Page 62 of Not a Friend (Crescent Light #1)

Whoever said they couldn’t have their cake and eat it too clearly has never been in love with their best friend.

M y eyes darted to the clock on the microwave again. Only three minutes had passed since the last time I checked.

Ten minutes, I thought, only ten more minutes

I wondered if I would always feel like this. If the shock and excitement and anticipation of seeing him would ever fade. So far, it hadn’t, and I didn’t foresee it changing anytime soon.

It’d been that way ever since we left San Francisco.

After the wedding, we spent three days in the Bay Area, exploring, eating, drinking, and doing all the touristy things that we’d never gotten to do before.

While in some ways it was like nothing had ever changed, in other ways, it couldn’t have been more different.

Developing a steady rhythm with Nate Cassidy was the easiest thing in the world.

It always had been. But it was different this time.

We were together. Really, truly, finally , together.

And it seemed that we were on the same page without even having to discuss it. This was new. This was a clean slate. We needed to treat it with care .

Nate and I kept things modest in San Francisco, which was different for us.

Soft, tentative touches were as far as we went physically—hooked ankles under the table at dinner, an arm around my shoulders as we rode the ferry to Alcatraz Island, interlaced fingers over the duvet as we drifted to sleep.

And on our final night, we spoke more honestly with one another than ever before.

“In my eyes, this is the greatest opportunity I’ve ever had,” he’d said.

“I’m just thankful that you’re here with me, after everything.

I’m sorry if I’m laying it on thick, but…

” He met my eye, shaking his head with the conviction of his words.

I’d never seen him so earnest. “You’re it for me, Oli.

I don’t plan on fucking this up again. You mean too much. ”

This time around was liberating. No more guessing games, no more uncertainty, no more wondering what the other person was thinking, how they were feeling. Complete and total honesty in everything.

In the month that followed San Francisco, my stomach fluttered with every text message from Nate, every phone call, every late-night FaceTime.

He came to Boston to visit in early December and stayed the weekend with me, and during that visit, he invited me back to Connecticut to spend Christmas with his mom and sister.

It was quite possibly the best Christmas I’d ever had.

And now it was February, and he was two minutes away.

I’d never been so happy.

Footsteps sounded in the hall outside my door, and I swung it open before he had the chance to knock. I was greeted immediately by his wide, close-lipped, dimple-popping, Nate smile.

“Hey,” he said easily, taking a step into my apartment.

“Hi,” I beamed back, already breathless.

I waited patiently for him to set his guitar case down and sighed into his neck when he folded me into his arms. My fingers went to the dark hair at the nape of his neck, and his palms spread wide across my back like he was trying to take in as much of me as possible. We breathed each other in.

“I missed you,” he muffled into my hair after a beat.

When I pulled away, he cupped my face to keep me close and planted his lips against mine once, twice, three times.

He lived just over an hour away now, but sometimes it felt too far.

“I’m glad you made it,” I said, holding his hands and easing him further into the apartment with another kiss.

He hummed, pressing his lips to mine again, taking another big step toward me, forcing me backward. In an easy motion, he shrugged off his denim jacket without pulling away from me.

“Are you hungry?” I asked breathlessly. “I was thinking we could order something in tonight.”

Another big step forward from Nate and his chest pressed against mine. “Starving.”

“And Jared?” I asked, dipping a hand under the hem of Nate’s T-shirt, running my fingers across his abdomen. I hooked a finger into a belt loop at the front of his jeans and tugged gently. “Did you guys get everything sorted for your meeting tomorrow?”

“Oli?”

“Mmh?”

He met me in another dizzying kiss as we crossed the threshold of my bedroom. “I love you.”

I smiled against his lips.

I’ll never get tired of hearing him say that.

“I love you, too. ”

He eased me onto my bed and crawled on top of me, pushing my lavender sweater to my chest as he climbed his way up. Calloused fingertips smoothed over my soft stomach.

“Good. So, let’s not talk about Jared right now, okay?”

My laugh was cut short when he dipped his head to kiss the top of my breast. His teeth scraped against my nipple through the thin fabric of my lace bra, and I arched toward him, sighing.

“Is this new?” he breathed, dragging his tongue hotly over my nipple through the lace.

“Maybe.”

A second later, he slowly peeled the sweater off my body, taking his time to kiss and run his mouth over every inch of my exposed skin.

This was what I needed. What I craved, always. His touch, his kiss, the weight of him against me, his presence, his company. Even if we sat in silence, doing nothing but existing together, I wouldn’t trade it for the world. There was a rightness to the world when we were together.

I buzzed from head to toe.

No, just on my ass, actually.

My ass physically buzzed from my phone shoved into my back pocket.

Nate sucked gently on the sensitive skin at the pulse point of my neck. “Should you get that?”

“Um.” Resetting my brain to process anything that wasn’t his hand on my thigh or the one tangled in my hair was an impossible task. “Yeah, maybe.”

He laughed through his nose and rose to all fours, hovering above me as I wiggled my phone free from my back pocket. I had to blink at the screen twice to make sure my brain wasn’t playing a trick on me.

“My sister is calling.” Concern laced my words .

“Which one?”

“My older one.” I slid my thumb over the screen to answer. “Lily? Everything okay?”

By the time I hung up, Nate was sitting back on his heels, watching me with his brows pulled together. He knew my siblings rarely reached out to me, and it was highly unusual for Lily to call out of the blue.

“What’s wrong?” he asked, drawing circles on my knee with a thumb. His hair was adorably disheveled, a sweet contrast to the blush staining his cheeks.

“I’m not sure. She said she needs somewhere to stay for a few days and that she’ll explain later.”

“Is that… normal for her?”

I snorted. “Not at all. I mean, I’d be less surprised if it were my brother, River, but Lily?” I shook my head, thinking. “No, something is definitely up. She’ll be here in a few hours.”

Nate nodded and ran his hand from my knee to my ankle, making no move to continue the fun we’d started before we were interrupted.

I pushed up to a sitting position, angling my head back as I met his eye. I put a hand on his T-shirt and tugged him forward until his lips met mine in a slow, lingering kiss.

“We still have plenty of time,” I whispered.

His contented sigh was answer enough.