She finally looks up at me, and there’s something there. Something new. Something sparking and inviting, and I’m not just imagining it, right? I dare to find out what it is.
“This is okay?” I ask.
She lifts a coy shoulder with a small grin—flirtatious. ALSO NEW! “I mean, sure. But just know that if you’re going to act possessive in public, I will too.” She goes up on her toes to kiss my jaw.
My heart stops.
In that tiny little kiss, there was a country-sized amount of meaning. The way her eyes look, the way her body feels against mine…it all adds to the implication. That small kiss was a checkered flag, and not once tonight has Bree made a single move to remind me of the friend zone. No brother, amigo, BFF, or incest references.
No, right now, her eyes have fire in them, and there’s no way I’m going to pretend it’s not there. I won’t keep moving and ignore the signs tonight. Item number 20 is underway. I’m going to harness the flames in her eyes to burn our platonic friendship to the ground.
I squeeze her hip tighter and steer us out of the kitchen. “In that case, come with me.”
Nathan’s hand presses into my side as he takes me with him out of the kitchen, drinks forgotten, weaving us through a crowded dance floor in the living room. The couches have all been moved to the perimeter and so many people are packed into the center, cups in hand and dancing like they belong in an underground club. My first feeling is relief. Dancing! Yes! That sounds great. Nathan saying “In that case” had my mind racing to other outcomes. Outcomes I definitely want but am also a little terrified to embrace. So, let’s dance!
Oh, we’re passing the dance floor now. A woman backs into me, and her sequined dress scratches over my bare arm. Nathan tucks me in closer to his side and steers us toward a hallway. A dark hallway. That’s fine. I’m good. Everything is good.
“Umm, should we be going this way? Looks sort of…dark.” I try to persuade him, but he just quietly grins and keeps moving us toward that forbidden hallway. I don’t know that it’s forbidden, but no one else is in it, so it sure feels forbidden.
This is what I get for talking a big game with Lily! I thought I could lay it on thick, but now I just want to lie down and pass out because I can feel change in the air. I can feel it transmitting from Nathan’s fingertips through the fabric of my dress and seeping into my veins.
We step into the hallway, and I know we’re not coming back out the same people as before. It’s also important to note that Nathan is the only man in the world I would trust to take me down a creepy, dark passage like this—and if that doesn’t say something about his character and the way I feel for him, I don’t know what will.
With every step, I feel more excited, thrilled, and terrified.
“What a lovely hallway. It’s so…dark…and…hallwayish.”
We don’t go to the end of it like I think we will. We don’t open any of the closed bedroom doors. We stop in the middle where the colored lights from the party still reach, and yet it’s private enough to not be watched. I suck in a breath when Nathan abruptly spins me around so my shoulder blades touch the wall. He smiles down at me, still not saying a word, and then really confuses me by taking a step away. Two steps. Three. His back hits the opposite wall, and we look like two kids who got in trouble at school for calling each other names. Definitely not the direction I thought this was going…
Maybe I misread him the other night. Maybe he doesn’t have feelings for me. Maybe—
“I’m giving you ample warning,” he says in a deep tone that crawls up my neck in the most pleasant way. Like someone trailing their finger across your skin to make your hairs stand up. His eyes glitter in the darkness. “I know change scares you, so I’m going to tell you what’s about to happen, make sure you approve first.”