Page 77 of Dating After the End of the World
“Right?” Tessa says, placing a hand on her hip. “And from the glimpse I got of Blake’s ...package, I assume you might love him now.”
“Do you?” Blake cheekily smiles. He’s enjoying this far too much.
“Oh my God. Both of you stop.” I lean forward, covering my face with my hands in an attempt to hide from their questions.
Beneath the sheet, Blake’s hand grazes across my thigh, settling and gripping the inside of it. His fingers brush along my most sensitive skin. I bite down on my lip to stop myself from moaning and asking for more. Even more wouldn’t be enough. There’s something about his touch. It reaches every part of my body, even if it’s just a light brush across a sliver of my skin. I’ve never felt that before. I’ve never felt someone touch all of me with a single stroke. My heart starts to beat so fast, it’s like it’s a continuous hum. I let my hands fall to my lap and I sit up straight, looking as nonchalant as I can, despite what’s happening beneath the sheet.
“Why are you smiling like that?” Tessa eyes me suspiciously.
I give a blank stare and elbow Blake in his abdomen. He stifles a laugh and friskily squeezes my side. He knows exactly what he’s doing to me.
“I’m not even smiling,” I lie, trying to keep my mouth in a straight line. “And what are you doing down here?” My head tilts to the left, amplifying my subject-changing question. “No one was supposed to come down here.”
“Oh yeah. I forgot about that.” Tessa shrugs. “Although I realize now why that rule was in place.” She double raises her brow and smirks.
I roll my eyes. “It was not in place for that. This”—I gesture to Blake and me—“just happened. It wasn’t planned.”
“Sure,” she teases, unable to contain her amused smile. “Anyway ... ummm.” Tessa pauses for a second like she doesn’t want to say what she came down here to tell us.
“What is it?” I ask.
“There’s someone here to see you, and he says he’s your fiancé.”
My eyes grow impossibly wide. It feels like they could split at the corners.Fiancé? How is that possible?There’s an immediate tightness in my chest, constricting my lungs, making it hard to breathe, to process this news.
“Nate’s here?” I ask, barely getting the words out.
My stomach drops as though a trapdoor has suddenly opened up beneath it. I notice Blake’s touch is gone, or maybe I can’t feel him anymore. No, that’s not it. His skin is no longer pressed up against mine, his hand has retreated from my thigh, and his posture’s now rigid.
“Yeah.” Tessa nods. “But he insists we call him Dr. Warner.” Her eyes practically roll.
“You have a fiancé?” Blake asks, the question coming out strained.
I force myself to meet his gaze. Staring at him with my mouth slightly parted, I try to explain, but the words are tangled up in my throat. I don’t know how to answer him. The longer I sit here not explaining, not answering, the more his face changes from a look of disbelief into one of betrayal and hurt.
“I thought you told me you two broke up?” Tessa cuts in, coming to my aid.
My eyes dart back and forth between the two of them.
“I ... yeah. We did ... in a way ... break up,” I say, locking on with Blake again.
I can’t believe it. How could Nate be here? And why? He ditched me back in the city, so why would he ever come looking for me? Why risk coming all the way up here?
Blake’s eyes are unblinking. “What do you mean by that?” The words come out sharp, and he practically clicks his tongue.
I don’t know what to say to him. I can’t tell them Nate ditched me in the city and almost got me killed, because he’s here now—and actually, now that I think about it, he wouldn’t come here if he had intentionally left me behind.Right?Did I misinterpret his actions? I remember back to the moments before Nate fled out of the apartment. I was tied up with one burner, while another was regaining his footing. Nate had scanned his surroundings, and I remember thinking he was coming up with a plan to get us out of there. Maybe he took off because he was trying to draw the burners away from me, but they didn’t go after him. Maybe he ran into more trouble. Maybe he tried to get his Porsche ready for us to flee but it was stolen by other burners. Nate and I weretogether for years and were planning to get married. You don’t just run away from that at the first sign of trouble.
“We got separated back in the city,” I say. “And I thought he was long gone or dead.”
Underneath the sheet, Blake shuffles on his boxer briefs and then stands, pulling on a pair of jeans and a long-sleeve T-shirt. I glance up at him, waiting for a reaction, but he doesn’t give me one. He leaves the cell and starts off toward the door. Tessa awkwardly steps aside, letting him pass by.
“Where are you going?” I call out.
Blake pauses and briefly glances back at me, his mouth half grimacing and half smirking.
“To meet your stupid fiancé.”
Chapter 31
