Roz kept sneaking peeks at Naz just to see as they walked the last bit of trail together. And yep, he was still staring at her. Someone else, and she might have gotten a little freaked out about the fact he wouldn’t look away. It was him, though. She didn’t mind so much with him. Actually, she really wanted to keephis attention on only her.
“You know, if you’re always looking at me,” Roz teased, “you’re not going to see what’s coming on the trail.”
Naz made a noise in the back of his throat. A sexy sound. It made Roz’s stomach clench, and knees weak. His fingers squeezed gently around hers, and he smiled. “Not possible. I know these trails like the back of my hand.”
Maybe he did. He and her brother had used them a hell of a lot more than she ever had as a kid.
“It’s on you if you face plant right into the—”
Without warning, Naz let go of her hand, circled a strong arm around her waist, and lifted her right from the ground. Two steps later, he put her back down like he hadn’t done anything in the first place. Roz peeked over her shoulder to find the bent root of some tree sticking out a good four inches from the ground. She hadn’t even seen that and easily would have tripped over it. Maybe scuffed up her hands a bit when she tried to break her fall. That wouldn’t have been good at all.
Not for playing the piano, anyhow.
“We found that root when Luca wrecked his dirt bike, and cracked his tooth in half,” Naz said.
Roz’s brow knotted together. “Wasn’t that when he was twelve?”
“I was thirteen.”
“He told Ma he tripped running back from the park. And I remember her calling your parents just to find out if you’d been with him or not when it happened.”
“And I backed him up, yeah.” Naz smirked. “Maybe we weren’t wearing helmets like we’d been told to do. But … you didn’t hear that from me.”
Huh. “Is that a common thing for you two?”
Naz arched a brow, and glanced over at her. “What’s that?”
“Lying for one another.”
“I wouldn’t call it lying,” he murmured, his hand tightening around hers again. “More like … watching each other’s backs. That’s what we were taught to do, after all. If they didn’t want us looking out for one another, then they wouldn’t have stuck us together the first moment they could.”
That was true. Roz couldn’t deny it.
For as long as she could remember, her brother had always tagged along with Naz. Where one went, the other was quickly followed. Their parents had always been quick to encourage the two boys’ friendship, too. Rarely had they been told no.
“I bet you two have done that quite a bit, haven’t you?” she asked. “Lie—oh, I mean, watch each other’s backs.”
She didn’t even try to hide the teasing lilt to her tone. Naz didn’t miss it if the way the sly gleam lit up his gaze was any indication. Naz grinned. “It’s very possible.”
“Care to tell me some?”
“Maybe someday.”
His tone did not match his statement. He sounded like, no, he didn’t plan on telling her very much in that regard. Boys.
Roz rolled her eyes, and laughed. “You’re not going to tell me anything, are you?”
“Probably not.”
“Why?”
Naz shrugged. “Honestly, it’s probably better you don’t know some of the shit we’ve pulled. I can’t say all of it is as funny or innocent as the dirt bike story, Roz.”
Well … “I’d still like to hear it.”
Naz made another one of those noises. “Maybe someday.”
She thought he sounded more believable that time. But who knew?
Roz took the front steps of the porch slowly, and only glanced back at Naz when she pulled the keys to the house out of her pocket. “Do you … want to come in?”
He hadn’t climbed the stairs with her. He just stayed there leaning against the railing of the stairs as she started to unlock the door.
“Do I want to and should I are two entirely different questions,” Naz murmured.
“What does that mean, exactly?”
Although, she wasn’t a stupid girl. And she was pretty damn sure she knew exactly what it meant.
Naz inched up one step slowly. A bit closer to her, but as her heart was screaming and pounding in her chest, he still wasn’t nearly close enough. She didn’t know what to do with these strange feelings this man invoked. Not the odd ache between her thighs, or the shortness of breath she had every time he looked at her like he was right now.
“It means,” Naz said, “that I absolutely want to go inside with you. More than you know, Roz. But I shouldn’t because I know better. Because it’s not the right thing to do tonight, even if I am a selfish little fuck.”
She grinned. He came a little closer. “Then, why are you still climbing the stairs, Naz?”
“For this.”
He darted forward from the last step, and closed the distance between them. His hands found her face, and he tipped her head back a second before his mouth crashed down on hers. The sweet kiss from earlier was entirely gone as his tongue struck hard against the seam of her lips.
Demanding, she thought. He was demanding she open for him, and let him taste her again. She liked that, and didn’t mind obliging. There was something wicked about the way he kissed her. How it made that ache between her thighs turn into a low flame that reached deep inside her body. Her skin hummed. He nipped her bottom lip gently, and then kissed her again.
By the time Naz finally pulled away—although he never once took his hands off her face or moved his gaze even a fraction of a millimeter from hers—Roz was trembling and she didn’t think she could talk.
“Had to do that one more time,” Naz said lowly.
There was something about the way he talked after he had his mouth on hers—husky, and dark. A lovely tone that had her muscles clenching all over and unsure of what to do. But oh, she liked it. She most certainly liked it. Too much, maybe.
“You should do that more often, then,” Roz said.
Naz grinned in that way of his. “I will.”
“But you’re not coming in.”
“Not tonight,” he returned.
“Okay.”
“I would like to take you out, though.”
Roz’s teeth bit down on her bottom lip as she mumbled, “Like a date?”
“Exactly that, Roz.”
“When?”
“As soon as you want to go,” he said.
Roz let out a slow breath. “You better figure something out quickly, then.”
He let out another one of those hard laughs, and finally let her go. Not that Roz liked that all too much. She would much rather have his hands back on her. She liked it way better that way. When he was touching her, everything else seemed to disappear. It already felt like the whole goddamn world was constantly watching her anyway. If he could make that disappear, she didn’t mind at all.
“Where’s your phone?” Naz asked.
Roz pulled the device out of her pocket, and handed it over without question after unlocking it. Naz plugged in digits, and handed it back over with a wink.
“Just in case you … get bored,” he said, “you know who to call.”
She smiled down at her phone. “And that date?”
“That’s definitely happening, too.”