Elle Thorpe

I held my shot glass up. “Cheers to shitty days and the hot boys who rescue you from them.”

Both guys grinned at that, and the three of us clinked out glasses together before downing them. I grimaced as the liquid burned my chest.

“No good?” Banjo asked.

“Too good.” I held up my glass. “Let’s go again.”

“‘Sex on Fire’? Really, Banjo? You trying to tell me something?”

A slow, sly smile spread across his face. “Read into my song choice however you want.”

Rafe chuckled, and I glanced over at him.

Banjo leaned back on his hands, his gaze warming me all over. Or maybe that was the tequila. I didn’t know, but either way, it was a pleasant sensation. It was nice to feel warm and safe, after a day of feeling cold and miserable. Banjo always had that effect on me. He truly was like a ray of sunshine, bottled up in a body made for sin.

“Is that what we are?” Banjo asked quietly. “Friends?”

I nodded. “Of course we are.”

“What about us?” Rafe asked. “You and me? Friends, too?”

I glanced between the two of them. They were so different. Banjo with his shaggy blond hair and freckles from the sun. Rafe darker, more serious, but no less hot with his gorgeous eyes that sparkled with intelligence and wit.

“Sure,” I said softly.

Rafe shot a look at Banjo. It made me remember the way Banjo had confessed to there being something extra between him and Rafe. Something neither of them had ever explored or even talked about. The way Rafe looked at Banjo in that second had me wondering if Banjo’s feelings weren’t completely one-sided.

“I’ve got an idea!” I said, a little too loudly. “Truth or dare.”

Rafe groaned, but Banjo bounced on the bed like a puppy dog. “Come on, it’ll be fun. I haven’t done this since that time we played with Colt, and he dared me to jump off the roof.”

Rafe shook his head, but his lips turned up at the corners adorably. “Don’t you remember how bad that was? You fucked up your ankle, and Willa had to drive you to the hospital because she thought it was broken. Nothing good comes from this game.”

I shrugged. “You’ve never played with me before.”

Rafe’s gaze clashed with mine, and something hot and heady passed between us.

“I’m in,” he said, voice tight.

I scooted until I was sitting against the wall, legs tucked up beneath me. Banjo made himself comfy at the head of his bed, back leaning against the pillows, while Rafe edged so close to me our arms brushed.

“Truth or dare?” he asked.

I bit my lip. “Dare.” My voice came out oddly breathy, like his nearness alone had the ability to physically affect me.

“I dare you to kiss Banjo.””

I raised one eyebrow, surprised. And maybe a little disappointed. Not about there being a kissing dare. I was playing with two teenage guys. Of course these dares were going to get sexual. Hell, I wanted them to. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have started the game. Everyone knew party games like this were only played so you could make out with your secret crush. But he’d caught me off guard when he’d said to kiss Banjo, and not him. “You want to sit here and watch me make out with Banjo?”

He grabbed the tequila bottle and took a long, slow swig, his gaze never straying from mine. “To start.”

Heat bloomed low in my belly. I wasn’t entirely sure what he meant by that, but there was a hidden promise in his words that shot heat straight between my legs.