Page 32 of Nash

She pauses, and I let her search my eyes.

If she looks deep enough, she’ll find herself there. She’ll find out how much I’ve felt for her … for so many years.

“Why was it just the three of us?” she asks. “Why did you never find someone? It’s been forever, and you’re getting old, and you’re really, really, reallynothard to look at.” Long pause. “At. All.”

A grin hits my lips. “Forty-four is not old … thanks and … and it never felt right.”

“Was it to honor Alena’s mom? And Alena?”

“No, it’s more complicated than that.”

She tips her head. Her tears have stopped, but her snark hasn’t returned. She’s gentle … and dammit, she’s smart.

“It’s complicated and has to do with that man, Michael Cummings, doesn’t it?” she probes. “I could feel something between you two. You two and Jace. I’m right, aren’t I?”

“Those are deadly questions, Vale. Quit asking them.”

“Can I ask another question?”

“What did Ijustsay?”

“I don’t know. When it’s not what I want to hear, I don’t listen.”

“Fuck.” I chuckle, tossing my chin up. “What?”

“Will you sleep with me tonight?”

Now, I’m struck mute, her question racing my pulse.Fuck. Will I sleep with my greatest temptation?

“We won’t do anything,” she rushes. “We’ll sleep with pillows between us, but I swear, if I have to hear you grunt and groan like you’re fucking my hardwood floors anymore, I’m going to scream. I can’t sleep because you can’t sleep, and yes, you’re an asshole, but I’ve always cared for you, too. You fill some hole in my heart that I can’t explain, so let’s not try to, and finally, for the love of God,sleep.”

I shake my head. “Your double bed isn’t big enough for you, me, and a pile of pillows between us.”

And the lust I feel for you, too? I can barely contain it.

“Fine,” she says. “We’ll sleep fully clothed and back-to-back, and if you snore, don’t worry about your mafia enemies. I’ll slit your throat myself.”

We keep our promise. We sleep with clothes on, our backs barely touching, and it’s hard because her bed dips in the middle where she usually sleeps.

“Nash?” she whispers.

“Yeah?” I rasp, ready. Worried. Wanting.

Tenderly, her foot brushes mine under the sheet. “What’s this? Betweenus?”

Her skin is so soft, it’s killing me. I stare into the darkness, the ache overwhelming and painful. “Something we can’t have.”

So, all night and for another week, I fight the gravity I feel to touch her.

But I can’t fight the other gravity I feel, the one that’s falling so goddamn in love with Vale.

CHAPTER TEN

VALE

It’s gotto be genetic. I swear there’s DNA that makes verbal bullets shoot from your mouth, because Blair and I get in a girly gunfight today.

I’ve had it with her pity party. It’s been almost four months since her Valentine’s date killed her vagina. She doesn’t go out like she used to. She doesn’t smile. She’s a real pill, and you’d think she’d be happy because she’s writing her romance books when she’s not being a pathetic pain.

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