and he finally spoke, he only said lightly, “Guess having a three-peat makes me special, hmm?”

“You are special,” I agreed, tweaking his nipple. “So special.”

“Well, if you’re pondering a four-peat—”

“Is four-peat a thing?”

“Not if you keep interrupting me.” He pinched me lightly, and I snorted. “But for the record, I liked the barn wall sex a lot—”

I yawned loudly, suddenly exhausted from a long day of putting out fires all over the damn place. Finally, now that I was with Mal, my brain felt like I could rest.

“Who doesn’t like wall sex?” I grumbled sleepily. “That’s like disliking blow jobs. Or chocolate chip cookies.”

Mal pinched me again. “My point is that now that I’ve tried it, I’ve discovered that I like love shack sex a hell of a lot too… Possibly even more.” His hand swept down my naked back almost to the top of my crack, and my fatigue burned off like fog in the sunshine.

“Noted. And, um… what are your thoughts on under-the-bleachers sex?”

Mal fake-gasped. “Sex outdoors? In a semi-public place? Where we could get caught at any moment by busybody Thickatarians?” He pushed me onto my back and rolled on top of me, his half-hard dick showing just how horrified he truly was. “Just what kind of guy do you think I am, Brooks Johnson?”

But as he grinned down at me, I thought to myself that I knew perfectly well what kind of guy Malachi Forrester was.

He was the guy I couldn’t get enough of. The guy I was falling for. The guy I wanted to be mine.

If I could just convince him that we could build something together.

16

Mal

I came awake to the opening notes of “Mamma Mia” and damned near jumped out of my skin.

“Sorry,” Brooks mumbled roughly into the skin of my shoulder. “My mom.”

The reminder that I’d spent the night in bed with Brooks made me grin. I turned to look at him all sleep rumpled and sexy. He stretched to find his phone, exposing his bare back. Bands of muscle shifted under his pale skin marked with a few freckles here and there. Just as I reached out to trace them with a fingertip, Brooks yelped and shot out of bed.

“Fuck, fuck! It’s already after eight. Fuck!”

I blinked at him in confusion. “What…”

He scrambled to put on his clothes. “The parade! The parade. Jesus. I’m supposed to be there to greet the General and then I have to ride in the final car with Ava, and there’s no telling how Tammy is doing trying to wrangle the kids and the marching band. Fuck!”

I got up and started dressing, realizing belatedly that he was my ride. “It’s okay. The parade doesn’t start until ten, right?”

He glanced over at me. “Yeah but…” He stopped and let out a breath before walking over to me and cupping my cheeks in his palms. “You’re so fucking beautiful. Good morning, sweetness.” He kissed me softly, taking me by surprise after his frantic flailing only a few seconds before. “I’m sorry to rush you. I hope you know that I want nothing more than to stay here in this bed naked with you all day.”

I smiled up at him, feeling an expansion in my chest. “Yeah. Same. But that’s okay. Sometimes Head Licker needs to man up and lick some head.”

He rolled his eyes and grinned before turning away to look for his shoes. “You wish.”

I so did. I wished really hard.

“Will I see you later?” Ugh, I hated sounding needy. “I only mean… whatever, it’s fine. I’m sure I will.” Okay, needy and bitchy. Great.