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“The honeymoon period is nauseating,” he said to Grady, trying to smile at him like nothing had changed, when the reality of it waseverythinghad changed. But he would make this work. He would bury it all down so far, he wouldn’t be able to see it anymore, just to be able to keep this friendship.

“It can be,” Grady said, glancing down at Lake’s lips in a way that made Lake’s stomach clench. Did friends look at each other like that?

“Hi,” Lake said awkwardly. “Uh…” Why was this so fuckingawkward? “Are friends allowed to hug?” he asked, trying desperately not to inhale so he could take in Grady’s scent. He just needed totouch.One touch, that was all. One touch and then he would be fine.

Grady hesitated and then nodded.

Lake had meant for it to be a quick hug. A cursory pat on the back and then remove himself from Grady’s space. The second he had his arms around Grady, everything shifted. He clung to Grady’s back as Grady slid one arm around his waist and threaded a hand through his hair. He buried his face in the crook of Grady’s shoulder and breathed in deeply.

He could have sworn Grady whispered “fuck”in his ear. It heated Lake from the inside. He didn’t care if he’d imagined it. The idea that Grady was struggling as hard with this as he was, was gratifying.

When he pulled back to look up at Grady, their lips were almost touching.

“You’re not wearing dog tags,” Grady murmured.

“They’re only for deployments and field exercises,” Lake said. “Identification purposes, not everyday wear. Pop culture has a lot to answer for.”

“A shame.”

Lake could feel Grady’s breath against his lips. All he had to do was lean forward. He wanted to, so badly, his pulse ratcheting up as he glanced down. It would barely take—

A clearing throat nearby had Lake jerking away. Some of the other guys on the court were looking at him with questions in their eyes. Zach’s look was particularly speculative.

Lake pulled out of Grady’s arms and hoped his smile wasn’t as wobbly as it felt. “Ready to get your asses kicked?”

Felix put an arm around Grady’s shoulders and smiled. “Only one team is getting their asses kicked.”

“Yeah, yours.”

“Bring it on, big brother,” Avery said.

It wason.

In the end, they tried to split everyone evenly, with partners on opposite sides as well as friends. They had uneven team numbers, but an extra was given to Lake and Zach’s team because the spec-ops guys had an advantage anyway, just by being who they were.

Lake ended up being a defensive point guard, with Grady as the offensive. As they got into position, with Grady at his back, Lake couldn’t help but push back a little, his ass brushing Grady’s front. Grady’s hands gripped his hips for a hot second, squeezing before letting go. A rapid hot flash ran through Lake.

The second that the match started, Lake was off, glancing behind him with a wicked grin as he moved into the best position for Zach to get the ball to him or through him to Lucas Walsh—Tyler’s husband and Zach’s brother-in-law—who was playing power forward. Grady kept up with him, surprisingly fast for a guy his size. Lake didn’t know if the constant touching and finger grazes were deliberate, but he really fucking hoped so. Grady was driving him insane, and his body was onfire.

Zach twisted around Felix, landing a cheeky kiss on his shoulder as he passed and threw to Lake, who caught it and jerked around to get past Danny, Keegan Erickson backing him up as scoring guard. Grady crowded behind him, and the graze of fingers against his ass wasdefinitelydeliberate and enough to distract Lake and allow Tyler to slip past with the ball in his thieving hands.

“Interference,” Lake hissed at Grady.

“Prove it,” Grady said, blowing him an air kiss.

Oh. Grady was goingdown. Insanely turned on or not, that was a challenge that Lake couldn’t just let go.

The next time they were close together, Lake turned just enough to press his hip against Grady’s groin, feeling the semi-hardness waiting there for him. He hovered his cheek against Grady’s chest and whispered, “You want my ass? All you have to do is ask, Grady, and I’ll bend over for you.”

Grady tripped over his own feet, and Lake used the advantage to snatch the ball from Felix and throw to Keegan, who was open. He got it to Lucas, and they scored. Lucas used the opportunity to rag on his husband, who watched with amusement. Well… Lake thought it was amusement. It was hard to tell with Tyler. The guy was arock. He did seem to love Lucas, though.

In the end, the spec-ops guys completely owned them, but they’d held pretty steady and got enough points in the game that they could be proud of the fight they’d put up. Lake knew by the end he’d been utterly useless, his only focus on Grady and how often they found a reason to be touching. Lake didn’t know what Grady was feeling, but since neither of them could say they’d contributed to any of the points, he would say they were in the same position.

Why was Grady so adamant that they could only be friends when he clearly wanted more? When theybothdid? Lake couldn’t accept that it all ended here.

He couldn’t.

Well,thathadbeenthe most excruciating few hours of Grady’s life. If Lake had told Grady when he’d invited him that he was going to be parading around half naked for this, sweaty and with his ass being shoved into Grady’s hip every two seconds because he didn’t understand that basketball was supposed to be a non-contact sport, he would have found some reason to say no. Any reason, no matter how implausible it was. Anything to have avoided the entire thing.