A chill breeze brushed past my cheek as I trod through the snow, and once again, I let out an involuntary shiver. I shoved my hands even deeper into my pocket and let out a heavy sigh. It was a freezing late-February afternoon, yet for some reason, I had let Nathan bully me into going on a walk through the city park.

Two weeks had passed since my mother's funeral, and it had been two weeks since I had moved in with Nathan. And though most days, my emotions hit me roughly, Nathan always seemed to find one way or another to make it better. Whether it was cheering me up with a movie marathon or holding me while I cried. Sometimes, he would listen to me talk, and it was nice to let out how I was feeling.

At one point, he even offered for me to share his bed, but I had denied it, not wanting to take advantage of his kindness. Though he denied it, a nagging feeling kept reminding me that he was probably doing this out of pity. 

But even if he was, it was undeniable that over the last couple of days, the weight of the depressive thoughts were starting to fade a little and I was starting to feel a little more like myself. More hopeful, and happier again. I knew the pain of losing her would never fully leave me, but it was a start to the feeling of acceptance that I needed.

I was pulled out from my thoughts as another shiver ran down my spine. Nathan must have heard me because he chuckled and spared a glance my way. 

"I told you to wear a scarf and gloves," he gloated as he sent one of those annoying smug looks my way. 

 With spite-filled eyes, I looked him and his stupid over-sized coat-self up and down in distaste. "Yeah, well, eat a dick," I huffed.

His stupid lips tugged up into a smirk. "You first," he snorted. I rolled my eyes at him, despite the fact I found it kind of funny. People who made me feel cold didn't deserve to have people laugh at their jokes.

I cocked an amused eyebrow up at him. "So, is there a particular reason you've decided to torture me into freezing my arse off in the cold or are you just a sadist?"

Nathan rolled his eyes and slowed down to a halt. I watched in confusion as he unwrapped the scarf from around his neck. Then surprising me, he looped the snug material over my neck before looking down at me. "There, you're a little bit warmer now," he whispered. My cheeks burned a little from the action.

Instead of tying it into a knot like I thought he would, he hung loosely onto the ends, then suddenly he gave it a strong tug causing me to tumble towards him. Not wanting to fall over, I quickly put my hands on his chest to steady myself.

Looking up, I found Nathan staring down at me with a mischievous spark in his eyes. "Don't I get a thank you after such a heroic act?" He tugged on the scarf again, pulling me closer until we were practically nose to nose.

Briefly distracted, I paced over his soft features. "Hmm?" he coaxed as his eyes dropped down to my lips.

Once my internal strength had returned, I rolled my eyes and shoved him away. "You're not getting shit after lassoing me to you like a pig," I snorted as I looked him up and down.

That annoying smirk of his grew wider. "Don't you lasso cows, not pigs?" 

I narrowed my eyes at his sass. Wanting to wipe that stupid grin off his annoying-smug face, I took a step closer to him and sent a rather sharp kick to his knee.

"Woah, shit," he hissed as his knee buckled underneath him. To my disappointment, he quickly regained balance and straightened himself back up.

Nathan shook his head disappointedly at me. "You really like to put that kickboxing shit to use, don't you?" he snickered.

"Yup," I announced.

His eyes still focused on mine, narrowed a little as though contemplating something. Then slowly, he smiled. "Okay, if that's the case, attack me, then," he said as he spread his arms out invitationally.

"You want me to.... attack you?" I repeated slowly, wondering if he had lost his mind. 

"Yeah, go on, knock me on my arse, I want to see the master in action," he said, punctuating his words with a wink.

I paused, considering my options. "Okay, whatever, sure," I shrugged, quickly warming up to the idea.

He gave me an odd look. "Erm..should I be concerned that you agree to it that fa-"

Before he could finish, I grabbed his arm, rammed my elbow into his stomach. Twisting him around, I knocked him completely off his feet. He let out a startled grunt as he hit the ground, his back making a satisfying crunching sound against the snow as he did. I quickly followed after him, and landed smoothly up above him, with my knees placed on either side of his chest.

I looked down in satisfaction at a heavy-breathing Nathan, his chest rising and falling in steady even breaths. His eyes were slightly widened, and he had a startled look in his eyes.

 Chuckling at his expression, I placed my hands on either side of his head to further emphasize my dominance. "How was that for knocking-you-on-your arse?" I said as I beamed down at him smugly.

I was expecting him to roll his eyes at me or do something along those lines, but he didn't. Instead, he swallowed hard, and stared up at me, examining each feature on my face with the utmost care. 

Slowly, in a dazed-like trance, he lifted his head up, so it was teasingly close to my own. "I thought it was hot," he whispered against my lips. My breath hitched as he grabbed hold of my chin and slowly started to lower my head down to his.

Before our lips could touch, I swiftly moved my head to the side, so his lips landed on my cheek instead.

"Nathan, we can't," I murmured. Shaking my head, I quickly sat up and scrambled to my feet. He quickly followed after me, his brows drawn together in concern.

"Sophie, what's wrong? Did I-"

"You didn't do anything, I interrupted him, guessing what he was about to say. "I just can't kiss you without feeling guilty," I stammered out in frustration.

"Guilty about what?" he questioned, confusion lacing his tone. 

"Guilty about fucking everything!" I cried, throwing my arms up in the air dramatically. "Don't you get it, Nathan? I'm bad news for you. I know you said you forgive me for what I did to you, but you shouldn't. I used you, lied to you, and did all this unforgivable shit. Face it - I'm crazy, and..and weird...and basically just rude. I don't want you with someone like that. I want you with someone better. You deserve to meet someone in normal circumstances, like on a dating app or at a coffee shop or well pretty much anywhere normal. Don't you want that?" I asked, finally releasing my breath.

Nathan opened his mouth to say something, then a strange look sparked through his eyes, and he shut it. "You know what, you're right," he said affirmatively. 

Though he was agreeing with me, I froze up, not expecting him to change his mind so quickly. And shamefully, I felt my stomach turn over in jealousy.

 "I...I am? You sure, I am?" I repeated slowly.

 He nodded his head, his smile never leaving his face. "Yeah, you are. I've always fancied meeting a cute girl at a coffee shop, so why not?" he shrugged.

I blinked at him, still in a paralyzed state of shock. "Coming with?" he said, nodding his head for us to go.

"Yeah, sure," I murmured. 

I mean, I wanted him to agree with me and all, but he could do me the decency of looking a little less excited about it. But despite my internal pain, I sucked it up and begrudgingly walked alongside him.

God, I was a fucking idiot.

I sulkily walked alongside Nathan as we made our way down the high street. He was such a dick. I mean, yes, I did tell him to go out and find a girl, but I didn't mean today, and I certainly didn't mean while I was still here.

I cleared my throat. "Maybe I should go back to yours, and...and you can tell me how it goes," I rambled abruptly.

"Nope, you've got to be here," he sang matter of factly.

I grew more and more nervous as we approached the corner of the street where our local coffee shop was. My heart instantly soured. I didn't care if I was going back on my word. I didn't want to see him with another girl.

Nathan put a hand on my shoulder to stop me when we were seconds away from entering the shop. "Take a seat out here. I'll be back in a second," Nathan said as he nodded his head over to the little outside tables underneath the shop's gazebo.

What, so he didn't even want me going in with him? Dickhead...

Controlling the urge to throttle him, I narrowed my eyes and pulled out a chair before slumping down into it.

Then, Nathan being the annoying prick he was, spared me one last look and walked confidently into the shop, causing the little shop bell to jingle up above his head.

I stared at the place he used to be in distaste. I hope there were only creepy old ladies in there...

Drumming my fingers impatiently against the table, I watched in boredom as the odd person walked by. Since it was literally snowing outside, nobody else was sat outside, only me.

As I thought more bitter thoughts, I suddenly heard the same chime of the shop doorbell ring out. Figuring it was a random customer, I didn't even bother to move my gaze.

That's when I heard the scraping of a chair and the unmistakable sound of someone settling into a chair in front of me with a contented sigh.

About to tell whatever weirdo that was in front of me to fuck off, I paused as my eyes locked onto Nathan's. He was sat up straight and watching me carefully with a definite plan of action sparkling mischievously in his eyes. Before I could vocalize my confusion, he spoke up.

"You don't mind if I sit here, right?" he said, an easy smile playing on his lips. I blinked, then blinked once more. 

"Erm...no..," I said slowly, wondering if he had lost his mind.

"Excellent," he said. "My name's Nathan, by the way, Nathan woods. What's yours?" he said as he stretched out a hand.

It was only at this point that I started to catch his drift, and I slowly cocked an eyebrow up at him. "Nathan, what are you doing?" I laughed.

His smile grew wider. "Talking to a hot girl like I've been advised. So, what's your name, coffee shop- girl?" he winked.

I stared at him for several blank seconds before I cracked a grin. "Why? What would you like it to be?" I smiled.

"Hmm, a lot of good choices, a lot of good choices," he murmured, pretending to think. "But I think I'll have to go with Nathan Wood's girlfriend. It's quite catchy, isn't it?" he said, a devious spark still shining brightly in his eyes.

My heart skipped a beat like it always did around him, but I quickly rolled my eyes.

"Nathan, you know this isn't what I meant. You're supposed to ask out another girl," I said flatly.

He lifted an eyebrow. "Sophie, I humoured the idea of asking out another girl for a second, and you looked like you wanted to rip my head off," he teased.

"No, I didn't," I snapped quickly. "Did too!" 

"Didn't!"

 "Did too!"

I slumped down in defeat. "Okay, fine, maybe I did. Happy?" I sighed.

 "Very," he smirked. 

I shook my head at him and quickly stood up. "Okay, whatever, come on, let's go home," I said, nodding my head for us to go. 

I got about a couple steps away from the table when I heard the scraping of his chair, then Nathan's hand quickly grabbed mine to stop me from leaving. 

He turned me around to face him before clearing his throat. "Look, can I be real with you for a second," he said while taking a cautious step closer to me.

I paused but slowly nodded my head for him to continue.

He sighed. "When I first met you, Sophie, I thought you were annoying and weird... and a little bit crazy. Not to mention inappropriate and-"

"Get to the point, Nathan," I snapped. 

"Okay, okay, I'm sorry," he said, cracking a grin. "Yeah, but as I was saying, I came up with every reason under the sun to dislike you. But then," he trailed off. "Then, I started to realize that those were the things I kind of liked about you," he said, his eyes rocking softly back and forth between mine.

"I mean, yeah, I could find another girl at a coffee shop, or the movies, or at a random festival, but I don't want that. I want the girl who slammed into me at the club and knocked me to the floor," he chuckled, his teeth breaking through his grin. 

"I want the girl who has a weird obsession with hot chocolate, and who knows how to sexily dance on a chair. A girl who teases me to hell and back yet is the first person to yell at someone who did me wrong."

 I smiled, knowing he was talking about his brother.

"What I'm basically trying to say is that you're aware I'm a persistent arsehole, right?"

My lips tugged up. "Right," I confirmed.

"And so, you've either got two choices. One, be my girlfriend or two, deal with me psychotically annoying you for the next few weeks."

"Wow, that's quite the options," I laughed.

He chuckled. "I'm not going to lie, Sophie. I've done a lot of stupid things in my life, but falling in love with you was not close to one of them. "You can push me away, and call yourself names, and tell me you're not good enough for me, but I'm never going to believe you."

 Slowly, he moved a hand to gently cup my face, and my breath hitched as he pulled me closer. "I don't want some random coffee girl, Sophie," he said, his eyes dancing back and forth between mine. "I want you."

The last of his words broke me, and no longer able to hold back, I grabbed a fistful of his shirt and pulled his lips down onto mine. Those warm, familiar lips met mine, and the last of my resistance melted away. He smiled against me and pulled me closer. And at that moment, I knew there was no way I was ever letting Nathan Woods go. Certainly not now, and not ever.

And at that very second, I didn't care that the snowflakes were likely all caught up in my hair or that we were freezing our arses off. Or even that we were making out for the whole street to see. All that mattered was that Nathan loved me.

Finally, we broke apart, and his eyes stared down at me, light and teasing. "So, have I got myself a new girlfriend?" he whispered. 

"Hmm, perhaps," I mumbled. His eyes narrowed, seemingly not happy with that answer.

 Giving in, I sighed. "Okay, fine, yes, you idiot."

"Excellent," he smirked before giving me a celebratory peck on the lips.

 After a couple seconds of the two of us just grinning at each other like idiots, I cleared my throat. "Okay, no, but real talk, let's actually get out of the cold. I'm freezing," I said quickly. 

"Very true," he snorted. 

Then with my hand, held firmly in his, he led us into the coffee shop. And as we stepped out of that freezing cold air, I couldn't help but smile at the irony. Nathan Woods, the egotistical monster whose heart I set out to break all those months ago, was now my equal, my greatest love, and most importantly mine. 

So, maybe failing to golddig a rich boy wasn't such a bad thing after all.

The End. 

-------------------

Author's note:

Wow, and that's the final chapter done! I can't believe we've gotten to this point already, but I'm so so grateful for all my readers. It's been a pleasure to read your comments and know that people were reading my work.

This book will always be special to me despite its flaws.

Now to answer some common questions:

Will there be an epilogue? Potentially, but at this precise second no. Nothing really came to mind for a good epilogue chapter, and I didn't want to force anything then hate it.

Will there be a Nathan's POV book? I think there's a low chance I'll do an entire book in his POV, but I might be willing to write a chapter or two if people have a particular scene they really want to read from his viewpoint.

Future plans:

1. I'm going to continue to work on Ethan's POV book (this is a bonus book to the other novel I've written on Wattpad)

2. I'm about 14 ish draft chapters into a new book I'm writing. It's a teen-fiction rom-com style book, and it's, of course, your classic enemies to lovers. I'm not sure when I'll be done with it as I'm ridiculously busy, but hopefully it should be coming next year. So far I'm absolutely in love with it, and I can't cant wait till it's ready to share.

Anyway, thanks for reading!