Cole continues his walk; his annoying long strides keep pace with my slight jog. “I had my reasons.”
I turn to face him. Now walking backwards—which isn’t desperate looking at all. “And those were?”
He grips my shoulders and shifts me away from tripping over a large package sitting at our neighbor’s doorstep. “Maybe I wanted to see the ocean.” He nods behind me. “You’re not planning on continuing this down the stairs, are you? I’d rather you not die when I’m the only witness.”
I turn, taking the steps down to the first floor where his apartment is. “Would have been a good opportunity for you to push me down them,” I say.
“Believe it or not, Natalie, I’d rather you didn’t die at all.”
“Weird, here I was daydreaming about pushing you into the ocean so you’d get hypothermia. Honestly, maybe youshouldcome to Maine with me.”
We stop in front of his door. The entryway to the complex is wedged open and a freezing breeze hits my cheeks, blowing my hair in front of my face and shielding my mud-hued eyes and dense patches of freckles.
His eyes fall on a few wisps of my hair. His usual arrogant facade softens, and he reaches out like a man possessed, tucking my flyaways away from my face. “Well, then I’d have to pull you in. If I jump, you jump, right? My murderous little baby.” His fingers graze the soft skin behind my ear.
A shiver grips my spine while a low heat crackles in the pit of my stomach.
I can’t explain it. It’s like the anticipatory, eerily calm, charged energy right before snow falls, and it pulls between us.
He continues to draw slow circles behind my ear.
My chest rises and falls.
Rises and falls.
Faster.
Shorter.
What the hell is he doing to me?
I slap his hand down and his soft, placid smile morphs into the wry, smug-ass grin I’m used to.
“I’ll pass. It’d be a waste for both of us to die of hypothermia,” I say.
“I didn’t know someone as frigid as you could get hypothermia. But I guess that’s why you have these, right?” His fingers graze over my goosebumps on my skin and his touch elicits the small bumps to double. He knows, he has to know, that he’s getting a bodily reaction out of me, and I hate it.
Hastily, I pull down the sleeves of my sweater, hiding the evidence from him. “Caden must have been high if he thought this could work.”
“He probably was. Thankfully, you don’t have to do anything you don’t want to.” Cole nods, pulling out his keys and saluting me. “You probably would have fallen in love with me anyway.”
I scoff. “In your dreams.”
He looks heavenly, that same dopey look he flashed at me earlier, confirming my mocking suspicions. “Yes, if only.”
“Oh, good. There you two are.” A cheerful Maine accent bellows down the hall. “Natalie, tell that boy of yours to hurry up, we’re running late for our reservations and dying to meet him.”
“So…good luck with that.” Cole grimaces.
“Fucks sake.” I groan. In all the chaos, I’d forgotten who was waiting for me in the parking lot. Maybe if she hadn’t seen Cole, I could have played something off, bought myself time, but now she’s walking down the long hallway of our converted mill building and I don’t have time to improvise anything.
“Just say the words and I’m yours,” Cole whispers, a dare in his delivery.
He’s probably hoping this is how it would end. I’d say no, and he could walk away as the benevolent brother who tried to help a poor girl out without having to actually do anything.
No way am I letting him out of this that easily. If Cole wants to play this game of chicken with me—no, don’t mention those empty-eyed creatures—then he’s going to be the one who cracks first, not me.
“You sure?” I ask, raising a brow. “I’d expect you to be the head-over-heels, adoring boyfriend Caden agreed to be. Can you even pull that off without a heart?”
