Page 33 of Away With You
“M-kay,” I mumble back, shoving my legs into a pair of black leggings and pulling on an oversized, chunky knit cardigan.
Once dressed, I peep out of my bedroom, and with the coast clear, I bolt to the bathroom, brushing my hair and my teeth and rubbing the mascara away from under my eyes. If my mind isn’t playing tricks on me, he somehow came here to ask me to be his girlfriend, but I’m pretty sure after being confronted with the absolute mess I was at the door this morning, whatever that was will by now have passed.
Disappointing. But also, fair.
“Nathan.” I clear my throat to get his attention.
He’s in my kitchen pouring tea into two cups. One for me, the other in what may as well be his cup. He’s also assembled a tower of bagels on a plate, and my stomach groans with appreciation at the sight of it.
“Kitty Kat!” He turns and beams at me, his gaze taking a trip over my face, down to my shoulders, my chest, and then to the tips of my toes. His eyes are a warm, clear blue as he looks me over, and I feel the heat of it like he’d reached out and touched me. “Here, sit. Drink your tea and eat your breakfast. We’ve got a lot to discuss.”
Bamboozled, I let him take the lead, taking a sip from my cup and biting into a bagel. No, scrap that. Biting into theperfectbagel.
“Ohmigosh, this is amazing.”
He leans back with a satisfied smirk on his face. “That’s good to hear. Because they’re bribery bagels.”
I chew, swallow, bite, and chew some more. As curious as I am to hear all about this bribery business, I can’t seem to stop eating. These bagels are magical.
“Um, okay, yum.”
His chuckle is deep and fills my bagel-filled belly with warmth. He both looks and sounds so delighted to be here with me. I can almost forgive him for showing up unannounced. Again.
“Nathan, do you have an aversion to using the telephone?”
His quirks a brow. “Not particularly.”
“Then please explain why you’ve not once, but twice, ambushed me in my flat, unannounced, in the morning? Are you trying to catch me at my worst?”
His eyes take another leisurely trip over me.
“If this is you at your worst…”
I lean forward.
“Yes?”
He shakes his head. “We’ve gone off topic.”
We have? Were we ever on topic?
“I came here this morning bearing bagels because I need to ask you a favour.”
Ah, well, this makes more sense.
“Okay…” I take another bite of bagel and fix him with my best ‘spit it out’ stare.
Nathan shifts in his seat, looking uncomfortable for the first time…ever. “So, you know how we were talking about my brother and my ex?”
“Yes. Both dirty rats.”
His face brightens. “Indeed. Well, it turns out not everyone sees it quite like you do. There’s a lot of chatter out there in the world—and within my mother’s head—that I should move on. Just get over it. In fact, by not doing this, I’ve been painted as a terrible brother. Or at a minimum, the loser brother.”
Blood rushes to my ears as my temper boils.Who in their right mind would find Nathan’s reaction to this ultimate betrayal anything other than warranted? And why is his mother a person doing the wondering?
“That is so out of order. I’m so sorry this is happening to you.”
He reaches over for my hand, squeezing my fingers in his much bigger ones. “Thank you, Katie. But it actually gets worse.”
