Play With Me

right now he
made me a little nervous.
    I felt this
tingle in my stomach every time I was close to him. Especially as he twirled me
around and caught my back against his chest. His hand splayed on my belly, he
pushed me against him, performing a body wave with me.
    I laughed out
loud, maybe to cover my shyness. “What are you doing?” I shouted over my
shoulder and found his face very close to mine.
    “Distracting
you.” He rolled again, and I felt each of his hard muscles grinding against my
back. “Does it work?”
    Unbelievably
so. I didn’t reply but let Ryan move me. With all
the dancing, my tee got a mess, and the hem traveled a few inches up. Half of
Ryan’s hand lay on my naked stomach. It sent a shiver down my spine. One of the
good ones.
    As the song
ended, he released me and shouted next to my ear. “Phil has just come in. Let’s
say hello.”
    I smoothed my clothes
out on the way to the oblong bar. The music wasn’t as loud back there. Leaning
over the metal top, Ryan introduced me to a man with shoulder long hair and
black muscle shirt. He looked mid-thirty, maybe a bit younger. Phil set two cans
of Coke in front of us.
    After the hot
dance with Ryan, this was more than welcome.
    Perched on a bar
stool, I listened while the two talked about Ryan’s last year in High School
and the new soccer team. Phil asked me if I liked it.
    I lied. “Yeah,
it’s great. Love the training.”
    The slanted look
from Ryan promised he didn’t buy one word of it.
    “What?” I
mouthed at him with a half smile.
    He leaned in
closer and brushed my hair behind my ear. “I still have the text where you say
you’re done with soccer, Liza.”
    The taunt in his
voice as he said my name prickled my skin. I leaned back an inch so I could
gaze at his face. “Did you really not know my name before I sent you that
message?”
    He laughed and
shrugged one shoulder. “Why, Matthews? You were devoted to Mitchell. What would
I care?”
    From the way he
averted his eyes for a second, and the sly grin that remained on his lips, I
wasn’t sure if I should believe him.
    “You’re such an
ass, you know.” I shoved his shoulder, grinning at him.
    The roguish
gleam in his eyes captured me. “I’ve been told girls go for that.” He winked
then drank from his Coke, but his gaze held mine all that time.
    Heat rush to my
cheeks, because, hands down, he was right. It was all too easy to fall for him.
Not only because he looked illegally good in a white shirt, or because of his
amazing smell. It was the attention he gave me that made me feel good around
him. Special. Desired, even.
    And for the
weirdest moment, I wanted him to desire me.
    Letting my gaze
slide to a few kids who’d started singing karaoke on a small stage across the
room, I hoped I could flush that idea with a long drink from my soda, deeming
it a side effect of the pain Tony caused me today. I wanted to stay faithful to
my love for him, even if he made it clear that he’d rather kiss the Barbie
Clone than me. But with Hunter standing between my legs, his hand placed
casually just above my right knee, it was no use denying the attraction. His
charm had worked on me for days now, and it was different to anything I had
experienced so far. Fresh, exciting, dangerous. Nothing compared to good old safe Tony.
    I wouldn’t want
them to switch places right now. And that was the scariest thought of all.
    A tall,
dark-haired beauty came up behind Ryan and dragged me out of my musing. She
wrapped one arm around his neck and kissed him on the cheek. “Hi, little
brother.”
    “Hey, Rach.” He
let her come around and introduced us.
    As he called me Matthews and the friend of a friend , my heart sank. I reached out to shake
Rachel’s hand. “My name is Liza.”
    “Don’t mind him.
The oaf was never comfortable with first names.” The tall girl laughed and
shoved her brother playfully. “I’m lucky—I’m his sister.”
    “That doesn’t
mean a thing, Carter,” he teased her and popped another soda then
clinked cans with Philip.
    “So, the friend
of a friend, huh?” Rachel’s tone was light but curious. “Where is that friend?”
    “Not here.” Ryan
grinned at her. It was hard to miss the certain glint of mischief in his eyes.
The glint that didn’t fail to make me nervous again as his gaze met mine.
    Rachel sighed
with a roll of her eyes. “Just when will you grow up and settle for one?”
    “He’s young,
baby.” Phil leaned over the counter to