The phone rang, and she hesitated for a beat. He raised his device to his ear and mimed picking up.
She pressed her lips tight, unable to resist him. “What?” she snapped. “I’m busy.”
“You don’t look busy.” His voice was low, designed not to carry. His gaze dropped over her body. The flannel shirt covered her arms and up to the tops of her thighs. It wasn’t sexy.
He looked at her like she was wearing the tiniest of negligees.
“You look beautiful,” he finished.
Call her vain, but she absorbed his compliment like a sponge soaking up tiny droplets of water. Livvy was suddenly glad she’d left the top button undone, the upper curves of her breasts visible. “Thanks.”
“Unbutton that shirt a little more.”
She regularly wore corsets and miniskirts, but she clutched the lapels of her shirt together like an outraged aunt and glared down at him. “I will not.”
“Come on. If I’m such a creeper, give me something to creep on.”
She was tempted to smile, but she controlled her face. “Creepers don’t get rewarded.”
“Probably a good policy.” Nicholas moved closer, into a brighter patch of moonlight. His lips moved, his husky voice caressing her ear. “I’m sorry I called you dramatic. I want to see you again.”
She swallowed, hating that leap of happiness.I can give you everything.
He couldn’t. “You’re seeing me.”
“I mean see you properly. Not because I’m escorting you to my grandfather or because you’re driving my sister home, but because we want to be in each other’s company.”
She twisted the button on her shirt. “I don’t see the point in that.”
“I thought I showed you the point of it in the woods.” He screwed up his face. “Ah, that was not supposed to be a euphemism.”
Her lips trembled, but she controlled her smile at the unexpectedly silly joke. “Like you said, I’m not good for you.” She wouldn’t be able to forget his words anytime soon.I know you’re not good for me, but I can’t seem to stop wanting you.
“I did think you were bad for me.”
She managed to stop herself from showing pain. “Yeah, well, I’m trying to be healthy too, Nicholas.”
He ran his hand over his face. When he finally spoke, his voice was hoarse. “I said Ididthink you were bad for me. Now, though... Didn’t you feel better today? After we talked?”
“Yes.”Until I felt myself latching on to the crumbof a possibility for a future for us.She couldn’t allow herself to do that.
“I think I need that.”
“You’ve never liked chatting before.”
“When we were young, I did. Remember how we’d lay on the ground and talk for hours?”
“I talked.”
“You talked more than me. But I talked.”
She conceded that with a reluctant nod. He’d always been reserved, from the time he was a young boy, but he’d shared a lot with her, even before they started dating.
He pressed his fist over his heart. “We’ve tried staying away from each other. We tried just fucking each other. It hasn’t gotten me anywhere, and I don’t think it’s helped you either. Maybe we could... I don’t know. Try spending time with each other. Talking.”
She could feel herself weakening, responding to the pleading in his voice. She should hang up, right now. She knew she was too weak where he was concerned.
She worried that button. “We can’t talk without boning. I think that’s pretty apparent.”
