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“Don’t forget your modesty.”
“I was going to include that too, but I don’t like to brag.” Nate’s mouth tilted up at her laugh. “You want to know what I think?”
“No.”
He ignored her and continued, “I think, beneath all the designer clothes and spoiled princess routine, you’re a good person. You care about people—maybe not everyone, but the ones you allow close to you. You could snap at strangers all you want, but the people you love? They know you’ll burn the fucking city down for them. Skylar thinks the world of you, and for a seventeen-year-old, she’s an excellent judge of character. I’ve noticed it too, even in the way you’re handling this whole Gloria thing. I mean, the plan is kinda twisted, and it’s obvious you two can’t stand each other, but at the end of the day, you’re doing this for your dad, even though you only see him a few weeks out of the year. If Gloria truly loved him and wasn’t using him for his money?” Nate shrugged. “You would’ve gone through the wedding, ugly dresses and all.”
Kris’s heartbeat was a deafening staccato in her ears. A burning sensation blossomed behind her eyes, tightening her skin, and she couldn’t seem to draw enough oxygen into her lungs despite all the fresh air around them.
“Admit it,” Nate murmured. “You’re a good person, but you don’t want anyone to know. You hide behind your armor because you’re afraid of getting hurt—”
“Stop it,” Kris said roughly. “I didn’t sign up for a therapy session. And why thehellare we on a boat in the middle of nowhere? I want to go back to the marina. Now.”
“No.”
Her jaw dropped. “Excuse me? This is kidnapping. You’re holding me here against my will.”
Silence. Nate merely stared at her with those piercing green eyes of his, and dammit, there went that burning sensation behind her eyes again.
Kris was not one for sharing feelings. All that touchy-feely, mushy-gushy stuff gave her hives. But out here, in the middle of the ocean with only Nate and the moon as witnesses, she felt stripped. Laid bare.
Maybe it was the deafening silence or the fact that she wouldn’t see Nate again after this week. Or maybe it was because he lost his mother too, albeit in a different way, and she’d already seen him broken down and vulnerable after his father’s hospitalization last week. They might be from different worlds, but they were kindred spirits, in a way.
Whatever it was, Kris spoke up—and she didn’t stop speaking until she’d gotten everything that had weighed on her for over two decades off her chest.
“I told you my mom left when I was two,” she said, uncorking the wine and pouring herself a glass so she had something to do with her hands. “I still had my dad, technically, but he was never around. He bought me everything I wanted, but we never spent much time together. He was always busy at the office or traveling for business. There were tons of hired staff, but I was just a job to them. The person who came closest to being my family was our old housekeeper, Rosa. She basically raised me, cooked the most amazing meals, was there to soothe me when I was upset. Then she died of a heart attack when I was thirteen and I was on my own.” Kris paused, gathering her thoughts. “The only thing I had was money. And look, don’t get me wrong. I love money. I love nice cars and fancy restaurants and designer clothes. So I’m not saying I hate those things and use them to cover up…anything. But they’ve become an intrinsic part of who I am because they’re the only things I’ve ever had that were mine. Once I bought them, they stayed. They’re a lot more loyal than people in that way.”
“But the way I grew up, having my mom abandon me like that…” Damn, there went a tear. Kris brushed it away angrily. “I don’t like letting people get too close. Even my closest friends who know me best don’tknowme. When I was a baby, I couldn’t help attaching to my mom. It was biological. And her walking away? It’s something that’ll stay with me forever. But now that I’m older, I can control who I let in, and I will never, ever let anyone come close enough to hurt me when they walk away again.”
“Not everyone walks away,” Nate said softly.
“Don’t be ridiculous. Everyone walks away eventually.”
Before she could brush away yet another tear, Nate did it for her, his thumb burning her skin as he caressed her damp cheeks.
“I wouldn’t.”
Kris wasn’t sure if the dizzying sensation came from the waves or the tumult that erupted in her head at those two words. “What are you talking about?”
Nate paused, like he wanted each word to be perfect before he spoke them. “If all things go according to plan, our contract is up Saturday, but that doesn’t mean we have to stop seeing each other. I know.” He held up a hand when she opened her mouth to protest. “You’re leaving L.A. at the end of the summer. That’s in a little over a month. Until then…why can’t we enjoy each other’s company? I know you’re attracted to me. I’m sure as hell attracted to you. We have fun together, and neither of us will be the one walking away because we have a set deadline. It’ll be a mutual thing. Clean, easy. No hard feelings.”
Kris pressed a finger to her temple, trying to sort through her jumbled thoughts. “You’re saying you want to be friends with benefits?”
“I’m saying I don’t want this week to be the last week I see or speak to you.”
She released a pent-up breath. Her emotions were all over the place tonight, ping-ponging from amusement to sadness and hurt to whatever the hell she was feeling right now. Excitement? Worry? Panic?
Nate’s proposal sounded good on paper, but he’d already torn down more barriers around her heart in a few weeks than people she’d known for years had. Kris was terrified of what would happen once their so-called deadline came to pass. Long-distance relationships didn’t work—everyone knew that—and…God, what was she doing, thinking about a relationship? More proof she should shut down Nate’s suggestion and never speak of it again.
On the other hand, she agreed with him. She didn’t want their quasi-friendship or whatever they had to end once their contract was over, either. Another month of Nate Reynolds sounded pretty fantastic.
And, well, Kris had always been a selfish, short-term kind of gal.
“Okay.”
Nate’s eyebrows popped up. “Okay?”
“Okay, let’s continue seeing each other and…do whatever after the Gloria thing is over, with two rules: it ends the day I leave L.A., and we don’t put a label on it. We just…go with the flow.”
