Page 46 of My Rival for Christmas

“I’m still kind of regretting agreeing to the last promise you made me.” I gesture to the cabin.

“Right. How about a truce instead?”

“A truce?”

“Yeah, you know, a ceasefire? Putting aside our differences?” He pushes up his already bunched sleeves. “Just for as long as we’re stuck here.”

Alarm bells go off in my head. “I thought you said we were only going to be here until tomorrow?”

I can’t be here longer than that. I just can’t.

“We are.” I’m not sure he has the authority to speak with such certainty, but I’m not in a position to correct him. I want it to be true. “But for the sake of your blood pressure, I think we need to tone down the animosity.”

That…seems hard to do. But I can admit constantly bickering with Nate for the rest of the night will get pretty exhausting, and I am going to need all my energy to push that damn truck down the mountain tomorrow.

Wait! Why didn’t I think of that before? We’re on top of the mountain, we don’tneedthe car to be on, we just need get it on the road and let gravity take over?—

“Whatever you’re thinking, no. It can’t happen,” Nate cuts through my ingenious thoughts. I narrow my eyes at him.

“I wasn’t thinking anything.”

“You’re always thinking something.”

“Not this time.” I lean back on the couch, ignoring the wood now digging into my back as I cross my arms.

“Paige.”

“Nate.”

“Truce?”

“You really think we can get along without all this back and forth?” We can’t even make it through this conversation.

But Nate shakes his head. “No, but I’m hoping we can turn it down from hostile insults to cute, flirty banter.”

“I’mnotflirting with you,” I snap, feeling my heart rate kick up. And sigh. “Fine. I’ll agree to your stupid truce.”

He grins, pushing off the mantel. “Excellent. Now. What movie do you want to watch?”

I stare at him.

“What?” He sighs. “What do you possibly have against movies?”

Nothing. That’s beside the point. “We’re stuck here for at least the rest of the day and you want to watch a movie?”

“I know you’re probably unfamiliar with the concept of a snow day, Ms. Workaholic.” Nate spares me a quick glance as he walks across the room to the gray backpack leaning against the wall. Snowball peers down with interest as he unzips the bag and pulls out a silvery-gray laptop. “But most people like to do nothing when presented with such a gift.”

“That sounds horrible.”

“I think you mean amazing.” He walks over to where I’m sitting. “Don’t worry. It’s your first time. I’ll be gentle with you. Take it nice and slow as I show you the ways of us degenerates.”

Before he can sit next to me on the couch, I maneuver around to stretch my legs out on the opposite cushion. Taking up the entire space. Oops. He said a truce, not a friendship circle.

Nate raises a brow, but he lowers himself to the ground in front of the couch without a complaint, placing his laptop on the coffee table.

“Any preferences?” He pulls up a streaming service.

When I don’t say anything, Nate glances at me. His deep blue eyes darken. “Not everything has to be so go, go, go all the time, Paige. You wanted to get away, right? Well, you can’t get more off the grid than this. Let go of your worries for a little bit.”

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