Ride Like You've Never Fallen (Summer Lake Book 11)

by SJ McCoy

  “You look like you’re about to cry,” said Laura.

  He laughed. “I’m not that bad. I just don’t know what to do for the best. It’s a gamble, isn’t it? You want to try for something more, but if it doesn’t work out, it might cost you what you already have.”

  “Yeah. That’s the way love goes.”

  Nate narrowed his eyes at her. “I wouldn’t know about that.”

  She laughed. “I guess not. Love isn’t a four-letter word you’re familiar with, is it?”

  “No.”

  He looked up as the office door opened and Smoke stood there. “Nate’s favorite four-letter word starts with an F, not an L.”

  Laura made a face at him. “That used to be your favorite, too. You changed. Maybe Nate’s changing?”

  Smoke gave him a hard stare. “Are you?”

  Nate held his gaze and shrugged. “I dunno, bud. My brain hurts from trying to figure it out.”

  Smoke smiled. “Then maybe you are. If you can stand all the stress and the mindfuck of trying to figure it out, then you’re changing. If you decide it’s easier to run out and find the nearest little sweet thing to take your mind off it, then you’re not.”

  Nate nodded. That was true enough.

  Smoke came in and grasped his shoulder. “If I had to put money on it right now, I’d say you are changing. I’d say that little Lily has stopped you in your tracks, and she’s about to turn your world upside down.” He went to Laura and put an arm around her shoulders. “You’re in for one hell of a ride, but it’ll all be worth it if you get your girl.”

  Nate watched Laura smile up at Smoke. The two of them were so happy together. Was it possible that he and Lily might find something like that? He’d like to think so, but he didn’t know if he was capable of it.

  “What are you doing out here, anyway?” asked Smoke.

  “I work here, remember,” said Nate with a laugh. “Don’t worry; I didn’t come out here to flirt with your lady.”

  Smoke smiled. “I know that. Do you want to come over Saturday and—”

  “I already asked,” Laura interrupted him. “He can’t because he’s going to see Lily’s family with her.”

  Smoke pursed his lips. “Good luck with that.”

  “Thanks.” Nate checked his watch. “I should get going. I came over here to make sure we’re on track for the grand opening next weekend. I take it you’ll both be here?”

  “We will.” Laura looked at Smoke. “Nothing is going to get in the way of that, is it?”

  Smoke smiled through pursed lips. “Of course not, dear.” He winked at Nate. “I’ve been grounded next weekend. Have to be here and stand around while she has her moment of glory. This is what you have to look forward to if you let yourself get snared.”

  Laura slapped his arm. “Jerk. You don’t have to be here at all if you don’t want to. I’m sure there’ll be lots of big strong guys around who’ll be more than willing to give me a hand.” She shot Nate a smile. “Or anything else I might want.”

  Smoke scowled at her and snaked his arm around her waist. “I was joking. I’ll be here, and I’ll take care of the heavy lifting—and anything else you need, you get from me.”

  Nate had to laugh. Laura sure knew how to play him. He might like to act as though he was tied down now he was engaged and soon to be married, but it was obvious Smoke had clipped his own wings because he wanted to, not because Laura made him.

  Nate had to wonder what it would be like to want to be around a woman more than he wanted to do the things he’d always enjoyed. Maybe he already knew. Last weekend he’d wanted to be around Lily more than he’d wanted to go home with Vicky. This weekend he wanted to go with her to her parents’ more than he wanted to go over to Smoke and Laura’s. And the following weekend? He’d been looking forward to the grand opening at the plaza for a long time now. It was all set to be a big day, and it would end with a big party out in the courtyard. He hadn’t had any concrete plans, but as was usual for him he had the underlying expectation that at the end of the evening he’d find his way into some chick’s bed. Now, he was hoping that Lily would still want him in her bed by then.

  Laura smiled at him as he stood up. “Will you be bringing Lily?”

  “I hope so.”

  Smoke smirked at him. “You should ask her now. It’s called making a commitment. Granted, you’re only committing to something that’s going to happen in ten days’ time, but for guys like us, that’s a big first step.”

  “Huge,” said Nate. But it didn’t feel like a bad thing. “I think I will.”

  “Good for you,” said Laura.

  As Nate said his goodbyes, he hoped it would be. He was going to check in with the crew up here and head down into town. Maybe he’d give Lily a call, see if she wanted to meet him for dinner.

  Chapter Nine

  On Friday afternoon, Lily paced the camper, running through everything in her mind. Everything was set up for the barn to run smoothly while she was gone. She had everything packed. She’d even managed to run down to the mall on Route Twenty and pick up a gift for Rose. She went into the bathroom to check herself over in the mirror. She looked good. She wasn’t sure her mom would approve of the dress she was wearing; it was a little too risqué, leaving her shoulders bare, and her cleavage exposed—but then it wasn’t her mom she was wearing it for. It was Nate. And she had a feeling he’d love it.

  He should be here any minute. She wasn’t sure whether the butterflies in her tummy were about the whole weekend and how it might go, or about excitement at seeing him again and spending all this time with him. He’d been an absolute sweetheart since he’d told her he wanted her to be his girlfriend. He’d called her, just to chat during the day. He’d taken her out for dinner again the other night, and he’d asked her to go to the grand opening at the plaza with him next weekend. He hadn’t made any attempt to get her into bed again, though.

  It was weird. She liked and at the same time hated the fact that he was determinedly taking it slow. She liked that he was trying to give them a proper start to a real relationship, but she hated that there were so many other women out there who hadn’t had to wait for him. He’d charmed them straight into bed and … No. She needed to stop thinking like that. She needed to stop thinking about him with other women at all. It wasn’t doing her any good, and as a former therapist, she knew that she needed to control her thoughts and direct them toward the good and the positive. She was fully aware of the risks and potential consequences of getting involved with a man like Nate, but since she’d decided to give it a try, she needed to stick with the positives.

  She heard a tap on the door just before it swung open. “Hey, Lil, are you…? Wow!” He stood there in the doorway and let his gaze roam over her. Ripples of desire coursed through her. He looked pretty ‘wow’ himself in a black shirt and those jeans that molded to his muscular thighs like that.

  She smiled. “Hey.”

  He came in and closed the door behind him. “Damn, Lily; you are so beautiful.” He closed his arms around her waist and drew her to him.

  Lily breathed him in as she stepped toward him and he crushed her to his hard chest. “Thank you. You’re pretty hot yourself.” The way he looked down at her with a big silly grin on his face made her laugh. “What? It’s not as though you don’t know how hot you are. What are you looking so surprised about?”

  He slid his hands down to cup her ass as he spoke. “Of course I know how hot I am. But that’s the first time you’ve told me.”

  “It is?”

  He nodded and pressed himself against her while his hands kneaded her butt. “Yeah, it turns me on to know you think so.”

  Lily’s breath was coming slow and shallow. He was turning her on the way he was doing that.

  He dropped his head and kissed her neck, sending shivers chasing each other down her spine. She clung to his shoulders to keep herself upright as he trailed his tongue over her collarbone.

  “Are you sure you w
ant to go?” he murmured into her neck.

  She nodded. She knew she had to, but right now she’d much rather stay here with him and see where this led.

  He lifted his head and looked into her eyes. “Okay, then. We’ll go, but I can’t promise I’ll be able to keep my hands off you anymore.”

  Lily reached up and planted a kiss on his lips. “I can’t promise I’ll be able to keep mine off you, either.”

  He squeezed her ass tighter and rubbed his hips against hers. “Good.”

  She shot a look toward the bedroom door. “We could leave a little later?”

  Nate shook his head sadly. “If I take you in there now we won’t be coming out for hours. I don’t want a quickie before we go.” He trailed his hand down her throat and then cupped her breast, making her moan as he circled her nipple with his thumb. “I want to get to know you properly, explore you. That’s going to take some time.”

  She nodded dumbly, unable to form words while he was touching her like that. She stepped regretfully away from him. “We’d better go then. The sooner we get there, the sooner we can get back and start doing some exploring.”

  Nate grinned. “I like the way you think. Where’s your bag? I’ll go put it in the truck.”

  Once they were on the road, Lily watched Nate as he drove. He was so very handsome, and possibly the sexiest man she’d ever seen—he was definitely the sexiest man she’d ever been with. She couldn’t quite believe that he was coming to her parents’ house with her, certainly not as her boyfriend. She knew Rose would like him. Rose was such a sweetie. She was the perfect sister and the perfect daughter, and she was so nice with it that Lily couldn’t even hate her for being so perfect! She wondered what her parents would think. They weren’t impressed by good looks. Nate’s charm should go a long way toward winning them over, but they’d be more interested in his finances and his business. She sighed. She had to admit that she didn’t know much about him in that respect herself.

  “What’s up?”

  She shrugged. “Nothing. I’m just wondering how my parents will act toward you.”

  He gave her a reassuring smile. “I’ll do fine.”

  Lily nodded, hoping he was right.

  “What do you think they’ll want to know about me?” It seemed he wasn’t as confident as his smile would have her believe.

  “They’ll want to know how much you make, though they won’t be so crass as to come out and ask.”

  Nate nodded. “Well, I don’t mind telling them if they do, and I can make it perfectly clear that I do very well for myself.”

  “You do?”

  He laughed. “I do. Why do you sound so surprised?”

  “Sorry, I just never really thought about it before. You don’t come off as someone who cares too much about money—or someone who makes much of it. Not that that’s important to me, as you know.”

  “I might come off that way, and money isn’t one of my main motivators in life, but I do like it, and I make plenty of it.”

  Lily was curious now. “But you drive this old truck, and you rent that little house.”

  He turned to smile at her. “Are you the one who’s hung up on money?”

  “Hell, no! I live in a camper at the stables.”

  “But you don’t have to, right? You could buy yourself a house in town if you wanted to—any house in town, no?”

  She nodded. She wasn’t loaded by any means, but she and Martin had made a huge profit when they sold the house they’d bought. Plus, she’d saved most of what she’d made in her short-lived therapy career, and now the stables did well. “I have as much as I need and more.” She wished the defensive tone in her voice wasn’t there.

  “It’s not a problem; I’m the same way. Jack and Pete pay me a very decent salary, and I’ve never spent much of it. They’ve always paid for my accommodation wherever I’ve been working. And apart from that, I have a dirty little secret I should probably tell you about.”

  Lily’s heart jumped into her throat as she turned to look at him. She needn’t have worried; he was laughing as he drove.

  “Don’t panic, it’s not that dirty, really. It’s just that I like to play the stock market and I’ve gotten pretty good at it, if I do say so myself.”

  “Really? I have no clue how any of that works.”

  “Neither did I when I started out, but it’s like a game. It became something of an addiction, but only because I like winning, and I win most of the time. I can’t claim any genius or anything. At first, I thought it was beginner’s luck, but I’ve done amazingly well for a few years now. Maybe I’m one of those idiot-savants?”

  Lily laughed. “Or maybe you’re just too modest. Most people struggle to make any kind of return these days.”

  “I know. That’s why I don’t like to say much.” He swaggered his shoulders and gave her a wink. “It’s not nice to brag too much.”

  She laughed. “Well, maybe you should brag to my folks this weekend. You’re sure to win them over with that one.”

  Nate frowned. “Maybe.”

  From the way he said it, Lily could tell it was more likely a maybe not, and she was glad of that. She didn’t tell her parents how well she was doing—she didn’t want to win them over that way. She was glad that Nate seemed to work the same way. She wanted her parents to like her for who she was, and she was hoping that they might do the same with Nate.

  ~ ~ ~

  As they got closer to Malibu, Nate looked out at the ocean as they drove down the Pacific Coast Highway. “You’ve got to admit; it’s beautiful.”

  Lily nodded. “Oh, no question about it. I love the scenery. I’m just not cut out for the lifestyle here; I don’t fit in.”

  “You don’t see yourself as Lily from the ’Bu?”

  She laughed. “Not at all. I’m much more comfortable as Lily at the barn.”

  “Yeah, you’re too real for this place.” He hated to admit that he’d been out to Malibu more times than he could remember, with girls he’d met at parties. Lily was so much more real than any of them. He glanced over at her. She was much more beautiful, too. She might not be tall and blonde and perfectly made up—he glanced at her breasts, they were more real than a few of the girls’ he’d been with, too. She was gorgeous, with her cute little pixie face. She was all woman in a petite package.

  She was watching him. “Did I lose you?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “You were talking, and then you eyed my breasts and zoned out on me.”

  He gave her a shamefaced grin. “I was just thinking how beautiful you are.”

  “Me, or these?” She folded her arms under her breasts and lifted them up, making them jiggle and making him hard.

  “Could you stop that? You’re going to cause an accident,” he said with a laugh. “I’m supposed to be focusing on the road here.”

  She smiled. “Okay. You’d better pay attention, we’re almost there.”

  Nate started to feel a little apprehensive. The few houses in view were grand estates. He wondered what her parents’ place would be like; more importantly, what they would be like.

  “It’s just up here on the right.” Lily sounded nervous.

  He reached across to take her hand. “It’s going to be okay, Lil. I’ll be on my best behavior. I’ll even tell them about the pot-loads of money I make playing the markets if it’ll help.”

  She squeezed his hand. “Thanks, Nate. It’ll be fine. I want to say they’ll love you just for you because they should, you’re awesome. But their values are so different.”

  He nodded. “We’ll win ‘em over between us, you wait and see.”

  “I hope so. Turn here.”

  He let go of her hand and turned off the road and into a sweeping driveway which led up to a closed gate. Nate stopped the truck and put his window down. “I should have asked Dan if we could borrow his Lamborghini,” he whispered.

  Lily laughed as the gates rolled open before them. It took Nate a minute to pull forward; he
’d been expecting a voice to come through and demand to know who they were.

  “I told them we’d be in your truck.”

  “Did you tell them the Aston Martin’s in the shop?”

  She made a face at him.

  “It’s just a work truck.”

  “You’re not starting to feel intimidated already, are you?”

  Nate pulled himself together. He had been, but that was stupid. “Sorry. I’ll get my act together.”

  “No! I was going to say I’m sorry. We don’t have to do this. We can turn right around and leave before we get there.”

  “Nope. No way. We’re going to do this.” He took hold of her hand again. “We’ll be fine. Together we can conquer the world. You and me, Lil.”

  The way she smiled at him made his heart beat a little faster. It seemed she liked the sound of that. He did, too. It had just been a throwaway comment, but now he thought about what it could mean, he really liked the sound of it.

  He brought the truck to a stop in front of the house. The circular driveway widened out at the foot of a sweeping stairway. An older couple appeared in the doorway at the top and then came down the stairs to greet them.

  “Lily!” Her mom wrapped her in a hug and seemed genuinely pleased to see her.

  Her dad smiled at Nate and offered his hand. “I’m Lily’s father, Sebastian Wells. It’s good to meet you.”

  “Nate Evans. It’s good to meet you, too, sir.” The handshake wasn’t the limp offering Nate had expected. Sebastian gripped his hand firmly and held his gaze as they shook. He was obviously weighing Nate up. Nate smiled and looked directly into his eyes. He was surprised to find that he took an instant liking to the man. He hadn’t expected that.

  “Would you let go of him, Bastian?” Lily’s mom edged her husband out and took hold of both Nate’s hands in her own. “It’s wonderful to meet you, young man. I’d love to say I’ve heard so much about you.” She shot Lily a dark look, “But I’m afraid my daughter has kept you quite the secret.”