Archive of Our Own

Explosions + Feelings + Snakes + Declarations

She was almost out of Mac's pick-up before he had even had the chance to put it in park. Saying she was desperate for a shower would be an understatement. Her vanilla body wash was screaming for her and the opportunity to wash her hair – oh heaven.

Five days. That's how long this mission had dragged on. Five days without a proper shower. Five days without clean clothes. Five days with grease and grime through her hair and clothes covered in god knows what.

It had been just her and Mac, a supposed in and out mission helping some local villagers in Zimbabwe whose water supply had suddenly stopped. CIA intel showed corrupt Politicians at fault. It hadn't taken her and Mac long to realize that there was more to this than simply a cut-off water supply by an undesirable government and faulty electronics. And that's how she found herself a mere 15 hours ago commando crawling her way through thick mud, sludge, and concrete debris to reach an external control room for the Kariba Dam. Of course, that would be the only way to hack the mainframe and avert a cyberattack that would result in colossal disaster with the dam's collapse.

Thank god they'd been able to debrief on the flight home. She'd changed into fresh clothes from her go-bag stored on the Phoenix Jet and somewhat sadly farewelled her favorite boots, which were beyond saving. Even now, though, she could still smell the stench of the sludge combined with burnt plastic and fertilizer on her skin, a lingering reminder of the small bomb Mac had made for her to blow a hole in the imposing concrete wall on the outskirts of the compound. What he had failed to mention was how said ingredients would bind to anything they touched. Mac, however, had it easy in comparison, having infiltrated the compound 700 hundred meters further down and rescuing the dam workers who had been taken as hostages.

She could hear Mac's laughter coming from behind her as he shut the car door; the Chinese takeout Bozer had insisted they pick up balanced in his arms. "Riles, I promise it's not that bad," he said reassuringly, but she could still hear the laughter beneath his words.

"Not that bad? Not that bad!!" she all but hissed. "Burnt plastic and animal excrement are not what I want to smell like, Angus."

She was so happy he found this situation hilarious. "And don't you dare think for a second pal that you're getting first dibs on the water. The first shower is mine!" she added as she opened the front door.

Mac held up his free hand in mock defeat. "Me, second shower, got it."

She felt her determination sway for just a moment, thanks to the smile on Mac's face. It was that smile he kept for her. Her heart clenched in her chest while that coil in her stomach twisted, sending tiny shockwaves right between her thighs. The glint she caught in his eyes had her wondering if he knew what she was thinking.

What if…

"Well, it’s about damn time," boomed Bozer's voice from inside the house, no doubt the kitchen.

Broken from her momentary haze, Riley drags herself inside, kicking off the pair of Converse she hadn't worn in almost a year. She feels Mac enter behind, pushing the door shut with his foot.

"Ya'll have to gather the ingredients and cook it ya damn selves?" Bozer asked. "A man could… oh hell man, what is that smell?"

Riley froze, eyes wide. Had she looked in the reflection of the hallway mirror, she would have seen Mac desperately trying to signal Bozer to shut up.

"Damn!" he exclaimed, fingers going to his nose, his eyes darting between his two housemates. "Smells like one of Mac's experiments gone wrong! Is nasty!"

Mortified, Riley turned on her heel. "Oh my god…."

"Riles…" started Mac, at least having the decency to sound somewhat apologetic.

"Don't you Riles me, Mr. I promise it's not that bad!" she said, cutting him off as she punched him in the arm, a menacing look in her eyes. "I told you!"

She moved with purpose towards her room, embarrassed to hell. "Next time you have the genius idea to use plastic bottles and fertilizer to blow shit up, you can crawl through the rubble and hack the damn mainframe yourself!" she exclaimed, her arms thrown in the air dramatically.

Riley heard Bozer's voice float down the hallway as she stepped over the threshold of her room just before she threw the door shut behind her.

"What the hell, man?"

+ + + +

"You think she's honestly angry with me?" Mac asked as he pushed his Kung Po Chicken around in the box, shifting uncomfortably on the barstool across from where Bozer stood, inhaling his food.

He'd just finished telling Bozer what went down on the mission and how Riley came to, ah, smell, well the way she did. In his defense, his options had been limited, and unfortunately, he'd had to use fertilizer as the main component of the bomb they'd needed for Riley to get through the concrete wall.

"You find yourself in a precarious situation here, my friend," said Bozer smirking for a brief moment before the smile dropped from his face. "You lied to the woman."

"I only lied," Mac half-whispered in return, glancing down the hallway. "Because I didn't want to make her uncomfortable!"

"Hmm, and now here we are, very uncomfortable," Bozer pointed out, another egg roll in his hand.

Mac hung his head with a groan.

"You got some selective amnesia thing going on from last week's mission where you hit your head?" probed Bozer wielding his chopsticks like swords.

Mac lifted his head, and his face scrunched up in confusion.

"What?"

"Need I remind you who that woman is?" questioned Bozer further in a stern whisper, pointing towards the hallway where Mac's eyes kept glancing back toward.

"Ah…Riley?" Mac was so confused.

"She's Artemis 37," Bozer whispered conspiratorially. "You know, the most infamous computer hacker in the whole damn world. I've watched the woman take down an entire government in three keystrokes on a damn mobile phone while running from a group of terrorists in a shower of bullets!" he finished, arms flailing around.

Mac remembered how hot she looked while doing it too.

"It's not that bad," he responds with a slight smirk, which quickly disappears. "Is it?"

Bozer raised an eyebrow and pointed to him again with his chopsticks. "We’re you thinking casket or cremation?”

He inwardly cringed as she looked back down the hall.

He was so dead.

They’d lived under the one roof now for almost a year, her break up with Aubrey being the catalyst for her moving in and then came quarantine. He found that he’d hated it for a while now when she wasn’t around, even if it was just a night out with the girls. They’d fallen into such an easy routine together, even with Bozer around. They’d become so domesticated and comfortable with each other that strangers at the grocery store had even mistaken them for a couple. He’d even fantasized about a future with her, marriage, and children. They just understood each other.

Ultimately, Riley Davis consumed his every thought. He was, without a doubt, in love with the woman.

“So um, before I die,” he began uncertainly. “In the kitchen here, a couple of nights ago, with Riley, there was a, I don’t know, moment….”

“What kinda moment,” asks Bozer, a small smile on his face.

A blood-curdling scream echoes through the house from down the hall before he can answer.

Without hesitation, Mac launches himself in the direction of Riley’s bedroom, Bozer, right behind him.

“Riley? Riley!” Mac yells, the panic in him rising as every possibility from Murdoc to Codex runs through his head as he reaches her bedroom and throws open the door.

“Oh my god!!! Mac!!!”

Riley’s terrified screams are coming from behind the closed bathroom door that Mac reaches in three long strides.

Without thinking of anything other than getting to Riley, he throws open the door and stops dead in his tracks; Bozer so close behind him, he runs into his frozen figure.

Through the clear glass of the shower, he can see a very naked Riley on the floor, pushing herself desperately into the corner, still screaming his name for help, her eyes wide and full of fear. The reason for said screaming and fear becomes quite apparent as he follows her gaze up. On the top of the shower screen, a Burmese Python is slithering its way into the shower with Riley. If he’d wager a guess, this python was somewhere between juvenile and adult. Not as big as it could be but not exactly little either and had probably come in through the partially open window next to the shower.

“Mac,” shrieks Riley and the fear he hears pierces through him. “I hate snakes; I hate snakes!”

“Riley’s naked,” deadpans Bozer from beside him.

Mac smacks his best friend on the head. “Focus!”

Shaking his head and doing his best to look anywhere but at Riley, Bozer starts chanting. “Focus…focus…there’s a snake….”

Bozer’s hands suddenly wrap themselves around Mac’s arm. “Oh my god, Mac, there’s a snake in the bathroom!” his voice now high pitched.

Rolling his eyes at Bozer, he turns his attention back to the terrified woman on the shower floor.

“Riles, I know you’re scared, but I need you to try and stay calm for me,” says Mac as he slowly steps closer towards the shower, eyes trained on the currently still python, its only movement its tongue dashing in and out.

“I can’t! I hate snakes. I hate snakes.”

She’s terrified.

“It’s gonna be okay, Riles.”

Throwing together a somewhat crazy plan, Mac orders Bozer to get him a smoke detector, the large empty blue plastic barrel from the garage, and the pitchfork they used for Halloween last year.

Tilting his head to the side Bozer looks at him like he’s just said the craziest thing in the world. “A smoke detector? What the hell you need a smoke detector for? We gonna smoke it out?”

“Go!”

“Okay, okay, I’m going!”

Mac turns his attention back to the python and Riley, his eyes darting between the two. He’s now standing at the end of the open shower, and unfortunately, timing being everything, the red-blooded male part of his brain is acutely aware that Riley is naked in front of him. Naked and wet. She’s still pushing herself into the wall, her hands on the shower floor, and he notices her breasts are essentially on full display, her long black hair wet from her shower and not covering much in its current position. A frequent fantasy of his involving him and Riley and a large open shower suddenly flashes in his mind.

Now is so not the time for that! He internally scolds himself.

“Okay, Riles, you with me?” he swallows, forcing himself to look at her face and only her face.

“Hate snakes…” she responds, eyes closed.

“Well,” he begins uncertainly, “the good thing about this species of snake is that it has poor eyesight…bad news is, she looks hungry…” he whispers to himself.

“What!” Riley's eyes snapping open and meeting his.

He might need to work on his whispering.

Realizing his profound mistake a little too late, he tries his hardest to calm her back down; however, the python dropping lower into the shower isn’t helping.

“Oh my god, Mac, get me out of here!”

“Anytime today, Bozer!” yells Mac towards the bathroom door, which gathers the immediate attention of the python. “Oh boy…”

Mac can hear Bozer reach Riley’s bedroom door, the sound of the pitchfork clanging into the walls and furniture.

Now for his plan to work, he was going to need Bozer to carefully climb up onto the vanity next to the shower screen, and without touching the snake, reach over into the shower recess and set off the smoke detector, the loud pitch of the alarm, in theory, should force the python away from Riley and the shower. Then, using the pitchfork, he’ll gather the snake and deposit it into the plastic barrel. Sounded easy enough; what could possibly go wrong?

“Okay, Boze, take the smoke detector and climb up on the vanity,” says Mac, slowly stepping back towards where Bozer has left the pitchfork.

“You want me to get closer to the snake!” he whisper-shrieks in disbelief.

Mac rolls his eyes again, holding the pitchfork out towards Bozer. “Well, it’s that, or you can stay down here and catch it?”

Eyes wide, Bozer points towards the vanity, taking a step. “Vanity, you said?”

Mac turns his attention back to Riley. “Almost ready, Riles….”

He could still hear her whispering that she hated snakes, over and over.

He glances to where Bozer stands atop the vanity, his arm stretching over the snake and into the shower recess.

“Easy Bozer…okay good, when I say go, set it off.”

“I got a bad feelin’ bout this, Mac,” whispered Bozer, his arms almost touching the python.

He wasn’t going to tell them he wasn’t 100% confident in this plan either. The only thing working in their favor here was that the python wasn’t poisonous.

Cracking his neck side to side, he told himself he had this.

“We’re going to be fine…all good.”

“You’re still a terrible liar, Mac,” replied Riley from her terrified position in the corner.

He can’t stop the small laugh that escapes him. “I’ll make it up to you, Riles, promise,” he smiles, their eyes meeting for the first time, hers telling him he was forgiven for earlier. “Now cover your ears; this is going to be loud.”

Pitchfork ready, barrel open, “Bozer, now!”

The piercing shrill of the smoke detector engulfs the bathroom, and almost immediately, the python turns away from the source of the sound, slithering quickly, moving down towards the floor. Very quickly.

It all happens so fast, and Mac barely has time to register. He manages to get his hand around the tail of the python as it slithers into Riley’s bedroom, only to have said snake turn back and fly through the air towards him instead. With mere centimeters to spare, Mac catches the python's head in both hands, the pitchfork clattering to the floor.

“Oh my god!” Riley screams while Bozer begins all but jumping up and down on the vanity.

“What do we do, what do we do!!”

The shrill of the smoke detector suddenly stops as it smashes to the shower floor.

Shit, this snake is strong!

“Boze, get down here! I need you to grab its tail!”

“Say what!” shrieks Bozer.

“Bozer, now!” demands Mac, gritting his teeth as he struggles to keep a hold of the python.

“I’ma gonna get eaten by a snake man, I can’t die like this…” replies Bozer as he gingerly and very unwillingly gets down from the vanity.

Mac is somewhere between finding Bozer’s spiral into hysterics hilarious and equally frustrating.

“No-one’s dying, Bozer,” he responds once more through gritted teeth. “Just pick up the tail and put it in the damn barrel!” His demands were getting louder as he continued to struggle with the python, especially as it seemed to be trying to coil its body around his legs.

“I hate you, man, I hate – oh my god,” screeched Bozer as his fingers touched the snake, the pitch of his voice reaching a whole new level.

“In the barrel, Boze,” said Mac, “In the barrel!”

Somehow between Bozer’s shrieks of hysteria and Mac’s apparent snake wrestling skills, the offending python was finally safely inside the barrel, lid firmly fastened on top.

Mac leaned over the barrel, catching his breath while Bozer collapsed on the corner of Riley’s bed.

Wrestling a snake in the bathroom was not how he saw the night playing out.

“Is it gone?” says a small voice from the shower, the water still running.

Riley.

Standing upright, Mac begins to roll the barrel towards Bozer. “Hey man, can you get this out of here? Take it to the front porch, maybe? Call animal control?”

“Yeah, yeah, man,” he nodded, jumping up from his spot on the bed, “Double-O Boze got this. I got this,” he gestured, full of typical Bozer fake confidence. Mac had to hold back a laugh when just as Bozer started tipping the barrel to roll, the snake thumped itself against the inside, causing him the shriek and jump back.

Holding in his laughter but unable to stop the smirk that appeared on his face, Mac spoke. “You got this right, Boze?”

Bozer smoothed his hands down his sweater, pulling it down firmly when his fingers reached the hem, glaring back at Mac. “Hell yeah, I got this.”

The sound of Riley calling his name made Mac move back towards the shower.

“You’re okay, Riles,” he answered, his eyes on hers. “Snake’s gone.”

He watched as she released a long breath, her tiny arms wrapped around her legs, pulled up towards her chest.

He’s not sure how long he stands there, rooted to the spot, his eyes not leaving hers.

“Um…Mac…” she says quietly.

“Yeah?”

She seems to hesitate a moment. “Kinda naked here….”

It hits him like a bucket of ice water, and his eyes go wide.

“Oh my god, Riley, I’m so sorry!” he says in a panic of embarrassment, turning his whole body away from her. “I’m so sorry.”

He hears the water shut off.

“I’ll just,” he stammers. “I’ll leave you-”

“No!” she interrupts him.

He freezes. Unsure what’s happening.

“Please…um…can you just…just pass me my towel,” she stammers, and he can’t help but notice the unfamiliar uncertainty lacing her usually confident and commanding voice.

He moves slowly, gathering her soft navy blue towel in his fingers. He’s trying his best to push out all of the images his brain is conjuring up of a naked Riley as he takes the three measured steps needed for him to return to his previous position at the opening to the shower. Out of his peripheral, he notices her stand and take a few hesitant steps towards him. He swallows. Keeping his eyes glued to the bathroom floor, he holds out the towel for Riley to take.

“Thanks,” she says before wrapping herself beneath it.

 “Anytime...” he answers, instantly cringing.

There are a few more moments of awkward silence before he speaks up.

“Do you um,” she begins nervously, and he could tell she was fiddling with her hands. “Do you think there’s anymore?”

Knowing it would be like torture to look at her right now, he does it anyway, a slight smirk on his lips.

Big mistake. Huge.

If he thought she was stunning before, well, hell, she was absolutely gorgeous now. He hadn’t noticed it before, in the middle of the whole snake in the bathroom fiasco, but he saw now that her face was completely free of her usual make-up; no eyeliner or eye shadow in place. If at all possible, her hair was an even darker shade of darkest black, heavy with the water from where she’d washed it. She was the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen.

A beautiful woman who was his best friend, but he so desperately wanted her to be more.

“I’m sure it was just one,” he answers, smiling softly. “But how about I check your room, just to be sure.”

“And close that window,” she gestures quickly behind her, making him laugh.

“And close that window,” he repeats, moving towards it to appease her and hopefully help calm her heightened nerves.

“Are you laughing at me, Angus MacGyver?” she asks with a tone that sounded much more like the confident Riley he knew.

Unfortunately, it only made him laugh more. “Wouldn’t dream of it.”

Closing the window and locking it, he turns back to face her. She’s still standing behind the glass wrapped only in the towel he’d held in his hands only minutes ago. His eyes meet hers, and he’s confused by what he sees. There’s gratitude and thanks, but then there’s something else. He’s seen it a few times over the past few months, even tonight when she’d opened the door to the house but then paused before going in.

The silence continues as they hold each other's gaze.

He’s not sure what to say or where to go from here, so he clears his throat.

“I’ll go and check your room,” he gestures, giving her a small smile.

“Okay,” she replies, her voice small and uncertain and, if he’s not mistaken, disappointed.

Nodding, he pulls his eyes from hers and leaves the bathroom, closing the door softly behind him. He briefly leans his head back, his eyes taking in the glow in the dark stars he’d put up on her ceiling one day in the pattern of her favorite constellation. He’d done it to make her happy, to see her smile again. He’d found her drunk and crying one night about how she wasn’t good enough. It had taken every fiber of his being to not leave her right then and there and track down both Aubrey and Billy as he listened to her sob about how she wasn’t enough.

“…I wasn’t…good enough for Billy…he needed another woman…and I was too much…too much for Aubrey…I’m not good enough to be loved…I’m not enough…nobody wants me….”

He closes his eyes. “I want you, Riles….”

+ + + +

Riley was tired. She was exhausted. All she wanted to do was sleep, but she was terrified of the nightmares that were undoubtedly going to haunt her tonight.

She was currently sitting on the couch, her rig on her lap, legs crossed beneath her, attempting to work on a new coding sequence for the Phoenix security upgrade. But it was useless. All she could think about was the damn snake which was still in the barrel on the front porch, the late hour meaning any pick-up by animal control would have to wait until morning.

She was also very aware of Mac, sitting on the other end of the couch watching TV. It was just the two of them, Bozer off having his shower.

She pretended not to notice how he kept glancing at her now and then. Something had shifted between them tonight in the bathroom. She’d seen it reflected in his eyes. And it had nothing to do with the fact that Mac had seen her naked.

So had Bozer.

She groaned out loud at the realization. Bozer was like a brother to her now, but she cringed as she thought back to when they’d first met.

“Riles, you okay?” asks Mac, his attention now entirely on her.

She closed her eyes and shook her head, scrunching up her face. “No.”

“I promise you,” he began, his voice reassuring. “There are no more snakes. You’re all good.”

Eyes closed, she smiled. “I know, it’s not, it’s not that.”

“Okay, so what’s-”

“Bozer saw me naked!” she blurts out as her hands rub at her face. “He saw me naked.”

Silence.

“I don’t think he saw. I mean, I stopped him,” he says awkwardly.

“Yeah, but he still saw…he’s like my brother Mac!”

He’s looking at her now, like really looking at her.

“So what does that make me?” His voice is so quiet she barely hears him.

His question catches her off guard. His eyes bore into hers, and the walls around her heart start to tumble down, her defenses failing and the words come out before she can stop them.

“The man I’m in-”

“Who wants a beer?” booms Bozer as he enters the kitchen.

It’s like reality has just slapped her in the face, and she tears her eyes from his.

What are you doing! You’ll ruin everything!

She can’t believe what almost just happened. She needs to get out of here. She needs to re-group, examine her thoughts, categorize the hell out of them and breathe.

“I’m gonna go…,” she says abruptly, unable to look her him, her feet finding the floor. “Tired after…everything.”

She can feel his eyes on her as she moves past him, giving him a wide birth so as not to accidentally touch him, any of him.

“Riles, wait…”

She doesn’t meet Bozer’s eyes either, instead walking straight past him.

“Night, guys,” she says in hopes of sounding normal but knowing she’s failed terribly.

It’s almost like déjà vu as she nears her room, Bozer’s voice traveling down the hallway.

“What the hell did you do this time?”

+ + + +

He’s been tossing and turning for the past two hours, completely unable to sleep.

The clock on the bedside table taunts him as it blinks.

1:07

He’s about to give up when his ears register soft footsteps outside his bedroom door. He waits, hand slowly reaching towards the baseball bat he keeps beside the bed. His room tonight, thanks to the full moon basking in the night sky, isn’t pitch black. So when his door slowly creaks open, he’s surprised to see Riley. Lowering his hand slowly, he watches intently as she quietly closes his door before turning and taking small, hesitant steps towards his bed.

She stops short of his bed, and he’s not sure if she’s released yet that he’s awake and staring back at her, a small smile on his face as he notices she’s wearing her favorite skull tank top and some barely-there shorts, her hair pulled up high on her head in that messy but oh so appealing way she does it.

She sniffles lightly, wiping at her eyes before she moves to head back the door.

He realizes she’s crying, and it’s pulling at his heart in a way seeing someone cry before never has.

“Riles?” he says softly into the darkness, sitting upright.

She gasps. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean,” she stumbles. “I shouldn’t have come, Mac. I’m sorry….”

He’s on his feet instantly. “Hey no, Riles, stop…please.”

She turns as he approaches her. “Your crying…what’s wrong?”

She lets out an unsteady breath. “I had a nightmare…snakes….” she shrugs.

He reaches out to gently pull her into a hug if she’ll let him.

“Riles, you’re shaking,” he exclaims, pulling her entirely up against his body, this intense need to protect her filling him.

“I really hate snakes…” she cries as she grabs a fistful of his MIT shirt.

+ + + +

She bolts upright, gasping for air as she sobs.

Strong arms wrap around her from behind. “Hey, hey, Riles, you’re okay. It’s just a nightmare. I’m right here….”

His voice is so soothing, and she loves how it wraps around her, calming her.

He tells her to take deep breaths, and her heart flutters as he does it with her, in and out. After what feels like an eternity, she’s finally breathing normally again, and she remembers that she’s here in Mac’s room. In his bed. With him.

She feels him gently pull her back down, and she rolls onto her side, bringing them both face to face.

His calloused fingers reach out and push a stray piece of hair back behind her ear.

“You okay?” he asks softly.

Not trusting her voice, she gives him a small smile and nods her head once, her hands coming up to snuggle beneath the pillow, his pillow.

“Wanna talk about it?”

She shakes her head.

He keeps stroking her hair, and she can’t help but think about how intimate it is. He’s so close, and they’re laying in his bed together, only roughly a small ruler’s length apart. Every so often, their eyes meet, and Riley feels like she could drown. He doesn’t say anything, and either does she. He keeps up his ministrations on her hair, and they gaze at each other, and it strangely feels like the most natural thing in the world. She loses track of how long they stay like this. It just feels so right, and even though part of her knows that she’s setting herself up for heartbreak come morning, at this moment, right now, she can’t bring herself to care.

Just as her eyes start to get heavy, she hears him speak.

“Can I ask you something?”

“Mmm-hmm…” she murmurs sleepily.

He doesn’t take his eyes off of hers.

“Earlier, tonight on the couch,” he begins softly while she tenses. “You didn’t finish answering me. You ran away. Why?”

She closes her eyes, “Mac, please…don’t.”

But he doesn’t stop.

“I think…I think you ran because you’re scared.”

She opens her eyes, her vision blurry from the tears threatening to spill.

“And the reason I know this,” he adds. “Is because I feel exactly the same way.”

Riley gasps, and she feels her heart start to beat faster.

“I’m scared that when I’m finished telling you this, you’re going to get up out of this bed, and we’ll never be the same again,” he admits with nothing but honesty in his eyes.

She feels a lone tear drip down her cheek.

“I know it’s taken me way too long to tell you this, but god help me, Riley Davis,” he sighs. “I need you to know you’re it for me…and I love you….”

His hand is still in her hair as the tears fall and her heart swells, and she can feel those pieces of armor crumble and disappear.

“You love me?” her voice so small and vulnerable.

His hand comes down to cup her face, wiping at the tears still spilling. “Fiercely…You mean the world to me, Riles….”

He watches her as she processes everything he’s just said, her eyes never leaving his. He doesn’t push her; he’s patient.

After what feels like an eternity of processing, even for her, she speaks.

 “Angus MacGyver,” she says softly. “I need you to know that I love you too.”

Her heart explodes as his lips touch hers for the first time, and it feels like coming home. She’s completely overwhelmed, and the significance of this moment sweeps around her. She’s wanted this for so long, and even before the negative thoughts threatening to ruin this moment can finish manifesting in the back of her mind, he pulls back, and she’s lost in the honesty of those blue orbs.

“I’m not going anywhere, Riles,” he whispers. “I’m yours, for as long as you’ll have me.”

Putting everything on the line and baring her soul just as he had, she kissed him again. “How does forever sound?”

She’s rewarded with that smile that melts her, that warms her. It’s a smile that’s only for her. It’s only ever been for her.

“Forever sounds pretty damn good to me.”

They lose themselves in a soul-baring kiss. Every nerve ending feels like it’s sparking, Riley’s skin coming alight as his hands simultaneously cradle her head and roll them so that she’s partially beneath him, one of his hands grazing over her exposed lower back.

She can’t stop the gasp that leaves her lips. God, he’s barely even touched her.

She’s never done this before, never slept with a man on the first date. But this wasn’t just a random date, this was Mac, and he had her heart, and somewhere deep down, she knew he always had. And she had his.

He pulls back. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have…we don’t-”

She brings her fingers to his lips, shaking her head gently as another tear spills down her cheek. “Sssshhh,” she whispers as her other hand finds the back of his head, her fingers lacing through his soft blonde hair. “Please…”

Their eyes are locked together, and even though she’s just asked him to love her more intimately than she’s ever asked a man to before, she can still see in his eyes that he’s asking her permission.

At this moment, she’s never felt so loved, so protected.

She doesn’t say anything, not trusting her voice as a barrage of emotions rushes through her, and fresh tears fill her eyes. She wants him. She needs him.

She relaces her fingers in his hair and nods her head reassuringly, hoping that everything she’s feeling, he can see in her eyes.

“I love you, Riles,” he whispers before he claims her mouth once more.

+ + + +

Mac slowly comes around, the early morning light just beginning to filter through the gaps in the blinds. A steady smile is spreading across his face as the smell of vanilla swarms around him, and he instinctively pulls its source closer, propping his head up with another pillow.

The vision in front of him is something he’ll commit to memory, and the feeling it brings to his heart is almost overwhelming.

The woman wrapped in his arms was without a doubt the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen. Her hair spread out behind her, sticking out here and there, her face make-up free, eyes closed and lips parted ever so slightly, as she slept.

Riley Davis was one hell of a woman, and somehow, she wanted him just as much as he wanted her.

And by god, could this woman kiss.

Mac smiled happily again, brushing a strand of hair back from her face, as the memory of how she had come apart in his arms, under his touch only hours before filtered through.

…I love you, Riles, he says before his mouth finds hers once more.

Every touch of her lips, the sweep of her tongue against his, ignites a slow-burning fire within him.

The way her eyes don’t leave his as she lifts her arms above her head and innocently bites her lip, a silent invitation to rid her of her tank top.

Her skin is so soft beneath his fingertips as he slowly explores every inch of her body. She’s so responsive to his touch.

He watches enthralled as her body arches up to meet his mouth as he kisses his way down her neck to her sternum before taking a nipple in his mouth.

She gasps as his tongue makes contact with her sex, the sound going straight to his groin.

The way she whispers, yes, as he slips a finger, then another inside of her, her hips moving against his dual assault.

He hisses as she takes him in her hand and runs her tongue from the base to the head of his cock, before swallowing him whole.

He sits up, pulling her to him, their mouths tangling once more as she moves to straddle him.

His eyes don’t leave hers as she lifts herself before slowly sinking herself back down, taking all of him inside of her, inch by agonizing inch.

The soft sounds she makes, the way her mouth drops into an O as he follows her sinful hip rotation with a deep thrust upwards as she sits in his lap.

The way she runs her fingers through his hair, pulling at it as he kisses her senseless, her legs wrapping around his waist, taking him deeper as he drives into her.

They spend hours losing themselves in each other, and then she’s coming, her head thrown back, crying out his name as he empties himself inside of her….

Mac’s brought back to the present as Riley begins to stir, her leg brushing up against his already semi-hard cock.

He forces himself to calm down as he watches her, unable to take his eyes off of her.

“Didn’t anyone ever tell you it’s rude to stare…”

“I can’t help it,” he says, smiling down at her. “You’re laying in my bed, naked,” he whispers the last part, cheekily lifting the sheet.

His smile grows as he watches a slight blush cover her cheeks before she buries her face in his chest, her face covered by her hair.

“Why, Miss Davis, are you blushing?”

He feels her lightly pinch him.

“Okay, okay,” he surrenders.

He smoothes her hair out of the way, caressing her head, encouraging her to look at him.

“Look at me…” he whispers.

He watches as she slowly turns to face him, and god help him; she’s biting her lip again.

And that does things to him, and he knows that she knows.

“Last night,” he begins lacing and unlacing his fingers in hers, over and over, relishing the moment. “Last night was amazing, and I want, no, I need to tell you that before that overactive imagination of yours makes you think I feel differently.”

The look in her eyes is all the confirmation he needs to know he’s on the money.

“I meant every word, Riles. I love you,” he says, wrapping her small hand in his and bringing it to his lips. “You’re my whole world and I’m not going anywhere.”

She rewards him with a soft smile that makes her hazel eyes sparkle before she slowly maneuvers her way further up his body. He moans softly as he feels Riley’s nails graze down across his stomach.

She smiles again before her lips touch his ever so gently, and it sends a thrill directly south. “I think I might need a…hands-on demonstration,” she counters seductively.

Fuck…

“Hmm…hands-on you say?” he answers as one hand finds purchase on her ass, the other grasping her thigh and pulling her closer to him, her sex grazing up against him, and it’s like a lightning bolt of pleasure to his groin as he realizes how wet she already is.

“Definitely…” is all she says before their lips come together in an earth-shattering kiss.

His brain faintly registers the opening of his bedroom door, but he’s far too distracted by the naked woman in his arms to pay particular attention.

“Yo, Mac, you never gonna believe what-”

He feels Riley tense up in his arms before she buries herself further into his embrace, while his eyes are trained on Bozer and the look of utter disbelief plastered across his face.

He’s also very aware that the sheet is precariously low and only just covering Riley’s ass and his hips as Bozer’s eyes dart back and forth from his face to their entwined and naked bodies. He says nothing.

“Hey…Boze,” he says somewhere between humored and awkward, waving his free hand half-heartedly.

“Mac,” he whispers, still clearly in a state of disbelief and confusion. “Riley’s in bed with you…and she’s naked.”

He felt Riley laugh against him but keep her face buried in his neck.

“Yeah,” says Mac. “I kinda noticed that….”

“And you naked too!” he exclaims.  

Mac tries his hardest to hold back his laughter. “Mmm-hmm…”

The undeniable lightbulb moment finally hits. “Oh my god, you too are…were….”

“Having sex?” declares Riley loudly, her voice laced with humor as she lifts herself enough to turn her attention towards their very stunned best friend.

Mac swallows down another laugh as he watches Bozer pale somewhat. “Uh-huh…”

There’s a moment or two of hilariously awkward silence as Bozer continues to stare back and forth between himself and Riley.

“Sooo Bozer,” begins Riley shifting her body ever so slightly. “I’d really like my orgasm now. You think you can, come back later….”

This time Mac can’t help it, the laughter leaving his lips as Bozer’s face morphs from disbelief to shock, embarrassment, to horror, back to disbelief as he stumbles over his own feet and he rushes back towards the door. His hand on the handle, he looks back at them on the bed one more time. “Having sex?” slips from his mouth, but it’s more of a question to himself. They can still hear him as he closes the door, and they both laugh wholeheartedly.

It’s not long before their lips are crashing against each other once more.

“Where were we?” she asks, her voice pure seduction as she grinds herself against him, amplifying the effect her voice has on his cock.

He flips them suddenly, earning a slight squeal from the exquisitely beautiful and naked woman beneath him, followed by a long moan as he pushes himself inside her, filling her to the hilt.

“I believe Miss Davis, I owe you an orgasm.”

She bites her lip again, and he thrusts his hips almost involuntarily.

“Well, I guess you better get to work then, Mr. MacGyver…” she whispers, her voice sinfully wicked as she drags her nails down his chest.

And get to work he does, teasing her, filling her until neither of them can think straight anymore, and this time when she comes, she’s not quiet, screaming his name as she explodes around him.

They lay there, forehead against forehead, both breathing heavily.

“That’s it, get your asses up!” yells Bozer from somewhere nearby in the house. “We goin’ to Home Depot…we gonna soundproof these damn walls!”

And then they’re laughing, laughing uncontrollably, and neither of them has ever felt happier.