The Single Matchmaker

by J.J. Arias

“You look gorgeous,” Reagan confessed as she strode toward her, unable to stop herself from kissing her red lips. The best she could do was use a light touch to minimize any smudging. Libby didn’t protest; instead she wrapped her arms around her neck and pulled her in closer. “You look so hot,” she whispered before kissing her much more deeply.

Libby grinned and kissed her again. “Maybe we can be late next year,” she said before biting the inside of her cheek, making Reagan’s entire body pulse with desire.

“You do not have to play matchmaker here,” Reagan said as they used her mirrored closet door to rearrange themselves and reapply lipstick. Libby wished there was a quicker way to cool her overheated skin. She didn’t understand the animalistic urges that manifested every time they kissed, but she hated the embarrassment that came after. “Are you kidding? And miss the opportunity to look competent in front of your family? I’m happy to answer questions all night,” she responded, without adding that it would keep her from turning into a cat in heat again. Reagan cocked her head to the side and held Libby’s face in her hands. “You don’t have to jump through hoops, Lib. They already like you because I like you. I promise. As long as you don’t come out as a communist, you’re in.” Libby swallowed the anxiety twisting into a ball in her throat. “It can’t be that easy. Nothing is that simple.” “I promise it is,” she said with such ease that Libby nearly believed her.

“This is the best date I’ve ever been on,” Libby confessed as she pressed her cheek against Reagan’s. As the sun dipped beyond the horizon and a breeze cooled her overheated skin, Libby wished they could stay with her family all night.

As she showed off her much more natural dancing abilities, Libby finally caught sight of someone staring. Reagan’s parents had stopped dancing to watch them. Instead of offense, her mother’s face was dressed up in something more akin to pride.

Reagan held her closer. “You really haven’t dated a woman before.” She smirked. “By now I should know the names of all your exes, why you broke up, know your credit score and most of your childhood traumas, and have a key to your house. A little business stuff isn’t going to scare me away.”

“Relationships are chaos and risk by definition. I’m sure you know that well. We can never truly know another person’s thoughts and intentions with a hundred percent certainty. When we hand over our heart and say please don’t break it, we do it with no guarantee that the person we’ve entrusted it to won’t be negligent or cruel or grow bored. Anything that comes with such a loss of control is inherently terrifying. Not to mention it’s hard to hand it over once it’s been mistreated.”

Reagan's words cut straight through Libby's chest bone and struck her heart like a well-aimed arrow. "But these are for a bunch of months. Even before we kissed." Reagan smiled, flashing her irresistible dimples. "What can I say? You hooked me pretty early on. My feelings for you have been real for . . .” She glanced at the checks in Libby’s hand. “For however long that is.” Lunging forward, Libby wrapped her arms around Reagan’s neck and kissed her. Keeping her mouth occupied was the only way to stop herself from blurting out that she loved her.

“Ten ways not to be clingy when you’re kind of lovesick and all you want to do is be with the target of your affection even if it means forgoing all other responsibilities and ending up living under a bridge.” The title would be refined later, but getting her feelings out moved the ache in her chest to a flutter in her stomach.

When Taylor was gone, Libby pulled up her phone. Ignoring other messages and a missed call from her grandmother, she returned to their earlier exchange. After reading her texts a few times, she pulled up the picture of her in bed and stared at it. Her heart raced. “When you know, you know,” she muttered. Ah, shit.

Reagan grinned before setting her cup down on her cart full of bone-white ceramics and wrapped her arms around her waist. “What did I do to get so lucky, huh?” Libby wiggled her eyebrows before planting a chaste kiss on the corner of her mouth. “You haven’t even gotten lucky yet.” Reagan squeezed her tighter. “I’m not sure I can handle any more luck,” she whispered against the shell of her ear. Running her fingers over the soft, newly buzzed hair at the base of her neck, Libby grinned. “Oh, come on. I’m sure you can handle me.” “Why don’t we go upstairs, and you can luck me as much as you want?”

“What was that for?” Reagan asked as she pulled the covers over their entangled bodies. “Because I love you,” she replied nestling into her chest and loving the light perspiration coating her cheek. “And now I want to take a nap.” Reagan chuckled, her voice still hoarse from sleep. “But we just woke up.” “Mm hmm, and now I’m sleepy again. When I wake up, I’d like to do that again, thank you,” she said, her relaxed body growing heavy.

horrendous, someone would’ve called me, right? And all my friends had to say was that we owe them dinner and the real story of our love affair. And my parents thought it would make a great Hallmark movie.” Reagan’s tone was optimistic, but it wasn’t enough to soothe her fears. “Yeah, but your friends and family are kind people.

You know…I really wish we got to see more from Reagan’s perspective in this. She has only had a handful of chapters, whereas Libby has been the dominant focus.

Hooking her arms around Reagan’s neck, Libby stared into her gleaming brown eyes. “I can’t believe I got so lucky,” she said as she swayed to the music. “I’m the lucky one,” Reagan replied, taking her by the hand and giving her a little twirl before holding her close again. Libby wanted to stay in that moment, forever surrounded by the love of all the people they cared about. In her heart she vowed never to take a single day spent next to Reagan for granted.