Page 121 of Flirty Dancing

Archer smiled in the darkness. “I’ll stay.”

26The Finale

Archer woke up with Mateo’s chest pressed to his back, arm around his waist, nose on the nape of his neck, tickling him with each breath. He smiled, chest rising and falling in a deep, contented sigh.

“Can we stay here forever?” Mateo whispered in the silence.

Archer wiggled around, smile growing, sliding his arms around Mateo’s neck. “Yes.” He kissed Mateo’s cheek, then his lips, morning breath be damned.

“Archer,” Mateo murmured, pressing their bodies even tighter together. “Archer,” he breathed again, sliding his hand down Archer’s stomach.

The heights Archer reached with Mateo were like none he had ever known before. His body responded in ways he never thought possible. When he danced with Mateo, it was like he entered another plane that was all electricity and tension and fire. But being with him like this… it was a whole other universe. Stars, planets, comets—theyall whizzed by him, through him, compressed space and time down to one singular point of bliss.

“Oh, God,” Archer panted when he sagged onto the mattress again, goose bumps shivering over his skin, pleasure still radiating from his center. “Fuck. You are… you are really good at that.”

Mateo smiled and planted a kiss on Archer’s shoulder. “So are you.”

“Better than I am at dancing?”

Mateo laughed and gave him a half-hearted shove. “Yes. Even better than you are at dancing.”

Archer let out a low whistle. “Damn. Iamgood at this.”

Mateo’s laugh vibrated through Archer’s chest, perfectly in time with his heart.

This.

This right here.

“So… we go home tomorrow,” Archer said, tiptoeing up to the conversation after some more cuddling.

“Yeah. Hard to believe the summer’s over already.” Mateo’s fingers drifted up and down his arm.

“Am I really going to move in with you?” Archer asked in a rush. “Are you sure you want me invading your world?”

Mateo’s eyes were serious when they met his. “Archer… I haven’t had anyone in my life in a very long time. And I am absolutely sure. I feel like…” He blushed and looked away to fiddle with the sheet. “I feel like I’ve been waiting for you.”

Tears flooded Archer’s eyes. “I’ve been waiting for you too.”

They kissed again, a slow, gentle kiss that was a promise of many more to come.

“If I don’t get any jobs in a few months though…” Archer had to warn him. “I’m almost out of money. I’ll have to move back to Ohio.”

“Fuck Ohio,” Mateo said with a growl. “Breckon Galloway is going to see you and fall in love. I know it.”

“Hah. If anything, he’s going to fall in love with you.”

“Well, I’m taken.”

Even though he was already rubber, Archer managed to soften further. Joy swelled up his throat as he snuggled under Mateo’s jaw, ear pressed to the steady rhythm of Mateo’s heart.

Mateo paused outside the stage door and squeezed Archer’s hand. “You ready?”

They were meeting early for a dress rehearsal before the night’s finale, and they had officially agreed: no more hiding. A handful of maintenance people had seen Archer coming downstairs with Mateo this morning anyway, all disheveled, and who knows who had seen them sprinting to Mateo’s room the night before. Better to get it all out in the open now so there were no surprises later.

Archer nodded. “Ready.”

They walked into the greenroom, fingers laced.

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