Page 10 of A Lot Like Forever
Chapter 3
Nate had stayed in the shower way longer than usual. He’d blasted it so hot that it had almost taken his skin off, and when that hadn’t erased the mental picture tormenting him he’d turned the faucet to cold. All that had managed to do was piss him off, and he was still remembering just how goddamn hot Faith had looked in her nightwear. Tiny little shorts that showed off a hint of butt cheek, a tight top that displayed the perfect silhouette of her nipples, and her hair all tousled and messy, like she’d been rolling around between the sheets before coming downstairs.
He groaned as he pulled on his jeans.Thiswas why he shouldn’t have let her stay. Hell, now that he’d had time to think about it, he could have put her up in a nice hotel or somewhere else indefinitely, anything to help her without having to directly involve himself. Instead he’d as good as invited the lamb into the wolf’s den.
What he needed was a night out, somewhere with plenty of single women. Maybe if he distracted himself with enough sex, he’d stop thinking about Faith like that.He laughed.With Faith it was more than just physical, it always had been, which was why nothing helped him to stop thinking about her. Never in his life had he been told he couldn’t have something if he wanted it bad enough. It didn’t mean he was handed everything on a silver platter; he’d learned to work hard to get what he desired, but at the end of the day he always figured out a way to get it. Faith was in an entire category of her own, and the fact that he couldn’t just screw her and get her out of his system was starting to seriously annoy him.
The doorbell rang, followed by some loud thumping, and he grabbed a shirt and headed for the stairs. Enough with thinking about Faith’s legs wrapped around him and her ass pressed to the glass in his shower. He had work to do and he needed to get her the hell out of his head.
“I’ll get it!” he called out.
It was probably one of his brothers or a worker come to ask him something, and he didn’t need any of the guys copping an eyeful of Faith if she was still wearing her itsy-bitsy outfit. If he had barely any willpower when it came to her, the ranch hands would have zero.
Nate hurried down the stairs, pulling the shirt on and leaving it open as he unlocked the door and opened it.
“Sam?”Fuck.“Hey,” he said.Double fuck.
Sam ran a hand through his hair before hooking his thumbs into his jeans. “I know this is going to seem weird, but I--”
“Did you get the door?”
Nate stifled his groan and stepped back, not seeing any point in concealing her when Sam had just heard his sister call out. His morning had just gone from bad to goddamn terrible.
“Faith?”
Sam looked as surprised to see Faith as she did to see him, but she didn’t linger in the shadows. She walked straight toward him and gave him a big hug, her arms locked around his neck.
“Hey, Sam,” she said. “Before you say it, I know I should have called, but I didn’t want to worry you.”
Nate breathed a sigh of relief, even as Sam glared at him over her shoulder. As far as Nate could tell, he’d dodged a bullet by the simple fact that she was wearing jeans now, even if she was barefoot and looking way too at home.
“What the hell are you doing here?” Sam asked. “I came here to get Nate to help me track you down, and--”
Nate stepped back and motioned for them both to follow. “Come on; I need a coffee.” Or possibly a whiskey depending on Sam’s reaction.
Nate walked into the kitchen and hesitated when Faith moved in front of him, touching his arm and shaking her head like she was way too comfortable with him.
“I’ll get it,” she said. “I need a second to think.”
Nate glanced at Sam and saw the darkness in his gaze, knew how pissed his friend was right now. He kept his own mouth shut, letting Faith take over instead of adding to the scene.
“I called you a dozen times last night and this morning,” Sam said, sitting down at the table, gaze still leveled on Nate even though he was talking to his sister. “I went past your work last night and they said you’d quit, and then--”
“Sorry, I turned off my phone,” Faith said, interrupting him. “I didn’t want Cooper trying to get in touch.”
“Sam, I was going to call you this morning on my way into the office,” Nate said, smiling as Faith set their coffees in front of them.
“And what exactly was it you were going to tell me, huh?” Sam said, making it clear how pissed off he was. “Explain why my little sister is in your fucking house at this time of the morning?”
Nate leaned back when Faith came over to the table to join them, pleased she hadn’t heard her brother’s low words. He might have been thinking dirty things about her all morning and half the goddamn night, but still. Surely they’d been friends long enough for Sam to give him the benefit of the doubt?
“Faith turned up here yesterday needing a place to stay,” Nate said. He was going to let Faith explain the rest.
“And you came tohiminstead of me?” Sam asked, shaking his head as he first glared at Nate, then watched Faith.
She was nursing her cup of coffee, but her gaze was strong as she stared back at her brother. Nate admired her strength, that she wasn’t intimidated by either of them. He’d sensed she was a whole lot more vulnerable than she usually was, which he fully expected after what she’d been through, but she was still strong and he admired that.
“I needed somewhere to go and I came here. You always said we could trust Nate no matter what, and I did,” she said. “What’s the big deal?”
