by Soraya Lane
Faith had set her fork down now, was dabbing at the corners of her mouth with her napkin. Nate was thinking he should have waited to share this story until after they’d finished eating, especially given how pale she was suddenly looking. It had probably brought everything about the other night back to her.
“So what happened?” she asked.
Nate hoped she’d like the ending. “I was with Chase, and it just so happens that neither of us likes to see an animal get hurt. Let’s just say it wasn’t long before that guy was the one howling in pain and promising never to lay a hand on a dog again.”
She sighed and picked up her fork again, absently pushing food around on her plate. “You’re telling me this because you want me to know you’re going to beat the crap out of Cooper?”
“No, Faith, I’m telling you because we all make bad judgment calls about people sometimes.” He took a sip of wine, the red smooth as he swallowed it. “Do you remember that old dog Molly we used to have here? You probably saw her when you visited with Sam years ago. She always came out to greet anyone who arrived.”
Faith’s eyebrows pulled together. “I think so.”
“Well, that was her. We scooped her up that day, found she had a couple of pups in the alley with her that she’d been trying to keep concealed, and took her home with us. Chase found new homes for the puppies once they were bigger, and she lived out her days here. We couldn’t have loved that old girl more if we’d tried.”
Faith took another mouthful, eyes suddenly bright again. “You come off as this tough guy, Nate, like you wouldn’t give a damn about anything other than yourself or your family, but it’s not who you are, is it? I’ve always seen past that bravado.”
He arched an eyebrow. “Oh really.”
“Yes, really,” she replied. “You wouldn’t harm any animal and you couldn’t say no to me when I turned up on your doorstep. You might frighten the crap out of grown men, but you don’t scare me.”
“Well, I should,” he grumbled, placing his fork down so he could lean closer to her. “I should scare you, Faith.”
“I’m not scared of you, Nathaniel King,” she insisted, but her voice was wavering, no longer as strong and full of confidence as she had been a second ago. He didn’t want to scare her, but he didn’t want her thinking she was safe with him. Not from everything.
“When Sam said you were the lamb in the wolf’s den, he wasn’t lying.” Nate held her gaze, didn’t take his eyes off her for a second, never giving her a moment to break their connection, showing her why. “You shouldn’t be here with me, Faith. You might not be scared of me, but it doesn’t mean that you’re safe with me.”
“Are you going to hit me?” She was staring at him intently.
He frowned. “No.”
“Hurt me?”
“Never.”
“Then what?” she asked. “What should I be scared of? You’ve never done anything to make me think you’d hurt me.”
Nate gritted his teeth, fisted his palms under the table “Don’t push me, Faith, because if I have you in my arms for even a second, I might never let you go.”
Faith ran her fingers down the stem of her wineglass, refusing to give in to the feelings she was having for Nate. She wanted him, she couldn’t ignore the way she was feeling, but she also wasn’t going to be made to feel like a girl. Nate was everything she liked in a man, everything she’d always desired. Trouble was, she wasn’t sure if she was ready. Yet.
“You need to stop seeing me as Sam’s little sister,” she said, keeping her voice even, taking a slow, determined sip of wine, pushing away the voice in her head telling her to stop.
“And what should I see you as, Faith?” Nate’s voice was raspy, husky as hell.
“A woman,” she said. “All grownup and fully capable of making her own decisions, especially when it comes to men.” She knew how that sounded, but she’d left her ex the first time he’d laid a hand on her and she wasn’t going to let that one bad experience scare her off the opposite sex for life. She was stronger than that.
“And what is it you want from me, Faith?” If Nate’s voice had been raspy before, it was husky and dragged over gravel now, like pure sex if ever she’d heard it. “Or is it another man you’re talking about?”
She tried to laugh, but it ended up sounding more like a choke. “Maybe it is another man.” It was a lie, but she wanted to knock Nate down a peg, didn’t want him to constantly have the upper hand. His cockiness was endearing sometimes and frustrating as hell others.
“Well, if it is,” he said, leaning back and away from her as he twirled the stem of his glass, “don’t be inviting him back here.”
“And why’s that?” she asked, wishing she had the confidence to laugh in Nate’s face and tell him that two could play his silly games.
“Because I’ll kill any bastard that tries to touch you while you’re under my protection, Faith. With my bare fucking hands if I have to.”
Silence was like a cloud above them, hanging immobile, as if about to strike with thunder and lightning.
“You’re starting to sound a lot like my very overprotective brother,” she said pointedly, once she realized Nate wasn’t going to say anything else. “The one I thought was incapable of dealing with my current situation without being a douche bag.”
“Believe me, sugar, my thoughts about you are anything other than goddamn brotherly. Never have been.”
She sucked in a breath, took another sip of wine for something to do, dinner long forgotten. “Maybe we should have just sat and eaten our spaghetti. Not said a word.”
“So you could seduce me with your culinary skills rather than your bedroom eyes?” His voice was almost cruel now, predatory.
“So we could enjoy delicious food and more convivial company, actually,” Faith told him. “I think I already made it clear that I have no powers of seduction, regardless of what you might think.” She also wasn’t sure she was up for bantering with Nate unless she was certain she was ready to go there. Which she wasn’t.
“Then let’s eat,” he said, picking up his fork again and attacking his food with gusto. “The meatballs are incredible. You’re a great cook.”
“Thank you,” she said, accepting the compliment, wishing she wasn’t thinking that food was the way to a man’s heart. Because she didn’t want or need to go messing with any hearts, hers included. Maybe what she needed was some fun between the sheets, to loosen up a little. Get over what had happened and prove to herself she was as strong as she kept thinking she was. And wasn’t as bad in bed as Cooper had insinuated.
“How about we start over?” he suggested, leaning forward for another helping, even though it had started to go cold.
Faith watched as he served himself, deciding that she might as well finish her food, too. She’d been chopping and stirring for what had seemed like hours at the time, so it seemed a shame to let it go to waste.
“What do you suggest?”
“How about I start by telling you about my day? Or maybe I should confess my sins to you?”
Faith shrugged. “Sure.” She started to eat as Nate piled his plate high.
“You know, I don’t like anyone to sense any weakness in me, Faith, which is why you rattle me. You turn up and I turn into a goddamn pussy, letting you look at me with your puppy dog eyes.” He shook his head, ran a hand through his hair. “And now I’m about to lose the most important person in my life, my grandfather, and I’m afraid it’s going to cut me off at the knees without me being able to do a damn thing about it. So I guess that makes two of you managing to dent my tough-guy armor.”
She gulped. Maybe she should have been more encouraging when he’d suggested he just tell her about his day.
Nate headed out the door and crossed the field as a shortcut to the barn. He was pleased to get out of the house. After finishing dinner, talking way too much to Faith, and then helping her with the dishes, he needed to get away from her. He’d avoided her for so long, bu
t the walls he’d invisibly erected between them were being ripped down. And fast. He was just pleased he’d already arranged to meet his brothers for a beer.
“Hey!” he called out to Ryder, seeing him turn over a few feed buckets for them to sit on. The lights were on, the interior of the barn flooded with light.
“Hey!” Ryder called back. “Chase is on his way.”
“How’s everything going?”
“Good. I got Rose to bed; she wanted three stories tonight. Honestly, Nate, I have no damn idea how I’m gonna cope when she starts to bring guys home. . . .”
“She’s two,” Nate said dryly. “You’ve got a lot of years ahead of you before you have to start worrying.”
“I know. I just can’t believe how much I love that little girl. It kills me. And if some bastard hurts her? Damn, I’ll lose it. Seriously.”
“You know I love hearing about Rose, but I was actually asking about work before, not your home life,” Nate joked, taking the beer Ryder passed him. “How’re those big bulls of yours?”
Ryder took a long pull of his beer, elbows resting on his knees as he sat on the upturned bucket. “All good. Bruce is turning into a goddamn superstar.”
Nate laughed. They’d all made fun of Bruce the bull, because of his name and the fact that he had an attitude to rival a diva, but Ryder had managed to prove them all wrong with his new business venture. Not to mention his impeccable taste in livestock. “Good. You miss it, though? Actually being out there and riding?” Ryder had given up the rodeo after one big fall too many and after meeting his wife, but as happy as Nate was that his brother wasn’t riding two-thousand-pound bulls anymore, he knew it must have been hard for him.
“I miss the thrill of getting up there, climbing the rails and gripping the rope. Listening to the crowd cheering,” Ryder said, his eyes lighting up just talking about his glory days. “But when I look at my girls? It’s a no-brainer. I had my fun, but after those falls I had, only an idiot would have kept riding. One more fall and I could have ended up a vegetable or dead. Isn’t that why you were always busting your nuts to get me to stop?”
“Damn right.”
“You reminiscing about the rodeo?” Chase called out as he entered, grabbing a beer and dropping down to his makeshift seat.
“Yeah,” Ryder said. “It hurts not being a current champ at anything, not bringing home any new title belts. But Bruce is gonna become more famous than I ever was!”
They all laughed. Nate sipped his beer, always relaxed when he was hanging out with his brothers. They fought heaps, usually over stupid stuff, but the worst they did was throw a punch. They were close and it was just the way he liked it. And even though they all had their own places now, they still always met up in the barn where they’d spent their youth sneaking beers.
“So how you getting on with Miss Universe staying over?”
Nate took another pull of beer. He was usually pretty sensitive when it came to his brothers talking about her or giving him shit, but he could hardly argue with what Chase had just said about her.
“I’m walking around with a permanent hard-on; that’s how damn well I’m doing,” he told them honestly.
His brothers howled with laughter. Nate scowled as Ryder slapped his hand on the bucket, he found it so amusing.
“I know I’m risking a black eye here, but have you thought about just scratching that itch?” Chase asked.
“Screw you,” Nate muttered.
“Would it be so bad to corrupt her? She’s not exactly a child, Nate. She’s a beautiful woman, and if she feels the same . . .” Ryder didn’t finish his sentence.
“She’s Sam’s little sister. Enough said.”
“Every woman has a brother or a father, Nate,” Chase reasoned. “And since when do you let someone else tell you what you can and can’t do?”
“Since that someone was Sam,” Nate told them, too confused to be pissed with them. “He’s the only person outside of this family I’ve ever truly trusted, and he’s always been there for me. I’m not gonna screw that up just because I’m all hot under the goddamn collar for Faith.” He sighed. “It’s Sam.”
“So tell her to find somewhere else to stay,” Chase said. “Get her out of the house and off your radar.”
Nate groaned. “I can’t.”
His brothers laughed again.
“You’re between a rock and a hard place then.” Ryder passed him another beer. “All I can say is good luck.”
Nate ripped at the label on the beer bottle, trying to push Faith out of his mind and failing badly. “Women aside, I need to talk to you both about Granddad.”
The atmosphere immediately turned somber. This was why Nate had wanted to see them.
“What’s happened?” Chase asked, eyebrows drawn tightly together.
“Nothing, but he called me in this morning and I don’t think we have long. He’s been seeing his attorney, has everything in order. He’s preparing to say good-bye.”
“Anything we need to be concerned about?” Ryder asked.
“No,” Nate replied, turning the bottle around in his hand, not sure whether to tell them everything or not. “Unless you guys have a problem with me amping up our oil drilling. Nothing will change with anything else on the ranches, you have my word, but I have to honor the promises I’ve made him.” Oil excited Nate, made him feel alive and amped about earning their family empire more money, but his brothers never had the same burning desire like he did. It wasn’t that they weren’t supportive; they just had other interests.
“He wants you as his successor, Nate. We’ve always known he would, so you don’t have to sugarcoat it.” Chase shrugged. “You’re already CEO, so it’s not like anything’s going to change.”
“Let’s face it,” Ryder said. “You’ve been running the business alongside him for years now. I never saw that changing, and it’s only logical that you’d be heading the family and the businesses. The last thing we need is too many chiefs, right? Just don’t cut our share of the profits and you won’t hear any complaints from me.”
Nate studied his brothers, looking at first Chase, then Ryder. “So we’re good?”
“I’m not gonna argue with anything Granddad wants. It’s his legacy, and that makes it his decision. So long as you don’t try to start interfering with how I run this place or oversee the other ranches.”
“All the ranches are yours to run, except for the oil-drilling component,” Nate confirmed. “I’d never step on your toes when it comes to the day-to-day running.”
“Just let me do my thing with the bulls,” Ryder said. “And the horses, too. I’m not giving up running our bloodstock program, okay?” He chuckled. “Besides, it’s not like our head horse trainer will want to work with you, anyway. And our horses would be nothing without Sam’s help. So all that shit I said before about just going for it with Faith? Forget it.”
Nate grimaced at the reference to Sam. He just needed to keep his hands off Faith and he wouldn’t have a problem.
“How about we toast Granddad?” Nate suggested, holding his beer bottle up in the air. “To the man we owe everything to.”
His brothers held their beers up, too. Nate blinked away tears, refusing to break down. He never cried, and he sure as hell wasn’t about to give in to his emotions before his granddad was even cold. Nate owed it to him to stay strong, and that was exactly what he was going to do.
And then he had to decide what to do with Faith. Asking her to head out with them the following night might not have been his best ever idea.
Chapter 6
Nate felt like he was waiting for his date to the prom. Faith had called out that she’d only be a few minutes, but he was counting down already and it hadn’t even been sixty seconds yet. He checked his watch again for something to do, then decided to go pour himself a drink, needing a whiskey.
“Hey.”
He just about spilled the liquor straight onto the counter instead of into his glass. Nate finished the tas
k, telling himself not to react no matter how damn good she looked, turning slowly as he put the cap back on the bottle of Wild Turkey.
Damn. “You look,” he said, unable to stop his eyes from roving all the way up, then down her body, “amazing.”
She smiled and shrugged, like she hadn’t made a special effort, but Nate knew otherwise. Faith always looked great, but tonight she was more than a distraction to him; she was dynamite. Only he was the one in danger of exploding.
“You don’t look so bad yourself,” she said, checking something in her purse, then zipping it back up.
Nate took a small sip of whiskey before deciding it would be best to not drink before getting behind the wheel. He glanced down at his jeans and shirt. “I’m just happy not to be wearing a suit, but you?” He shook his head. “Sam’s gonna flip.”
She looked confused. “Why Sam?”
“Because every goddamn guy in a twenty-foot radius of you is going to stare, which means he’ll know exactly what thoughts will be running through my head.”
Faith tucked her purse under one arm and reached for him, smoothing her fingers across the collar of his shirt like she was pressing it for him. “And what thoughts would they be?”
He chuckled and expertly moved out of her reach, not about to struggle with his self-control now before the night had even started. She was flirting and she knew it. Once they were out of his home, away from his territory, maybe he’d find it easier to stop wanting her so damn bad.
“Sweetheart, if you could read my thoughts you’d be running. Fast.” He shook his head, refusing to let his feet walk back toward her, resisting the urge to run his fingers through the silky locks of her hair. “In the opposite direction.”
Her hair was usually straight and smooth, but tonight she had soft curls, curls that he was aching to tug out. She was wearing a pretty dress that showed off long tanned legs that . . . Nate cleared his throat. Maybe he should have finished his drink after all and just ordered a cab.
