“Please, tell me the truth.” This friendship we have is a strange one, but I know he has a ton of things running through his head right now—I can see them dancing around in the large open space he has between his ears, and I need to know all of them.
“You want the truth?” he asks, rubbing the back of his neck.
Maybe, but only if the truth is that I look pretty. But, instead of saying that, I close my eyes and say, “The God’s honest truth.”
Instantly I feel the warmth of his body as it gets closer to mine. It tingles and zaps like electric sparks down the front of me. I breathe in quick when the sound of his voice whispers softly against my ear, “You look good enough to eat.”
He hesitates. It feels like a breeze as he shifts around me to press his lips against my other ear. “Smooth enough to lick.” Blood boils in my veins. It feels like I’ve been ignited on fire. I can’t even breathe.
“Bad enough to slide those shiny pants down your ass for another spanking.”
He’s at my neck now. His lips moving hot against it but not close enough to actually touch. “You want to hear how you look so fucking good and I want you so fucking bad? I can still hear you coming in my head.” His hands flutter like wind up to my waist, but they never land, never make contact. “You want to hear how I remember what it’s like inside you, how I think about it all the time? If you were mine, I’d make sure I ruined you for all other men. And you’d never think about that stupid dickhead and that baseball kiss again.”
I open my eyes and he backs away with a crooked smile on his lips. He reaches out and presses the down button and the elevator starts to descend. I don’t know if he’s serious. I’m not sure if he’s teasing me, but my body is hot and sweaty and the elevator is spinning around me. I can’t stop watching his mouth. I want it to move. I want to hear more.
But he doesn’t say anything else.
My voice cracks when I talk. “Hey,you look prettywould have been just fine, too.”
He stares at me and his smile slowly fades. “Yeah, Nash, I could have said that, but you asked for the God’s honest truth.”
The elevator doors open and Dex steps out into the lobby and leaves me standing, breathless, inside.
Chapter 24
I’m the last one from work to arrive at Brothers Grimm. I gave myself a time out after Dex left me in the lobby of our office and sat in one of the bathrooms until my breathing steadied and I didn’t feel so queasy. I closed my eyes until I pushed Dex Vanstone out of my mind. His words should not matter to me. He’s not my Mr. Perfect, Nate Cross is.
A warm flood of relief overtakes me as soon as I spot Nate sitting at the bar. He’s propped up on a stool, leaning an arm over the bar top. The collar of his shirt sticks up and its hem is no longer tucked into his pants. My fingers itch with the need to straighten his clothes and touch his skin, to run my finger along the angles of his jaw and slide my hands across his chest to unwrinkle his shirt. Of course, I won’t, though—that would be way too awkward.
I wait by the entrance, unsure what to do. It looks like he’s having an intense conversation with Heath and someone else from the art department whose name slips my mind. As they talk, they slug back a shot and chase it down with beer. Heath laughs at something that’s said and Nate attempts to smile but fails.
Nate holds up his hand to get the bartender’s attention and orders another round. I watch, still standing at the door by myself.
I tuck a strand of hair behind my ear and try to come up with a plan of what to say when I walk up to him. As I’m thinking, my eyes travel around the room. The place is mostly filled with everyone I work with. There are a few unfamiliar faces but the majority of clientele here tonight are writers and designers from the magazine.
I pull out my phone and snap a few quick images. I post all over social media and caption the pictures with:Post work booze up and drinking enough to make your colleagues more tolerable. #beergoggles. I have to remember that for my next pitch, because it sounds like a really awesome article to write. I go back and tag Gail in all the posts.
Nate finally glances over in my direction and I wave a frantic hand at him and start rushing over.
He juts his chin up to me in some weird sort of acknowledgement and continues in his conversation with the people around him.
“Hey,” I say when I reach them. “Sorry, I just got out of the office. What’s going on?”
Nate’s eyes glaze over.
“Nate’s nursing some heartbreak,” Heath says, bending close to my ear to whisper to me. “He and Julia had a fight after her accident.”
They had a fight? She was screwing a prince behind his back, that’s a hell of a lot more than a fight.
I try to catch Nate’s attention but he just looks away.
Heath shrugs. “Hey, you know, accidents bring the worst out in people sometimes. They make you say things because you’re in shock or scared.” He leans his elbows back on the bar. “I’m sure everything will be fine in a few days.”
Nate nods in Heath’s direction but he really isn’t listening. He motions again for the bartender to bring him another shot and another beer.
He doesn’t ask if anyone else wants anything.
He doesn’t even ask me if I would like anything.
