Page 39 of Waiting Forever
“That’s it. I’m throwing you in the pool.” He charges me, splashing up a storm.
I turn away and shriek. “No. Don’t. I’m sorry-I’m sorry.”
He grabs my waist, his hands slippery, and lifts me about a foot out of the water.
“Nathan, don’t!” I cling to his head like a monkey.
Muffled laughter bursts from him. He sets me on my feet.
Phew. I sink back onto my side of the Jacuzzi and catch my breath.
He sits across from me, his damp bangs skimming his long lashes, his expression one of disbelief.
“What?” I brush my wet hair from my face.
“When did you start joking like that?”
“I don’t know. When I was sixteen. You just missed it because you bailed on me every time I saw you.”
He frowns. “Yeah. I missed a lot.”
“You hardly know me now.”
“Nothardly.” He sweeps his bangs from his eyes and flashes me a sexy grin. “I know you, and you can tell me about what I’ve missed. Fill in the gaps for me.”
I raise my hands from the water and lower them with a splash. “I wouldn’t even know where to start.”
“Tell me about your last two years of high school, and what you’re studying. Is it still communication?”
“You know my major?”
“My dad told me.”
“Right.” Because our parents are close, even though he and I aren’t anymore.
“Still planning to work for the family business?”
He knows that, too? “Yep.”
“Doing what?”
I shrug. “Marketing, advertising, PR. A little of each. Whichever I’m best at.”
“You’ll be great at all of them,” he says with a confident nod.
I choke on a laugh. “You don’t know that. You don’t knowme. Not like you used to.”
“Thentellme.” It’s a soft command.
I roll my eyes. “You already know about the drinking and making out with boys.”
“I don’t want to know about them. I want to know aboutyou.” He scoots a little closer.
I narrow my gaze on him. Does he deserve to know about my life when he opted to stay out of it? “Okay. But on one condition.”
“Name it.”
“You have to tell me why you blew me off at my birthday party and then disappeared for three years.”
