From Yesterday Read Online Free PDF Page B

walk up to the hostess stand, but before we can request a table, Brady snags my wrist and pulls me so that my back is leaning into his chest. I can tell he lowers his head down because next I feel his breath by my ear. "Roll your eyes at me again, Paige. I dare you."
    He puts a hand on my hip and moves me forward, but I would have preferred to stay right where I was a second ago. The little power game he just played was inexplicably sexy. I can almost guarantee that if some other guy had just said that to me, while putting me in a physically inferior position, I would have punched him. Instead, I follow him to the little booth near the back of the restaurant that the hostess is taking us to. There are very few parties in the place, and our table is fairly secluded. I'm betting this is all a part of Brady's plan. Plan? What am I even thinking? There's no actual indication that he's interested in me for anything more than friendship and a great partner project. It's not unlike me to read into every little thing a person does and all the lust swirling around in my brain could very well be making me think this is more than it is. I have got to remember that or things could be very embarrassing for me. Again.
    I will not let that happen.
    Grabbing onto a semblance of the girl who doesn't let people in, I put up as much of a wall as I can before sitting across from Brady in the banquette. He makes eye contact and smiles at me, but I'm saved by the server who comes to hand us menus and I focus all my attention on ordering some water. Brady orders a Japanese beer and I risk a quick glance in his direction once the server walks away. He is frowning.
    "Where did you go just now?"
    I know what he's asking, but I play dumb. "What are you talking about?"
    "It's like you just had a major mood swing or something. I thought we were making progress, you and I. You haven't even spilled anything on me today, yet. All of a sudden you seem like you're not in the same room with me anymore. Why do you do that?"
    I shrug like I couldn't care less. It's an act, but I happen to be particularly good at this act. Usually. "Really, I have no idea what you mean. I'm here sitting right in front of you, Brady. Let's just drop it and order. I'm starving."
    Just let it go , I will him. And he does, for a little while. We order our food and then spend a few minutes in what seems like companionable silence; each of us lost in thought.
    It doesn't last.
    Brady places his arms on the table and laces his fingers together. "How many friends do you have, Paige?"
    I am mid-sip of my water when he asks this and I nearly choke. "What kind of question is that, Brady?"
    "A valid one. I'd like to know if this is about me or you."
    "Well, you don't mince words, do you?"
    He shakes his head. "No, and neither do you. Which is why I feel perfectly comfortable having an honest conversation with you. I'm not judging you or trying to be a jerk, I just really want to know if you'll ever open up a little more."
    Something about the way he looks at me right then is my undoing. Immediately, I feel my defense mechanisms stripped away from me like a ribbon undone from a wrapped present. I can't do a thing to stop it. The somber mood lifts a little as I drop the straw wrapper I'm playing with and look directly at him. "I don't have any friends."
    Something changes between us right then. It's like, with that one sad statement, I have finally let Brady in to my life. It is his first honest glimpse of who I am and he didn't have to pull it out of me forcefully. The words left my mouth willingly, knowing that I can no longer hide from him.
    "Well it seems to me as if that is just a little bit untrue, Paige, because from where I sit it looks like the number of friends you have just increased by at least one."
    I swallow hard. The lump in my throat is massive, but there is no way I will shed a tear. I've been vulnerable enough for one evening. Our server, bless her, arrives with our food and