At Nate’s brief silence, she opened her eyes and turned to see him watching her with a focus she couldn’t read. Walking towards her, he stopped just close enough to lift a hand and lightly brush aside the strands of hair that had fallen in front of her face, and moved with every breath that escaped her mouth.
She didn’t know why something so small would make her blush. She didn’t know if it was even possible to blush in the cold, but her cheeks suddenly felt warmer.
“How about we go for something to warm you up?” Nate’s quiet voice seemed to break her out of a trance. It felt like his usual tone but Maddy couldn’t shake the feeling that there was an undercurrent when they were around each other. A constant tugging that was barely there now but was growing.
Shaking herself out of her thoughts, Maddy smirked. “Ha, I see what you’re doing. You play it all cool, Mr. I-Know-How-To-Run, but I bet you’re just as tired as I am and all this is a clever plan to take a break.” She knew she was bullshitting him. He didn’t even have a hair out of place, for crying out loud.
Nate’s blank look stared back at her.
“Wow, you got me.”
“It’s okay. No need to feel bad. It happens to the best of us. Plus, now you can make it up to me.”
Nate shook his head, turning his gaze to the skies, probably praying for the strength not to strangle her. Maddy was finding it really difficult not to crack up.
“What exactly do I have to make up to you?”
“Well, you talked me into this whole thing.”
“Yeah, but you agreed. You even said it would be nice to give it a shot as one of our bucket list things.”
Oh yeah, shehadsaid that.
Okay time to retreat and deflect.
“Anyway, it doesn’t matter who said what to whom,” she said, looking anywhere but at him. “What’s important is that I’m willing to forgive you for the pain you put me through if you do this small, tiny thing for me.”
Nate’s look turned guarded, the way someone would look like if they were expecting an attack at any moment.
“I really miss my books and I’ve literally got nothing to read. I’ve read all the books I have here dozens of times.” She paused, peeking up at him. “Could we maybe stop by the bookstore to pick something up? I will be really quick, I swear!”
Nate’s expression was undecipherable before he said, “Coffee first.”
“Yes!” Maddy cheered, doing a small happy dance.
“You’re not going to be quick, are you?” Nate asked, a tone of resignation in his voice.
For his own sake, Maddy decided to leave his question unanswered.
What he didn’t know, wouldn’t hurt him.
“Nate!” a masculine voice sounded from somewhere behind them.
“Shit,” Nate murmured under his breath.
Maddy threw a puzzled look in his direction before turning to look at whoever was apparently coming their way.
Two equally tall and almost as good-looking guys as Nate had stopped at a few feet from them, one of them grinning wildly and the other smiling kindly, an apologetic expression on his face.
“What a coincidence! Look, Liam, it’s Nate,” the guy who was grinning with hair so dark, it was almost black, turned to tell his friend, lightly punching his shoulder.
“Last time I checked, I wasn’t blind, Coop, so yeah, I can see him,” came the answer from the sandy-blonde guy on the right.
They were both dressed in sweatpants and long T-shirts, their faces slightly flushed, which led Maddy to believe that they had also been running or doing some sort of workout.
She turned to Nate. “Are they your friends?”
“Not anymore.” Nate’s blank look made her want to giggle.
