Torque by Gillian Archer (have you read this book .txt) 📗

“Leaving you to hold it all together,” I finished for him. Because that was who Nathan was—the guy with the weight of the world on his shoulders.

Nathan pulled the arm back from around my shoulders as he looked over his left to merge onto the freeway. “I’m not trying to sound like a martyr. We’ve got the shop we’ve always dreamed about and a tv show that Austin wanted. It’s just…”

“Changing.” I finished for him again.

“Yeah.” He sighed then shook his head. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to get so maudlin on our first date. It’s just been a weird day.”

“Well, I’m guessing it’s not every day that you take your sister’s best friend out on a first date?”

He shot me a look with his sparkling eyes. “No, I can guarantee this is definitely a first for me. And I swear I’m usually smoother than this. It’s just—”

“Things are changing?” I teased with a smile.

He laughed lightly as he signaled to take the exit. Pulling up to the stoplight, he turned to me and shook his head. “Yeah, but maybe some of those changes are for the better. I’m pretty sure this is one of them.”

My heart pounded at the look in his eyes.

He leaned toward me, his eyes focusing on my parted lips. I leaned toward him too. His breath feathered across my face. Our lips were inches away from each other.

Beeeeeeeeeeeeepp!

We jerked apart.

Nathan swore under his breath and stomped on the gas pedal. We ripped through the now yellow light as my heart thundered in my ears.

“Can’t a guy make out with his girl at a light anymore?”

His girl? My flush deepened as I bit back my squee. I smiled back at him. “People are so impatient nowadays.”

“Truth.”

I grinned the rest of the drive to the restaurant.

Chapter Ten

Nathan

“So.” I turned to face Maddie as we left the restaurant. Tonight had been amazing. I don’t know how I’d missed the gorgeous, smart, and amazing woman Maddie had become, but I wasn’t gonna let her slip through my fingers now that I’d seen her.

Dinner had been the best date I think I’d ever had. It was just all so easy. Talking to her. Being with her. And it didn’t hurt that she looked hella hot on the other side of the table from me. Honestly, that was my only complaint of the night—she’d been too far away to touch. My fingers ached to skim her luscious skin I’d felt on the drive over.

I made up for that now as I held her hand and tugged her to my side.

“So,” she repeated back while blinking up at me through her dark lashes. “You said something about a walk by the river?”

I nodded slowly. “We can do that.”

It wasn’t what I wanted to do at all. I’d rather take her back to my place and lay her out on my king-sized bed after ripping all her clothes off. Just the thought of seeing her naked and writhing on my sheets had my cock hardening.

But we were supposed to be taking this slow. Dammit.

And it felt hella slow as we followed the path from the parking lot to the riverfront park. Slow and tortuous. Every step caused my dick to rub against the harsh feeling cotton of my boxer briefs when all I really wanted to do was rub against her. Maddie had this bashful quality about her that made me ache to corrupt her. Would she looked shocked if I told her what I wanted to do with her? Or would she get that naughty glint in her eyes I’d seen earlier at the stoplight?

I’d come so close to kissing her. It was all I could think about as we walked along the lit path. The way she’d held her breath. That look of lust in her eyes. And it’d been ruined by some impatient asshole and his annoying car horn.

Maddie cleared her throat. “So, I got the impression you aren’t happy with Dylan.”

Nothing killed an erection quicker than talk of my brothers. Unless it was mentioning Aunt Wendy or Sabrina. I shuddered. “Yeah, we had a few words today. What’s going on with him?”

Maddie coughed lightly and looked away. “What do you mean?”

“He was MIA all weekend. Didn’t show up to work Friday. He missed family dinner last night. And today, he was all squirrely, acting pissy and moody. I mean he’s always been kinda temperamental—I think it’s the defining Burns trait—but this was different.”

Maddie pulled away and stopped on the path, facing me. “I uh, don’t really feel like it’s my place to say anything.” She hitched a shoulder and looked uncomfortable by the conversation. “If you want to know what’s going on with Dylan you should ask him.”

“You’re the one who brought him up.”

“Right. Clearly that was a mistake,” she murmured to herself, but I still heard her. She shivered slightly and then crossed her arms over her chest. “If you want to know what’s up with Dylan you should talk to him.”

I don’t know what it was, but the way she said it made me think there was something to know, something Dylan and Maddie were hiding from me. “Is he in trouble?”

“I really don’t want to be in the middle of you two. And I’m sorry I brought it up. So if you want to know—”

“Ask Dylan. I got it.” I sighed impatiently. Maddie knew something, and it bugged the hell out of me that she wouldn’t tell me. Although at the same time, I respected that she was such a good friend. Her shivering caught my attention again. “Are you cold?”

Although it was spring, the breeze coming off the river made the air feel cool.

Maddie hugged her arms tighter. “A bit.”

“Come here.” I wished like hell I had a jacket to give her. But I didn’t.

Reaching out, I tugged her close to me and wrapped my arms around her. As her arms came around me, holding me just