The Best Friend (Red's Tavern 1)

“You look so fucking good tonight,” Mitch said. His eyes were still burning into me, like he wanted to devour me. “Letting you leave was impossible.”

“Impossible, huh?”

He nodded, closing the gap between us. “I love this sweater, but I like you naked better. You belong here where I can take all of your clothes off.”

“You better hurry before I do it myself,” I said, already reaching down to peel my sweater off.

“Christ,” Mitch said, helping me take it off and toss it away.

I leaned in and kissed him again, ignoring any reason I had not to. He wrapped his arms around to the small of my back, then slid his palms down until he was gripping my ass. He used the leverage to pull me forward even closer against him, making my hips rock involuntarily.

I didn’t know how the hell Mitch got to be such a good kisser. The man kissed with his whole fucking body. It was like he wanted to wrap me up inside him.

My whole body was flushed with heat now, a combination of the wine settling inside me and his closeness. He pulled my lower lip into his mouth, keeping it between his teeth for a moment.

“God,” he muttered, pulling back for a second and shaking his head. I was sure this was where he’d put a stop to things, telling me that we shouldn’t do what we were doing.

“You okay?” I asked, taking a deep breath. For a minute I remembered my surroundings again.

He reached down, rearranging his pants. “I… I think I’m okay. This is embarrassing.”

“What?”

He bit his lower lip. “I haven’t been this hard in so long, dude,” he finally admitted, like he was unburdening himself of some huge secret. “Every time I touch you, I’m like this, and it’s driving me crazy. I… never told you, but I’ve had trouble getting hard for the last few years.”

I grabbed one of his hands in mine, giving it a squeeze. “I had no idea.”

“I didn’t tell a soul. I thought something was wrong with me, Evan. I thought I’d never be able to… to enjoy things again, to really fuck somebody—”

I ran my hand along the fabric of his pajamas, feeling just how rock hard he was. “I don’t think that’s going to be a problem,” I said softly.

His eyes went wide. “You’d… let me?”

“Let you what?”

I was teasing him, but I wanted to hear him say it.

“You’d let me fuck you?” he asked.

Christ, I was going to come in my pants. “I would beg you for it, Mitch.”

He let out a shuddering sigh. “I am so hard I could come in two seconds flat.”

Adrenaline surged through me thinking about the idea of Mitch coming at all. It was like a forbidden fruit that had been dangled in front of me for years, for my whole life, but I’d never let myself touch it or even look at it, let alone taste it.

I was so certain that I’d never get to be with Mitch that I hadn’t even let myself dream of what he’d look like when he came. And now every lurid detail was pouring into my brain.

“Get over here,” I said. I started down the hallway, stripping off my shirt on the way to his bedroom. I was moving at a fast clip, sure that if I blinked, all of this would stop and I’d never be able to recapture it.

I raced down the hall toward his open bedroom door and stepped in. Soft light from the tiny lamps in the backyard came through the slats of the window, and when I turned back I saw Mitch illuminated in the doorway, his eyes wide.

“Wow,” Mitch said.

“What?”

He shook his head. “Just… you. I wasn’t sure if you’d be willing to do this. If you’d want me in this way.”

Christ. “Of course I fucking want you,” I said softly. I walked over, helping him pull off his shirt and revealing those vast planes of taut muscle. I let my fingertips roam over his pecs, tracing circles in the soft hair at the center of his chest.

“I didn’t want you to go off with Bruce,” he said, his gaze intensifying. He wrapped an arm around my back, pulling me close. “I wanted you to be mine.”

A shudder passed through me. If only Mitch knew exactly how much I’d been his for my entire fucking life.

“Well, I can’t imagine why you want me, but I’m not going to think too hard about it right now,” I said, pressing my lips to his in another deep kiss.

“You’re crazy,” he said in between kisses. “Why wouldn’t I?”

I puffed out a laugh. “Because you’re not into men.”

He brought a hand to the side of my face, stroking his thumb along my jaw. “Clearly I’m into you,” he said. He rocked his hips forward and I felt as his cock pressed up against mine, separated only by fabric.