Page 61 of Rescuing Nathaniel

It was silly, but Nathaniel felt his chest puff out with pride that the woman he was insanely attracted to was as hungry for him as he was for her.

“We should clean up the mess,” he said huskily.

“We should,” Ava murmured, taking a step forward and lifting a hand.

It hovered between them for a moment before reaching out to rest on his chest above his heart. The warmth of her palm seeped into him, and her fingertips whispered across an old scar below his collarbone.

“We should also buy you some new clothes if you're going to keep spilling things,” Ava said, amusement and desire warring in her tone. “You don’t have much with you and I'm not going to be able to concentrate if you walk around shirtless. After lunch I’ll do an order and get you some shirts and pants.”

The words were like a bucket of ice-cold water being dumped over his head.

She wanted to buy him clothes.

While he was standing there doing everything in his power not to grab Ava, strip her naked, and lay her out on her kitchen table so he could devour her, she was worried about whether or not he had enough clothes to wear, and wanted to throw in his face that she had enough money to fit him out with a new wardrobe.

No matter how hard he kept trying not to let the fact that they came from different worlds consume him it kept slapping him in the face.

Moving away so her hand dropped off his chest, Nathaniel turned his back and grabbed a towel, running it under water so he could clean up his mess. “We should take care of the orange juice before it dries and creates a sticky film.”

“Uh … right … sure,” Ava said, confusion in her tone as she reached around him to grab his shirt. “I guess I’ll go rinse this out so it doesn’t stain.”

As he heard her go, he gripped the edge of the countertop and hung his head. Needing a moment to pull himself together. When was it going to sink in that he and Ava weren't going to work? If he continued to torture himself like this, he was going to undo a lifetime’s worth of work and destroy himself more efficiently than his parents ever could have done.

CHAPTER16

March 7th

2:42 P.M.

This hadn't beenher plan for the day, but honestly, Ava couldn’t stand spending another second alone in her apartment with Nathaniel.

What had been an exciting prospect this morning when she climbed out of bed had quickly morphed into something else entirely.

Talk about running hot and cold.

One second she would think they were getting along swimmingly, getting to know each other, possibly building toward more. Then the next he’d be all angry with her, closing himself off and shutting down.

She didn't even know what she was doing wrong.

Maybe whatever had led to him coming back to her hospital room the other day had changed. Maybe he thought he was interested in her but once he started spending more time around her, he realized he wasn't. Maybe he just flat out didn't like her. Just because she thought he had while they were running for their lives in Mexico didn't mean it was real. That could have just been an act to make things easier for both of them.

Only … that didn't feel right.

There had been real heat in his eyes when she’d made that embarrassing speech about unwrapping and how the only person she would do that in front of was Nathaniel. There had been genuine care and concern in his eyes at the hospital too. And when he’d pronounced himself her babysitter.

So what had changed?

What had she done wrong?

How did she fix it?

And did she even want to?

While there was attraction between them, and something that could quite easily grow into something more, Ava had learned that the only way to be happy in life was to be yourself. If you tried to fit into other people’s molds of who they thought you should be, all that happened was you grew unhappy and resentful.

As much as she liked Nathaniel, she wasn't going to change who she was for anyone.

Not even him.

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