Page 24 of Roleplay at Randy's
“Riley?”
His laugh sounds more like a whine. “I’m doing a great job of convincing you I’m over him.”
“No convincing necessary. I just … wanted to know where you stood. And I do. You don’t want a relationship.”
He pulls back just enough that I can look down and see his gaze boring into me. “Do you? Want a relationship?”
I scratch at the side of my neck with my free hand, letting my head fall back against the couch cushion.
“I’m not there, I don’t think. I’m … curious. I like you, Matty. I think you’ve known that since we ran into each other at the park.”
He hums, and makes no move to extract himself, just lays his head on my chest and sighs.
“You are infuriatingly easy to like.”
I grin at his half-hearted complaint. “That makes this easy, doesn’t it? Neither of us has to be nervous or embarrassed about our attraction to one another.”
He seems to think about it, pushing off my chest and scooting away just enough that I drop my arm. Those eyes search my face in the dim light, and whether they find what they’re looking for or something entirely different, they soften along with his smile.
“I don’t think I’ve ever had this open of a conversation with anyone before.” He wrinkles his nose, and a laugh rumbles from my throat.
“I don’t want you to be uncomfortable.” I smooth aside some of his hair, fingers grazing his neck, and when he shudders, I pull away guiltily. “Like that. I just want to touch you and watch you at all times, and I’m going to do my best to refrain, but if you haven’t noticed, I’m a bit impulsive with my affection.”
“I thinkcompulsivemight be a better word.” There’s no heat, just a quiet amusement. “And the urge is there for me, too, so no worries here.”
We end up smiling at each other, full and goofy. “Aren’t we a pair?” I say and fight back a yawn that rises up. “How are you doing? Really?”
We’re sitting on opposite ends of the couch now, Matty with his arms crossed and feet planted on the middle cushion, me leaning against the arm rest on my side so I can watch him.
“I’m okay,” he says into his knees, blowing a frustrated raspberry. “It’s just … kind of a long story. And I’m not sure I have it in me to go into it right now.”
I drum my fingers on my cushion inches from his toes, and despite my earlier remark, my self control flies out the window. My fingers wrap around his ankle and smooth over the skin until a comfortable calmness forms in my chest.
“Would you like me to let you get back to sleep or give you a distraction?”
“I don’t think I could sleep again if I tried.” He blows out a tired breath. “What do you have in mind?”
I hop out of my seat. “Just a sec.”
After a quick trip to my room—where I take the time to pick up Cal and move him to his own bed—I round back to Matty with a grin and my phone in my hand. I search through the music app until I find something I’m happy with, and then set it on the coffee table and hold a hand out to Matty.
“Dance with me?”
It takes my breath away when his eyes light up, when they travel from my hand to my face and a childlike giddiness appears in them.
He holds up a finger and walks over to the bookshelf, pushing onto his tip toes to reach the top and grab his little silver box. With the hearing aids popped in, he walks back to me with all of the sass from that first night.
“You don’t have to ask me twice.”
Matty cocks his head as a soft piano and deep voice fills the room. It's not particularly slow or fast, just broody and heavy a lot like what I’d dance to at the club.
Most of my song choices come from there.
He grabs my hand without an ounce of hesitation and spins around. I keep a firm grip on him, letting his bodymove into mine. Away again. His laugh rings out as his hair whips around his face.
For a moment, we separate, and it's like the park all over again. I'm so struck watching him effortlessly twist and sway his body in indescribable ways that I don't remember to move.
There's a glint in his eyes when ours meet. He pauses for a breath just to grab his hair in his fists and knot it up into a loose ponytail, and then he's moving again and?—
