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Chapter Fourteen
“I won! I won!” Kris did a little jump in an uncharacteristic display of glee, and Nate would be damned if it wasn’t the most adorable thing he’d ever seen.
A smile tugged at his mouth. “Congrats. Your speed is impressive.” He closed the distance between them until they both stood on the peak of Runyon Canyon Park.
Los Angeles sprawled before them, the relatively flat buildings nearby giving way to the sleek skyscrapers of downtown in the distance. From this vantage point, they could see the distinctive Capitol Records Building—which resembled a stack of records, though contrary to popular belief, such a design had not been intentional—and the ritzy mansions in Hollywood Hills. The neighborhood of the rich and famous was a hodgepodge of architectural styles, ranging from eco-friendly abodes with solar panels to Mediterranean behemoths with sparkling turquoise pools.
Kris collapsed on a bench nearby. She’d thrown her hair up in a ponytail and wore a tank top, yoga pants, and sneakers. It was the most casual Nate had seen her outside her house, and he was feeling it.
“You didn’t let me win, did you?” she asked, her earlier excitement giving way to suspicion.
“No,” Nate lied.
Not really.He and Kris had spent the morning hiking Runyon Canyon, and toward the last quarter mile, they’d made a bet on who would reach the top first.
Nate supposed hecould’vepicked up his pace, but the sight of Kris’s round, firm ass in yoga pants had distracted him. Getting distracted wasn’t the same as letting her win.
He was usually a competitive person, but he wasn’t even mad. The view had been worth it.
God bless whoever invented yoga pants.
“Good.” Kris looked satisfied. “Cough up the prize, pretty boy.”
Nate laughed and took the seat next to her. “Fine.” He racked his brain for a good one. “So I was manscaping for a role…”
“Oh, no.” Kris covered her eyes with her hand. “Any story that begins with ‘I was manscaping’ doesn’t end well.”
His mouth twitched. “Shh. Let me finish. So I was manscaping for a role, and like an idiot, I decided to do it myself. I was in the bathroom, doing my thing with the trimmers—”
She shook her head, the horror evident in her eyes.
“—and it was going fine, until Sky, who was watching some horror movie in the living room, screamed and startled me. I slipped and…well, let’s just say that was the most embarrassing trip to the ER I’ve ever taken. People say doctors don’t judge, but they totally judge. You should’ve seen the look mine gave me. I swear she shook the entire time from trying not to laugh. Not good, considering she was working on a very delicate area of my anatomy.”
Kris burst into laughter. “I don’t blame her. It’s pretty funny.”
“You would say that; you’re not a man. You don’t understand the pain of stabbing yourself in the nut sack on what should’ve been a normal Friday night.” Nate released an exaggerated shudder. “Now you tell me.” He draped his arm over the back of the bench. His fingertips grazed Kris’s shoulder, and a tiny electric shock sizzled through his veins. “What’s your most embarrassing moment?”
“I don’t have to tell you. I won.” Her eyes shone with amusement. “The whole point of winning was so Iwouldn’thave to share my most embarrassing moment.”
“If you were a good friend, you’d share it anyway.”
She tilted her head. “Is that what we are? Friends?”
Nate paused, unsure how to answer that question. If he had the choice, they’d be more than friends. Their night on the boat would forever have a starring role in his fantasies, though they hadn’t discussed whether their unlabeled relationship was casual, serious, or something in between. But it was more than lust. HelikedKris. When he first met her, he’d thought she was cold, spoiled, and superficial—and sometimes, she could be. But she was also passionate, funny, and sarcastic. She’d stayed with him the night his father was hospitalized, and Skylar adored her. No matter how hard she tried to hide it, Kris did care about people—or at least, those she deemed worthy of her trust and attention.
Nate desperately wanted to be one of those people.
“Sure,” he said. “If you want to be. We’d make great friends. With benefits.”
He might’ve imagined it, but he thought he saw a flicker of disappointment in her eyes at his response.
Kris turned her head and tugged on her ponytail. Her diamond studs glinted beneath the bright summer sun. “Right. Well, you’re in luck, because I have one spot left on my friend roster,” she said briskly. “I suppose you could fill it.”
“I wasn’t aware you had a friend quota.”
“Of course I do. Friendships are exhausting. They require so much energy and emotional labor. If I don’t didn’t limit my friend circle, I’d go insane.” Kris shrugged, and her skin brushed his fingertips again. Nate swallowed hard. “Luckily, I dislike most people, so it’s never been an issue.”
“I’m flattered,” he said wryly, trying not to focus on his suddenly-too-tight shorts. If a brush of her skin could elicit such a powerful reaction from the man downstairs, he was in deep shit. Nate shifted his weight and removed his arm from the back of the bench. Thank God he’d worn loose shorts for jogging so Kris couldn’t see how much she affected him. “Speaking of people you dislike, how goes it with Gloria?”
