44. Chapter 44
Chapter 44
Riley
I woke up surrounded by Matt. I had learned from our past sleepovers that he was clingy in his sleep, but this morning he held me like he thought I might run away. Both his arms were around me and his legs were tangled in mine. I squeezed his arms tighter around me and wiggled even closer to him. Waking up with Matt was always something I loved, but waking up with naked Matt was even better.
“Good morning, girlfriend,” he said as he nuzzled into the space between my neck and shoulder. The arm over me started gliding up and down my body.
“Good morning, boyfriend,” I said. It felt so good to say. I wiggled again. I couldn’t get enough of the way his skin felt against mine. The noise he made into my neck sent flutters through me. “Is this real?”
He shifted so I lay on my back, and he lay on his side propped up on one elbow looking down at me. “It better be.” He kissed me slowly, the way he did the first morning I stayed over. His free hand wandered over my body, fingers tapping against my skin to whatever song was in his head. “Call me that again.”
“Mmmm, call you what, Rupert?”
He groaned and moved his hand up to cup my face as he kissed me slower. He pressed himself against my hip. He pulled away from my mouth to drag his thumb over my bottom lip. “Do you need a hint?” He dragged his thumb down my jaw, then my neck, then down down down. He stopped right above where I wanted him.
I rolled onto my side and locked my leg around his hip. He moved with me, flipping us so I was on top of him. His hands squeezed my hips and then slid around to cup my ass.
“Still waiting on that hint.” I moved my hips ever so slightly against him. I tapped my chin like I was thinking hard. I bent down to his ear and whispered, “boyfriend.”
He turned his head to kiss me hard, one hand skating up my body to hold my neck.
“If you react like that to being called boyfriend, I can’t wait to see how you react the first time I call you husband.”
He kissed me harder and flipped me back onto my back and I erupted in a fit of surprised giggles. “You’re going to kill me,” he said before pinning me to the mattress and showing me how much better waking up together was than a phone call.
***
Despite how many times I repacked my bag I did not remember all the essentials, or enough essentials as Matt declared. He insisted on driving me back home to pack more clothes and anything I needed for at least a few days. When we pulled up to the house Emery’s car was gone, but there was a truck I didn’t recognize parked in my normal spot. Matt’s hand on my thigh squeezed so tightly I yelped in surprise.
“Riley! I’m so sorry,” he shouted as he yanked his hand away. He slammed the car in park and turned to face me, his hand fluttering over my thigh. “Are you okay? Oh my god, I didn’t mean to squeeze that hard. Does it hurt?”
Laughter tumbled out of me at his concern. I reached for his face and kissed away the concern pulling at his mouth. “Matt, I’m fine. You just surprised me,” I said through my laughter.
“Are you sure?” His eyes studied mine.
I smiled and brushed his temples with my thumbs. “I promise.” The concern still in his eyes made my heart swell. I’ll never understand what I did to deserve someone so sweet. “Do you want to tell me why you squeezed me so hard?”
“That’s Oliver’s truck” He pointed. “Why is it here and where is Emery?”
I shrugged and unbuckled my seatbelt as I turned to look at the empty grey Chevy. The windows were frosted over so it had been there for a little while. “Let’s go inside and see what we can find out.”
Inside the house we found some of Emery’s clothing scattered over the couch. The kitchen was a disaster, almost every mixing bowl and measuring cup we owned was dirty. There was dough on top of the stove in a covered bowl rising. Dry ingredients covered the counter with her recipe notebook spread open beside them.
Matt took a picture. “Next time Emery says she ‘cleans as she goes’ and ‘isn’t that messy’ I’m showing her this.” He opened the refrigerator door, no doubt looking to see what baked goods she had stashed in there.
I looked at the recipe that she had opened and then over the laid-out ingredients. “She must have realized she was missing something and went to the store.”
Matt and I looked at each other, the same question on both of our faces. Without a word he called Oliver and put his phone on speaker.
“Hey, man, what’s up?” Oliver answered.
“Nothing much, just wanted to see what you’re up to today. I was thinking we could hang out later,” Matt told him. He rubbed the back of his head and looked at me with pleading eyes. I slapped my hand over my mouth to hold back giggles.
“You aren’t spending the day with Riley today?”
“Yeah, I’m at her house right now, but I thought we could do something later. It’s been a while since we hung out.” More rubbing the back of his head. He was so cute when he was nervous.
“I just saw you Wednesday night and Thursday.”
What? I locked eyes with Matt and dropped the hand I held over my mouth. “Hey, Oliver, do you know where my sister is?”
There was fumbling on the line and what sounded like someone trying to fake static before the call dropped. I raised a brow at Matt as he slid his phone into his pocket.
“So, Wednesday night and Thursday?”
“I was a little freaked out, okay? I thought I had pushed you too hard and that you were going to decide I had blown my chance. Oliver came over for moral support.” He rubbed a hand down the side of his face. “I’m so damn clingy that Thursday I was going crazy not being able to talk to you, so I went to the shop.”
I held my hands out for him to take. He did so cautiously, looking at me with wide eyes and his mouth turned down. “Is that why you thought I was coming over yesterday?”
He nodded. I squeezed his hands and gave them a couple of tugs until he pulled me into him. “I know I kept telling you everything was going to be okay, but I was so scared I had lost you.”
I moved his hands to my waist and then wrapped my arms around his neck, swaying us in a small dance. “I thought you were going to decide I wasn’t worth the wait. I was so scared when I showed up with the stupid overnight bag yesterday that you were going to send me away.” I brushed a finger over the corners of his mouth until they relaxed. “I’m not going anywhere. I’m yours and you’re stuck with me.”
“I’m sorry I pushed you so hard and I’m sorry for whatever I did you make you think that I would change my mind about you. You’ve been worth the wait. Even if you had kept me waiting for longer, you would still be worth it.” He squeezed me tighter against him. “You’re stuck with me too.”
We swayed in the kitchen for a few minutes until he started twirling and dipping me, kissing me every time our lips were close. Just when I thought about suggesting he bend me over the kitchen table like he had thought about back in August we heard a car pull up. We could hear Emery and Oliver arguing outside the front door. Matt grinned, waggled his eyebrows, and sprinted to the front door. He swung it open catching the two of them off guard. Emery held two large reusable grocery bags.
“Emery, you have a lot of explaining to do,” I said with my arms crossed.
She rolled her eyes and turned toward Oliver. “Thanks, now I’m in trouble.”
Oliver shoved his hands in his pockets and tried to hide a smile behind a scowl. “Someone has to be around to clean the kitchen after you.”
I covered my mouth. Matt spun on his heels and gripped my elbows, keeping his back to the two idiots standing in the doorway so they couldn’t see how hard he fought to hold back a laugh. I shot Matt a look to say we should just get my stuff and leave. As much as I wanted to be nosey about what my sister was up to, I was way more interested in getting back to Matt’s apartment. He gave me a silent nod and steered me to my room.