Page 13 of Stuck With Mr. Frosty

My heart pounds in my chest, and all of a sudden, the front of my jeans feels a little too tight. All I can think about is the way her fingers feel on my body. If only there was a little less clothing between us and fewer people here.

“I let loose too much, and people could die.” I finish up my second beer and put it down on the table, with a slight buzz in my head, but everything is crystal clear. Two beers is the limit, always has been.

“You’re off tomorrow.” Mia nods to the calendar on the wall. “I checked before I invited everybody over. I didn’t want to interfere with your job.”

If she doesn’t want to interfere with my job, she shouldn’t be sitting next to me, looking like heaven and hell wrapped intoone. She shouldn’t be making me question who I thought I was when it came to the relationships I keep with people at work.

Mia smiles, and it’s one that sends my heart crashing through my chest. “When I first met you,” she says, “I was pretty sure you were icy because you didn’t like me.”

“And now what do you think?”

She studies me for a moment. The look in her eyes makes me want to whisk her away so we can talk for a few moments alone. Which is a mistake. Getting close to people and allowing them to know you — to have expectations of you — is always going to be a mistake.

“If you keep looking at me like that, I’m going to want to know what’s going on in your head,” she says, her tone light and teasing as she reaches up to smooth a finger over the corner of my mouth. “You’re going to get frown lines if you keep looking this serious all the time.”

I’m in over my head. I can see it as plain as day, and yet there’s a part of me that wants to kiss the tip of that finger, maybe suck it into my mouth until she’s begging for me to kiss other parts of her body.

Time to pump the brakes.

“Probably better if you don’t know what’s going on up there.” The corner of my mouth twitches. “I don’t think you’d like it so much.”

What happened to pumping the brakes?

Warmth floods her eyes as she stares at me, her tongue darting out to wet her full bottom lip. She clearly caught the double meaning of the words, not that I was trying to hide it at all.

“I think it’s time I go back to my room.” I don’t move, though, part of me hoping that she’s about to give me a reason to stay.

“Now you’re running away.” Her fingers move over my shoulder, tracing down my arm before climbing back up. “I thought I was the one accused of doing that.”

I lean in. “This is a bad idea.”

Mia rolls her eyes. “You need to stop overthinking everything. If you keep doing that, then you’re going to spend the rest of your life stressed and trying to figure it all out.”

“You need to worry a little more.” I pick at the strand to make the tension unravel between the two of us, wanting it to fall apart just so it doesn’t later.

“I didn’t think we were going to start arguing again tonight.”

“And yet here we are.” I motion between us, my fingertips grazing her collarbone. Electricity crackles between us. She leans closer. I don’t think there’s much more distance to close between the two of us, and yet it feels like a chasm has opened.

She’s insisting on building the bridge across it. I can see the determination in her eyes.

It scares me. That determination makes me want to run for the hills. I don’t think being friends is a good idea, because I know that once we’re friends, I’m going to want so much more with her.

I’m going to risk too much for her, and when it comes time to leave at the end of the season, she’s going to want me to stay with her. And I’m going to want to continue to the next adventure.

It’s better to end this before things ever have a chance to kick off.

“I know you think we should be friends, but it’s not going to happen,” I say, pulling back to put more distance between us.

Mia’s fingers trace patterns on my shoulder before she pulls back entirely. “You know, I thought we were starting to make some progress.”

“What progress could we possibly be making right now?” I motion to everything around us before standing and patting my thigh. Honey gets to her feet, but she looks miserable doing it.

“I don’t know what’s going on right now.” Mia’s eyebrows pull together. “I thought we were having a good time, and now here you are about to start insulting me again. And don’t even say that you’re not because I can see it on your face. So, actually, you know what, go ahead and say it. Get out everything you need to say because this is the last chance you’re going to have to say it.”

As much as I want to fight the urge to say everything that’s on my mind right now, there’s a part of me that craves the self-sabotage. The part that wants to send her running so if something does happen between the two of us, I don’t have to be the one to make the hard choice at the end of the season.

I can make it right now and save everyone the pain.

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