Page 55 of A Lot Like Forever
Her heart started to pound, a roaring sound in her ears so loud it was like being at the beach and listening to the fiercest of waves crashing down. Maybe she wanted him to love her; maybe she’d tried to hold back, push him away, because she’d wanted him to take her into his arms and tell her that he had fallen for her hard. She sucked it back, told herself not to be so stupid. She’d given up on fairy tales being true years ago, had seen the realities of relationships that weren’t meant to be, and if she admitted to wanting more from Nate then she was as stupid as her mother had been.
“You sound so sure about what I deserve, Nate, but what about you?”
His smile was sad. “All I know is that I don’t deserve a woman like you, Faith. Because there’ll always be a part of me that I have to hold back, to protect myself.”
“Hurting is better than never loving, isn’t it?” she asked, wondering why the hell she was asking him these questions when she should have been happy that he still only wanted to have fun. That it was no more than . . .fun.
“If you’ve hurt the way I have, felt pain the way I have,” Nate started, standing up and pacing over to his desk again and downing the rest of his whiskey. “Hell, I don’t know, Faith. When it comes to getting close to someone, I’m damaged goods and I always will be.” He stared at her. “Why are we even having this conversation?”
She stood and followed him, taking the glass that he’d offered before and pouring herself a generous whiskey. Faith wasn’t one for drinking straight spirits, but she did it anyway, closing her eyes as they watered from the burn.
“I’ve loved being with you, Nate.”
He grimaced. “Why does this sound like good-bye all of a sudden?”
She smiled and finished her drink, throat on fire as she walked around his desk, discarding her glass and slipping her arms around him. “It’s not good-bye; it’s just us reminding ourselves that this is a finite thing,” she said, tipping back to look up at him. “How about we stop talking about how screwed up we both are about commitment and just keep having fun a bit longer?”
He grunted as she nipped his jawline, playfully biting him. “Be careful, little wolf.”
Faith laughed. “Said the big bad one?”
Nate’s mouth closed over hers, his kisses just what she needed. They didn’t need to ruin things by talking about what they couldn’t have, and she didn’t need to admit to herself that the past month had been one of the happiest of her life. This was Nate. Her brother’s best friend, the guy who never settled down, the man she’d lusted after for so long and had just wanted to have filthy dirty sex with. She’d never meant to fall in love with him. She’d never meant to think about a future with him.
Nate’s kisses became more insistent, his mouth hot and heavy as his hands ran up and down her body, fingers suddenly working on the zip at the back of her skirt, pushing her back onto his desk.
“Nate!”
“Fancy being my naughty secretary for the night?” he asked, eyes shining with heat as he stared down at her.
“Nate, you in here?”
Faith jumped at the sound of a female voice in the house, way too close for comfort. She wriggled off the desk, struggling as Nate tried to manhandle herbackonto it.
“Nate!”
“It’s just Hope,” Nate whispered in her ear.
Faith glared at him. “I don’t need your sister-in-law seeing you molest me!” she muttered.
She quickly righted herself, kicking Nate’s leg with the point of her stiletto on her way back off the desk.
“In here!” Nate called out, winking at Faith and making a grab for her again.
“Oh, sorry, am I interrupting?” Hope asked, eyes wide as she saw Nate standing with his hands spread, palm down on the desk, and Faith trying to tuck her blouse back into her skirt.
“Yes,” Nate drawled.
“No!” Faith shot daggers at him. “No, you’re not interrupting anything.”
Hope smiled, glancing between the two of them as if she knew exactly what they’d been up to. “It was you I was looking for anyway,” she said, ignoring Nate. “Chloe and I are going out for a few drinks. The boys are having a meeting at our place, so we’ve told them they can put the kids to bed and have a few quiet beers while we go out and have some fun for once. Wanna come?”
Faith glanced at Nate and he shot her a smile. “I was about to tell you that I was heading over to have a beer with the guys, before you went and distracted me.”
She blushed, the heat rising into her cheeks. “I’d love to join you. Do I have time to freshen up?”
“You sure do.” Hope grinned. “And it’s about time we all had some fun together, instead of Nate keeping you tucked away all to himself.”
“So half an hour? An hour?” Faith asked, refusing to look over at Nate again for fear of seeing the familiar glint in his eye that told her exactly what he wanted to do to her.
