Nate tilted her jaw to meet her eyes in the neon-streaked darkness.
“It’s not a question of want anymore, Mads. But of need.”
An almost violent shiver ran down her spine, goosebumps pebbling her skin despite the heat coming off from all the bodies around them.
“We could leave,” Maddy whispered so softly, there was no way Nate could hear it.
But his unyielding stare had caught the almost soundless words that had left her lips. Maddy thought he’d sag in relief but instead, his arms only tightened around her.
His exhale could easily have been mistaken for a laugh, if it hadn’t sounded so pained.
“We could, but we won’t.”
She hadn’t been prepared for the startling wave of disappointment that flooded her.
It must have been obvious in her expression because Nate’s hand on her nape turned into a soothing caress.
“Don’t look at me like that.”
“Like what?”
“Like you’re disappointed. There’s only so much control I can have around you, and I need that control for what I’m about to say next.” He took a deep breath and it was only then that Maddy realized that they had stopped moving almost completely, barely swaying to the music. “We won’t leave. We’ll stay with your friends and my friends, and have a nice time. Tomorrow, you’ll come over for dinner and a movie, I’ll be cooking and you can choose the movie.”
Maddy must have been staring at him comically, judging by Nate’s sudden chuckle.
“Are you asking me on a date?” she asked, just to make sure.
“What gave me away? The dinner/movie combo?”
“Actually, yeah, kind of.”
“Then yes, Maddy. I’m asking you on a date,” he said, and she was struck by how someone could look so serious and so vulnerable at the same time.
She was nodding before his words had even registered.
“Okay.”
Maddy was sure that from the outside, they both looked like two people smiling like idiots at each other for no good reason. But she couldn’t care less.
“What do you say we go back to our group? I’m sure Coop will already be itching to heckle us and I would hate to spoil his fun.”
As if she could say no to that boyish grin. She might be an adult woman but there was no resisting that grin.
“Alright. Let’s go give Cooper his fun and Stacie her needling.”
“Needling? Should I be scared?”
“Not too much.”
“But a little is fine?”
“Yeah, a little would be advisable.”
“Thanks for the reassurance.”
“It’s no problem.”
Which was how they found themselves trying to make their way through the crowd and back to their friends. It was a good thing Nate was leading the way, almost muscling through. And it was another good thing that his hand never left hers.
