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I cover my ass by meeting her gaze. “I was just thinking about how I’m really going to have to wear sunglasses on the beach, or I’ll be blinded by the light of your stomach.” It’s delivered in deadpan perfection.
“Hey!” She points up at me. “Not nice. Some of us can’t lay our bodies out to crisp up like a brown biscuit in the sunshine. Some of us have to lather up with SPF 70 or we turn into a shade of red that can be seen from outer space. Last time I tanned”—she puts bunny ears around the wordtanned—“the lower part of my butt cheeks were so fried I couldn’t sit down for five days. But as a plus, my standing goal was met at two hundred percent that week.”
Sometimes I wonder, if I stay quiet, will she continue to talk the whole night? I’d happily let her.
Suddenly, gawking guy peeks around my shoulder to look at Nora, and the scent of alcohol oozing off him speaks for his boldness when he says, “I’m happy to volunteer as tribute to lather you up so you’re protected from the sun, princess.”
My eye twitches with the sudden urge to shove his body back against the wall.
Nora, however, laughs just as the elevator doors open. “Really kind of you, random dude. Sort of batting a hundred on the creepy chauvinistic vibes, but thanks for the offer.” She exits the elevatorand I turn and face him, backing him into the corner but not laying a hand on him.
“Speak to her like that again and find out what happens.”
I leave him wide-eyed and speechless. The elevator doors close behind me and, finally, Nora and I are alone walking down the hallway. I am officially done with people today.Except for her.
We both stop just outside our suite, and she grins up at me. “What did you say to Mr. Princess back there?”
My eyes slit and I fight the smile trying to break. “What do you mean?”
“I know you hung back and talked to him. What’d you say, Dere-Bear?”
I breathe deeply and shrug. “It was so long ago. Who can remember?”
“Try your best,” she says, a taunting grin curling her lips. And now I know I’m no better than the dude in the elevator because I want to take Nora’s hips in my hands and pin her back against this hotel door, and kiss her until our mouths are bruised. But of course I won’t unless she asks me to. Even then, I’m not sure that I would do it because my heart still feels battered from how she left me in college. I’m scared to want her this much again.
“I might have said something like…‘Talk to her like that again and find out what happens.’ ”
Nora chokes out a laugh. “Derek, you didn’t. And with that macho voice too?”
“I didn’t like the way he was talking to you. It was disrespectful. And ‘princess’? Was he serious with that shit?”
Nora shakes her head at me while fighting a smile. “For the record, I’d prefer to fight my own battles. But also—” she looks down, presses her tongue into her cheek, and then glances up again—“Thank you. It’s…kind of nice to have someone looking out forme.”
“Always,” I say, because I mean it. Even when I was at my angriest with her, I still would have stepped in front of a bus for her.
We stare at each other now, both seemingly at a loss for what to say, but clearly feeling an old intimacy curl around us like smoke. It’s so thick I can barely breathe. Nora’s expression mirrors mine. Pinched brows. Thoughtful eyes. Parted lips. How do we acknowledge this thing between us?
We’re saved when my phone rings. I answer it immediately—pathetically looking for a way to fill the silence while also delaying having to enter that suite with Nora.
“What the actual hell! Are you married?” Nathan practically shouts into the phone. I’ve made Dad angry.
“Well—”
“Give me that!” It’s Bree. I imagine her jumping for the phone and, when Nathan won’t give it to her, jabbing her fingers into his ribs until he involuntarily pitches forward, and it slides into her hand. Because a second later, she sounds as if she’s running away as she says, “Derek Pender, you’re in so much trouble! You can’t just post something like that and then go dark for an entire twenty-four hours with nothing more than a text that saysit’s fake—I’ll explain later. Keep it to yourself.” She says that last part in an overly deep voice that honestly gives my ego a boost. “That’s a bad friend!”
“She’s right, very un-classy of you, Pender,” Nora says with a smug eyebrow lift that I don’t need from her right now. “Even I found a minute to call my mom.”
It’s true, she called and told her the news pretty much the second we hung up with Nicole and Joseph yesterday. I asked how she took it and Nora only smiled and said,Pam lives for stuff like this. She told me to keep her in the loop.
“Wait, is Nora there right now?” Bree asks, sounding too excited for my comfort. “Put her on the phone! Better yet…”
Oh great. Bree is trying to FaceTime me now.
I let the call connect and Nora tilts her head against my shoulder so we can both watch Bree actively sprint through their house to keep Nathan (who’s in the view behind her) from getting the phone. She feints right in the kitchen and slides over the counter. “You’re a sucker, Nathan Donelson! You’re never getting this phone back.”
“She seems sweet,” Nora says in a whisper to me.
“We call herBree Cheese.If you’re not careful she’ll try to become your best friend.”
