by Soraya Lane
She sighed. “So you wouldn’t laugh at me if I said I want to be the most successful female art consultant and trader in Texas?” Her voice was softer than usual, uncertainty clear in her tone.
“Faith, I don’t think you’re aiming high enough,” he said honestly, taking a sip of his beer and watching her do the same.
“Really?”
“There’s no reason you can’t be better than the best man, for starters, and don’t just limit yourself to Texas. Dream big, baby, and don’t let anyone stand in your way.”
That made her crack up. “Like Cooper-type douche bags, you mean?”
“Hey, he’s not going to be bothering you again anytime soon.” Nate smiled to himself, pleased that he’d dealt with the situation personally. He’d done what he had to do without going too American Psycho on the guy, and Nate genuinely doubted Faith would ever hear from him again. “Let’s just say that if he saw either of us again, he’d cross the street to avoid a confrontation.”
She smirked. “Can I ask what you did to him, or do I not want to know?”
Nate shrugged. “I didn’t kill him, but I did teach him a lesson.” He held up his bottle and clinked it against hers. “To your successful career.”
“One day,” she muttered. “Right now it’s just a dream.”
“Quit working at places like Joe’s and find a gallery to start out in,” Nate suggested. “Offer to work for free if they don’t have an opening; learn the ropes from the bottom up. I’m not knocking your degree, because you sure as hell need it and it’s incredible how hard you’ve studied, but if you want to impress people you need to show you have the practical skills, too.”
“There’s that little issue of money, Nate,” she said, moving away from him a little so she could lean against the back of the sofa and tuck her knees up. “I can’t work for free, finish off my post-grad, and work somewhere for money to pay my bills, too.”
“So stay living here for a while,” he said, like it was the most obvious answer in the world. He sipped his beer and kept his eyes on her at the same time, wondering why the hell he’d just said that. Two days ago, hell, one day ago he was cursing the fact that he’d let her stay at all, and now he was suggesting she stay longer? Indefinitely?
Then again, one day ago they hadn’t been sleeping together, and having her around was a whole lot nicer than he’d expected. His house had always been so strictly off-limits to anyone other than family, which meant his fun with women had been confined to the apartment or hotel rooms. Seeing Faith curled up on his sofa and knowing she’d be crawling into his bed later on was kind of a turn-on.
“You mean that?” she finally asked.
“Yeah. Why the hell not?” Nate kicked his feet up and stretched out. “You keep the house tidy and cook a few meals for us, and in exchange you can live here for as long as you need.”
“But—”
“No buts,” he insisted. He’d made the decision and he was going to have to live with the consequences of dealing with Sam and any other shit that came his way. “Stay or don’t stay, the choice is yours. But if you want a shot at the career you’re dreaming about, take the opportunity and don’t look a gift horse in the mouth when he’s staring straight at you.”
“Thank you,” she whispered, setting her bottle down and pushing up on her knees so she could shuffle forward.
Nate put his bottle on the floor, less interested in drinking than the beautiful woman approaching him. Her hair was still damp and falling over her shoulders, which had had the enticing effect of wetting the thin material of her cotton tank. Faith’s mouth was slightly parted, her eyes on his as she moved even closer.
“I thought we weren’t having sex?” he joked, sitting up slightly and reaching for the hem of her top so he could lift it up and over her head.
Faith obliged. “It seems only fair that I thank you for your generous offer.”
He chuckled, hands covering her breasts, loving the fullness in his palms.
“So you’re going to be my mistress?” he asked, giving up her breasts so he could put his hands around her back and force her forward and back on top of him again.
“Yes,” she muttered. “Your mistress that still needs to be taught what she’s doing. There’s no point being successful if I’m still crap in bed.”
His laugh was muffled as her hair fell over his face. “Would you give up on the crap in bed business? You’re fucking incredible, and the only reason I’m putting up with you telling me I have to teach you is because I’m too damn selfish to say no.”
“What do you propose then?” she whispered, her lips moving against the side of his mouth as she talked.
“I propose,” he said, hands on her butt to lock her down hard against him, so she could feel just how interested he was, “that I show you how a man is supposed to look after a woman in bed. Then you’ll always have a good benchmark to measure other men against.”
She laughed, but he cursed the words he’d just said. He might not want to commit to anything long-term, but the idea of Faith ever being in another man’s bed made his head pound so hard it felt like it could explode.
* * *
“I’m scared of you even looking at me again,” Faith murmured, standing behind Nate as he sat on a chrome and leather stool at the kitchen counter. She dropped a kiss to his neck and wrapped her arms around him.
“Scared of what?” he quipped, closing the lid on his laptop and spinning around in his chair to face her.
“Your appetite,” she groaned
Nate kissed her, his lips soft against hers, but it was a slow, sensual kiss rather than the hot, hard lip crushes they’d shared less than an hour ago.
“Want to order in?” he asked.
“Who delivers all the way out here?” she asked, perching on his knee as he held her close with both of his arms around her.
“Plenty of places. I tip well to make it worth their while.”
“I’d rather stay in than go out,” she admitted.
“Me too. I thought it’d be nice to hang at home for a couple of days. It’s been a long few months for me.”
“You sure you’re not just staying home to avoid seeing my brother?” she asked, only half-teasing. “I like getting my own way, but I hate seeing the two of you fight like that.”
“Sam and I will be fine.” His voice sounded convincing, but she didn’t believe him, not for a second, that he was that confident. “Anyway, I was catching up on some work then, and I recalled a couple of contacts I have in the art world. Granddad has quite a collection, not my taste but incredibly valuable now, but we’d been talking to a few different gallery owners in recent years.”
Faith’s pulse picked up, her heart beating that little bit too fast. She’d been so unsure about telling Nate in case he didn’t think she was capable of fulfilling what she’d dreamed of for so long, but it was starting to seem like the best decision she’d ever made.
“Anyway, to cut a long story short, I’ve called in a few favors,” he said, dropping a kiss into her hair. “I’ve e-mailed two contacts, mentioned how capable and driven you are, and I’ve told them to reach out if they hear of anything or if they might need some assistance.”
“I don’t know what to say.” Aside from Sam, no one in her life had ever truly given a damn enough to want to help her out, and she’d sure as hell never had any handouts. So to know that Nate had dropped everything and tried to help her only hours after she’d confessed her career plans to him was amazing.
“Just say thank you,” he said. “And agree to Thai takeout.”
“I’d agree to eat fried worms right now.”
He laughed, a throaty, deep rumble that for some reason reminded her of the noise his Ferrari made. “Well, that would just be stupid. You have to realize that telling people what you want from life is the first way to make them take you seriously. And if people take you seriously, they’re more likely to recommend you.”
She hugged him again, hardly
able to believe that not only was she shacked up in Nate’s house, but also she’d already had sex with him more times than she could count in twenty-four hours and now he was giving her business advice. It was a win-win situation if ever she’d been in one.
“You know, I think I’ll call in and collect dinner. You mind if I head in to see Granddad for a bit, check he’s okay? I’ll be back with dinner in less than ninety minutes; I promise.”
“Go for it,” she said, extracting herself from his lap and getting a glass so she could pour herself some water. “I’ve got a few phone calls to catch up on, might even have a quick chat with Sam.”
“Yeah, you break the ice before I have to jump into the water with him,” Nate muttered.
He stood, his plain grey T-shirt hugging his frame, faded jeans making him casual and sexy as hell. His worn boots were on but not laced up, he had more than a day’s worth of dark stubble, and his hair was messy, not to mention the dark shadow around his eye where Sam had punched him. Nate was so damn hot she didn’t even know what part of him to admire first.
He kissed her, stubble grazing her chin slightly as he pulled away. “See you soon, gorgeous.”
Faith watched him pull on a leather jacket that had been slung over a chair, collecting his keys on the way past. She was under no illusions about what they had—she knew that this was a fun part of her life that she’d never forget in a million years, but it was just fun. Nate was sexy and successful and everything she’d ever admire in a man, but he was also ruthless, and she doubted he’d ever be happy with a woman who wasn’t a perfect Stepford wife, at home and popping out his babies. If he ever admitted wanting someone permanent in his life.
Or maybe not. Maybe he’d like the idea of having a permanent girlfriend one day who didn’t expect a lot from him. Either way, it wasn’t going to be her. She was young now and fun was fine, especially after the relationship she’d just come out of. She’d thought Cooper was a nice guy—he managed the bar; he owned his own home; he’d had a plan. But in the end he’d just shown her why she needed to rely on herself and make her own plans. Nate was different, because she could trust him and she respected him. They might be having sex, but he’d agreed to help her before he knew that anything was going to be happening between them.
Faith reached for her iPhone and checked through her missed calls and texts, leaning against the cool marble of the counter. She’d neglected her girlfriends with everything going on and she owed them phone calls, plus she had to deal with Sam. But first she called her friend Rachel, who’d worked part-time at Joe’s with her.
“Hey, gorgeous,” Rachel answered after a few rings.
“Hey,” Faith replied, dropping onto the sofa and making herself comfortable. “Sorry I’ve been MIA.”
“Rumor has it that Cooper’s black eyes and broken nose have something to do with you.”
Faith sat back up, pulling a cushion closer and hugging it against her. “You’ve seen him?”
“Um, yeah, we’ve seen him. He stormed in here about an hour ago, all pissed off and yelling orders, and said he wasn’t going to be back in for a while. He put Fran in charge.”
“Hmmm,” she mused out loud.
“‘Hmmm’? That’s all you’ve got to say? How about doing some explaining?” Rachel demanded. “You guys get in a row, you call it off and disappear, and then he turns up all beaten up. There’s definitely a juicy story there.”
Faith cleared her throat. “He hit me, Rach. He turned out to be an asshole, so I packed up and left. I don’t know what happened to him, but he sure as hell had it coming.”
She managed to steer Rachel onto a different topic, chatted for a bit, then said good-bye. When she looked down, her hands were shaking and she had to sit on them to stop it. Faith knew she shouldn’t have cared about Cooper being beaten up, hell, Nate had made it clear that he’d done something, but to know the man she was shacked up with could be so kind and gentle with her and so ruthless with another human being was kind of scary.
Her phone vibrated then and she glanced down to where she’d discarded it and saw it was Sam. She sighed, trying to decide whether to answer or not and deciding she’d be a bitch if she didn’t.
“Hi, Sam,” she answered.
“Hey. How are you?”
“Good. You?” He sounded way too normal, not anywhere near as angry as she’d expected.
“I just wanted to say that I’m sorry for flipping out last night,” he said. “I was out of line, and I shouldn’t have—”
“Your girlfriend made you call me, didn’t she?” Faith asked, stifling her laugh. “What did she threaten you with?”
“Moving out,” he muttered.
“So you actually still want to kill Nate and you’re pissed with me, but you can’t say anything right now because she’s listening?”
He didn’t say anything for a long moment. “Yep, pretty much.”
At this Faith laughed out loud. “Look, Sam, when I came to Nate, he was the perfect gentleman. Anything that has or hasn’t happened between us is because of me, because I’ve initiated it, so give him a break, okay?”
“I just don’t want you to get hurt. I’ve seen it all before, over and over. Why won’t you listen to me?”
“I’m a big girl now, Sam. I’m gonna be fine.” She paused. “And from the rumors I’m hearing, someone dealt with my ex. I’m guessing it was Nate, so don’t be too hard on him.”
“I’ll give him that. Someone hurts someone he cares about, he takes matters into his own hands, does his own dirty work.”
Faith reached for the TV remote. “I’m going now. Talk soon.”
Sam grumbled and said good-bye, and she curled up to flick through channels. She could catch up on all the other gossip from her friends tomorrow. Right now, she was tired and all she wanted to do was shut her eyes. She only hoped Nate would wake her when he got home, because she was still starving hungry and it was all his doing.
* * *
Nate had been surfing channels for a while and he’d ended up watching a documentary about wolves. Hardly his usual viewing, but he didn’t often just kick back with his feet up, so he wasn’t complaining.
“How long have I been out for?” Faith stretched and repositioned herself, curling into him like a cat.
“I arrived home an hour ago. So a while, I guess.” He smiled down at her, an unusual sensation running through his body. He wasn’t used to feeling content like this with a woman, and it equal parts scared the shit out of him and pleased him. “I couldn’t wait, but I’ve left something of everything for you to try.”
Faith’s stomach made a noise and they both laughed. “I think I need it.”
Nate got up and headed for the table, opening containers. “I got a few different dishes. It’s damn good Thai.”
Faith smiled as she sat down and he joined her. “How was your granddad?”
“Sometimes, like tonight, he seems like his usual self and all I want to do is get him the hell out of Dodge and back home.” Nate shrugged. “Then he loses his breath or the pain comes on so strong and he needs morphine and I realize I’m only kidding myself thinking he’ll ever get back here.”
Faith reached over and touched Nate’s hand. “So this is it for him?”
“That’s why he’s there now.” Nate’s voice cracked and he cleared his throat, reaching for a spare pair of chopsticks that had come in the paper bags. “We waited until we couldn’t keep him home any longer, and he didn’t want to be a burden on us, but I’m starting to think we should just have kitted the ground floor of this place out as a private hospital for him.”
“From what Sam’s told me, he was like a dad to you.” Her voice was soft, as if she wasn’t sure whether she should be asking or not.
Nate didn’t mind; it wasn’t like she was prying. They’d covered a lot of ground since she’d moved in, and he was surprised how much he liked talking to her. Getting information out of him was usually like extracting blood from a stone,
but opening up to her wasn’t half-bad.
“As far as I’m concerned, he was my father. Is my father,” Nate said, poking around at some noodles even though he’d already eaten. Faith was using the chopsticks like a pro and watching her eat was making him hungry all over again. “My own dad was an asshole as far as I’m concerned. I mean, who treats their kids like shit after their mom dies, then walks out when his father-in-law offers him money to leave?”
“Your granddad…” Faith had stopped chewing.
“Yeah, he saw how our dad was treating us on a daily basis and offered him money in exchange for signing over custody to him,” Nate told her. “From what I gather, he didn’t need time to think about it.”
Faith’s mouth had turned down and Nate immediately leaned over to kiss her, smiling at the hotness of her lips when they connected, fresh chili making his mouth tingle as it transferred between them.
“Don’t look so sad, sweetheart. I’m long over what happened. There’s no me lying on a psychiatrist’s couch lamenting over what could have or should have been.”
“But you never blamed your granddad?” she asked. “I mean, don’t you hate what he did?”
Now it was Nate frowning. “Why would I hate him for it? It’s like that adultery Web site for married people. They tried to put the blame on the guy who started it, but he wasn’t forcing anyone to participate. He was providing the platform, not coercing anyone. My granddad didn’t make my father the way he was, but he did make sure he wasn’t around to screw us up, gave him the choice to man up or ship out.”
Faith set down her chopsticks, folding her arms and sitting back in her chair. “For starters, I freaking hate that Web site and what it did to so many couples, so don’t even get me started, but—”
“Like it or hate it, it’s not the Web site making people cheat. They were going to cheat anyway; the site just makes it easier and a whole lot more honest,” Nate interrupted. “My point is that my dad was an asshole every way you looked at the situation. Offering him an out when he wanted exactly that was the best thing my granddad could have done. He and Grams raised us, and we had this amazing stable family home. The only sad thing that happened was Grams dying, and our realizing our dad really didn’t give a crap, because he never once reached out to contact us. He didn’t even bother to come to her funeral, and if he comes to Granddad’s I’ll escort him off the property with my shotgun.”