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TWENTY-ONE

MICKEY

I scrubbed my hand over my face and tried to collect my wits. Amos had probably sucked those out of me too.

Amos Flynn just gave me head. What is my life?

I knew in my gut this was even better than it would’ve been if we’d continued on Halloween night. That would’ve been hot as hell, but this was…more. I knew Amos now. Fuck, I cared about him. A lot.

“My turn.” I’d barely gotten the words out before Amos scrambled off the bed and shed his clothes.

“You’ve got me so turned on. It’s not going to take long.” He stood at the foot of my bed, pale skin on full display, curls mussed from my grip, idly stroking his dick. “Honestly, I’m tempted to come just like this—looking at you.”

“As hot as that sounds, I want my chance to taste you.”

Amos squeezed just below the crown of his cock and tilted his head toward the ceiling. “I might blow just from you looking at me.”

I sat up and scooted to the edge of my bed, then leaned forward to lick his precum as I trailed my fingertips up his thighs. Amos’s body jerked before he leaned forward and rubbed his palm around my head.

“It’s as soft as I thought,” he said to himself.

My heart thudded as I wrapped an arm around his hip and pulled him closer while teasing my tongue along his shaft.

“Just like that,” he purred as I worked him deeper into my mouth, getting him wet with my saliva.

I idly noticed one of our phones buzzing in our jeans, but I was too focused on bringing Amos pleasure to worry about it. They could wait.

Amos was vocal with his praise and responses, which made me wish I still had the refractory period from a decade ago.

“Feels so good. Mm.” He widened his stance and braced himself on my shoulder.

With my free hand, I squeezed his ass cheek and let my fingers dip into his crack.

Next time, I wanted to push him face down on my bed and run my tongue where my fingers explored.

Instead, I ran my tongue around the cut head of his cock and worked to take more into my mouth.

He was longer than my last boyfriend, and I gagged a time or two.

“Easy.” He brushed his thumb across my cheek.

Soon, his glute tensed under my hand. “Oh shit, I’m there.”

I gripped him tighter, and he dug his nails into my shoulder as he unloaded into my mouth moments later.

I gently worked him through his orgasm as he leaned more of his weight against me. Eventually, he pulled back.

“Fuck.”

I laughed. “Yeah.” I collapsed back on the bed, and Amos dropped onto it next to me.

He rolled onto his side, facing me, and traced shapes on my hip. “Did it live up to your teenage dream?”

“As a teenager, I didn’t have enough experience to even conceptualize how good it would be. Teenage me would’ve probably come three times by now.”

Amos laughed. “I do miss the days of being able to get it up again so quickly. I swear that changed after I turned thirty.”

I laughed and stared into his bright-blue eyes. Cupping his cheek, I leaned in and kissed him. The hint of me on his tongue made desire flare deep in my gut.

“Teenage fantasies aside, I’m glad you’re here. Now.”

Amos’s Adam’s apple bobbed as he swallowed. “Me too.”

There were so many things I wanted to say. To ask. How long are you planning to stay in Maplewood? Should we find out if we have something here? Would you be willing to tell your family about us if there becomes an us?

There were so many things conspiring against us that it was hard to imagine we had a chance in hell of having more than a bit of fun while he was here. But as he casually touched me and snuggled into my pillow while yawning, I didn’t care. All that mattered was the here and now.

One of our phones buzzed again. Amos got out of bed to rummage through our jeans and returned with both phones.

He glanced at his screen. “Must be yours.” He passed it to me.

Bo: I’ve got huge news. Went by the diner, but since you’re not there, I’m coming over. This is in-person news. I can’t get hold of Amos either, so I’ll swing by Sage’s after talking to you. Be there soon.

My pulse beat faster with each word I read. “Uh, Bo’s on his way over.”

“Here? Now?” Amos’s voice went high-pitched on the last word.

“We’d better get dressed.” I rolled away and climbed off the bed.

Bo was a close friend. It wouldn’t be a big deal if he knew, right? He’d keep our secret.

Amos jerked upright to sitting. “I’ll hide. He won’t come in here, right?” Amos scanned the room and settled his attention on the closet doors.

I cupped his cheek. “Hey. It’s Bo. Our friend. It’s okay.” I gave him a quick kiss. No matter what happened next, I didn’t want Amos to feel like a secret. Not with our friend.

If that was the case, why hadn’t I told Bo already? Or Jason, Alex, Finn, Sam, Andre, Ethan…

Thoughts for later.

Amos blinked a few times, then gave me a small smile. “You’re right.” He nodded decisively, then stood and started getting dressed.

I was pulling my flannel on when there was a knock on the door.

“We can tell him whatever you want, or not say anything. Your call,” I offered.

Amos paused for a moment. “I guess we can tell him I came over for dinner to do festival planning?”

Despite the indecisiveness written on his face, I couldn’t ignore the sting from his decision. Did he want to keep us a secret?

Amos was still pulling on his sweater when I exited the bedroom. As I headed toward the door, I heard his socked footfalls behind me.

“Coming,” I called. Before opening the door, I looked over my shoulder and saw Amos settling onto the couch.

Our bubble had officially burst. I couldn’t help a sinking feeling that things would change now.

I tried to look innocent as I opened the door. “Hey! Just saw your text. What’s the big news?”

Bo’s usual friendly smile grew when he spotted Amos over my shoulder. “Hey, Amos. This makes it easy.” Bo stepped inside and removed his shoes, then did a double take at Amos. His eyes widened briefly, he darted a glance at me, and then he grinned. “Nice sex hair,” Bo said to Amos.

Amos’s hands shot up to fix his hair as Bo sat in my armchair. Sighing, I followed and dropped onto the other end of the couch.

“How long has this been going on?”

Amos and I shot each other panicked looks.

“Halloween,” Amos said.

At the same time, I said, “Saturday.”

Bo’s brow furrowed as he looked like he was trying to connect some dots. “Amos was the Halloween guy you were talking to?”

“How’d you know about that?”

Bo waved me away. “Our friends talk.” His expression turned thoughtful. “This complicates things.”

“Complicates what?” Amos asked.

Bo leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees.

The enthusiastic smile from when he’d arrived was replaced with a serious expression.

“I heard from a producer with Good Morning, USA , tonight. Through their background research on Maplewood, they learned about the history between Red’s and Sparky’s. ”

My gut dropped to the floor. Moments later, my fingers brushed warm skin. I hadn’t realized I’d been seeking Amos’s touch, but he’d responded and intertwined our fingers.

“They want to cover the Christmas Eve dinner while highlighting the rivalry and how that plays out in town. They not-so-subtly encouraged us to play up the feud as much as we can. ‘What makes a better story than diners with a multigenerational rivalry coming together to feed the community for Christmas?’” He made air quotes, then gave us an apologetic grimace.

“Please don’t hate me for what I’m about to say, but I have to worry about the town.

Can you keep a lid on this until after Christmas? ”

Any wishful thinking about being able to openly explore this thing with Amos went up in smoke. He’d be leaving after Christmas.

When I looked at Amos, I found regret in his eyes. The same I’d seen on Halloween. Similar to the moment we’d had at his first meeting for the Christmas festival, an understanding passed between us.

“Don’t worry, Bo. We won’t do anything to mess this up,” Amos said with conviction before pulling his hand back.

My stomach ached like boulders had tumbled into it.

“We’ll make sure this is a huge success. We know the town is counting on this.” Instead of being excited for the guaranteed spotlight on our family businesses, I now felt like I was heading to the gallows.

“I’ll leave you guys to it. I just wanted you to know they decided to highlight your event.

Let’s text tomorrow to set up a time to get together and adjust our plan for the dinner.

This will surely mean a bigger turnout, and I don’t think the high school gym is going to cut it.

More food, more volunteers, more table settings. We have a lot of work to do.”

Shit. He was right. The event was only two weeks away.

“Sounds good. Send us some times that you’re free,” I said.

Bo stood and nodded. “My responsibility to Maplewood aside, as your friend”—Bo made sure to look us each in the eye—“please be careful. I care a lot about you both and don’t want to see either of you get hurt.”

The implication that one of us would hurt the other was loud and clear. He wasn’t wrong—circumstances were stacked against us.

I managed a nod and stood.

Amos stood too. “I’d better head out before Sage starts worrying.”

I wanted to grab his hand and ask him to stay. So much for waking up together. At least I wouldn’t have to make a serving of oatmeal tomorrow night.

“Sure, yeah. Okay.” I was nodding too much, but I couldn’t stop.

I walked them to the front door and pulled it open. The blast of cold air fit my souring mood.

Amos gave my hand a brief squeeze as he passed me.

“Thanks for dinner. Your cheese was delicious, as always.”

Bo’s eyes widened as he gave me a questioning look.

“I appreciate you letting us know, Bo. This will be great.” Hopefully, my smile was more believable than I thought.

Judging by his grimace, it wasn’t.

After closing the door behind them, I collapsed onto the couch and stared at the ceiling. I couldn’t predict the future, but I couldn’t shake the feeling that I’d had a taste of something great and let it slip through my fingers.