Page 10 of Hold Me Today

Like a noose.

Dammit.

I rub the back of my neck, then try to smother the urge to demand answers.She is not my business,I remind myself. But the damn words worm their way out anyway when I blurt, “Are you seeing anyone whose ass I need to beat down for treating you wrong?”

Her nostrils flare, a little tell that infuses curiosity through my veins, before she’s shaking her head. “It’s sweet that you care, but no. It was just a joke, a stupid metaphor for my professional life. I’m not seeing anyone—”Ping. She reaches behind her and presses another button without looking to see which one.

Impulsive.

If someone were to ask me one word to describe my sister’s best friend, it would be that: impulsive. Her spontaneous nature would be admirable if it also weren’t so ridiculously frustrating.

“You want to talk?” I wave one hand toward her. “Then talk.”

She sniffs at my command, dimpled chin tipping up in defiance. “Being polite wouldn’t kill you, you know. A girl likes a bit of sugar when she’s spoken to.” Honey eyes narrow pointedly, and I already know her brain is spinning, chugging round and round like a hamster on a wheel. “Then again, sugar isn’t exactly your . . . speed.”

I’m going to regret asking what she means.

Hell, I tend to regret a lot of things when it comes to Mina—the woman gets under my skin like no one else, needling me, endlessly frustrating me—but this . . . I already know I’m not going to like her answer.

“What exactlyismy speed?”

She nibbles on her bottom lip, her white teeth a sharp contrast to the plum-colored lipstick.Ping!Her fingers find another button, giving us more time for our private “talk,” and my heart feels suspended in mid-air as we change directions and zoom down, down, down.

“Romantic strolls on the beach.”

Guilty as charged, thanks to a week spent visiting the Australian coast forPut A Ring On It. In my pocket, I crack my knuckles, one by one, buying myself time to think out the best way to answer.

I’m not given the opportunity.

“Getting individual bags of popcorn for a date at the theater,” Mina throws out a heartbeat later, like the prospect alone is offensive and a complete turn-off.

My jaw clenches. “There’s nothing wrong with two bags of popcorn. It’s easier that way.”

“It’s safe. And predictable, like the romantic strolls, which means both options feel veryyou.Plus, the point of sharing a bag is to battle it out for the last kernel and let your fingers brush and your hands tango it up.”

I shift my weight, sneaking one hand up to tug at my tie. Unless she cornered me in this elevator to list out all my faults, in which we’ll be here all night until security kicks us out, I’ve got a feeling she’s deflecting. Even knowing Mina as I do, andknowingthat she’s scrambling to keep a hold on whatever nerves are eating her alive, I can’t help but think back to Savannah Rose.

We were too similar to work.

Too set in our ways.

Predictable.Safe. Rigid. All things the woman in front of me snubs her nose at, preferring adventure and new experiences to stability and the familiar. Mina has me all riled up, so much so that I’m aware of the short rise and fall of my chest, and the low ringing in my ears.Maybe it’s because she’s telling you the truth—you’reuninteresting.

Instead of doing the smart thing, thematurething, and calling her out for procrastinating with this private talk of hers, I cave. Hard.

“I don’t like to dance,” I mutter, hands back in my pockets.

Mina leans forward, her dark hair falling forward in big ringlets, caressing the tops of her breasts again, and taps me on the chest. “It’s called foreplay, Nick. Not all women are in it for the pump-once-and-quit-it bedtime activities.”

Gamóto, I feel like I’m choking.

Does she think . . . There’s no way she could possibly think that I . . .

“I pump more than—”

I cut off the second Mina folds over at the waist, laughter creasing her cheeks and screwing her eyes shut. “Oh, Nick,” she whispers out between gusts of laughter, “your face when you . . . oh, my God, I can’t. I’m dying.”

Heat warms my cheeks and the tops of my ears.

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