Page 21 of A Lot Like Forever
“During the day? I don’t think so.” He chuckled and waited for her to finish serving herself so he could start. Now that the food was in front of him he was starving. “She knew damn well there was a woman here and she wanted to come be all nosey. I’d put money on it, and that’s saying a lot where Chloe’s concerned.”
Come to think of it, Chloe had given him some serious shit about Faith when they’d been drinking at Joe’s one night. Heaven help him if she figured it out; she’d give him hell.If she hadn’t already.
“Well, she seemed lovely, anyway. Once I realized she wasn’t your girlfriend, that is.”
Nate paused with his fork midair, about to twirl his first mouthful of spaghetti. “I don’t have a girlfriend. You think I’d have you here if I did?”
Faith frowned. “What difference would it make?”
Nate fought the urge to laugh at the innocent expression on her face, but he couldn’t help his mouth kicking up into a grin. “If I had a girlfriend, hypothetical of course, there’s no way she’d let me have a woman like you working for me in my home, let alone staying.” He reached over to touch her hand, meaning to pat her but instead ending up tracing his fingers over the back of her hand, wishing to hell he hadn’t touched her soft skin again. “Sweetheart, you’re way too beautiful for another woman to ever trust you with her man. Believe me.”
Faith stared at his hand for a moment before retracting hers, twirling spaghetti covered with sauce around her fork, and taking a bite. Nate watched her, transfixed by the way she ate, the tiny bit of sauce on her lower lip. He cleared his throat and looked at his own dinner, suddenly more hungry for a certain woman than food.
“Sam came by.”
“Again?” Nate had his mouth full now, the tomato sauce like an explosion on his taste buds. “Damn, this is seriously good.” When she said she’d learned how to cook he hadn’t exactly been imagining something this incredible.
“He wanted to warn me off you one last time.” Now it was Faith with her mouth kicked up into a curve and he had to resist the urge to wipe the smile straight off her face.With his lips.
Brotherly,he reminded himself. He was supposed to be brotherly with her.
“And what did you tell your big bad brother?” Nate asked her.
“Something along the lines of the fact I can look after myself,” she muttered. “Although given my recent track record that didn’t go down so well. But still, I gave it to him straight.”
“I went to school with a guy, was friends with him for years,” Nate said, pausing to take another forkful of spaghetti and meatball and finishing it before continuing. “Anyway, he had a bit of a temper, and one day after we lost a baseball game I came around a corner and caught him kicking the shit out of a dog.”
Faith’s cheeks lost all color. “You’re serious?”
“Deadly.” He grimaced. Just because he didn’t mind talking with his fists when he needed to didn’t mean he’d ever hurt an animal.Or a woman for that matter.“The point is, I’d known him since we were in junior high, and I’d never realized he was capable of doing something like that. He was kicking this poor defenseless dog and she didn’t have a chance of getting away from him, let alone defending herself.”
Faith had set her fork down now, was dabbing at the corners of her mouth with her napkin. Nate was thinking he should have waited to share this story until after they’d finished eating, especially given how pale she was suddenly looking. It had probably brought everything about the other night back to her.
“So what happened?” she asked.
Nate hoped she’d like the ending. “I was with Chase, and it just so happens that neither of us likes to see an animal get hurt. Let’s just say it wasn’t long before that guy was the one howling in pain and promising never to lay a hand on a dog again.”
She sighed and picked up her fork again, absently pushing food around on her plate. “You’re telling me this because you want me to know you’re going to beat the crap out of Cooper?”
“No, Faith, I’m telling you because we all make bad judgment calls about people sometimes.” He took a sip of wine, the red smooth as he swallowed it. “Do you remember that old dog Molly we used to have here? You probably saw her when you visited with Sam years ago. She always came out to greet anyone who arrived.”
Faith’s eyebrows pulled together. “I think so.”
“Well, that was her. We scooped her up that day, found she had a couple of pups in the alley with her that she’d been trying to keep concealed, and took her home with us. Chase found new homes for the puppies once they were bigger, and she lived out her days here. We couldn’t have loved that old girl more if we’d tried.”
Faith took another mouthful, eyes suddenly bright again. “You come off as this tough guy, Nate, like you wouldn’t give a damn about anything other than yourself or your family, but it’s not who you are, is it? I’ve always seen past that bravado.”
He arched an eyebrow. “Oh really.”
“Yes, really,” she replied. “You wouldn’t harm any animal and you couldn’t say no to me when I turned up on your doorstep. You might frighten the crap out of grown men, but you don’t scare me.”
“Well, I should,” he grumbled, placing his fork down so he could lean closer to her. “Ishouldscare you, Faith.”
“I’m not scared of you, Nathaniel King,” she insisted, but her voice was wavering, no longer as strong and full of confidence as she had been a second ago. He didn’t want to scare her, but he didn’t want her thinking she was safe with him. Not from everything.
“When Sam said you were the lamb in the wolf’s den, he wasn’t lying.” Nate held her gaze, didn’t take his eyes off her for a second, never giving her a moment to break their connection, showing her why. “You shouldn’t be here with me, Faith. You might not be scared of me, but it doesn’t mean that you’re safe with me.”
“Are you going to hit me?” She was staring at him intently.
