Page 107 of Away With You
“Oh my gosh, I’m not ready.” I wipe my sweaty hands on my jeans and smooth back my hair. Before we landed in Melbourne, Rosie had done my make-up, straightened my hair and not-so-gently suggested an outfit change. Now that we’re here and the moment is almost upon me, I’m grateful she did this. That at least my outsides appear put together, while my insides are a crumbling mess.
“He’s coming this way,” Rosie squeals into my ear. I block her out, my lungs contracting painfully as my eyes connect with his. His eyebrows are drawn down, and his jaw is clenched tight. He doesn’t seem thrilled to see me.
“You’ve got this,” Cherry whispers as I stand up. “It will all be fine.”
“Thanks,” I say with a tremulous smile. “I guess I should go talk to him.”
Rosie nudges me, and my body lurches in his direction. All of a sudden, Nathan is there, in front of me, in the flesh. And he’s beautiful.
“Katie?” he says my name quietly with a large amount of shock ringing through that one word. “What are you doing here?”
I glance around, sensing many sets of eyes on me. “Um, I came to see you. Is there somewhere we can go to talk?”
Nathan frowns as he looks behind me to where Cherry and Rosie are grinning at us maniacally. “Sure, follow me.”
He turns on his heel and walks away while I glance back at my friends, who are now making shooing motions with their hands.
“Go get him!” Rosie yells.
Okay, I’ve got this. I follow behind Nathan, soaking in the breadth of his back in hisRedline Racingsuit. He’s so hot, I’m surprised my eyeballs aren’t on fire just looking at him.
“We can talk in here.” Nathan opens the door to a small room no bigger than my living room at home and motions me in. “But we need to be quick. I have to get back.”
I note the tight line of his mouth and the way he’s holding himself stiffly. He doesn’t look happy to see me.
“I’m sorry to turn up like this,” I start, wishing I’d practised a speech. “I don’t want to derail your testing session.”
He looks down and back up again, his eyes lacking their usual warmth. “You obviously have something you need to say.”
I nod, wondering if this was a mistake. If I read the snow globes and the hair ties, all wrong.
The hair ties!A quick glance at his wrist tells me all I need to know, and I step forward, so we’re chest to chest, almost touching, but not quite.
“Yes. I needed to thank you for the snow globes.”
He swallows hard, his eyes darting away from mine. “It was no big deal.”
I inch closer, leaning forward to catch his eye. “It was a very big deal. It meant everything to me.”
His jaw tightens further. “And yet, you didn’t call. You didn’t even text.”
“Yes.”
Hurt flashes across his face, and I place my hands on his chest, needing to touch him. “I’m sorry for not reaching out earlier. I just…couldn’t.”
His big hand rests over mine, like he can’t help wanting to touch me as well. “I know you said you were done, and I shouldn’t have sent them. It’s just that I saw them and thought of you.”
“I love them. And I love that you sent them, that you were thinking of me. I should have responded; I was being selfish by not responding.”
He stares down at me, his gaze tracing over my face. “Well, you’re here now.”
I gulp, willing my heart not to race out of my chest. “I’m here now. And I have so much to say. But the first thing I want to—need to—tell you is that I love you.”
His eyes flare, and his lips twitch into the smallest of smiles. “You do?”
I nod. “Yes, I really, really do. I should have said it to you back on New Year's Eve in my flat. I will always regret letting you walk out that door, not knowing how I felt. Because you were right, Nathan. I love you so much, it scared me. The thought of loving and losing someone else, it sent me into a panic. I was grasping at straws, trying to find a valid reason to send you away because of how desperately my heart wanted to keep you close.”
His lips crash on mine before the last word is out of my mouth, and I sink into him. He kisses me like I’ve been put on this Earth just for him to kiss. He kisses me like a man who is drowning and only my lips can save him. He kisses me like he never wants to stop kissing me.
