always moving forward. My breathing started to come out choppy as the last part of the path became a death trap and my lack of physical fitness became even more obvious. “Are you trying to kill me the same way you tried to kill Jase?” Everyone in town knew about that infamous hike.
She shrugged. “That was payback, this is me being nice. You don’t know the difference?” Playfulness sounded in her voice and I shook my head.
I had nothing to say to that, and I needed every breath I could suck in to make it back to what Bo called her cabin. It was really more like a mansion, with high ceilings and lots of windows, letting in a rainbow of colors enhanced by the burning sun. Her place was beautiful and rustic and homey. And I couldn’t stay.
“What time is dinner?”
She gave me another funny look. “Whenever the boys finish cooking, why?”
“Because I was thinking I’d go home to shower and change, and then I’ll come back.” It was a lie and we both knew it.
She sighed heavily and rolled her eyes. “There are like, three showers in this house. Use one and get your butt back down here in thirty minutes. Or less.” Her tone said it would be best if I made it back before the thirty minutes were up.
I could have argued or simply left, but Bo had become my closest friend in Tulip and that would be rude. Plus, she could totally take me, and we both knew I couldn’t outrun her. “Fine.”
She flashed an evil smile. “You’re both adults, so one little meal should be no problem. Right?”
Yeah, it was easy for her to say because she didn’t know the whole truth, but I wasn’t in the mood to talk about it. Or him. So I gave another shrug and made my way upstairs to the guest room all the way in the back, as far away from the rest of them as I could get until I was calm and cool. Un-botherable. The best thing about this whole situation was the big blue-and-silver tiled bathroom with the waterfall shower.
I took as much time as I could, letting the hot spray soothe muscles that had already started to ache, before wrapping an oversized towel around my body and going back into the bedroom, where Nate stood inside the door wearing a knowing smirk that I wanted to both kiss and smack off his rugged, handsome face.
“Nate. What are you doing in here?” And why the heck was I standing here with no clothes, no hair products, and not a stitch of makeup on my face?
“You seem to be asking me that question a lot lately, Mikki.”
I didn’t bother to say it was because he was always someplace he shouldn’t be—namely, wherever I was. “Well?”
He lifted my black bag, holding it out with two fingers instead of dropping it on the floor. Like a real man would. “Bo asked me to bring this up to you, said you’d be eternally grateful.” That smirk said he knew exactly how unsettled I was right now.
“You can leave it there. Thanks.” Of course, Nate kept the bag dangling from his fingers because he wasn’t just a player, he was also a game player.
“You don’t want it? Because if that’s the case, I can take it back downstairs.” The heat in his gaze was unmistakable, which only served as a reminder that I was naked besides this towel—and that I wasn’t impervious to him. Yet.
I didn’t want this tension between us; hell, I didn’t want anything from him anymore. “Maybe you should do that, Nate.” I turned back around and shut myself in the bathroom. I was done letting Nate toy with me or my emotions. I’d had enough of that lately, from all the men in my life. Past and present. I took my time, applying conditioner to my hair and moisturizer to my skin, wasting ten full minutes before I went back out.
And found Nate was still there, only now he’d made himself comfortable in my temporary room. “Seriously?”
He shrugged and nodded to the bag resting right beside the work boots he didn’t seem to go without. “Are we gonna keep doing this?”
“Doing what?” I wasn’t faking innocence, either, because it wasn’t necessary.
“This back-and-forth thing we’ve been doing.”
I snorted a bitter laugh at his words. “There is no thing, Nate. You think it’s fun to play games and I happen to disagree.” It was a fundamental difference