Page 16 of Clean Finish

When I stayed silent, he huffed and dragged a fingertip along the edge of the island counter. “I just want to learn how to do stuff. Do it well, I mean. You know, like… handjobs and… b-blowjobs.”

My cock twitched, firming up rapidly. Thank fuck the island was hiding my lower half. “I know it can seem daunting, but a lot of that stuff comes pretty naturally when you get into it.”

What was I doing? Trying to talk him out of this? That would be the decent thing to do. The right thing to do. But I still silently scolded myself for being a noble idiot.

“I just don’t want to make a fool of myself,” Larkin mumbled. A strand of bright pink hair had slipped from his bun and was brushing against his sharp cheekbone. My fingers twitched with the intense desire to reach over and tuck it behind his pointed ear.

“I don’t think you would,” I said gently, “but alright.”

“I just want to be good at it,” he blurted, gazing up at me. Then he squirmed, rubbing at his hot cheek. “I’ve kind of… talked a big game with the wrestlers. They probably all think I’m, like, super experienced or whatever.”

I hummed noncommittally. He wasn’t wrong. To anyone not paying as close attention as I did, he definitely gave the impression that he was up for anything and not afraid to experience new things. But that was Larkin. Smoke and mirrors. All talk and no action.

Well, he was finally deciding to take action now.

Letting out a big sigh, he rested his cheek on his palm. “I’ve definitely made a rod for my own butt, dude.”

I went still, blinking at him. “Do you mean your back?”

“Huh?”

My mouth twitched. “You’ve made a rod for your own back.”

His brows twitched into a disbelieving frown as he raised his head. “Um, I think the saying is butt, dude. A rod for my back? What? That doesn’t make sense.”

“But you think a rod for your butt does?”

“I mean, yeah.” He spread his hands. “Like, I’ve made a problem for myself that’s causing me discomfort or whatever. A rod up my butt.”

Well. I supposed I couldn’t fault his logic. A rod up the butt would definitely be more of an uncomfortable problem than one on the back.

Before I could stop it, a grin stretched my mouth as I chuckled. I heard Larkin’s breath catch, but then he grinned back at me, his cute little fangs peeking out.

“You know it makes sense, dude,” he said, and I shook my head with another chuckle.

“You’re right.” God, I wanted to kiss him so, so badly. But maybe he wouldn’t want that. This was why we needed to discuss it properly and find out what was off-limits.

“Look,” I began again, sobering, “I know it’s awkward to talk about, but if you want to actually do these things, you’re going to have to push past that.”

He swallowed, nodding quickly. “Okay. Yeah.”

“Is there anything that’s off-limits?” I asked, watching him carefully. “Anything you’re definitely not interested in?”

His throat bobbed again, wings splayed wide behind his back. “Uh, n-no. I can’t think of anything. I want to, um, try everything.”

God. My cock was throbbing.

“Well.” I cleared my throat. “There might be something you realise you’re not interested in while we’re… So you should come up with a word you’d never normally say during sex that means you want everything to stop.”

“Like a safeword?” he asked, eyes growing bright with nervous excitement.

“Yes.”

“Okay.” He chewed his lip, then said, “Dahlia.”

“Alright.” I nodded. “If you say that at any point, it means we stop straight away.”

He visibly relaxed at that, then asked, “What about you? Do you need one?”