by Soraya Lane
“I’ll get it!” he called out.
It was probably one of his brothers or a worker come to ask him something, and he didn’t need any of the guys copping an eyeful of Faith if she was still wearing her itsy-bitsy outfit. If he had barely any willpower when it came to her, the ranch hands would have zero.
Nate hurried down the stairs, pulling the shirt on and leaving it open as he unlocked the door and opened it.
“Sam?” Fuck. “Hey,” he said. Double fuck.
Sam ran a hand through his hair before hooking his thumbs into his jeans. “I know this is going to seem weird, but I—”
“Did you get the door?”
Nate stifled his groan and stepped back, not seeing any point in concealing her when Sam had just heard his sister call out. His morning had just gone from bad to goddamn terrible.
“Faith?”
Sam looked as surprised to see Faith as she did to see him, but she didn’t linger in the shadows. She walked straight toward him and gave him a big hug, her arms locked around his neck.
“Hey, Sam,” she said. “Before you say it, I know I should have called, but I didn’t want to worry you.”
Nate breathed a sigh of relief, even as Sam glared at him over her shoulder. As far as Nate could tell, he’d dodged a bullet by the simple fact that she was wearing jeans now, even if she was barefoot and looking way too at home.
“What the hell are you doing here?” Sam asked. “I came here to get Nate to help me track you down, and—”
Nate stepped back and motioned for them both to follow. “Come on; I need a coffee.” Or possibly a whiskey depending on Sam’s reaction.
Nate walked into the kitchen and hesitated when Faith moved in front of him, touching his arm and shaking her head like she was way too comfortable with him.
“I’ll get it,” she said. “I need a second to think.”
Nate glanced at Sam and saw the darkness in his gaze, knew how pissed his friend was right now. He kept his own mouth shut, letting Faith take over instead of adding to the scene.
“I called you a dozen times last night and this morning,” Sam said, sitting down at the table, gaze still leveled on Nate even though he was talking to his sister. “I went past your work last night and they said you’d quit, and then—”
“Sorry, I turned off my phone,” Faith said, interrupting him. “I didn’t want Cooper trying to get in touch.”
“Sam, I was going to call you this morning on my way into the office,” Nate said, smiling as Faith set their coffees in front of them.
“And what exactly was it you were going to tell me, huh?” Sam said, making it clear how pissed off he was. “Explain why my little sister is in your fucking house at this time of the morning?”
Nate leaned back when Faith came over to the table to join them, pleased she hadn’t heard her brother’s low words. He might have been thinking dirty things about her all morning and half the goddamn night, but still. Surely they’d been friends long enough for Sam to give him the benefit of the doubt?
“Faith turned up here yesterday needing a place to stay,” Nate said. He was going to let Faith explain the rest.
“And you came to him instead of me?” Sam asked, shaking his head as he first glared at Nate, then watched Faith.
She was nursing her cup of coffee, but her gaze was strong as she stared back at her brother. Nate admired her strength, that she wasn’t intimidated by either of them. He’d sensed she was a whole lot more vulnerable than she usually was, which he fully expected after what she’d been through, but she was still strong and he admired that.
“I needed somewhere to go and I came here. You always said we could trust Nate no matter what, and I did,” she said. “What’s the big deal?”
Nate tried not to laugh. There was no way Sam was going to ask outright if something had happened between them, not a chance.
“Your asshole boyfriend wouldn’t even open the door when I went around there, and Dad said he hadn’t seen you. How the hell did you think I’d react? And no, it’s not okay that you chose him over me.” Sam took a sip of coffee and rose out of his seat. “Look, if that dick laid a hand on you I’ll fucking kill him, so just tell me.”
“You were right about Cooper,” Faith said, her voice low. “He hurt me and I left, end of story. There’s nothing else you need to know.”
Nate watched as she wrapped her hand tight around her cup, the other in a small fist at her side. His anger started to simmer again, thinking of her beautiful skin being marked by some guy who thought it was okay to rough up women, remembering her bruise.
“He what?” Sam’s voice was barely audible.
“He hit me, Sam,” Faith said calmly. “It could have been a lot worse, but I left and now I’m here. I just needed some time away from everything.”
“Tell me we’re going to do something about this, Nate.” Sam slowly lowered himself back down into his chair. “I’m not going to let anyone get away with hurting my sister.”
“He hit her, I took her in, and the guy who did it will soon know that he messed with the wrong people,” Nate said, noticing that Faith was staring out the window now. His instinct to protect her kicked into life, but he didn’t want to scare her by getting into details while she was listening. She was probably sick to death of even thinking about what had happened, and reliving it right now probably wasn’t helping.
“And you two?” Sam asked, staring him straight in the eye.
“There’s nothing going on here other than me looking out for your little sister,” Nate said, thankful that Sam couldn’t read his mind. He raised an eyebrow, daring his friend to accuse him outright of screwing her. Sam was pissed right now and Nate didn’t know what to expect. “Hell, Sam. She’s been through enough without you acting like there’s something”—Nate cleared his throat—“inappropriate going on here.”
“Tell me what happened,” Sam seethed, his hands in fists on the table. “I’ll deal with him myself if I have to.”
“I’d say get in line, but we both know better,” Nate cautioned.
“You know what? This is none of your business, Nate.”
He wasn’t going to lose his temper, not with Sam, but the look on Faith’s face was telling Nate that his and Sam’s arguing wasn’t making the situation any easier for her. Nate took a deep breath to calm himself the hell down.
“You’ve been my business my entire life, Sam. Don’t forget that this is where you came every time you had to get away, too, when it was your dad.” Sam had always been welcome in the King home, no matter what time of the day or night he’d turned up, and Nate wasn’t going to take the rap for being the bad guy, not for this. He hadn’t done anything wrong and Sam needed to be reminded. “And Faith became my business the moment she turned up on my doorstep. You know you can trust me when I say that I’m handling it.”
Sam sighed, staring back at Nate as he opened his palms, obviously trying hard to diffuse his anger. “I’m not going to say I told you so, but Faith, seriously? The guy was a dickhead from the start.”
“Falling for him wasn’t my smartest move,” she said, smiling at her brother. “I just wish he hadn’t been my boss, too. It was only waitressing, but it was okay money.”
Faith’s low, soft voice somehow settled them both. Nate wanted to do something to comfort her, but he also knew better than to touch her in front of Sam. Hell, he didn’t even know if she’d want him to touch her.
“You sure I can’t deal with him?”
“I’m sure,” Nate said, staring hard at his friend. “Just think of Faith visiting you in jail, and get those kinds of thoughts out of your head.”
Sam nodded, but he was focused on Faith now. “Why didn’t you come to me?” His voice was softer than it had been before, his gaze intense as he stared at her.
“I just wanted to deal with this on my own for once, instead of running to you for help.”
“So you ran to Nate for help instead?” Sam asked, glowering at
him.
Nate shrugged and leaned back in his chair crossing his legs at the ankles and folding his arms across his chest as he watched them. It was a fair question—he’d asked her the same thing himself.
“I didn’t want you to find out,” she finally said after an awkward stretch of silence. “When it comes to me you overreact, you always have, and I didn’t want you losing your temper and doing something crazy. I’d be the one who’d have to live with that, and I needed some time to think without having you to deal with, too.”
Sam looked pissed, but Nate had to agree. Sam wasn’t exactly easy to simmer down when he was angry, and if it was to do with Faith then he was entirely unpredictable.
Faith reached for her brother’s hand and squeezed it. “You always said coming here made things better for you, when we were younger, and now you’re finally happy. I just wanted to deal with this and move on without putting you in a position like that.” She smiled over at him and Nate returned it. “I trust Nate, and it felt safer coming here than one of my girlfriends’ places, in case he tried to find me.”
Sam suddenly angled his body toward Nate, pointing his finger at him. “Wolf in sheep’s clothing, that’s all I’m going to say. He won’t hurt you with his fists, but you do not want to go there, okay?”
“Leave my clothes out of it,” Nate said with a grin, lazily doing one of his shirt buttons up and leaving the rest open. He would have done them all up, but he wasn’t opposed to pissing Sam off just a little more. What Faith had said had hit home, made him feel like a jerk for thinking such unbrotherly things about her, but he also got that Sam wouldn’t want to talk too much about his feelings and what Faith had done. He wasn’t good like that.
“Nate has been an absolute gentleman,” Faith said, reaching out and patting Nate’s hand. “You should be thanking him.”
Sam made a face, changing it only when Faith swatted at him. Nate was just relieved she’d taken her skin off of his—contact like that was not something he needed from her. Keeping his mind off sex was hard enough without her goddamn stroking him, and that soft hand against him was like torture. Pure fucking sexual torture.
“Don’t you have work to go to?” Faith asked her brother.
Sam stood up and Nate did the same. “Speaking of work…?” Sam asked.
Faith chuckled. “I’m Nate’s new housekeeper. For the meantime, anyway.”
“You’re kidding me?” Sam groaned, shaking his head.
It took all of Nate’s willpower not to snigger at the disgusted look on Sam’s face, but he kept his expression impassive. “Come on; I’ll walk you out.”
They left Faith in the kitchen, and Nate headed for the door. “I’m sorry you had to find out like this, but nothing’s going on.”
Sam blocked the entrance, arms crossed over his chest. “You so much as lay one fucking finger on her and you’ll be the one I go to jail for.”
“There’s nothing going on,” Nate repeated. “She’s your little sister; I get it. But she has a point about you not being good at controlling yourself when it comes to her.”
“Seriously, Nate. Don’t even…” Sam turned and opened the door. “Just forget that she’s even a woman, okay? Just forget it.”
Nate watched him go, braced against the doorjamb. Forget Faith was a woman? That was like telling an addict to forget they’d ever tasted their drug of choice. He loved women, and Faith? Hell, she was like Viagra wrapped up in extrashiny packaging, and he could no more pretend she wasn’t what she was than a lion would forget its prey.
But he could stop himself from acting on his thoughts. He needed to keep practicing that little thing called self-control that his grandfather kept drilling into him. If he was going to prove that he could singlehandedly step in and run the King empire, this was a good way to start, by proving to himself that he was able to control every single facet of his life. Starting now. Not to mention the fact that he needed to think more about protecting Faith. He had no idea how she was feeling after what that asshole had done.
“Hey, what do you say to a night out?” Nate called out to Sam as he was about to get into his Chevy.
“When?” Sam had his hand up to shield his face from the sun, leaning against the vehicle.
“Tomorrow night. We can all head out, have a few drinks, catch up. I’ve been away so much lately we haven’t had time to hang out.”
Sam looked a whole lot more relaxed than he had a few minutes earlier. The lure of a big night out had always been enough to put a smile on his face, and Nate needed a chance to let off some steam, too.
“You’re on. Meet at The Den? Usual time?”
Nate gave him a wave. “See you there. And bring that gorgeous girl of yours.” He would have preferred to go to Joe’s and rough up Faith’s ex, who managed the place, but the last thing Nate needed was Sam with him when he confronted the asshole.
Now Nate had a heap of work to get through, starting now. And the faster he got out of the house and into his office, the better.
* * *
Faith was tidying up the breakfast dishes and keeping an ear out for Nate. When she finally heard the front door slam shut she let out the breath she’d been holding and wandered out to look for him. She had some apologizing to do, and she needed to do it now. So much for growing up and not needing anyone to help her—she’d just had her brother and Nate arguing because of her, and it hadn’t been fair to either of them. Just because she was a muddle of thoughts and feelings didn’t mean she could just expect Nate to come to her rescue and come between her and her brother.
She stepped into the hall and caught Nate about to walk up the stairs.
“Nate?”
He stopped, turning when she spoke. His expression was warm, but he also looked … She couldn’t put her finger on it but there was something different about the way he was watching her. Maybe he was feeling guilty about flirting with her, about having her to stay when he’d told her all along how annoyed Sam would be about the whole thing.
“I’m sorry about what just happened. I should have called Sam and told him I was here. I should have trusted that he wouldn’t act out, but to be honest I’m not so sure he would have held back if I’d gone straight to him.”
Nate smiled, but he looked a million miles away. “It’s fine. We both knew he was going to be pissed; I just didn’t expect him to turn up here so fast.”
She stared into his eyes, wished she wasn’t so conflicted over how she felt. Cooper hitting her had done more than dent her confidence. She backed down a step, needing to put some distance between her and Nate. She’d wanted him close, but the thought of him actually closing the distance between them … Her palms were sweating and her heart was beating overtime.
“You two aren’t the only ones with daddy issues, Faith. For what it’s worth, I get it.”
She’d never heard a lot about Nate’s dad, except that he’d been out of their lives for a long time. “Well, I just wanted to say that I really appreciate you letting me stay, and for sticking up for me. It means a lot.”
He nodded and looked away.
“It’s no problem.” He glanced at his wristwatch. “Look, I have a meeting at ten so I have to go, but keep tomorrow night free.”
“Tomorrow?” What’s happening tomorrow night?
“I thought a night out would do us all good. Sam’s game, so we’re heading to The Den at eight.”
Nate moved to turn and Faith almost ran to him, wanted to touch him, to press a kiss to his freshly shaven cheek. But she didn’t.
“Thank you,” she whispered.
Nate stared at her, long and hard, their eyes locked.
“You’re welcome.”
He was everything she liked in a man—strong, sexy, capable of protecting her—but she wasn’t ready to even think about being intimate again. Cooper’s fist slamming into her replayed through her mind when she least expected it. The way he’d thought he could lay his hands on her made her stomach turn. She was stronger t
han he’d thought, though, and there was no way she was going to let what he’d done to her hold her back.
Faith smiled thinking about Nate. He was trying so hard to be the perfect gentleman, and she doubted that came easy to him. As much as she’d always liked him, she knew what happened when a girl like her became involved with a rich and powerful man like Nate. Which was why he’d only ever been her fantasy date, the guy she’d want in bed but not have any other expectations for.
Her own mom had spent her entire life mourning for the man she’d loved, a man who’d ended up marrying a woman his family had deemed more appropriate for him, and besides, Faith wasn’t looking for anything more than a fresh start and a fun time.
Which meant she had to forget all about how good Nate looked half-naked. Or what it would be like in his bed.
Chapter 4
NATE sucked in a deep breath and gripped both hands tight on the steering wheel, waiting for Ryder to pick up the phone. He’d been happy and relaxed surveying the parcel of land he’d earmarked for oil drilling, but that mood had quickly disappeared the moment he’d gotten back in the car. He’d had an irate message from his younger brother and a call from work, and Nate could already feel his blood pressure rising for the day.
“Hey.”
“Hey,” Nate replied, easing off on the accelerator a little.
“Whatever the hell you’ve done to piss Sam off, I need you to deal with it.”
Nate groaned. He guessed his brother needed Sam to work a problem horse, which was why Nate was getting the blame for his mood. “What did he say?”
“Nothing. Except to mutter that you were a fucking asshole and he wanted to smack his fist into your face about now.”
“You do know I’ve done nothing wrong, right? His sister turned up on my doorstep needing a place to stay and—”
“Whoa, she what?” Ryder roared with laughter. “You have Faith staying in your house?”
“Yup.” His brothers had always loved giving him shit about her. He hadn’t exactly done a good job of pretending not to be attracted to her, because she’d always managed to rile him up the wrong way. Or the right way, depending on which way he looked at it.