Page 66 of A False Start
“Great.” I can hear the smile in Nadia’s voice. She’s not struggling to keep it together at all.
And it hits me then. Am I mad because I gave in to something I shouldn’t have, or am I mad I want more, and she doesn’t?
* * *
“I hateto do this to you,” my friend starts, looking sheepish as we all share the amazing gourmet breakfast he cooked us, “but I think we’re going to head back down to the farm today instead of tomorrow.”
It’s barely nine a.m. and we’re all sitting at the picnic table on my back porch, the three of them carrying the conversation like this has been a fun little getaway while I sit and mope beneath the brim of my hat.
If any of them notice, they don’t say anything. Which almost makes me laugh. I guess I’m a grumpy bastard often enough for this to not seem out of character, even if the running monologue inside my head is different this time.
“Okay.” I cut through the thick-cut piece of farm bacon without glancing up.
“Sorry man, I know you have a couple more things to do, and I said we’d stay another night.” I see my friend’s cheeks soak up some color before his eyes shoot over to his wife, who is smirking at him.
“I just...I just miss Silas. Why doesn’t anyone tell you that once you have a kid, you’ll want to escape them but then also hate being away from them?”
Mira bursts out laughing, and Stefan rolls his eyes.
“He spent weeks convincing me a night or two away would be good for us. And now...” She shakes her head and smiles, eyes sparkling with so much love it’s almost hard to watch.
“Don’t worry about it,” I say around a mouth full of food.
“Nadia, you don’t mind giving Griff a drive back down to the farm tomorrow, do you?” Stefan asks.
Her eyes widen slightly before she plasters a smile onto her face, and all I can think is that I shouldn’t have let my friends talk me in to carpooling up here. I could really use my getaway vehicle right now.
“Of course not.”
“Okay, great.” Stefan beams, looking relieved. But Mira still has that expression on her face. Her keen eyes flit back and forth between Nadia and me, making me wonder if she overheard us last night. I get the sense we aren’t fooling her.
I should have shoved my fingers into her mouth sooner.
“Great!” Nadia says, too brightly, and Mira smirks at me before pulling her mug up to her lips to cover it.
Nadia and I tidy breakfast up wordlessly and let the two nervous parents get their shit together so they can drive an hour back down the mountain. We stand a safe distance away from each other on the front porch as they pile into their truck, waving at us as they pull out of the driveway and disappear into the trees around the bend, and then the silence stretches between us.
My eyes trace Nadia’s profile, and she rolls her lips together, standing just a little too still to be relaxed.
I might be fourteen years older than her, but somehow, I can still be awkward as fuck around a girl I like. That she grabbed my clothes and practically shoved me out the door last night is seriously messing with my mojo. Especially considering I haven’t been with a girl I really care about in, well, ever.
The sex was hot as fuck, but I also liked the way my hands looked on her bare back. The way she squirmed beneath me. The way she moaned my name.
I want her moaning my name again, and my name only.
“Stop looking at me like that,” she snaps as a few loose tendrils of golden hair blow across her full lips.
A gentleman would do as she just asked, but I’ve never professed to be any such thing. So, I keep staring. I’m not sure I could pull my eyes away from her even if I tried.
“Like what?”
Her eyes roll and her arms cross, and all that achieves is to push her tits up in a really fucking distracting way. I stop staring at her face, just like she asked me to, and let my gaze drop south.
She cants her head in my direction with a snarky little smile, like she knows how badly I want her and gets off on it. “Like you want to eat me for breakfast.”
I chuckle. I can’t help myself. The girl is direct, and I love that about her. “Don’t be ridiculous.” Her brow goes low, all scrunched up like I’ve offended her. “I’ve already eaten breakfast.”
I brush the brim of my cap and give her my best polite golden boy smile. A tip of the hat, a flash of the white teeth. Straight out of a goddamn movie. Works every time.
