Page 39 of A Lot Like Forever
Cooper wasn’t moving, had stayed still slumped against the wall, but he was starting to move now, looked like he was about to swing a punch or something.
“Don’t do anything stupid,” Nate said.
Cooper jumped up and charged, but Nate was ready. He was doing this for Faith, could still perfectly recall the silky feel of her otherwise blemish-free skin, which meant he could still remember the ugly purple bruise across her belly.
Nate dodged the punch coming his way, grabbing Cooper and throwing him back, slamming his fist into his face.
“You bastard!” Cooper swore, cradling his face. “You broke my fucking nose.”
Nate ignored him. He wasn’t sadistic, didn’t take pleasure from causing other beings pain, but he did believe in an eye for an eye or, in this case, ten punches for one. Man against woman wasn’t a fair fight, which meant he had some catching up to do on Faith’s behalf.
“I’ll break every bone in your body if you ever come near Faith again,” he told Cooper, staying calm, breathing heavier than usual as he fought to keep his head. “And if I ever hear you’ve ever touched any woman, ever again, with your fists?” Nate shook his head, lips curling up into what he was certain was an evil smile. “I’ll hurt you so bad you’ll end up ten feet under.”
Cooper’s nose was bleeding, the blood dripping down his face and onto his T-shirt as he looked at him.
“She goddamn deserved it.”
Nate stopped dead, his pulse racing.“What did you say?”
“You heard me,” he said, spitting blood at Nate. “The bitch deserved it.”
Nate made a noise that sounded more animal like than human, only just keeping a lid on his rage. He launched at Cooper and pummeled him, punching his face, kicking him, unleashing hell on him. Nate was careful not to go too far, didn’t want to kill the guy, and when he was done he walked away, changed his mind about getting any of Faith’s things together. Whatever she needed he could buy her new.
Nate checked Cooper was still breathing, propped him up, and headed back to his vehicle. The deed was done. He left his sleeves rolled up, cursed when he noticed he had a smear of blood on his shirt, and drove the hell out of Dodge.
No one touched Faith and got away with it.No one.
* * *
When Nate arrived home, the house was silent. He dropped his keys and the brown paper bags he was carrying on the hallstand and kicked off his boots, calling out and receiving no response.Damn it,he should have left a note. She probably woke up to him gone and thought he’d just left He wasn’t used to having to think things like that through, because he never usually hung around. Or came back.
“Faith?” he called again, running up the stairs two at a time and stopping in the open doorway to his room. The sheets were rumpled, the covers discarded at the end of the bed, but she wasn’t there, and he could see she wasn’t in the bathroom, either.
He glanced at himself in the mirror and grimaced at the blood on his shirt, stripping it off and throwing it in the laundry basket. He got a T-shirt instead and pulled it on, then headed back down, collecting the bags again.
“Faith!” he called, louder this time, her name dying on his lips as he spotted her sitting outside. Her dark hair was pulled back up into a ponytail, straight silk hanging from high on her head, and as he got closer he could see that her legs were tucked up beneath her and she was nursing a cup of coffee as she stared out into the distance. He glanced out himself, never tired of looking at the land he’d grown up on.
“Am I interrupting?” he asked.
She glanced up, her eyes taking a moment to focus like she’d been a million miles away.
“No,” she said simply.
Nate moved closer and dropped to the sofa beside her. He smiled as she looked at him, holding up the bags. “I dropped into that French bakery, the new one that’s just opened up. I got a whole heap of sweet pastries, something with chocolate in it. . . .” He raised an eyebrow and looked up, saw the frown on her face.
“You snuck out on me to go to the bakery?”
“No, I left you peacefully asleep to go get a job done; then I went to the bakery to buy the most beautiful woman in the world breakfast.”
She went to laugh, but he didn’t let her, dropping the bags down beside her and cupping her face before she could pull away, pressing a kiss to her lips. He meant to only kiss her once, but it turned out to be impossible. Her mouth was so soft he couldn’t help kissing her over and over again.
“You’re a smooth talker; I’ll give you that,” she muttered when he finally let her free.
“No, I’m honest.” He shrugged. “I’ve admired you from afar for years, so when I tell you that you’re the most beautiful woman, believe me when I say I’ve had a lot of time to think about it.”
She laughed and snatched a bag from him. “If you hadn’t bedded half of Texas I might believe you.”
“Half?” He frowned. “That might be underestimating a little.”
