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  He pulled out again, driving into me over and over. We were moving up the mattress, my skull against the headboard at this point. “Like this, baby?”

  I nodded, biting my lip. I could no longer form words.

  “Don’t go silent on me now, Midge.” He buried himself to the hilt, his piercing hitting me exactly where I wanted it. He ground his hips, his pelvis rubbing on my clit. “Let me hear you scream.”

  And I did. I screamed his name as I came, my orgasm coming in what seemed like endless waves. It felt like it was never going to end, like he could make me come all damn night.

  “Fuck, Maykin.” Bleu rested his forehead against mine, growling out all his words. “The way you milk my dick, baby. Fuck.” He surged back in one punishing thrust, groaning out his release inside me.

  ***

  “The puppy peed on the couch.”

  I felt Bleu chuckle against my neck. “Mmmm, I love it when you talk dirty like that.” He rolled to his back, grabbing the puppy that had slept through our entire sexcapade. He set him down between us and we both snuggled in closer.

  We’d been panting together, both coming down from the ultimate high. And I’d decided that the air, the silence, felt too heavy. So I broke it, with talk about urine.

  “We had sex.” Now that Bleu was no longer on top of me, and inside me, that thought suddenly started going through my brain on a loop. I had sex with Bleu. I had sex with my best friend. “And it was kind of fucking amazing.”

  “We did.” He nodded, a smirk on his face. “And kind of? You know it was the best you’ve ever had. I told you my dick was spectacular.”

  He wasn’t wrong there. Holy fucking crap, I’d never come so hard in my entire fucking life.

  “Was it the best you’ve ever had?” I hated that I sounded insecure. I hadn’t meant to, I’d meant it as a joke.

  “It was better than the best, it was perfect, Maykin.”

  I wanted to ask him, what now? I wanted to ask him if we could still be friends. I wanted to know what he wanted out of all this. I had a million questions and concerns—fears. But I was too chickenshit to voice them out loud.

  He’d been right, I hadn’t been acting like myself lately. I’d been acting like a shy, confused schoolgirl with her first crush. I wanted to slap myself.

  “You want to tell me why the puppy was the reason you wanted to leave earlier?”

  When I looked up, his eyes were on mine. He wasn’t being funny, and he wasn’t being playful. He seemed genuinely worried about me, and it made those annoying butterflies that now lived in my stomach fly around a bit.

  I pressed my lips together, trying like hell to find the courage and gumption to tell Bleu everything that had been causing me to act like a demure weirdo for the last week. This was me laying it all out there. This conversation right here was going to make or break our friendship. And that thought alone was making me want to puke.

  “Last week, when we started volunteering at the shelter, I started having, um, feelings.”

  Bleu’s eyebrows rose, and a smile began to play on his lips. “I know that having real human emotions for the first time can be scary, but they are totally norm—”

  “I’m trying to be serious here, asshat.” I shoved his shoulder, causing him to laugh out loud and wake the puppy. “You’re the one who wanted me to talk, but if you’re going to make fun of me, then I’ll stop.”

  That sobered him pretty quickly. “I’m sorry.” He reached out, tucking a stray lock of hair behind my ear. “Please continue.”

  I glared at him for a few more seconds, making him squirm before continuing. “I started to have feelings, toward you.” I licked my lips, loving the fact that his pupils dilated slightly as he noticed. “I came outside that first day to find you and you were all adorable and covered in puppies. I realized that somehow, somewhere along the way, I’d developed a little, um, crush.”

  “You realized you wanted to fuck me?” I nodded, and he chuckled. “Mayk, I’ve literally thought about fucking you a million times since we met.” His hand trailed down my side and rested on my bare ass. “I think that’s par for the course when two sexy people are best friends.”

  “You’re so humble.”

  He ignored my sarcastic reply. “That’s why you got all quiet and weird?”

  “Yeah.” I pointed at the once again sleeping puppy. “And I kind of vowed to put some distance between us, but then I came home and you were all half naked and spooning this guy and it was hot and adorable at the same time and—”

  “And you couldn’t resist.”

  I rolled my eyes. “Yes, Bleu, I couldn’t resist.” My tone was sarcastic, but the words were true. I’d been powerless in that moment, unable to walk away. Which was why I’d tried again tonight. I had given it one more last-ditch effort to put some space between us. But he’d basically barricaded the door and pulled the truth out of me. Or more accurately, fucked the truth out of me.

  “What now, Midge?”

  He’d asked what I’d been afraid to. He was being brave when I was being a coward. Could he tell that I was too scared? I answered honestly. “I don’t know.”

  He sighed, and rolled over on his back, staring at the ceiling. Had the sex ruined us? Was our friendship over? Would we be able to hang out? Would we be able to have meals together and dance and laugh? Had I messed up everything good in my life when I’d kissed him? Were my worst fears in the process of coming true? Was this what a panic attack felt like?

  “Hey.” I jumped when I felt Bleu’s hand on my arm. “Come here.” I let him guide me over the puppy, and then onto his lap, straddling him. “I refuse to lose you, Mayk.”

  I rested my palms on his chest. “Yeah?”

  “I have no fucking clue where we go from here.” He gripped my hips. “But we’ll take it one day at a time, and we’ll figure it out together. Okay?”

  I nodded, too afraid to speak. I felt like crying for maybe the third time in my life. What was this man doing to me?

  “You promised me that you wouldn’t leave.”

  I swallowed past the lump in my throat. “I won’t. I’ll stay here tonight.”

  “I’m not talking about tonight, baby.” He reached up, taking my face in his hands. “You can’t pull away from me. You can’t run from whatever we just started, okay?” I nodded, silently loving that he’d called me “baby.” And feeling like a total fucking sap for it. “If something is bothering you, tell me. If you get scared, let me know. Distance between us isn’t something I want.” He chuckled quietly. “At this point, I don’t even know how to live without you.”

  I closed my eyes, smiling as I turned my cheek, kissing his palm. I had no words. My sexy, cocky, pierced and tattooed best friend was more of a man than I’d ever realized. He was being strong when I was being weak, and I was so fucking grateful.

  I lay down on his chest, moving to the side as he wrapped his arms around me. Neither one of us said anything else, but the silence wasn’t strange anymore. It was comfortable. It was perfect.

  The puppy made his way over to us, climbing over my stomach and plopping down between us.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Bleu

  “Why the fuck are you whistling like that?”

  I cut my eyes to Nicky as he walked into the shop, shrugging out of his coat. “Oh, I’m sorry, were you planning on having a bad day?”

  He made his way around the desk, tossing his phone and keys onto the counter. He seemed cranky as fuck. The tension coming off him was bringing my postcoital mood waaaay the hell down. Maykin and I had banged in the shower that morning, which was a fantastic way to start off the day.

  “Sorry.”

  First I’d had to drag the truth out of Mayk, and now I was going to have to do it with Nicky. What would these people do without me? I was the glue—that was fucking obvious. “You going to tell me what’s bothering you? Or am I going to have to fuck you?”

  “What?” Nicky’s head jerked in my directi
on, confusion on his face.

  “Nothing.” I chuckled to myself. “Why are you in a shit mood? Is everything okay with Evie?”

  He nodded, going over to our coffee station and pouring himself a cup. It was all decaf. We didn’t need the shakes from too much caffeine, and neither did the people we were inking. “Yeah, Evie is fine.”

  “Soooooo?” I sat down on the stool by the computer, crossing my arms over my chest and showing him that I meant business.

  He came back over to me, leaned against the counter, and blew on his coffee. “I’m having some trouble with this whole proposal thing.”

  “Oh.” With everything going on between the shelter and Maykin, I’d almost forgotten that Nicky was going to ask Evie to marry him. “Is there anything I can help with? You want to bring Mayk in? She’s a chick.”

  Nicky snorted. “Barely.”

  He had a point. I wasn’t sure that Maykin spent a lot of time dreaming of white picket fences and flawless diamonds. “All I’m saying is that we’re here to help, with whatever we can help with.”

  “Oh, we are, are we?” He grinned at me over his cup, and I really wanted to slap him.

  “You want the help or not, asshole?”

  “I’d love the help, thank you.” He sat his cup down and pulled up what appeared to be a jewelry store on the computer. “I have three rings set aside at this place. I can’t decide which one is the best. And I really wanted to propose here at the shop, since this is where we met. Other than that, I have no clue what the hell I’m doing, man.”

  I clapped him on the back, smiling happily when some of his coffee spilled out and landed on his shirt. Served him right for giving me such a hard time this morning. “I’ll take Maykin, we’ll go look at the rings. She knows Evie’s taste better than anyone. Mayk’ll tell you which one you should go with.”

  “That would be great.” He was wiping at his shirt with some paper towels.

  I pulled up our scheduling software and closed out a Saturday night two weeks from now. There weren’t any appointments that day yet. We usually tried to save Saturdays for walk-in traffic. “You take her in the back, do something romantic, and ask her to marry you. While you’re back there, we’ll set the front up and fill it with all her favorite people.” I smooshed my palms together. “Engagement and engagement party in one. Bam. Done.”

  “When did you get so fucking smart?” Nicky grabbed my face and smacked a kiss on my cheek.

  “Uh, I don’t know why you’re surprised, bro.” I wiped my face. “I’ve always been a genius.” I loved Nicky and Evie and I wanted this to be a special day for them.

  “Except it has to be this Saturday.”

  “What?” I pulled up our schedule. All three of us had appointments that morning. “Why does it have to be this Saturday? I thought you were having trouble planning?” I felt like my head might spin off the top of my body. Was this what party planners felt like? No wonder they all seemed slightly neurotic.

  “Well, Clashing Swell is going back on tour. Someone is due next month, you know, a baby…I can’t keep it all straight, man. I talked to her mom, and it has to be this Saturday if we want the whole family to be here.”

  “It’s Tuesday, bro.” I put my hands on my hips. “Why didn’t you ask for help, oh, I don’t know, two weeks ago?”

  “I thought I could pull it off.” He took a sip of his coffee. “And you’d just been arrested and shit, I didn’t want to add to your plate.”

  “And yet, you want me to help you plan a surprise engagement party in four days?”

  He nodded. “I really do.”

  “Sure.” I closed out the rest of Saturday on the schedule, shooting Nicky a glare once I was finished. “I need your credit card.” I held out my hand, making the universal grabby motion. “You focus on the proposal, and Makyin and I will do the rest.”

  I was sure Mayk wouldn’t have a problem spending the next week planning her best girlfriend’s engagement. She loved Evie, like I did. I’d meant what I said. I’d do anything to help. And apparently that was taking the girl I’d banged for the first time last night engagement ring shopping.

  “Okay, great. Now that all that is settled, you want to tell me about the fact that you fucked Maykin?”

  Holy shit. Had he read my mind? Had I spoken out loud? Did he have cameras in my apartment? “I, uh.”

  “Dude. You were fucking whistling when I walked in here.” He leaned forward and sniffed my neck. “And you smell like she rubbed herself on you before you left the apartment this morning.” He sniffed again. “That amber-scented perfume she wears, you can’t miss it. It smells like a strip club.”

  “Yes! Thank you! Oh my god. That has been on the tip of my tongue for months.” I picked my shirt up, giving it a whiff. “That’s why I love that smell. It smells like a strip club, all sweet and warm.”

  He leaned back against the counter, going for casual again. “So?”

  “So?” I shrugged, turning my attention back to the schedule and my appointments for the day. I had two large pieces before I’d get a break for lunch. Mayk had brought home coffee this morning, but not breakfast. I needed to refuel after last night and this morning. I was out of practice and she’d drained all energy and stamina from my body.

  “Did you, or did you not, have sex last night?”

  There really was no use denying it. I was whistling, I whistled after good sex, it put me in a great fucking mood. “I did.”

  “And was it with Maykin?”

  “I’m not talking about who it was with.” There. I was being a gentleman, I wasn’t going to kiss and tell. Or bang multiple times and tell.

  He rolled his eyes so hard I was surprised that they came back into the correct position. “I know it was with Maykin so why won’t you talk to me about it? I thought we were best friends? Isn’t this the kind of stuff that you would discuss with me? I know that you didn’t want to sleep with her. I know you had reservations. So what changed? Are you guys okay? Are you okay? Have you talked about it since it happened? Is this a new thing? Are you—”

  “Oh for fuck’s sake.” I put my hand over his mouth. “If you will shut the hell up, I’ll tell you, okay?”

  He nodded.

  I removed my hand slowly, sending a glare that said I dare you to ask me one more damn question. “We slept together last night. It was the first time. We’ve decided to take things one day at a time, and that’s as far as we’ve gotten.”

  “Are you guys exclusive?”

  That was something we hadn’t discussed. But I was sure that we were on the same page. I didn’t want to share, and I certainly was not going to go out looking for anyone else to hook up with. “Yeah, I mean, of course.”

  “Does she know that?”

  “Yes.” I turned my back to Nicky and pulled out my cell. “Now leave me alone. I’ve got to go get ready for work.” I left him to man the front desk and shut myself into my office/work space.

  Bleu: Hey. So. You aren’t going to fuck anyone else, are you?

  Maykin: Well isn’t that just the most romantic text to get while I’m still in your bed?

  Bleu: Sorry. We didn’t talk about it, and I wanted to make sure we were on the same page.

  Maykin: What page are you on?

  Bleu: I’m on the page where you’re mine and I don’t share well with others.

  Whoa. That text had flown out of my fingers and I’d pressed send before my brain could even process it. I’d called her mine. And if I knew Mayk, she would—

  Maykin: I’m yours?

  And there it was.

  Bleu: For all intents and purposes…yes. You’re MY best friend, you’re MY puppy foster partner, and you’re MY…lover? Does that sound as odd and lame as I think it does?

  Maykin: Yes.

  Bleu: Help me out here, Midge.

  Maykin: I will not be sleeping with, or having sex with, or spooning with…anyone but you.

  Bleu: Okay. Same.

  See? We were on th
e same page, Nicky needed to stop making me second-guess myself. This was dangerous territory. I knew that. But Maykin and I were going to go slow, one day, one step at a time.

  Bleu: I’m picking you up later. We’ve got to go engagement ring shopping.

  Chapter Sixteen

  Maykin

  I climbed into Bleu’s car, smiling against his lips when he immediately dragged me in for a kiss. So this was really happening. I was sleeping with my best friend and we could kiss whenever we wanted. I liked it. I’d actually spent a considerable amount of my day thinking about Bleu’s kisses. When he pulled back, instantly, I wanted more.

  “You know, texting that we were going ring shopping and then basically going radio silent for two hours…not the best.”

  He winced as he threw the car in drive and checked his mirrors. “I know, but right after I sent it my client walked in.”

  “I figured it was for E.” I bit my lips together to keep my grin from getting too out of control. I may not be the hearts and flowers type of girl, but Evie was. And I wanted this to be perfect for her. “Tell me everything.”

  “Well, Nicky mentioned a couple of weeks ago that he was going to propose.” He shrugged, taking a left to get onto the highway. “But to be honest, with everything that’s been going on, I kind of forgot.”

  Bleu had been keeping a crazy schedule. He worked long hours at Revival Ink, he volunteered every free second so he could get done with community service, and now he was helping his best guy friend plan a proposal. I was currently banging a really kind badass.

  “Nicky has it narrowed down to three rings, so I told him that you would pick the one Evie would like the best and then we’d let him know.” He tossed me his phone. “Be my navigator.”

  “And the engagement party? What’s up with that?” I glanced down at his phone when it dinged. “You’ll need to stay in the right lane.”

  “He’s going to propose at the shop, and then we’re going to have like a surprise party afterward.” Bleu glanced my way, eyes wide. “The only problem is, this is all happening on Saturday.”