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

by SJ McCoy

  He grinned when he saw quite a few of his friends sitting at one of the big tables out on the deck when he reached the restaurant. Smoke and Laura, Jack and Emma, Missy and Dan, Gabe and Renée, and … His stride faltered as he saw Lily coming up the steps from the beach. She looked upset. She went and sat on the end of the bench and stared at the plate that was waiting for her. Nate watched the others question her as he hurried over to join them.

  “No, no, it’s fine.” Lily made a face at Smoke and picked up her fork.

  “Hey, everyone.”

  “Hey, Nate.” Laura turned to smile at him. “You’re just in time. Something’s upset Lily and she won’t tell us what. Can you try to talk her around? She listens to you.”

  Nate smiled, liking the thought that he might have some sway with her that the others didn’t.

  “What’s up, Lily-Bean?”

  Lily rolled her eyes at him. “I’m fine. Honestly. I don’t need you laying on the charm. I just want to eat.” She looked around. “Come on; there must be something fun to talk about? I don’t want to put a damper on everything.” She turned to Renée, “Do you two have any wedding plans?”

  Nate raised an eyebrow; Lily wouldn’t normally put people on the spot like that. She must have something to hide if she was trying to shift the spotlight onto Gabe and Renée.

  Gabe grinned at him. “Don’t worry. I know that question probably breaks you out in hives, but Renée just got her final divorce papers through, and I’ve been waiting a long time for her to be free to marry me.”

  Nate nodded. Each to his own, though why any man would want to confine himself to being with only one woman for the rest of his life was completely beyond him.

  “We’re considering our options at the moment,” continued Gabe, “but you’ll know all about it just as soon as we decide. And it won’t be too long if I get my way.”

  Smoke held a fist out to him. “I’m with you, Gabe. If you figure out a way to hurry her up, will you let me know what it is?”

  If there was anyone other than himself who Nate had thought would never tie himself down to just one woman, it was Smoke. But then he’d met Laura, and she’d changed everything. Nate could even understand it in their case. Smoke could have chased women for the rest of his life, and between them all, they’d never come close to being what Laura was. She got Smoke; she was perfect for him. She was her own woman, too, and Smoke admired who she was as a person. In their case, Nate understood it. He shot a quick look at Lily. He admired who Lily was as a person; she was her own woman, but they were just friends. Maybe some people, like Smoke and Laura, were just made for each other.

  “When are you going to make an honest man out of him?” Gabe asked Laura.

  She laughed. “I don’t know yet; I’m having too much fun stringing him along.”

  Smoke scowled at her. Usually, his playful scowl barely concealed his laughter. This time, it seemed to Nate that it barely covered his frustration. He smiled. Smoke wanted to get married more than Laura did. Who would ever have believed that?

  Ben came out to join them and put a plate down in front of Nate. “Full Boathouse breakfast. I figured you might need to build your strength back up.”

  “Thanks,” Nate smiled at him, but he wished Ben hadn’t said that. It surprised him, but with all the others talking about getting married, he felt, perhaps for the first time, a little embarrassed about the way he lived his life.

  Missy laughed. “Don’t look like that, Nate; it’s not as though anyone here is going to be shocked that you wore yourself out last night.”

  He shrugged and gave her a rueful grin. “I guess not. It’s just with you all getting married and having babies, I feel like you’re all growing up and I’m the only one who’s not ready to yet.”

  “Not the only one,” said Lily. There was an edge to her voice that Nate hadn’t heard before.

  “Will you just tell us what that phone call was about?” asked Missy. “You were fine before that, and now you’re all bent out of shape. There’s no use saying you’re fine and then being all pissy.”

  Only Missy could get away with saying it how it was.

  Lily smiled. “Sorry, Miss. You’re right. It was my mom. Rose just got engaged to the good Doctor Andrew. She’s still the perfect daughter and is happily fulfilling all their expectations. Apparently, Mom needed to remind me what a disappointment I am—and how I care more about animals than people.”

  “Your parents haven’t changed then?” asked Missy.

  “Not one bit, I’m sad to say. She told me I should get to the beach house on Friday evening to attend the no doubt lavish engagement party they are going to throw for the happy couple.”

  “And what did you say?” asked Renée.

  Lily covered her face with both her hands and peeked out between her fingers at them. She was so cute when she did that.

  “That’s what I’m mad about. I’m mad at myself. She pissed me off so much, telling me there was nothing in my life that could be anywhere near as important. So, I…”

  Missy laughed. “Go on. I’m dying to hear this. What did you tell her?”

  Lily closed her fingers over her eyes. “I told her I couldn’t get there until Saturday because my boyfriend was working Friday.”

  Nate’s heart jumped into his throat. “What boyfriend?” Why didn’t he know about it?

  Dan looked at him. “Come on, Nate. Even I know that there’s no boyfriend. Lily just said it because she was frustrated at her mom.” He turned to look at her. “Didn’t you?”

  She nodded, keeping her hands up over her face. “I lashed out like a little kid.” She peeked out through her fingers at Nate. “Which is why I said you’re not the only one who has some growing up to do.”

  “Ah.” Nate felt foolish now. He should have understood that, but when she’d said her boyfriend couldn’t go with her, it had felt like a kick in the … guts.

  “So, what are you going to do?” asked Emma.

  Lily brought her hands down. “The way I see it, I have two choices. I can either blame my non-existent boyfriend, who for some reason can’t go, or I can have an imaginary break-up with my imaginary boyfriend before next weekend.”

  Emma smiled. “Maybe they’ll be nice to you if they think you’re going through a break-up?”

  Lily shook her head adamantly. “No. You just made me realize that I can’t stand that option. There’d be no sympathy, just more disappointment in my inability to keep a man.”

  Her family sounded awful to Nate. He couldn’t imagine the pressure and expectations from parents. His own were so laid-back and so proud of everything he did.

  “I can think of a third option,” said Laura. She shot Nate a sly smile that he didn’t understand.

  “What?” asked Lily. “I’m open to all suggestions.”

  “You could ask a friend to go as a stand-in boyfriend.”

  Nate watched Lily think that one over for a moment. “No. I don’t think so. I don’t think I could put up a pretense all weekend like that. Besides, it wouldn’t be fair to ask—even if I knew anyone who’d fit the bill.”

  Nate swallowed when Laura raised an eyebrow at him. Now he understood what she was thinking. “I’ll do it. If you like?” Oh, shit! What was he getting himself into?

  Lily met his gaze; he couldn’t read her expression at all. “Thanks. Let me think about it?”

  He nodded. He wasn’t sure if he hoped she’d say yes, or no.

  Chapter Two

  “You should take Nate with you next weekend,” said Laura as they walked across the parking lot back to Lily’s truck.

  Lily shook her head. “It was sweet of him to offer, but I don’t think so.”

  “Why not? It’d get your parents off your back.” Laura smiled. “And it could be fun. Nate’s always good for a laugh, and the two of you get along so well.”

  Lily narrowed her eyes. “We get along well as friends. I don’t think pretending to be a couple would be fun at all. I�
��d be watching everything I said and did, and everything he said and did, too. It’d be too stressful.”

  “You like him, don’t you?”

  Lily dropped her gaze. Okay, so she had a crush on the guy. She had since she’d first met him; he was gorgeous. But she liked him as a friend.

  “Don’t you?” Laura nudged her with her elbow.

  Lily nodded. “Yeah, okay, I do, but what’s that got to do with anything?”

  “I was thinking that since you like him but—and tell me if I’m wrong—you don’t want to do anything with him because he’s not exactly boyfriend material, and it might mess up your friendship, maybe having him as a pretend boyfriend for a weekend would mean that the two of you could do whatever you wanted. It’d all be for a good cause, and ...” She stopped. “Am I crazy?”

  “Err, yeah! You’re saying he and I should pretend to be together, and … do everything that a couple does …”

  Laura laughed. “Yes, I’m saying you could sleep with him, and it wouldn’t have to get weird!”

  Lily shook her head. Ripples of excitement were coursing through her, and that was just plain wrong.

  They reached Lily’s truck, and Laura raised an eyebrow at her. “Tell me you don’t want to?”

  Lily shook her head again. She wasn’t going to lie.

  “And tell me this wouldn’t be a good way to do it. It wouldn’t need to complicate things between you.”

  It was Lily’s turn to raise an eyebrow. “You think lying to my parents and taking role playing as far as sleeping together wouldn’t complicate things?”

  Laura’s smile faded. “Hmm, when you put it like that …”

  Smoke caught up to them. “What are you two scheming?”

  Lily felt the heat in her cheeks. “Nothing,” she and Laura spoke at the same time.

  Smoke gave them a skeptical look. “For some reason, I don’t believe you.”

  Laura shrugged. “That’s your problem.”

  Lily laughed at the indignant look on his face. It soon disappeared when Laura planted a kiss on his lips. “You never understand girl stuff, so there’s no point in me explaining.”

  Smoke nodded. “If it’s girl stuff, I’m keeping my nose out. Are you ready to go, lady?”

  “Yeah. Are you coming out tonight, Lily?”

  She nodded. “I think so.”

  “See you later then.” Smoke took Laura’s hand and led her to his truck.

  Lily opened the door and climbed into her own. She sat there for a few moments, pondering what Laura had said. How would that work? If she took Nate with her to her sister’s engagement party, if she asked him to pretend to be her boyfriend for the weekend, would that mean that they might sleep together? She shook her head. If she wanted to sleep with him that badly, she wouldn’t need to go through with such an elaborate scheme—she could just tell him. She had no doubt he’d oblige!

  She looked up at the sound of a tap on the window. Nate stood there grinning at her. She rolled the window down.

  “What’s up, Lil? You forgotten how to drive?”

  She made a face at him. “I’m just deciding where I want to drive to.”

  “You’re not heading straight back to the barn?”

  “Nope. I don’t need to be there at all today. The trouble is, I don’t know where else to be instead.”

  “You’ve got a day off and nothing to do?”

  She nodded.

  “What a coincidence.” It was easy to see how he charmed so many women into bed when he smiled like that. “Me too. Do you want to keep me company, keep me out of mischief?”

  What she’d rather do would be get into some mischief with him, but it wouldn’t lead anywhere good. For all she was attracted to him, taking their relationship anywhere physical would only end in tears—her tears. She had no doubt that Nate would happily screw her brains out and think nothing more of it, but in some ways, she guessed, she was an old-fashioned girl at heart.

  “Do you?”

  She sighed. “Yeah, why not. What do you have in mind?”

  He winked. “What I have in mind is x-rated, and you’d only slap my face for asking, so how about we go to my place …”

  She gave him a stern look, and he held his hands up.

  “There’s no need to look at me like that; your mind went there all by itself. I was about to say we could go to my place and I’ll pack us a picnic. We can ride out to Four Mile and take a hike up there.”

  Lily stared at him. “Seriously?”

  He nodded solemnly. “Seriously. I love to hike, and I love picnics. I just don’t usually have anyone to share my passions with.”

  Lily made a face. “I think that’s more a case of you’re usually too busy sharing a passion to have any time or energy left for hiking and picnics.”

  Nate held both hands over his heart and gave her a wounded look. “Oh, that hurts. You’re a hard woman, Lily Wells.”

  She laughed. “I am not. I just don’t fall for your bullshit like most women do.”

  He nodded sadly. “You’re impervious to my charms. I don’t get it. What can I do?”

  “You can cut the bullshit and meet me at your place. Do you have the makings for a picnic or should I stop by the grocery store?”

  He smiled. “I have everything we could want or need. I’ll meet you at my house.”

  “Okay. I’ll see you there.”

  ~ ~ ~

  Nate managed to get home before Lily pulled up outside. He looked around, wondering what his place must look like to her. Then he shrugged. What did it matter? He went to the door to let her in, then led her through to the kitchen where she took a seat on one of the stools at the counter.

  Nate smiled. She was so damned cute perched up there, her legs swinging because she couldn’t reach the footrest. He didn’t normally go for short chicks, but Lily was… Lily was his friend, so it didn’t matter what she looked like or how much she turned him on. Or at least it shouldn’t matter.

  “Come on then. Get packing us this picnic. I’m curious to see what you have in mind.”

  He grinned and opened the fridge with a flourish. “Strawberries,” he said as he pulled out a package, grateful that he’d been to the grocery store yesterday, and after a week of pizza, burgers, and beer, he’d decided to go on a health kick and bought all kinds of goodies. “Humus, carrots, celery. Here.” He threw the celery to her and she caught it neatly. “Why don’t you chop those up so we can use them for dip sticks.”

  Lily laughed and threw it back at him. “Because you promised to make me a picnic, remember?”

  He loved the way she never just meekly did as he said. She was a feisty little thing. “Okay, you just sit there and relax, and I’ll do it all.”

  “Great. Do you want to get me a juice while I wait, too?”

  Nate rolled his eyes. “Yes, ma’am. Sure thing, ma’am. Anything else?”

  Lily thought about it. “No, I’m still full from breakfast. Just the juice will be fine for now.”

  Nate poured two glasses of orange juice and handed one to her, then got back to rifling through the fridge, gathering goodies for their picnic.

  “So, do you want me to go with you next weekend?” he asked while he had his back turned to her. He wasn’t sure if he wanted to go or not, but he wanted to know what she thought of the idea.

  He heard her sigh. “I don’t know, Nate. It’s nice of you to offer.”

  She sounded down. He swung around and went over to her, putting an arm around her shoulders. “You’re my buddy, Lil. If you need anything, I’ll always help you out.”

  She gave him a skeptical look.

  “What? I will!”

  She laughed.

  “You have no faith in me whatsoever, do you?”

  “That’s not true. I have every faith in you doing whatever serves you best at any given moment. Especially if it involves you getting laid.”

  His heart started to hammer. “You mean, if I pretend to be your boyfriend, you�
�ll … I’ll … we can sleep together?” Lily looked shocked. Shit, apparently, she hadn’t meant that at all. Nate decided it was probably best to try to laugh it off. “Ha. Gotcha. I know you’re not interested.”

  She didn’t laugh. Didn’t even smile.

  “Sorry. I can be an asshole sometimes, can’t I?”

  She shook her head. “No. Well, yeah, you can, but you weren’t an asshole just then. I think I’m too uptight about the whole thing. I’m wound up after talking to my mom. I’m mad at myself for saying such a stupid thing.”

  He squeezed his arm around her shoulders. “I can see why you did, though.”

  “I should have kept my dumb mouth shut.”

  She looked upset again, and the whole point of the picnic was supposed to be to cheer her up. “Well, what’s done is done. If you want me to go with you, I will. And if you don’t want to go, you can blame me.” He smiled. “Women’s parents tend to hate me anyway, so that won’t be anything new. But let’s forget it for now and get going.”

  It was a beautiful day. It was still warm, but not as stifling as it had been the last few weeks, and Nate was glad of that as he parked his SUV by the gate. He loved living at the lake, even though he hadn’t expected to. He was looking forward to the fall and the cooler weather. Jack had told him that sometimes it even snowed. He’d spent the last several years living in Miami and then Texas, so snow was going to be something new and different for him.

  “Are you okay?” Lily asked as she jumped down and came around to wait for him.

  “Yeah, I’m great, just thinking how much I like it here, and believe it or not, looking forward to winter.”

  “I can believe that; it’s one of the things that made me want to come back to the lake.”

  “How long did you live here for?”

  “All through high school.”

  “And then you left for college and never came back?”