Page 18 of Unwritten Rules

I refuse to give myself time to ruin this by allowing the anxiety of seeing him for the first time in months to surface. So, instead, I propel my feet to the call button, spy him on the camera, and buzz him straight up.

From the time he sets foot on the elevator up to when he arrives at my door feels interminable.

The doors open in what feels to me like slow motion. The breadth of Nate’s shoulders fills the space, and my breath halts in my throat when his mere presence sucks all oxygen from the apartment.

His dark head is bent forward as he examines the floor at his feet until he slowly raises his eyes to mine.

Pools of liquid chocolate, swirling and intense, rake across every inch of me, and my skin erupts in goosebumps. His eyes caress my body more powerfully than any hands ever have until he meets my eyes. But instantaneously, he’s schooled his features so that his face is etched in deep concern.

“I got here as quickly as I could. Traffic was a disaster.”

My ears lap up the deep, husky goodness of this voice they’ve so missed, having been deprived for far too long now. My body hums, my skin tingling as red-hot flames of unrequited longing erupt within me.

I nod before drawing my bottom lip between my teeth and worrying it slightly. This awkwardness needs to go.

Screw it.

Striding forward, I don’t stop until we are face-to-face, toe-to-toe, our eyes locked on one another.

“Nathaniel, I…” I stop to clear my throat and then try again. “I’m so sorry I got things wrong between us in Devon last summer. My mind – I have no idea what came over me.”

You are a bald-faced liar, Mila DeMarco.

“I’m sorry that I compromised our friendship. I’m so unbelievably sorry because I’ve missed you, Nate. I’ve missed us so damn much.”

He narrows his eyes slightly, tilting his head to the side as though confused, which is a new look on him – this man who is always so confident of who he is, of who he’s been born to be.

I stick my hand out into the small space between us. “Friends?”

His gaze registers the gesture before moving upward to find and hold mine. His lips twitch under his thicker-than-usual beard, and suddenly, I’m being tugged into the warmth of his embrace.

My eyes flutter closed whilst my nose inhales deeply, filling my senses with this man and his signature spicy, woodsy scent that comforts me down to my bare bones.

I’m utterly unable to stop the sigh of contentment that escapes my lips. “I’m so glad you came.”

My words are mumbled against his chest as he drops a kiss on the top of my dark head. All at once, I know that whatever comes, I can deal with it.

“Where else would I be, littlest DeMarco?”

A serene stillness descends upon my open-plan living area, with just the streetlights and the city beyond illuminating the space until he speaks once more, bringing me back to reality with a lurch.

“What trouble have you landed yourself in that you can’t turn to your brother to dig you out of it?”

My mind races as I frantically decide just how much to tell him. As I weigh up the pros and cons of whether or not honesty truly is the best policy.

Nah, the bare essentials for now until you can figure a way out of it.

“I – well, I kind of umm…well…” I swallow hard, lifting my head to find his worried eyes on me. “I slept with a married man.”

When his face pales considerably, I know immediately I can’t unload the rest of my sorry state of affairs just yet, if ever.

“Well, not married. At least…not yet.” I clench my eyes closed, unable to look at him, unwilling to watch as his view of me is skewed beyond repair for the second time. When I speak again, my voice drops to a whisper. “I didn’t know, I swear.”

I cringe in remembrance of the gloriously spectacular shitshow that had played out when I had been made aware of just how epically I’d screwed things up.

He blows out a breath as I find his gaze and swallow roughly, awaiting judgement but not finding an ounce in the depths of his eyes. “And, how can I help? You need me to, what? Seduce his wife away so that you can ride off into the sunset with this scoundrel?”

His lips quirk as he easily lightens the mood in that way he does, and already I feel able to breathe easier. As though I don’t have such a heavy weight sitting right on the centre of my chest.