Page 78 of Risky Play

“Okay. Whatever you want. I just want you,” Matt admitted.

Butterflies fluttered around my stomach at the sincerity in Matt’s voice. When I stared back into his eyes, I saw all his feelings pouring out at me. Matt was a people pleaser, and it killed him not to tell my brother about us. I loved that about him. He wanted to do the right thing, but right now, we had to keep this from my brother for a while longer.

“Okay…” I whispered back.

“What do you need tonight?” he asked.

“Cuddles,” I said meekly, snuggling back down into his chest and laying my head there.

He kissed the top of my head. “I can do that.”

“Sorry. I’m not in the mood for sex.”

“That’s okay. I want to be here with you. “

If I wasn’t already horizontal, I would have melted into a puddle of swoon. This man. Oh boy, he was so good with his words. It wasn’t that he was a smooth talker, either. Matt was sincere in everything he said. If I read him in a book, he would be the perfect book boyfriend. But he wasn’t fictional. He was real, and he was mine.

“Movie?” I asked. “I might fall asleep, though.”

He kissed my temple. “Sure.”

I turned on my TV and snuggled down into him again, loving the warmth of his body beside me.

“Hey, what do you have going on tomorrow?” he asked.

“Nothing much. Studying. Why?”

“I have plans for us.”

I peered at him curiously. “What plans?”

“I want to spend the day together. I’m back and forth traveling next week, so I want to take the day to enjoy it with you. If you’ll let me.”

“I’d love that.”

“Yeah?”

I felt my mouth twitch at the start of a smile. “I love spending time with you.”

“Good. So it’s a date.”

I broke out into a full grin then, giddy that this man was putting in all the effort.

First, he came over after a fight with my brother to see if I was okay. Most guys would expect sex, and even though I felt Matt’s arousal against my back, he wasn’t acting on it. Instead, he wanted to hold me and tell me it was going to be okay. Then he planned a date for us tomorrow.

How did I get so lucky?

“Really?” I asked Matt and put another book on the stack he was holding for me.

“Really, sweet pea. I want to spend the day with you, and I know how much you love your books.”

I wanted to do a little dance, but that would be weird, and I didn’t want to embarrass him. The way his lips curved up into a shy smile told me he was sincere.

This morning, Matt woke me up and told me to dress cute. He took me to the local brunch place I loved, where we drank coffee and ate delicious French toast. Then he said let’s go to the bookstore. He was perfectly content with watching me walk around the local bookstore, scouring the shelves for romance books. He already had a stack of four, and I was going to add more.

“This is a perfect date,” I told him as I walked down the aisles, finding another book to add to the pile.

“I knew you’d like it.”