There’s no quick comeback from my end on this one, and I think that’s when she realizes she’s hit the nail right on the head. Vivienne is stubborn. I know with every bone in my body she would follow through with it, but I’m choosing to believe otherwise.
“I’m giving you one last chance to get up here, Nate.”
My heart quickens at the thought of sharing a bed with her. It’ll end badly—that much I know—but I can’t stop the words from leaving my mouth when I hear the rustling of bedsheets.
“Don’t move.”
Vivienne stops getting out of bed, lying back down with a satisfied smile as I get off the floor and make my way over to her.
CHAPTER 18
VIVIENNE
The bed dips beside me, and my breath hitches at the incoming jolt of heat. Not only from the mere proximity of Nate—who decides it’s best to stay on the absolute edge of the bed—but from pure desire.Want.A feeling I know I shouldn’t indulge in.
But now that I know this pull isn’t one-sided—that the attraction isn’t all in my mind—I can’t help but wonder what it would be like to cave.
Just once.
I saw the way he was looking at me after the shower. I heard my name on his tongue when he was in there. And God was I close to following a similar fate before he walked in.
I am ashamed.
Highly ashamed that I even consider touching myself that way, but maybe that’s what we both need—to get whatever this is out of our system and move on with our arrangement like nothing ever happened.
Something about the darkness in this room makes me feel safe enough to voice those thoughts—to reveal even my deepestsecrets—but the second my mouth perks up, I shut it down, too afraid to mess things up more than they already are.
Plus, Nate could very well be asleep now that he’s in the comfort of a bed, and I wouldn’t want to disturb that.
I try to speak again, but the words die on my tongue. It’s best I keep my mouth shut.
“There’s something on your mind,” Nate voices gently from his side of the bed. It comes across as a statement, not a question, as if he already knows exactly what I’m thinking.
I turn to see his back still facing me.
“If you move any farther, you might fall off,” I tease, trying to break the tension.
Nate doesn’t respond with words, only the slow shift of his body until he’s lying on his back. Still, his eyes won’t meet mine, completely fixed on the ceiling.
“Is that really what’s keeping you up?” he asks.
“Yes,” I rush out.
“Don’t lie to me.”
“I meant it when I said that I didn’t want you to sleep uncomfortably.”
“Is that really so?”
“Uh-huh.” I nod, though he can’t see me. “But now that I think about it, it might have all been one big ploy to get us in the same bed.”
Nate groans in disapproval, the sheets rustling as he readjusts his position. “You can’t be saying stuff like that, Vivienne.”
“Why not?” I suck in a breath, fully aware of the double meaning.
“No flirting, remember? You don’t have to put up an act now that my family isn’t here.”
Fuck the rules,I want to yell at the top of my lungs, but I don’t find it in me. He’s every bit right. I’m the one who set them in place. The least I should do is abide by them.
