Page 40 of A Lot Like Forever
“Nate!” She slapped him hard on the hand as he reached for her. “You’re disgusting.”
He shook his head. “I haven’t been with half as many women as you probably think, but I’m not going to deny that I love the opposite sex.”
“Do you regret what we did?” she asked, tearing at a piece of pastry as she watched him.
“No.” He took a mouthful himself, gave himself time to think. “I regret Sam seeing what he did, because he’s one hell of a good friend to me, but I don’t regret anything we did. How could I?” Nate leaned in and kissed her again, her lips sweet from the pastry.
“And you’ve honestly never had a woman in your bed, here, before?” she asked, glancing up at him.
“Honestly. Except for when I was a teenager and we used to sneak girls into the house. But that was a different bed.” He looked out at the view again, leaned back into the sofa, and stretched out his legs, his thigh still hard against hers. “I don’t like complications, and I like to keep this place private. Life’s busy these days, and coming home is my sanctuary. It has to be or I wouldn’t be able to shut off from work.”
“Meaning you don’t want me here?” she asked, her voice lower now.
He turned back to her, tugging the tie out of her hair and making it tumble around her shoulders. He stroked it, the strands having a strange calming effect on him.
“Meaning I don’t want just anyone here,” he told her, meaning every word. “You’re different.”
“Because I’m Sam’s little sister?”
“No, because you’re you.”
They stared at each other, her eyes locked on his. He had no idea what was happening between them, how he’d ended up betraying his closest friend by doing something he’d sworn never to do, but he had, and all he could do now was live with the consequences of his actions. He didn’t want to hurt Sam, but there was no part of him that could push Faith away now she was here with him.
“I stayed away from you for so long, Faith,” he said, studying her face, the angles of her cheekbones, the fullness of her sinful lips. “I was so good, but being that good just doesn’t come naturally to me.”
“What do you want from me, Nate?” she asked, her voice husky. “Is this just between you and me? A secret that we’re never going to share?”
He groaned as her hand landed on his thigh, her fingers stroking over his jeans. “I want you. Now. Tomorrow. Yesterday.”
“But that’s all this is? Sex?”
Nate pulled back, forced himself to stop even though his body was begging him to change his mind.What the hell was he doing?The whole reason he was supposed to steer clear of her was so he couldn’t hurt her, break her heart, and he hadn’t even been clear with her about his intentions.
“Faith, I don’t want to give you the wrong idea.”
“Please don’t tell me you want something more from me?” she asked. “Don’t ruin what we have going on.”
He raised an eyebrow, taken aback. “You don’t want any more? You don’t have any, ah,expectations?”
She smiled, just one corner of her mouth tilting up, and stroked his face. Her touch was light, impossibly gentle, and it made him only want to be rougher with her, to take her right there on the sofa.
“I thought I made it clear last night,” she said. “I want you to be my teacher, Nate, to have fun until I find somewhere else to go. No strings, no emotions. I don’t want any commitment from you.” She sighed. “One day I’ll be valuing beautiful art and putting collections together, and maybe I’ll be ready for a real relationship then, one with a picket-fence future, but not right now.”
He grunted. Was she serious? “So just fun and sex?”
“Just fun and sex,” she repeated. “And it can stay just between the two of us.”
“Deal.”
She tossed her pastry over onto the other sofa, her eyes wide as she raised both arms and looped them around his neck. “So no falling in love with me, okay?”
“Sure thing,” he replied. Only trouble was, for the first time in his life, he was with a woman he could actually fall for, no matter how badly he wanted to make sure he never, ever let his guard down and let someone too close. There were things in his past that made him want to keep a part of him hidden away, closed to the world, forever, and he had to make sure that nothing, even Faith, came close to getting through.
Faith rose and sat astride him, her hair falling down and covering his face until she scooped it up and placed it over her other shoulder. She kissed his mouth, lips warm and moist, plucking at his in a way that got him hard real fast.
“What is it you want me to teach you?” he asked.
“Everything,” she replied, staring down at him. “I want to be good. . . .” She sighed. “I want to know what I’m doing.”
