Page 7 of A Lot Like Forever
He shrugged, smiling before taking a bite of pizza. “Sugar, I never bring women back here.”
Faith burst out laughing before she realized he was being serious. He was staring back at her without that trademark grin. “You’re full of shit. You’re hardly chaste.”
He shrugged again, leaning forward slightly, his body coming into her space. Faith inhaled, loving the scent of his citrusy cologne, tempted to lean that bit farther toward him. But she didn’t.
Faith glanced from her glass of wine to his face, not wanting to stare at him. The truth was, she was jealous of the women he bedded—being the sole focus of Nate’s attention in the bedroom was something she’d fantasized about plenty in the past.
“Who said anything about being chaste? I don’t like sharing this place with just anyone, and it’s way easier to just rent a room if I need to, or use my apartment in town. I keep my private life separate from my . . .” He raised an eyebrow, reaching for his beer and taking a long, slow sip, leaving her staring at his mouth, waiting for him to finish his sentence. “Sex life.”
Okay, then.Faith swallowed as a shiver ran through her body, not answering him straightaway. What she needed was to stop thinking about Nate naked, and talk like this wasn’t helping. Part of her still simmered for him, probably always would, but there was a difference between a fantasy and reality, and part of her was scared at the thought of being with any man, even Nate, right now.
“Too much information?” he asked.
Faith shrugged, not sure what to say. She’d asked and he’d told her straight. “I’m not some underage virgin who can’t deal with hearing about your naughty escapades, Nate. It’s not exactly a secret that you’ve slept with every woman in this town.”
He met her gaze, stared her straight in the eye. When he spoke, his voice was lower, husky. “I haven’t slept with you.”
She swallowed, hoping he couldn’t read her mind and tell just how many times she’d wished she was one of his conquests.
“I’m starting to see why my brother kept me away from you,” she managed, pretending like nothing was wrong, like she wasn’t coping with how intense he was.
“Sam is going to kill me when he finds you here. You do know that, right? He’s going to go all soldier crazy, pull his army shit or something.”
“You really think that he’ll make some crazy assumption that we’re together because you’ve let me through the front door and lifted your no women in the house rule?”
Nate glared at her, his patience obviously waning. “Look, Sam is like family to me. He’s the one person aside from my brothers that I like to keep firmly on my side.”
“I was only teasing. Besides, I’ll be the one he lays into, not you.”
“So are you actually planning on being my housekeeper, or do I still need to keep running that ad? Because this place is going to go to complete shit if I don’t find a replacement for Mrs. T soon.”
Faith put her hand over her mouth, in danger of laughing out her mouthful. This was what she wanted from Nate, just plain old fun and friendship. “I can’t believe you had that lovely old lady working here for so long. She must have been like eighty when she retired.”
Nate winked and Faith tried to relax. Nate wasn’t the one who’d hurt her; he wouldn’t lay a hand on her without her okaying it. There was nothing wrong with having fun with him, chatting and laughing.
“I think keeping this house added at least twenty years to the poor old girl. The three of us were kind of a handful.”
Faith finished chewing and made herself look back up at Nate, not sure why things suddenly felt so different between them. Or maybe she was just being more sensitive given what had happened. He’d never shown her any interest, but now that she was in his kitchen she was certain he was coming on to her, and . . . he seemed a whole lot more dangerous than before. Those dark eyes, his full lips, the confidence that as good as dripped from him. She’d be lying to herself if she didn’t admit to wanting to know what it would be like to let those experienced hands of his pleasure her. And he was big, his shoulders as wide and big as a quarterback’s.
Faith cleared her throat. “I’m deadly serious about working for you, Nate. I’ll keep this place tidy, handle the groceries, and take care of the meals. You just ask and I’ll do it.”
They stared at each other for a minute, the silence deafening. Faith was the first to look away, trying to stop her hand from shaking as she reached for her glass.All those thoughts she’d once had about her brother’s best friend were back tenfold, no matter how hard she tried to fight them.
“Well, okay then,” he agreed. “But it’s only short-term, until you find your feet.”
She wasn’t ready to be close to a man, wouldn’t be for . . . she didn’t know how long. Right now her hands were shaking just at the thought of Nate touching her skin.
* * *
Nate shut the door behind him and walked in the dark toward the closest field. Faith was inside busying herself in the kitchen, and he’d made up an excuse about needing to check on a pregnant mare. It was a lie, his brothers dealt with all the livestock on the property, but he’d needed some space. Staying in the house a second longer would have been a mistake, because he was dangerously close to losing control.
When he’d told Faith that Sam had always warned him off her, he hadn’t been lying.But just because he wanted to protect her didn’t mean he hadn’t noticed how goddamn beautiful she was, and the trouble was, her brother knew it. Christ, Nate was hard just thinking about her now, let alone when he was looking into her warm brown eyes and seeing her body up close and personal. And having her in his kitchen, drinking in the low-cut T-shirt and skintight jeans . . . it had been almost too much for him to resist.Almost.Right now he was barely in control.
Nate leaned on the fence and let his eyes adjust to the fading light, watching the horses graze. He hardly ever thought about the day that Sam had thrown a punch at him and shoved him to the ground, but seeing Faith today had brought it all back
He wanted her. He wanted her so damn bad. No matter how much he tried to tell himself that he should be acting like her brother, it wasn’t even close to working.
He’d promised Sam he wouldn’t touch her. He’d sworn he’d never go there. And yet now . . .
