Page 21 of Teasing the Winger

It doesn’t take long for my eyelids to become heavy, and it starts to get hard to keep them open. I promised Rio I’d be a good friend and stay up with him, but staying true to my word is becoming harder and harder. Eventually all the fighting in the world isn’t enough to keep myself awake and slumber slowly pulls me under.

Soft snoring fills the room, pulling me from my peaceful sleep. Slowly, I blink my eyes open, trying to figure out where the snoring is coming from.

Where am I, and what time is it?

As my eyes adjust to the bright room, I realize I’m on the couch at Rio, Monster, and Bronny’s place, but the pillow I’m resting my head on isn’t exactly a pillow. I mean, as far as I know, pillows don’t have the ability to move on their own, and this one is gently twitching beneath my head. Glancing down, I see that the “pillow” is, in fact, someone’s knees.

It's then I remember watching movies with Rio and falling asleep during the second one. I guess I must have gotten comfortable in his lap at some point. By the sound of his even breathing and adorable snoring, Rio fell asleep at some point too, but only he knows if I decided to snuggle up on him before or after he fell asleep.

I lay still for a while, taking in how nice it feels to be this close to Rio. At the same time it kind of feels wrong because I’m not sure if he would want this or not. The digital clock that sits on the television stand tells me it’s already nine in the morning, which means Bronny and Monster will probably be getting up soon, so I decide to sit up carefully, trying not to disturb Rio in the process. The last thing I want is for Rio’s roommates to think something is going on when it’s not.

Even though I try my hardest not to jostle Rio, it’s hard to accomplish since his arm is resting on my waist. When I finally get into a seated position, he begins to move. He blinks at me a couple of times before stretching his arms above his head, which causes his shirt to lift. I get a glimpse at a sliver of skin and neatly trimmed hair that leaves my mouth watering and has me wanting to see more.

Fuck, staying for the second movie was a mistake. I was only trying to be a good friend but now my sleepy brain is thinking of things it shouldn’t.

“Looks like we fell asleep,” I murmur while trying to discreetly adjust my morning wood.

“You fell asleep ten minutes into the second movie,” Rio reminds me before letting out a big yawn. “And I think it only took you another five minutes before you were cuddling up on to my lap.”

I grimace a little before whispering my apology, but Rio doesn’t look upset and waves me off.

“Nothing to be sorry for.” He tilts his head from side to side. “Clearly, you had the right idea about laying down. Who knew sleeping upright would give you this bad of a neck crick.”

“Why didn’t you go to bed after the movie was done?” I ask, leaning my head slightly to the side, studying him for a moment.

Rio shrugs and glances away, his cheeks turning a rosy shade. “You looked too peaceful. I didn’t want to disturb you,” he admits, making my heart warm.

“You didn’t have to do that,” I tell him in a soft voice.

He looks back at me with his lips pressed together. “It’s what friends do,” he repeats my words from last night back to me while staring at me with a look of longing in his eyes. “Or maybe it’s more than that.”

My eyebrows shoot up at his admission, and I'm stunned silent for the first time in a long time.

Slowly, like magnets are attached to our lips, we both lean toward each other. My heart races so fast that it makes it hard to breathe or think about anything except what is about to happen. I’m going to kiss Rio. Something I’ve dreamt about doing a million times before but also thought would never happen in real life.

We are so close now that I can feel his breath on my skin, but just as we are about to bridge the final gap, a door opening startles us and kills the moment. Rio quickly pulls back and stands so fast I’m surprised he’s not lightheaded.

“Shit, I’m sorry,” he murmurs before racing down the hall. Leaving me alone in the dimly light living room.

I take a shaky breath before standing, unsure of what just happened. Rio’s sudden shock and disappearance stings a little, but I try not to let it get to me. I know that he’s demisexual, and maybe he’s just realizing that he might have feelings for me. I hope he has feelings for me.

I bet that would be a shock to anyone and I understand him needing time to get his head around it all.

I fish my phone out of my pocket and fire off a message to Rio to make sure we don’t end up with awkward feelings from this almost kiss before leaving his apartment and making my way home.

I never thought that kissing Rio would be a real-life possibility, but now that I know that it is, I’m dying to know what it would feel like for it to actually happen.

CHAPTER TWELVE

RIO

My heart races like a horse on a track as I pace the floor of my bedroom.

I almost kissed Sasha. I really wanted to kiss Sasha, but then I heard someone and panicked. And now I feel confused and a bit like an ass. I wonder how Sasha is feeling after I ditched him like that. I start turning to walk back.

The buzzing of my phone pulls me from my panicky state, and I pull it out to check the message.

Sasha: I guess I’ve never actually told you this before, but I like you. I’m sorry that our almost kiss scared you. If you want to go out on a date sometime and see if there is something between us more than friendship let me know. If you don’t respond I’ll just assume it was a sleepy mistake and I’ll forget it happened. Everything will go back to normal and there will be no hard feelings. I just didn’t want to leave you wondering how I felt.

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