The bigger problem is that I know if I told him how I really feel, he’d humor me because he truly does care about me as a friend. He’d give it the old college try, might date me for a few weeks, but then he’d move on to someone he actually felt chemistry with, and I’d be out a best friend. Not worth it.
Yeah—I’m good like this.
I’ll eventually find someone who is just as great as Nathan.
（Probably not.）
“Right. Well, then…enjoy your weird friendship. Because I’m leaving.” Kelsey pauses a minute, but I don’t hear footsteps. I think she’s waiting for him to stop her. This is awkward for everyone. “I really am. Right now. I’m walking out that door for good, Nathan.”
Noooo, don’t go! I think with zero sincerity.
And then she storms off. Nathan follows her toward the door, saying something about how she’s still in her pajamas and shouldn’t she go get her stuff first? She tells him to have it sent over because she can’t bear to look at him for another second. The drama is high.
I hear the door slam, and I kick the air. Good riddance!
I also whip out my phone and text my big sister.
Me: Another one bites the dust. Kelsey’s outta here!
Lily: She lasted longer than I expected.
Me: Aka too long.
Lily: Be nice! He might be sad.
Me: Ummm I’m always nice, thank you very much.
Lily: I bet you have a creepy smile on your face.
When Nathan finally comes back into the kitchen, I train my face into a heartfelt frown, proving Lily wrong. “I’m sorry, friend.”
“No, you’re not,” he says with a chuckle as he leans his bare hip against the counter.
I really wish he’d wear more clothes. It’s painful having to look at something so beautiful and never touch it. Nathan’s skin is like hot golden sand from an exotic beach, wrapped around a rippling form that makes you feel instantly dehydrated. His perfectly crafted physique is the reason he was named Sexiest Man Alive and made the cover of Pro Sports Magazine’s form issue where they highlight and celebrate all the different physical forms of pro athletes and what they have to do to keep their bodies in tip-top shape. It’s a classy spread with well-placed hands and thighs to cover the most important bits. But yeah, Nathan was completely naked in that magazine. And although I own five copies, I’ve never been able to bring myself to look inside （the cover only shows him from the waist up）。 There are some boundaries you just can’t cross as friends. Nakedness is one of them.
I pick up a donut and shove it in my mouth to keep from smiling. “No! I really mean it. Kelsey seemed…fun.”
“You stuck your tongue out at her in the box last night.”
“Geez! Do the Avengers know about you and your superhuman eyesight?”
He smiles and reaches out to tug on my messy ponytail. “Was Kelsey a jerk to you when I wasn’t around? Be honest.”
Nathan has black eyes. Not chocolate, not brown. Jet freaking black. And when they zero in on me like this, it feels like I’m suffocating. Like I couldn’t get away from their intensity even if I tried.
I shrug a shoulder and take a drink of my coffee. “She wasn’t the best, but it’s no big deal.”
“What’d she say?”
“Doesn’t matter.”
He inches closer. “Bree.”
“Nathan. See, I can do it too.”
He’s quiet…thoughtful, a mere five inches between our chests. “I’m sorry if she made you feel bad. I didn’t realize she was like that toward you or I would have broken up with her a long time ago.”