AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“All good,” I promise, pushing off the door.
The move brings me right up to his chest. I’m stuck unless he moves. In the small foyer, I can’t scoot around him, not unless I want to brush up against him even more, which ... doesn’t feel like the best idea right now. Not while his gaze is as hungry as it is. Not while my common sense has officially left the building.
He doesn’t move right away. There’s a moment when he’s crowding me, tall and foreboding. It’s the way a high school bully would trap a cowering nobody against a set of lockers. The bell already rang; the hallway’s deserted. He’s playing chicken, testing me.
Let’s finish what we started,he seems to say as he takes a tiny step forward.
I can do nothing but gulp.
I want to meet his challenge head on, throw myself at him, fuse myself to his body from this day forward as long as we both shall live. The last few days have felt markedly different for us. His confession about Todd, us sharing a bed last night ... it could be the catalyst we need tofinallyget out of our own way. The trouble is we’ve been here before. That night on the beach felt like it could have changed things for us, but it didn’t. We kissed, and then the next day,poof, nothing. So how can I be certain things won’t go right back to normal the second this weird roommate situation wraps up?
A few days from now, we could be adversaries across the lobby.
Only this time, I know with absolute certainty that I won’t be able to bear it.
Whether or not things have changed for Cole, they’ve changed for me. I’ve given him too many pieces of me, little by little. If things don’t work this time, there won’t be anything left. No more banter. No more friendship. I’ll have to be done.
The thought hangs like a storm cloud over me, dousing whatever steamy moment we were building. I’m terrified he’ll see it—all of it—before I’ve composed the full picture for myself.
I yank the Reese’s out of Cole’s hand and cut past him to get to the bed.
For now, I’m putting us on ice.
At least until I finish this chocolate.
Chapter Twenty-One
PAIGE
I do a poor job of acting normal the rest of the night.
After I leave him hanging at the door, Cole catches the hint and backs off the buddy-buddy stuff. We sit on the bed and share our candy while we watch the second half of a zombie movie. I’m usually a wimp when it comes to thrillers, but not tonight. My eyes are on the screen, but nothing gets transmitted to my brain. Jump scare after jump scare, blood and guts galore—I don’t even blink. Cole thinks I’m a total badass, when really I’m just distracted.
The movie ends, and Cole reaches for the remote and turns off the TV. It’s dead silent when he looks over at me. I panic, thinking he’s about to ask me what’s going on, and I’m not ready. I’m not. I just need a little more time. A shower.
Sure, I took one earlier, but that run from the twelfth floor is my excuse for why I need another. And if I happen to stay in there awhile, it’s because I’m being really thorough. You have to wash all the crannies, not just the nooks.
I’ve never taken more care with my postshower skin care routine. Sure, it’s just toner and a moisturizer, two products I usually slap on while on my way to pee. Tonight, however, my skin is singing by the time I walk out of the bathroom and find Cole reading in bed.
I’m sorry, let me paint a better picture.
Ahem.Cole is lying back on the bed in nothing but his pajama pants. His legs are crossed at the ankles. One hand is resting behind his head on the pillow—elongating his toned stomach. His other hand cradles a paperback on top of his abs.
He doesn’t pause his reading on my account. I think there’s only so many times a person can try to strike up conversation and get shot down before they realize it’s probably best to not bother at all. Hopefully he just thinks I’m in a quiet mood.
I skim around the edge of the bed and walk up along my side. Cole’s T-shirt—the one I slept with last night—is folded neatly by my pillow. He put it there again. Before I can help myself, I reach out and feel the material between my thumb and pointer finger, rubbing the soft cotton. Maybe I’m a tactile person, because it actually calms me down a little.
I feel Cole’s gaze on me, but by the time I glance up, he’s reading his book again.
This is it,I think.
Now or never.
I gave myself the last few hours to come to terms with what I have to do: come clean once and for all.
I took the shower; I dawdled and delayed. Here I am with the perfect opportunity, and what do I do?
I hurry under my covers, tuck them up to my chin, then reach up and turn off my lamp. My half of the room goes dim.
