“Well,” Rory said, “my sister and your best friend isfine. Everything’s fine. She hasn’t lost her mind, and she doesn’t look like her soul’s been ripped from her body. Why would you suggest such a thing?”
“Okay…” Nash said, dragging the word out as he took Nat’s bags from her.
“Had to be Rory, didn’t it?” Nat pinned Nash with a glare.
“Without a doubt,” he said without pause.
Rory rolled her eyes. “I can see you’re bein’ just as stubborn as usual, and I’m too exhausted to try to drag it out of you tonight. I’ve gotta be at the Wheelers’ at six a.m. tomorrow, so I’m goin’ to bed. The girls are at their daddy’s, so you can stay in Ava’s room.”
“I’ll be there in a minute, princess,” Nash murmured and swatted Rory’s ass as she walked by.
Nat had never had playful, intimate touches like those with anyone. Not until Asher, anyway. She squeezed her eyes shut, remembering when he’d hauled her over his shoulder and slapped her ass just like that. Had given her adventure right there in Havenbrook because he’d known she needed it.
She opened her eyes to find Nash staring at her, his arms crossed and face blank.
He waited until a door snicked shut down the hallway, and then he raised an eyebrow. “You don’t think you fooled anyone with this, do you?”
“Fooled anyone with what?”
“I can count on one hand the number of times I’ve seen you cry, Nat. In my whole life. So you wanna try that again?”
“Like I was tellin’ Rory, these arehappytears. Obviously. I’m thrilled with this! So thrilled, in fact, I thought I’d head out to Ireland a little early for my shoot comin’ up.”
“Right,” he said, nodding, his eyes scrutinizing in a way that made her shift uncomfortably on her feet. “You might be able to get this past Rory because y’all have only started gettin’ closer, but you’re not gettin’ it by me. I know you, and I know him. And you’re both idiots.”
“And you’re the idiot who’s friends with us both.”
“You can deflect all you want, but I’ve got you two figured out.”
“Oh, please, enlighten me.”
“You love denying, and he’d find a way to give you the moon if that’s what you said you wanted. So, I’ve just gotta know, how far are you gonna ride out this lie you’re both tellin’ yourselves?”
The only lie she’d told herself had been that she could actually do this. That there’d been a place for her here in this town with Asher. Thinking that somehow she could go from being the girl who could never commit to anyone or anything, to being the one lucky enough to have that love reciprocated when she finally found the one.
“Look, dude, I have no idea what you’re talkin’ about. But you mind drivin’ me to the airport in the mornin’?”
He stared her down, but she refused to blink. Refused to even breathe, for fear that one sudden move would send her tears falling all over again. “For the flight that I bet hasn’t been changed at all?”
“You don’t know me.”
“Nattie, the only person who knows you better is the one you’re runnin’ from.”
She threw up her hands in exasperation. “He said I was free to go, Nash, so that’s what I’m doin’. Now, can you drive me to the airport so I can get out of this godforsaken place early or not?”
He pulled her into his chest, pressing a kiss to the top of her head. One would think that it’d feel the same, considering both he and Asher were her best friends and had been nearly the same amount of time. But it didn’t. There was no electricity here, no warmth seeping into her bones where he held her tight. Comfort, yes, but not need. “For the record, I think this is your dumbest idea. And we both know exactly how long that list is.”
“Are you gonna drop me off or not?”
He blew out a long-suffering sigh. “Yeah, Nattie. I got you.”
“Great, thanks.”
Perfect, in fact. While she didn’t love that she was leaving, she couldn’t say she wasn’t looking forward to boarding her first plane in a month. Traveling the world had always been a salve for her. Been how she escaped her life…her history…all the baggage she came with.
Hoped it would be how, too, she escaped this pain.
Asher never thought he’d miss sharing a bed with someone. Especially when that someone was Nat, who hogged the bedandthe covers, and used his legs as her toes’ personal warming station. But he couldn’t deny it was true.
