Page 58

What if it had worked out for once?
I turned away from him.
“Stella—”
“I’m going to sleep.”
“But—”
“We don’t have to talk about it. I’m fine.”
“You’re not fine.”
“What do you want me to say, Alden?” I snapped, turning to him. “This is the story of my life. I like a guy, and he either wants to change me or pushes me away. After a while, it wears you down.”
“Don’t you remember what I said? It wasneveryou.”
“Yeah, sure. It wasn’t me, but it still ended the same way. With me alone.”
“You should haveneverbeen alone. You’re Stella Summers—the most beautiful woman on theplanet.Your smile is fucking heavenly and the sound you make when you laugh is better than any song I’ve ever heard. And any man should have seen that from day one.”
My jaw dropped. I had to be floating in dreamland because there was no way he just said any of that to me.
“And you did?” My voice was barely above a whisper.
Color drained from his face. “I ... You’re my friend. Of course I did.”
I crashed back down to Earth.
“Friend,” I repeated. “Right.”
The idea of staying friends when he’d just complimented me likethatseemed impossible. But I had to live with what he offered me. Dreaming of more had never worked out for me.
“Stella, I?—”
“Don’t apologize,” I said. “I get it. Friends is what you want, and that’s what you’ll get.”
I wanted more. I always would. But I could live with this being enough.
“Are you still cold?” he asked as he lay down too.
“Yeah. I’m just sensitive to the cold.”
“You’ve always been cold-natured.”
“We could huddle for warmth again. That’s what friends would do, right?”
“If it’s dire, yes.”
It wasn’t. I probably could survive even if the tip of my nose was cold. “Is this a dire situation?”
“I’d say so.”
“Okay, then we can huddle.”
I scooted closer to him, and his body heat immediately sank into me. Fuck. He was like a heater.
“I hate that you’re so warm.”