Page 78 of A Lot Like Forever
Chapter 18
It wasn’t often that Faith was genuinely nervous. Although if she was honest with herself, she hadn’t been much better at Clay’s funeral. Her palms were sweaty, her hair was clinging to the back of her neck, and she was pacing. She never paced! Faith took a deep breath, shut her eyes for a moment to calm herself down, and decided to pour herself a glass of water.
The problem was that she had no idea where they were going or what they were doing. After Nate had phoned in and confirmed on a six-figure Mark Bradford painting the day before, her boss had virtually begged her to spend the day with him and see what else he might like to add to his collection. She personally doubted he even liked abstract, multilayer collage-style art like the Bradford, but she couldn’t deny that it would be a good investment. They were selling it on behalf of a collector who was going through a divorce settlement, which meant Nate had gotten it for a good price.
A knock sounded out downstairs and she jumped, spilling the glass of water she was holding. Faith cursed and tipped the rest out, crossing the room to collect her small case. She had a couple changes of clothes, jeans and a cute top as well as a dress, both outfits she could wear with the heels she had on if she needed to. She hated surprises and she especially hated the idea of being unprepared for an entire day of being with Nate. And the fact that he’d left a message for her saying they’d be out of the town for the day and that she might like to pack a few things had her even more antsy.
The knock sounded out again and she walked slowly toward the door, opening it even though she was certain the smarter thing to do would have been to keep it shut and go hide in her room.
“Hi,” Nate said, stepping back instead of filling the entire doorway.
“Morning,” she replied, pleased she’d dressed up now that Nate was here. He was wearing a tailored black suit with a soft pink shirt open necked beneath it, and he looked so damn good it actually annoyed her.
“You look”--he held out one hand and scanned her with his eyes--“stunning. Very professional.”
“If you’d told me where you were taking me, I’d have known how to dress.”
“Believe me, your cute little skirt and leather jacket ensemble is perfect.”
The corners of Faith’s mouth twitched, desperate to break out into a smile, but she tried her hardest to refrain. The last thing she needed was to start thinking about Nate like that again, or make him think that anything more was going to happen between them.
He reached past her and took the case, lifting it rather than wheeling it, and walking back to his SUV.
“I wasn’t sure how much luggage you’d have, so I thought I’d bring something big for transportation.”
She fake-laughed. “Ha-ha.”
Nate’s grin was infectious and she found it impossible not to smile as she hopped into the passenger seat.
“Your taking me somewhere in the plane, aren’t you?”
He started the engine, then turned to her. “Yes.”
Faith stared him straight in the eye. “And where are you taking me?” she asked.
“I’ll tell you that once we’re on the plane.”
She leaned back in the seat as he started to drive. “If you’re trying to impress me with the fact that you can just whisk me off somewhere . . .” Faith didn’t even know what to say. She’d told him that this sort of thing only made it more clear to her that they were from different backgrounds.
“I’m not trying to impress you with the plane,” he said, eyes on the road. “I would have flown you coach, but none of the flight times worked, so this is just a means to an end.”
“Bullshit,” she said, laughing. “I don’t thinkanyonecould convince Nate fricking King to fly coach. No way.”
He was silent for so long she almost reached over to poke him to make sure he was okay.
“You could,” he finally said, his voice soft and low. “I reckon you’re probably the only person in the world who could make me do anything, aside from maybe Harrison or little Rose.”
Faith didn’t have an answer to that. They stayed quiet on the short drive there, and when Nate jumped out and ran around to her side she let him. The airport was fairly quiet, and she followed beside him as he led the way into the terminal, his Range Rover being valet parked since it seemed they were only going to be gone until late evening.
“When’s your painting being delivered?” she asked, just trying to make conversation and stop the stretch of silence that had formed between them.
“Ah, next week, I think. It’s going to my office.”
She nodded. “Great choice. I’ll definitely keep my eye out for anything else by the same artist that will complement it.”
Within minutes they’d walked through a door and were out on the tarmac and facing the King jet; to say it was impressive would have been lying. Still, Faith refused to be all fangirl over Nate and his big bad plane.
A way too beautiful blonde waved, dressed in a tight-fitting suit, hair twisted up and off her face. As they got closer Faith could see that her makeup was flawless and she was easily the most attractive flight attendant she’d ever seen. Although she hadn’t exactly traveled a lot, there was no denying how gorgeous the woman was.
