There is a painful throb in my shorts and a freshly bruised hickey on my neck by the time I park in Tahegin’s garage. We kiss our way inside, only stopping when he insists on showering the ocean from his skin before we do anything else. I try to tell him that he could smell like garbage for all I care, but he’s determined. He asks me to join him, and I accept, though I do tell him to go ahead without me for a minute while I take care of something.
That something happens to be a phone call because, in all our conversation on the beach, I forgot to ask my best friend what I really need to know—preferably before I make a fool of myself.
Tahegin disappears into the bathroom, and the shower comes on.
Stepping into the hallway outside his bedroom, I hit the button beside Micah’s name in my phone, shuffling nervously in place.
“This better be good,” he answers just as I think the voicemail might kick on. “I’m busy—” It’s clear what he is up to when he breaks off in a squeal that morphs into giggles.
“I just have a quick question, then you can go back to Aleks.”
“Mhm,” he hums in acknowledgment, but also possibly to stifle a moan.
I take a deep breath, steeling myself. Asking for help—letting people see me vulnerable—is such a new novelty that I have to prepare myself. Have to convince myself it isn’t a weakness. That Micah won’t laugh in my face and call me an idiot. “How is sex different with a man? I mean— What do I need to know before . . .”
There’s some shuffling on Micah’s end of the line, and away from the phone, he murmurs in a serious tone. “Zeke, hold on a sec.” Hearing someone call Aleks by anything other than his last name or team nickname is strange, but it makes sense that someone as close to him as Micah would use a version of his first. When Micah speaks again, he’s back at the phone and sounds more attentive than he did earlier. “So, you and Gin haven’t—”
My face flushes with warmth, and I’m suddenly glad I didn’t ask about this in person. “No, not yet. But I want to.”
“You sure?”
“I am so sure. The surest.”
Micah chuckles lightly at my words. “I like your enthusiasm. Okay. You’re already familiar with prep, so I won’t give you that lecture. Otherwise, there are two main differences between anal with a man versus a woman. First is the reach around.”
One of my eyebrows twitches upward despite no one being here to see it. “Reach around?”
“Yep. Not all guys can come hands-free, and while the bottom can usually jerk himself, it always feels better with someone else’s hand. If he’s on his knees, reach around and give him a handie to help him along. If he’s on his back or straddling you, it will be even easier because it’s practically in your face. Don’t be selfish.”
I nod to myself, mentally making a note. “Don’t be selfish. Got it.”
“Second is a bit more complicated. Women are supposed to have something called a G-spot, right?”
“Don’t get me lying to you,” I reply quickly. I’ve never studied a vagina like that or asked about it. I used to be a fuck-and-bye kind of guy. No pillow talk.
“Wow,” my best friend whispers under his breath, sounding completely disappointed in me. “Anyway. Guys have a feel-good spot that I assume is similar. I don’t know for sure because—you know—I’m gay. Basically, inside a guy is an area that can provide pleasure and aid in climax. Some guys aren’t very sensitive whereas others can come from stimulation there alone. It just depends on the guy. As the top, you need to make yourself familiar with that spot. Your goal should be to stimulate it with every thrust—dick or fingers.”
“How do I—”
“Sh! I’m telling you right now. It’s called the prostate—”
“Oh, the thing that the doctor—”
“Hendrix Rosetta Avery!”
I roll my eyes to myself and grumble, “Not my middle name.”
“Do you want Tahegin to enjoy this or not? That’s what I thought. Listen to the words coming out of my mouth. The prostate is located a few inches inside and just behind the penis. You can also massage it externally on the bit of skin behind the balls. That feels good as a tease, foreplay, or during head—explore it on yourself sometime. I think that’s every—”
Aleks’ voice suddenly appears, as if he’s invaded the space between the phone and Micah’s face. “Never use warming lube,” he cautions sagely. “Just— Don’t do it.”
Micah scoffs. “He knows that. You do know that, right, Rix?”
“I . . . do now.”
“Dear Lord of the Gays, help this man.”
“If that is all,” Aleks jumps in again, “I need to take my man to bed. And Sour? Don’t forget the reach around.”
Once again, I nod with all seriousness. “Don’t be selfish.”
Giggling hits my ear as Micah and Aleks flirt, totally forgetting about me, so I hang up before stripping out of my shorts and heading for my naked, oblivious boyfriend in the shower.
CHAPTER 27
TAHEGIN ELLINGSWORTH
I have my eyes closed, head tilted toward the water pouring down on me, when hands slide around my waist, coming to a stop splayed across my abs. A firm, equally naked body presses against my back. Every hard muscle—and I mean every hard one—bumps against me, and I relax into Hendrix’s embrace.
Though I have been nervous to let things go too far—worried he will freak out and run away once things get too real—Hendrix seems to have no qualms touching me like this. We shower together often, and though most of the time it leads to us getting off, I have dodged Hendrix’s attempts to blow me or jerk me or us together.
I’m terrified he is going to reach a point where he’s looking and touching everything that makes me a guy, and he just . . . leaves. Says “maybe I’m not gay after all” and walks away. I would be heartbroken.
“Tahegin,” his low, gravelly voice rumbles in my ear, and he nips at my soft lobe. The hands on my stomach press me harder against him, trapping his erection between my back and his belly. Glancing down, I find a matching situation in front of me. “Here’s what is going to happen right now,” he says. One of his palms slowly drags up my chest, briefly cups my throat, then settles entirely over my mouth, silencing me. Almost absentmindedly, the thumb still on my stomach begins to rim my navel. “You’re going to shut it with all this slow business, and I am going to touch you.” His voice, still in my ear, drops to a low, husky whisper. “Everywhere.”
A shiver travels from the tips of my ears to my knees, gooseflesh appearing across my exposed skin. It’s hard to focus with the way his thumb taunts my belly button, but somehow, I manage. “Rix,” I mumble beneath his hand over my mouth.
“No, T. No more of the ‘trying to protect me’ bullshit. If you truly mean no, then say so, but if you’re trying to do it because you think I’m not ready, don’t.” He pauses, letting the words sink in. “Now, are you going to let me touch you?”
