A Lot Like Forever (King Brothers Book 3)

by Soraya Lane

  She wasn’t lying when she’d told Nate that he’d changed her life. He’d helped her find the job she had, which had put her on the first step of the ladder in the art world. He’d explained to her how to make a success of herself, been so genuine in his appreciation for her, made her feel worthy and beautiful, like nothing or no one would ever be able to stand in her way again.

  Which was why leaving him was so heartbreaking. She’d told herself repeatedly to leave before she fell in love, but the reality was that she’d already fallen.

  “You okay?” he asked.

  Faith nodded and held him tighter. “Yes.”

  They lay a bit longer together, neither one of them wanting to move. Their bodies were warm, her mouth was against his skin, and Nate’s hands were stroking her back in big, slow circles.

  “Are you going running in the morning?” she asked.

  Nate cleared his throat. “Yeah. I’m heading out at daybreak with Chase.”

  She excused herself to go to the bathroom, kissing Nate before she pulled away from his embrace.

  “Why? You want to come?” he asked with a chuckle.

  “No!” she called out, the door to the bathroom still open.

  Faith washed the makeup from her face and brushed her teeth before joining him back in bed, still naked, and tucking up beside him. Nate lay on his back and she dropped her head to his chest, making herself comfortable.

  “Good night, gorgeous,” he said.

  “ ’Night.”

  She listened to the steady beat of his heart, heard his breathing change as he fell asleep almost immediately. Faith stroked his chest, squeezed her eyes shut to block the tears again, then eventually moved and reached into her purse that she’d left beside the bed to pull out her phone. She texted her brother, hoping Sam would have his phone with him. He always rose early, which meant he should at least get it first thing if he didn’t receive it now.

  Need you to pick me up from King Ranch just before 7 am. Don’t be late. I need you. F xo

  Faith switched her phone to silent and curled up beside Nate again. She’d miss his big, muscled body against hers for a very long time, but she was doing the right thing. Or maybe it wasn’t the right thing, but it was the only thing that made sense to her right now.

  Chapter 13

  Faith’s hands were shaking as she zipped up her bag. Nate had risen early, had bent over to kiss her cheek before he’d left, and she’d just stayed still and listened to him go. The second the door had closed she’d jumped up, hurriedly dressed, and grabbed her two bags, stuffing in as much as she could.

  She glanced at her phone, left discarded on the bed while she got ready to flee. The screen was lit up, so she grabbed it and scanned the message. It was Sam.

  Tried to call u before. Driving. Be there in 15. Hope u ok.

  Faith pulled another tissue from her purse and wiped her nose, blinking the tears away as they started to fall. She just needed to hold it together a bit longer, not completely fall apart just yet. She’d check into a cheap motel for a few nights until she found somewhere to rent; now that she had a job she could afford to cover her own expenses, and she already had enough money saved to finish her post-grad to get through that. It was going to be tight, but she was in charge of her own destiny and doing it on her own started now, even if she had called her brother to come get her.

  She put her coat on and pushed her phone into her pocket, taking one last look around the bedroom. It was the last time she was going to see it, going to be in Nate’s room, part of his life. It would have been so easy to throw everything back in the closet, undress and hop into bed, wait for him to get back from his run, and join him in the shower. Lather him up, both slick from the water, and let him have his wicked way with her.

  But she couldn’t. It was time to go, and she needed to leave now while she had the chance to go in private. Faith stopped in the kitchen, tears still streaming down her cheeks, and reached for the notepad she’d put on the counter earlier in the month to jot groceries down on. She picked up the pen and leaned forward, taking a deep breath before writing. She had no idea what to say, especially after the night they’d had, but she couldn’t go without saying something.

  Nate. This seems irrational and stupid after the night we just shared, but I have to go. Thank you for making me feel beautiful, for the weeks of fun & telling me so genuinely to follow my dreams. I will never forget the time we spent together, & I will never, ever forget you. Faith.

  Her tears fell onto the paper, soaked through the notepad as she dropped the pen and backed away. She’d been planning what to write all morning, trying to figure out how to tell him how she felt, but all the practicing in the world didn’t make it any easier.

  A noise outside made her look up and she grabbed her bags and walked toward the door. Sam’s pickup truck was outside and she moved quickly to the front door, opening and closing it and hurrying toward him. Her brother was already out and walking toward her, his face turning from surprised to angry when he came closer.

  “What the hell did he do to you, Faith?” Sam demanded.

  She started to sob then, unable to keep it together any longer. She thrust her bags at him.

  “Nothing,” she managed. “We need to go. Now.”

  Sam stared at her, then started toward the house. “He in here? I’ll goddamn kill him!”

  “Sam!” she cried. “Please. Just get in the truck and go.”

  He turned and looked back at her, eyes wild with anger.

  “Please,” she begged. “Just get me out of here before he comes back.”

  Sam glanced at the house again and then to her, grabbing her bags and walking past her to throw them in the bed of the truck. She got in quickly and clicked her seat belt, leaning her head deep back into the seat and staring out the window at the homestead. The wisteria growing along the porch was so stunning, the house type of home that she’d always dreamed about living in as a little girl, all part of her childhood dreams of an idyllic life. There had been so many times she’d wished to live in a house just like this, to have a family like Nate’s. Only as a child she hadn’t realized that her brother’s best friend had experienced pain like she had with his own parents, that the family she saw was, in fact, his grandparents caring for the three boys as if they were their own.

  Sam started driving, and she kept staring, hoping they didn’t end up seeing Nate. He was usually gone an hour, which meant they were cutting it fine.

  “I told you he was going to hurt you, Faith. I told you he was going to break your heart and I was going to have to pick up the pieces, and look what I’m doing,” he seethed. “I warned him what I’d do and I wasn’t damn well kidding.”

  Faith let him rant, knowing he had to get it all off his chest before she interrupted. “Nate hasn’t done anything wrong,” she managed, finally back in control and no longer sobbing. She wiped a few stray tears away, brushing them aside, and dabbed at her nose with a tissue she found in her pocket.

  “You’re my sister, Faith; I know when someone’s hurt you,” Sam said. “Tell me what he did and I’ll--”

  “Sam, listen to me,” she quietly demanded. “Nate hasn’t hurt me. I’m the one who’s doing the hurting here, and he’s going to hate me for leaving like this. Which is why we have to get out of here now before he tries to stop me.”

  “But why are you leaving?” Sam asked, taking his eyes off the drive as they neared the road. “What did he do to make you leave?”

  “Nothing,” she admitted. “Nate did absolutely nothing wrong, he’s been the most incredible man to me, and that’s why I have to go.” Faith didn’t expect him to understand, hell, she didn’t truly understand why she was so scared of being hurt or falling in love herself, but what she did know was that she’d had to do it.

  “You’re sure?” Sam asked, slowing before turning out onto the road.

  Faith breathed a sigh of relief as they left King Ranch. It had been her home for over a month, and it
might just have been the best month of her life. But it wasn’t real; it was just a moment in time of them both having fun and wanting the same thing at the same time. The bubble would have burst one day; it was just a matter of when.

  “Where am I taking you?”

  “A motel. Somewhere cheap where I can wallow for a few days before finding a place to rent.”

  “No way.” Sam took a hand off of the steering wheel and reached for her. “You can come stay with us.”

  “I appreciate the offer, but I need some time to myself.” She didn’t want to be staying with her brother while she was heartbroken over Nate, was craving just being alone for a while.

  “I’m not leaving you alone,” Sam insisted.

  She squeezed his hand back. “Well, you’re going to have to,” she said. “This is just something I need to do, Sam.”

  He grumbled but didn’t say anything else, and she leaned across and pressed her forehead against the cool glass of the window. She was going to make the most of the next few days. She was going to cry and wallow, but she was also going to make goals and plans. She was going to take charge of her future and make sure nothing and no one stopped her from getting what she wanted from life.

  Nate had been fun. Nate had been delicious. Nate had been exactly what she’d needed at a time when she’d been low. He’d made her feel amazing and worthy and confident. Which was why he’d always hold a place in her heart that she doubted any other man would ever be able to fill.

  “You sure about the motel?” Sam asked, his tone more gentle now. “Because Kelly would never mind you coming to stay for a bit.”

  “Yeah, I’m sure,” she said.

  And so Sam drove and she stared, wondering if she’d perhaps just made the biggest mistake of her life or whether she’d done exactly what needed to be done. Either way, she’d done it, and there was no going back.

  Nate was still breathing heavy when he walked into the house, laughing with Chase as they headed for the kitchen.

  “You’re all fired up today,” Chase joked. “I thought I had you at the bend, but you smoked me.”

  Nate hauled the fridge door open and passed his brother a bottle of water. They both unscrewed their bottles and guzzled.

  “I had a good night. Maybe that helped.”

  Chase groaned and leaned forward, grimacing as the cool of the stone hit his bare skin. “Lucky you. We had Harrison in bed with us all night. I’m craving the night he starts to sleep through. Morning sex is a thing of the past.”

  “Morning sex is overrated,” Nate said with a laugh, seeing a notepad and pen discarded at the other end of the counter. “Just go to bed earlier and get it on. Then you don’t have to worry about morning breath. Or rushing to work.”

  “Hey, I only have to roll out of bed and I’m at work. When I say I miss morning sex, I mean it. Hope’s hot in the morning, all rumpled and warm from sleep.”

  Nate laughed and reached for the notepad. He set his water bottle down when he realized it was a note from Faith.

  “Faith!” he called out, walking fast through the kitchen to the bottom of the stairs. “Faith!” he called louder.

  Nate paused when he didn’t hear anything, read the softly scrawled words on the paper he was holding. He read it once, then again, before dropping it and taking the stairs two at a time. He stopped outside his room, looked at the empty bed still rumpled from the night before, threw the closet door open, and saw the empty space where her things had been hanging. No.

  She was gone. Faith had gone like a ghost that had never been there in the first place in the short space of time that he’d been out running.

  “No!” he bellowed.

  Chase appeared behind him, still bare chested and holding his water bottle, top tucked into the waistband of his running shorts.

  “What’s happened?” he asked.

  “She’s goddamn left me,” Nate muttered.

  Chase didn’t say anything, just took a step forward and gave him a firm pat on the shoulder, his hand lingering. “She’ll be back. You guys were great together.”

  “No, she won’t.” Nate stormed into his bathroom and turned the faucet on, stripping off and stepping under the water. “She’s gone,” he called out to Chase from the shower, “and this is exactly why I never should have let her move in in the first place!”

  Damn Faith Mendes. She’d played him like a pro, seduced him and wiggled her way into his life until he’d wanted her there for good. Last night they’d made love like it was their last night together, and now he realized that it had been exactly that. Faith had known she was leaving in the morning; it was why she’d asked about his run. So she’d fucked him and tricked him.

  He rubbed shampoo furiously into his hair, fingertips dragging against his scalp. Faith was gone and he had to forget she’d ever been part of his life. So what if he’d been falling for her, if he’d started having irrational thoughts about what it would be like to have her in his life long-term?

  They’d only ever meant to have fun. It had only meant to be short-term. He grunted as he stood under the water and let the hot blast his face.

  At least now he’d had a taste of his own medicine. All the women he’d been with, all the women he’d told he was just wanting a good time with and had ended up breaking their hearts. Now he knew how they felt.

  He fucking loved her. He’d never admit it to another soul, but he had fallen for Faith, he’d fallen hard, and getting over her wasn’t going to be easy. He wanted her in his bed, in his life, in his future, no matter how much he told himself he didn’t. He’d spent so much of his life scared of letting anyone close, terrified of being in love with a woman he might lose one day. And now he realized how stupid that had been.

  He wasn’t his father and he never would be. Faith had gone and it hurt like hell, as if someone had tried to crush his chest with a load of steel. Instead of telling her how he really felt, he’d let her walk out of his life, and his pride would never let him chase her when she’d made it clear that they were over.

  Which meant he had to suck it up and get on with life. With drilling for oil. Looking after his family. Focusing on the ranch.

  It was all he knew and it was exactly what would keep him going when all he really wanted to do was smash the hell out of something until his knuckles bled.

  Nate got out, got dressed, and collected his keys as he walked out the door. He ran a hand through his wet hair before jumping behind the wheel and heading down the road, not stopping until he got to the field where the drilling was prepped to go ahead. He took a deep breath as he got out and crossed the grass, pleased to see there were already two guys on-site. He was paying them a lot to get work under way immediately.

  “Mornin’!” he called out.

  The two guys looked up, both raising their hands before going back to whatever it was they were doing. Work. Work was what he needed to focus on. Oil was his future, not Faith.

  “The machines are rolling in soon. You ready to become a very rich man?”

  Nate laughed. “Now that’s what I want to hear!”

  The field was all marked out and he walked around, surveyed the site, listened to the conversation between the two men. And then he heard a rumble, looked up, and held up a hand to shield his eyes from the bright morning sun.

  “Here comes the cavalry,” Nate muttered. At least one thing was going right about his day. Soon the field would be a hive of activity, covered in machines. And he couldn’t wait.

  Chapter 14

  “How are you?”

  Faith smiled and tucked the phone under her ear. “I’m fine, Sam. You don’t have to keep checking up on me.”

  Her brother chuckled. “If not me, then who?”

  “Seriously, I’m great,” she said. It wasn’t that she wasn’t happy—on the surface of it she had everything, and she wasn’t complaining. She could smile even though it didn’t warm her heart, and she could laugh even though it didn’t make her belly tingle like when s
he’d been with Nate. But she was getting there. Slowly but surely she was getting there. One step at a time.

  “How’s the job going? You’re still loving it?”

  “Yeah,” she said, not needing to lie or fudge the truth when it came to work. “I’m learning so much and they’ve offered me a full-time position as soon as I can start.”

  “Sometimes I wonder if you’re the only person in the world who doesn’t realize how amazing you are,” Sam said.

  It was on the tip of her tongue to say that he sounded just like someone else she knew, but she didn’t. That last night flashed through her mind, between the sheets with Nate, lying in his arms, listening to him tell her things that had only made her want him more.

  “I’m your sister, Sam,” she said instead. “You have to say things like that to me.”

  They both laughed, even though she knew he meant what he’d said. Sam didn’t bother saying things for no reason, even when it was her.

  “I texted you my new address the other day. Don’t be a stranger if you want to come by.”

  “Yeah, I got it,” Sam grunted. “Still wish you were here.”

  “Oh yeah, just what you need, your baby sister being the spare wheel and ruining your little honeymoon period with your girlfriend.” She laughed, lowering her voice as someone entered the gallery. “Kelly seems really nice, so I’d rather not be responsible for screwing it up. Anyway, I have to go; I have a client. Talk soon.”

  Sam said good-bye and she flicked her phone to silent before slipping it into her pocket. She took a deep breath, reminded herself that she was in charge for the afternoon, that she was a capable, confident art consultant, and fixed a smile.

  “May I help you, sir?” she asked, crossing the tiled floor.

  “I’m interested in your upcoming auction,” the man said, returning her smile. She noticed his Louis Vuitton wallet and the Rolex glinting from his wrist. If there was one thing she’d learned fast it was identifying potential new clients, and she intended to make sure she developed a list of loyal clients that one day would make her an asset to the most prestigious galleries in the country.