Page 45 of A Lot Like Forever
Faith obliged. “It seems only fair that I thank you for your generous offer.”
He chuckled, hands covering her breasts, loving the fullness in his palms.
“So you’re going to be my mistress?” he asked, giving up her breasts so he could put his hands around her back and force her forward and back on top of him again.
“Yes,” she muttered. “Your mistress that still needs to be taught what she’s doing. There’s no point being successful if I’m still crap in bed.”
His laugh was muffled as her hair fell over his face. “Would you give up on the crap in bed business? You’re incredible, and the only reason I’m putting up with you telling me I have to teach you is because I’m too damn selfish to say no.”
“What do you propose then?” she whispered, her lips moving against the side of his mouth as she talked.
“I propose,” he said, hands on her butt to lock her down hard against him, so she could feel just how interested he was, “that I show you how a man is supposed to look after a woman in bed. Then you’ll always have a good benchmark to measure other men against.”
She laughed, but he cursed the words he’d just said. He might not want to commit to anything long-term, but the idea of Faith ever being in another man’s bed made his head pound so hard it felt like it could explode.
* * *
“I’m scared of you even looking at me again,” Faith murmured, standing behind Nate as he sat on a chrome and leather stool at the kitchen counter. She dropped a kiss to his neck and wrapped her arms around him.
“Scared of what?” he quipped, closing the lid on his laptop and spinning around in his chair to face her.
“Your appetite,” she groaned
Nate kissed her, his lips soft against hers, but it was a slow, sensual kiss rather than the hot, hard lip crushes they’d shared less than an hour ago.
“Want to order in?” he asked.
“Who delivers all the way out here?” she asked, perching on his knee as he held her close with both of his arms around her.
“Plenty of places. I tip well to make it worth their while.”
“I’d rather stay in than go out,” she admitted.
“Me too. I thought it’d be nice to hang at home for a couple of days. It’s been a long few months for me.”
“You sure you’re not just staying home to avoid seeing my brother?” she asked, only half-teasing. “I like getting my own way, but I hate seeing the two of you fight like that.”
“Sam and I will be fine.” His voice sounded convincing, but she didn’t believe him, not for a second, that he was that confident. “Anyway, I was catching up on some work then, and I recalled a couple of contacts I have in the art world. Granddad has quite a collection, not my taste but incredibly valuable now, but we’d been talking to a few different gallery owners in recent years.”
Faith’s pulse picked up, her heart beating that little bit too fast. She’d been so unsure about telling Nate in case he didn’t think she was capable of fulfilling what she’d dreamed of for so long, but it was starting to seem like the best decision she’d ever made.
“Anyway, to cut a long story short, I’ve called in a few favors,” he said, dropping a kiss into her hair. “I’ve e-mailed two contacts, mentioned how capable and driven you are, and I’ve told them to reach out if they hear of anything or if they might need some assistance.”
“I don’t know what to say.” Aside from Sam, no one in her life had ever truly given a damn enough to want to help her out, and she’d sure as hell never had any handouts. So to know that Nate had dropped everything and tried to help her only hours after she’d confessed her career plans to him was amazing.
“Just say thank you,” he said. “And agree to Thai takeout.”
“I’d agree to eat fried worms right about now.”
He laughed, a throaty, deep rumble that for some reason reminded her of the noise his Ferrari made. “Well, that would just be stupid. You have to realize that telling people what you want from life is the first way to make them take you seriously. And if people take you seriously, they’re more likely to recommend you.”
She hugged him again, hardly able to believe that not only was she shacked up in Nate’s house, but also she’d already had sex with him more times than she could count in twenty-four hours and now he was giving her business advice. It was a win-win situation if ever she’d been in one.
“You know, I think I’ll call in and collect dinner. You mind if I head in to see Granddad for a bit, check he’s okay? I’ll be back with dinner in less than ninety minutes; I promise.”
“Go for it,” she said, extracting herself from his lap and getting a glass so she could pour herself some water. “I’ve got a few phone calls to catch up on, might even have a quick chat to Sam.”
“Yeah, you break the ice before I have to jump into the water with him,” Nate muttered.
