Total pages in book: 132
Estimated words: 128742 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 644(@200wpm)___ 515(@250wpm)___ 429(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 128742 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 644(@200wpm)___ 515(@250wpm)___ 429(@300wpm)
“It’s all right,” I assure him, hopping up on a stool. “We can chat while you work. Pour me something yummy?”
“You got it.” He returns a moment later and hands me a glass of wine with a raspberry on top.
“Thanks.”
“You look good,” he says, mixing drinks as he talks.
I smile wryly. “Is that your way of saying it’s been a while and you’d almost forgotten what I looked like?”
Nate just winks and pours a line of shots for another customer.
Watching him work is fascinating. He’s not one of those bartenders who flings bottles and shakers around, chatting up the crowd and hamming it up for tips. Or maybe that’s not a British thing. Either way, his slightly aloof demeanor attracts a crowd of admirers, women throwing themselves against the bar to get his attention.
Seeing it does strike certain chords inside me. It reminds me why I’d been in knots from the moment I saw him on that stage. How quickly I lost my mind the first time I got on the back of his bike and wrapped my arms around him while we sped through the streets of London.
A curvy woman elbows her way in beside me. She’s wearing too much makeup and her boobs are hanging out. She tries her hardest to flirt with him as Nate watches me attempt to not look annoyed, grinning like a cocky bastard.
“Point taken,” I tell him once he’s served her drink and sent her off.
“Didn’t say a word.”
Cheeky Nate does terrible things to my body. Accelerates my pulse and sends a tickle between my legs.
“So you called this meeting,” I remind him, forcing my head out of the gutter. “What did you want to talk about?”
Nate speaks over his shoulder while ringing up credit cards. “Budapest.”
“Like the city?”
“Exactly like the city.”
“Not my area of expertise, I’m afraid.”
He returns to lean against the bar as I take a sip of my wine.
“This wine is good,” I say, running my tongue over my bottom lip to lick off a lingering drop. “Really good.”
His gaze heats as it tracks the movement of my tongue. “It’s my favorite one we sell. Nobody ever orders it because it’s also the cheapest and these assholes think the price tag has anything to do with how it tastes.”
“So Budapest,” I repeat. “Any particular reason?”
Nate tips his head in that sexy way he does. “Want to go?”
I blink. “Tonight?”
“I mean, if you’re game, I was thinking next week. That’s your break from school, yeah?”
Holy déjà vu.
If I was the suspicious type, I’d think these guys planned this. Conspiring to test my affections.
“You just came up with this?” I search his face for more clarity.
He shrugs. “I thought if we made it a week in Budapest or wherever without killing each other, then maybe I could convince you to come travel with me this summer.”
“You’re not serious.”
My head starts spinning with images of us backpacking through the streets of Hungary, exploring ancient landmarks and popping into dimly lit cafés. Then later, other dimly lit activities. Just Nate and I, caught up in our own adventure.
“Why not?” He’s got mischief in his eyes, which is a dangerous thing with a guy like Nate. There’s all sorts of trouble a mind like his can get up to.
“I thought you were a solo traveler,” I say, still completely shook by his invitation.
“Maybe you changed my mind.”
“I’d love to know how I did that.”
“Ignoring me for five weeks was part of it,” he admits before having to step away for a moment to pour some drinks and ring up orders. Then he’s back, watching me with that deep, intense gaze.
“So this is a ploy to get me back. Is that it?”
“I missed you,” Nate says under those dark lashes. “Which made me realize how much more I’d miss you if I was on the road for three months without you.”
I bite my lip against the blush rising to my cheeks. Damn him, but he’s good at this.
“And maybe I realized that feeling I’d been avoiding wasn’t going away.”
My breath gets stuck in my lungs. “What feeling is that?”
“That I’m in love with you.”
God. You have got to be kidding me.
Is he actually saying this? Mere hours after Jack declared the same?
Nate meets my startled gaze, taking my hand to rub his thumb over the inside of my wrist. “And if you’ll say yes, I want this adventure with you. We can make some memories together. Maybe a little trouble along the way. Whatever we want.”
I suddenly grasp the gravity of his offer. What it means to him to make plans. To allow someone else into his sphere and share this dream with me. It’s the only thing I’ve asked of him, and he’s handing it to me on a platter.
But the timing is…terrible.
I’m as tempted to say yes and chase the road with him as I was to say yes to Jack and fly off to Sydney.