Angel 2: Her walls are down because she’s drunk, you idiot.
Angel 1: When will you have an opportunity like this again?
Riley opens her eyes halfway and watches me, totally open. Totally trusting. I know, she won’t push me away if I press my lips against hers and that gives me the courage I need to inch back.
I won’t betray that precious trust that she has. I can’t afford to lose that.
The chaos in my head goes quiet after I make my decision, and I reward myself by lingering close enough to take her in.
She’s beautiful beyond words. Beyond measure.
Those dark, chocolate eyes. The thick lashes. Her nose with the little, upturned tip. And those lips.
My breath staggers.
I avert my eyes from her mouth before the impulse to kiss her grows any stronger.
“I should go,” I say.
Good choice, Angel 1 says.
Boo, Angel 2 body protests.
“Thank you, Nat,” Riley says. “For bringing me home and taking care of me. For… for everything.”
“You’re welcome.”
I don’t know if it’s the lighting, or the hour, or the fact that Riley barked at me today and it ruined my entire month—but I’m reluctant to leave her side.
Tomorrow, she’s going to remember that she pushed me away.
Tomorrow, we’ll return to being distant acquaintances who exchange awkward lines about the weather before inventing an excuse to run off. Or even worse, she might give me that stern look and call my name in that annoyed teacher voice as if the sight of me is aggravating to her.
Tomorrow, this moment might feel like a dream.
“I really should go,” I tell her, as if she’s the one arguing for me to stay.
“Okay,” Riley whispers. Her voice is thick with disappointment.
My resolve wobbles.
I push to my feet before it can crumble any further. “Okay.”
She blinks a couple times, looking small and vulnerable.
“Get some sleep.”
Riley nods and settles into bed. I pull the covers up around her shoulders, making sure that she’s comfy and snug. She’s still looking at me when I pull away and I can’t do it. I can’t justleave.
So I press my hand into the mattress next to her pillow, lean down and press a kiss to her temple.
Riley closes her eyes and a smile flirts with the corner of her lips. It takes all my self-control, every crumb of self-restraint to move away. By some miracle, I do.
The first step back is the hardest.
The second wrenches my heart out of my chest.
The third hammers in the point that I’m down bad and this is really, genuinely, sincerelynotbrotherly feelings in my heart.
