“Pringles,” he said matter-of-factly. “You’re being weird. The only reason you haven’t locked me out is because my foot is in the way.”
She glanced down at his foot, and sure enough, the toe of his hiking boot barely broke the threshold barrier, keeping her from being able to shut the door completely. She released the pressure she’d placed on the doorknob, instantly giving way to his foot, and opened the door wide.
“Fine. You want to come in and talk?”
She turned her back to him and walked a few feet into the room, letting him follow.Shit, now what?Her thumbs tapped together with her hands folded in front of her waist as she debated what to say.
Rip off the Band-Aid.
Cut him loose.
Get your head back in the game.
The door clicked behind her, and she spun around, blurting out, “I think we need to cool the jets,” at the same time he said, “I don’t think we should take things any further between us.”
A pit formed in Miri’s stomach. He wasn’t supposed to reject her. She was supposed to be rejectinghim. Thoughrejectionwasn’t the right term. Either way, however, it didn’t matter who rejected who. For the first time in a long time, she’d met a guy who’d seemed to like her as much as she liked him. She’d sure read that situation wrong.
And it fucking sucked.
“Well, okay then,” he said, standing a few feet inside the door. “Seems we’re on the same page.”
She bit her bottom lip. It wasn’t that shewantedto cry. She’d known the guy for two days, for fuck’s sake. But being on thesame page meant closing the door on the possibility. After spending the last decade believing love was animpossibility, Miri couldn’t help but be disappointed. Hurt.
But it didn’t matter. This was the right decision—and it seemed it wasn’t her decision, anyway. So she forced the next words to come out of her mouth with as much confidence as she could muster. “Oh, good. I was worried things were going to be awkward between us.”
“Riiiight,” he said, unconvinced. “Because thingstotallywon’t be awkward now.”
Miri scrunched her face and shook her head. “Nope. Not at all. It was just a kiss.”
“Or twenty. But, hey, who’s counting?”
“Twenty?” she said skeptically, cocking her head to the side. “That’s a bit of an exaggeration, don’t you think?”
“Okay, but there were a lot,” he said with a sweet smile that gave her hope that maybe thingswouldn’tbe awkward.
So she played up the frivolity. They were just people, after all. Two people who’d kissed in the heat of the moment. And a dozen more times later that evening. And the next morning. It was no big deal when she really thought about it. Not like she hadn’t kissed a guy before.
Even if ithadbeen a while.
“It’s fine. We were caught up in the excitement,” Miri said, waving her hands all footloose and fancy-free. “With Hunter and Kevin, and the whole boat thing, and then with the knife…it just got our danger-boning hormones going, that’s all, and—”
Rafa burst out with a laugh. “I’m sorry, our what?”
Oh, God. Had she really said that out loud?
Just play it off. Don’t make things awkward.
“Danger boning. I mean, it’s a common action and horror movie phenomenon.” He looked at her like he had absolutely no idea what she was referring to, so, naturally, she needed to explain even though he technically didn’t ask. “You know, like in a movie when there’s a couple in serious danger, like they’re-about-to-get-killedlevel of danger, yet somehow they still have time to get it on even though it defies all common sense?”
“I didn’t realize there was a term for it,” he said, clearly amused.
“Oh, absolutely,” she continued even though her brain screamed to stop talking. “Like, oooh, the movieScream?Classicdanger-boning scene in that one.” He stared at her blankly. “Oh, I suppose you probably don’t have time to watch movies.”
He snickered. “I watch movies, Pringles.”
“Oh. I guess I figured maybe with all the traveling and assignments…” She trailed off, fearing she’d lost him with her tangent. “Anyway, so, yeah, that’s all this was. We got caught in the thrill of the danger. At least we stopped it before things went any further. I mean, could you evenimaginewhat would have happened if we hadn’t stopped ourselves, or if Felix and Logan hadn’t been there?”
An uncomfortable laugh escaped her lips right when another knock rapped against the door, saving her from continued mortification. Rafa turned to face the door as Miri called out, “It’s open.”
