While Nathan is gone, I close my eyes and try to remember every detail, but it’s too hazy. Like a delicious dream you wake up from and feel slipping through your fingers. Did that kiss even happen? Nathan hasn’t mentioned it once, so it must not have meant much to him. But really, how could it? It lasted maybe two seconds.
It meant something to me.
Nathan comes back into the room just as I shove a pink square into my mouth. He looks incredible in his suit pants and loosened dress shirt. My mouth waters, but not from the candy.
He sits down on the far end of the couch and smiles. “Better?”
I nod and shift the soft taffy to my right cheek. I’m a chipmunk who hoards pink Starburst. “Better.”
“Do you want to watch some TV? Pick up where we left off in that comedy special?” He’s already reaching for the remote and my gaze snags on his exposed, muscled forearm. I’m hyperaware of him in ways I’ve never let myself dwell on before.
The TV turns on and a comedian spouts off a joke about pancakes. Then, as if nothing in the world is different, Nathan’s hand wraps around my bare foot and pivots my whole body so he can pull my feet into his lap. I stare with my mouth hanging loose as his thumbs push in and glide up my arches. His strong, calloused fingers knead my sore feet with expert care, even going so far as to dip past my ankle and press into my calves. For as hot as my skin feels, his hands are somehow hotter. Like stones, fresh from a fire and melting my skin away.
All I can do is stare, blink, savor. He’s touching me in an intimate way that has never happened as friends before. But for how much of a living, breathing hot tamale I am right now, Nathan is not even focusing on the life-changing massage he’s giving me. He’s watching the comedy special, loose-limbed and relaxed. Yeah, no big deal. Are we just those kinds of friends now? Friends who occasionally date? Friends who snuggle? Friends who…
“Nathan, we kissed tonight,” I blurt. Cool, Bree. Cool. Nice and smooth.
Nathan’s hands freeze on my skin, and his brows fly up. He pauses the TV then swivels his gaze to me. I kind of wish he’d left it going so it would fill the uncomfortable silence, but now we’re alone with my statement and it’s flicking us both between the eyes.
“I’m surprised you want to acknowledge it,” he says, confusing me with that answer.
“Do you not want to?”
The corner of his mouth tilts up. “I’ll talk about anything you want, anytime you want. We can even talk about how you destroyed my naked photo because you were so jealous of anyone else seeing it.”
I gasp and throw an orange Starburst at him. He laughs as it bounces off his bicep. “Not true! I did not destroy that poster on purpose! I didn’t even see it before my butt sliced through it! In fact, you could have warned me that we were headed to celebrate the birthday of the FORM ISSUE!”
He chuckles with his head falling back against the couch and lightly swats my shin twice like he does his thigh when he laughs too hard. “Your face was so priceless! Red as a stoplight.”
I put my hands over my cheeks, afraid they’re still glowing. “STOP! You’re so mean.”
He’s still laughing—shoulders shaking, stomach clenching. “I had no idea my nakedness would affect you so much. It’s not like you haven’t seen that image before. And it’s nothing compared to the rest of them from that spread.”
I give him a meaningful look, feeling like we’re tiptoeing toward something we shouldn’t but also desperately wanting to. “I…wouldn’t know.” I busy myself by trying to yank down the hem of my short dress to add some class to this setting.
When I look up, Nathan’s smile is curious. “What do you mean you wouldn’t know?”
I raise one shoulder. “I’ve never looked inside.”