Ha. In his dreams. He bet if he pulled her to him, he could still feel every one of her curves, even through the thick layers she wore. The heat of her body, the scent of her skin…
“It is,” she agreed. “That’s why I came down here with you. I figured we could…hang out.” Her explanation sounded perfectly logical but…
“Define hang out,” he said, since he didn’t know how else to reply. And he was curious to see what exactly she was thinking.
“Um…” She pressed her lips together, looking a little uncomfortable. “I don’t know. Snuggle close, like you said?”
Surprise filled him. Did she just really say that? Did she want more from him, too? Or was this wishful thinking on his part?
And wouldn’t that bum him out? Maybe. Okay, yeah it would.
“So you’re suggesting we…snuggle to stay warm,” he said carefully, his gaze never leaving her. He needed to gauge her reaction.
She nodded furiously.
“You all right, Min? You look a little amped up.” Like she just downed ten cups of coffee amped up. Her eyes were wide and she seemed agitated, her entire body quaking.
“Can I ask you a question?” she blurted, pressing her lips together the minute the words left her.
“Sure.” He frowned, waiting for her. This could either be a really good question or a really bad one.
“If I asked you right now to kiss me, would you?”
Chapter Five
If he thought the house was quiet earlier before they’d gone to bed, it was extra- quiet now. Like a death tomb. However he was feeling anything but dead-and-gone-like.
Though Mindy had certainly dropped a bomb on him with a few simple words, it wasn’t the bad sort of bomb. More like the blow-his-mind, wow-that-came-out-of-nowhere, sure-I’m-up-to-it kind.
“You don’t have to if you don’t want to. I mean, uh—Oh God, I don’t know what I mean.” She tipped her head back, staring up at the ceiling for a moment as if she needed to gather her thoughts. The glow from the fire cast her face in shadow, but he saw the despair. The worry.
He was feeling just surly enough to make her twist in the wind for a little bit.
“Spit it out, Min. Say what you gotta say.” He scooted closer to her, a subtle movement she didn’t seem to notice, she was so traumatized over her request. A request he would undoubtedly bestow, since the more he thought about it, the better it sounded.
A moment he’d wanted for years was being handed to him on a silver platter. No way was he going to pass this up.
But she was an overthinker so he needed to make his move and soon. He could see those cogs turning in her brain at this very moment. Having her worry for too long would ruin it. There was a fine line when dealing with Mindy.
Should he make a move, though? Things were cozy and almost perfect right now between the two of them but it could all change the minute they escaped the house. Everything could go back to normal. She might forget al
l about him, and he’d be left with a broken heart.
Again.
It was that easy for him, gaining back those feelings for Mindy. Stupid, he knew, but he couldn’t help it. He’d always had a thing for her. Always. It’d just been lying dormant all these years.
“I just…I’ve been thinking about it. What happened between us. All the what-ifs and the whys and the how did I let our friendship die like it never mattered to me.” Her gaze met his, full of sadness and regret and so much more than he could ever know or probably even understand. “Because it did matter to me. You were such a big part of my life for so long and then I let you go because I thought Marty was what I wanted. I focused on nothing else but him and our relationship. He didn’t…want me hanging out with you. He wanted me to all to himself and I believed I wanted that too, at the time. He never gave me time to consider what I really wanted.”
Jealousy brewed within him but he tamped it down. Marty Fenton was a total asshole. “You thought you wanted it,” Josh pointed out, hating yet again how she always seemed to blame herself for her relationship and subsequent failed marriage. “You were young, Min. We all make mistakes when we’re young. Look at what a jackass I was. After you rejected me, I didn’t talk to you again for months. I had you in three classes that year. Yet I somehow avoided you like the plague.”
“I hardly noticed,” she admitted, her voice soft and full of regret. “I was too wrapped up in Marty.”
Yeah, she had been. Even though their school had frowned upon obvious public displays of affection, Marty had been the king and master of PDA back in the day. He’d had his hands and lips all over Mindy in the hallways between classes, at lunch, after school.
It had burned Josh, seeing them together. How much he hated Marty for stealing his best friend. The girl he’d always wanted but had never been brave enough to make his own. Marty had made him feel like a loser and that’s what had burned the most.
“But that’s dead and gone,” Mindy continued, shaking herself as if shaking all those old memories with Marty out of her. “Clearly, whatever you might’ve felt for me all those years ago is dead and gone, too, so I’ll just go ahead and do as you suggested. Grab a couple of extra blankets and head back upstairs so I can sleep it off. Good night, Josh. Hope the couch is comfortable enough for you.”