Riley gave them a weak wave but felt foolish about greeting them that way. A few moments later, she found her voice. “Thank you for having me.”
“It’s our pleasure,” Athena said. “Did you bring anything along?” Her eyes fell to the car, as if there might be a bag of Little gear or something inside.
“No.”
“That’s just fine. We have plenty of things here. That is, of course, if you want to change outfits or accessorize. It’s all up to you. Move at your own pace.”
Again, Riley found herself not knowing quite what to say. It didn’t really matter, she realized, because a loud clanging sound came from the front of the house.
“Is everyone okay?” she asked instinctively.
“I’m fine,” someone called back.
A guy walked around, smiling. “Just moving some scaffolding and putting a few things away for the night.”
The paint spatters on the black t-shirt that stretched tautly across his bulging muscles told Riley what he was up to.
“Man, why didn’t you say something?” Trevon asked the man. “I’ll come help you move all that stuff.”
Riley only vaguely heard what had been said. Her eyes were too transfixed on the gorgeous, sexy man who stood down the driveway, smiling at her.
Was he just as stricken with her as she was with him?
It seemed that way. Of course, this wasn’t one of those rom-coms she was being offered. Did people just have an instant connection in real life?
How could she have one now? She hadn’t said a word to this guy. Didn’t know his name or anything about him, other than the fact that he was drop-dead sexy.
The man was unblinking as he continued to smile at her. A few moments passed, and it became clear the encounter was going on a bit longer than average when two people see each other for the first time.
Kind of like those rom-coms after all, Riley thought.
Finally, he seemed to come back to the moment and turned his head to see Trevon. “I’d appreciate the hand moving that last piece of scaffolding. Then, it’ll all be set for tomorrow, but I’m done for tonight.”
“Sure thing,” Trevon said, already jogging toward him.
“Wait!” Riley called out, even though the man with the paint-stained shirt hadn’t turned away yet. “My name is Riley.”
Embarrassment washed over her.
Hey Riley, can you be any more obvious? Seriously. Get ahold of yourself.
The man smiled wider as he stepped closer. “I’m Briggs. Pleasure meeting you, Riley.” He held out his hand but then retracted it. “I’ve got some paint on there,” he explained.
She almost told him she didn’t care and paint or no paint he could put his hands wherever he wanted, but that, obviously, would be taking things way too far.
So, she simply said, “You’ve been busy, huh?”
“Yeah. This is a big place but we’ll get ‘er finished soon.”
A thought struck Riley. Was this some random guy hired to do a job, completely unfamiliar with the ins and outs of the ageplay community?
Could he figure out why she was here? Would he out her?
For some reason, she didn’t think he would. Something told her she could trust this man, even though she didn’t know the first thing about him.
Well, that’s not entirely true, she told herself. You know his name.
Briggs.
