Keeping him at a distance wastoo hard. But I couldn’t get close to him again until we’d dealt with the shit piled between us. Maybe weneededto fight, even if it made me uncomfortable.
“Well, I can’t lay next to you and keep pretending.”
“In what way are you pretending, darlin’?”
Goosebumps spread over my arms. Our closeness, the suggestive question. Nathan’s damn southern lilt.
I closed my eyes, trying to keep my breathing even. From beneath the behemoth of blankets, I still couldn’t shield my rapidly moving chest.
“Stop doing that,” I whispered.
“Doing what?”
I blew out a breath, then opened my eyes to level him with a look. The heat in his eyes made me ache between my legs. “We either talk, Nathan, or you leave.”
“This ismyroom.” His lips twitched.
“Don’t think I don’t have ways to force you out.”
He tucked a strand of hair behind my ear. “I think I might like those ways of yours, Bren.”
I batted his hand away. “If you stay in here, there are rules.”
His eyebrows rose. “Rules?”
“Yes.”
“Ever a good girl.”
Nathan’s smirk sent a bolt of longing low into my gut.
“As if you’resodangerous.”
Except he was—and always had been—lethal to me.
“No touching,” I said before he could respond, needing to stop the flirtation.
He laughed, flopping onto his back. His head swiveled toward me. “That’s your rule?”
My cheeks heated. I was so transparent, I might as well have been freshly cleaned glass. Hastily, I added, “I said there arerules.No lying. We each get two time-outs to use when we need a break.”
His smile stretched to a full-on grin. “How do you plan to enforce this no-lying rule?”
“You have a tell.”
Nathan had never lied to me before, so I didn’t know if this was true, but it sounded convincing.
“You do too.”
I rolled my eyes. “I’m well aware. So is everyone who has ever met me.”
“Just in case…” Nathan said, rolling to his other side to pick up something from the floor. He thrust a bottle onto the bed between us. “Any sign of bullshit, and it’s a shot of whiskey.”
“Where the heck did that come from?”
He snorted. “Did you think we’d survive this blackoutwithoutalcohol?”
“Can’t we drink something other than whiskey? I hate it.”
