That woman did things to him that he just…couldn’t control.
Last night, he’d had no intention of anything happening. But after she’d said that she’d wanted him to see her in her lingerie, he hadn’t been able to stop himself from telling her to show him. Then once he saw her sexy curves and the tease of skin that was visible beneath the see-through material in the dim light, he’d still tried to tell himself that he was just looking not touching. But when she’d said his name and please, well…he was a man not a robot.
Any self-imposed distance he’d managed to maintain was shot to hell. But even then he’d told himself it was just going to be a kiss. That was all. Then she’d started unbuttoning his shirt, and he’d known he was in trouble. And when she reached in and stroked him, he lost any shred of self-control he had left.
Things had heated up so fast and burned so bright he hadn’t thought about the consequences, the ramifications or any of the things that he normally would. His brain shut off and all he could do was feel. Take. Give. Love. All things he’d told himself he wouldn’t do.
So now, his head spun with not just the past, but the present and the future. He always had a plan. And a contingency plan. And a contingency plan for the contingency plan. He made it a rule never to make a move in life unless he’d weighed all possible outcomes. Except with Eliza. She broke all his rules.
He squinted as he made his way up to the rental shop to return the key to his jet ski. As he stepped inside he saw a kid that looked about twelve behind the counter. His head was down and he was reading a book. Nate waited for him to lift his head but, when he saw that wasn’t going to happen, he cleared his throat.
The kid looked up. It was obvious from his expression that he’d been a million miles away. “Oh. Hi, can I help you?”
“I need to return this.” Nate held up the key.
“Sure.” He hopped off of the stool, grabbed an envelope from beneath the desk, took the key and then pulled out Nate’s license. “Here you go. Let me get your deposit.”
Nate noticed a rack of sunglasses hanging on the wall beside him and after a moment of browsing he pulled a pair off the metal grid and set them on the counter. “And I’ll take these.”
The kid looked at them and then back up at Nate as he asked reluctantly, “Do you know those are women’s sunglasses?”
“I know.”
The kid shrugged and then scanned the bar code.
“Check this shit out!” A loud voice shouted.
Nate looked up and saw a clone of the kid at the front desk coming out from a door that said “Employees Only” holding out his phone and cracking up.
“There’s a customer.” The kid at the front desk said dryly. Monotone. Like it was something that he’d had to point out to his twin many times before.
The other kid just kept laughing and turned his phone towards Nate repeating, “Check this shit out!”
The video on the screen was of a guy eating it on the sidewalk and his shoes flying off. It just kept repeating again and again.
It must be nice to be so easily amused, Nate thought to himself.
As the counter kid started typing on the computer, phone kid started lip-syncing a song with really inappropriate lyrics.
Nate’s eyes shifted between the twins and he couldn’t help but see the resemblance between himself and counter kid and Neil and phone kid. Not physically, though. Nate and his brother had dark hair and eyes and these kids were towheads with blue eyes. The similarities were in their personalities. The way they carried themselves.
Nate had always done the right thing. Been responsible. Followed the rules. Neil had always done whatever he wanted. Whenever he wanted. No matter what the consequences.
It was odd to experience it from the outside looking in. He’d only ever experienced it from counter kid’s POV. Like Nate, counter kid didn’t look upset about being responsible while his brother wasn’t, just resigned that they both had roles to play and he was playing his.
“It won’t open.” Counter kid said as he pressed the same button several times then looked behind it to make sure all of the cords had good connections. He looked up at Nate with a serious expression. He didn’t look worried…just serious. “I’m sorry, the register won’t open. My aunt will be back any minute and I’m sure she’ll be able to fix it.”
Nate pulled a twenty out of his wallet, now damp from his shorts and set it on the countertop. “This is for the glasses, you can keep the change. And my friends will be back in an hour or so, why don’t you give my deposit to someone in their party and I’ll—”
Mid-sentence, the door that phone kid had come through swung open again and the woman that checked out the jet skis to the group walked through holding two large bags of fast food.
Nate was struck by her beauty, just like he had been the first time he’d seen her when they’d arrived. Between her long wavy blonde hair, large almond shaped eyes, golden-toned flawless complexion and full lips she was absolutely stunning. And he wasn’t the only one who’d noticed. When she’d helped them this morning, the energy in the group shifted. It didn’t matter that ninety percent of the guys were married, devoted and madly in love, you get a group of alpha guys together and throw a girl that looked like that in the mix, and it was a lot of peacocks spreading their feathers. Nothing inappropriate. Just a lot of standing taller, speaking a little deeper.
It was actually a pretty funny phenomenon to witness.
If Nate hadn’t been head over heels for Eliza, he might have considered asking her out. Getting to know her better. As it was, no matter what the outcome of last night ended up being, Nate now knew he wasn’t available. He was taken. He’d given up his heart when he was fourteen and it belonged to Eliza, whether she wanted it or not.
“Oh!” She almost dropped the bags when she saw him at the counter. Phone kid didn’t let that happen. He grabbed them both out of her hand and started shoveling French fries in his mouth. She didn’t seem to notice as she apologized to Nate. “I’m sorry. I went out to get lunch. I thought your group would be out for another hour. Is there something wrong with your ski?”
“No, it’s running great. I just came in early,” Nate explained.
Counter kid pressed the button again. “I was trying to get him his deposit but it won’t open again.”
“Seriously?!” He saw a moment of panic flash in her eyes. “It won’t open again?! Did you try—”
“Yes. It’s plugged in,” he relayed calmly, but she was already beside him jiggling the connections in the back of the monitor.
The color drained out of her face, leaving her looking pale and anxious. He could only detect a hint of panic in her voice as she began hitting buttons, “I’m so sorry about this. I may have to call someone, but hopefully it won’t take long. Can I have one of the boys get you a soda or bottle of water while you wait?”
He had to give her credit, she maintained a professional demeanor when it looked like she wanted to chuck the computer across the room and cry. “I can look at it, if you want. I work with computers and I might be able to help.”
“Seriously?” This time when she said that word it was with hope and not despair. “I normally wouldn’t take you up on that, but I have two other large parties coming in this afternoon and it’s hard to get my tech guy to come out on the weekends.”
“It’s no problem.”
Both counter kid and his aunt stepped out from behind the barrier to make room for Nate.
“Oh, I’m Allison, by the way,” she introduced herself and the twins, starting with counter boy. “And this is Patrick and K-man.”
“Kade,” phone kid corrected her, giving her a dirty look before turning to Nate. “I’m named after my godfather, Kade Donavon. He’s a fighter. MMA.”
That name did sound familiar, but if memory served, Kade Donavon was as well known for his behavior outside of the octagon as he was in it. He was more notorious than famous.
Nate noticed the sour expression
on Allison’s face when her nephew said the MMA fighter’s name. She reacted to it like she’d just bitten into a lemon.
Interesting.
“I’m Nate,” he introduced himself as he began a forced reboot of the computer. He could tell by the screen that the system had frozen and that it had an ancient operating system. He realized this might take longer than he thought.
Still, he was happy for the distraction. He’d had a next-time-I-see-Eliza countdown clock going in his head since he’d watched her walk away from him last night. It was down to six hours and forty minutes. To someone else that might not seem that long. To him it was six hours and forty minutes too long.
He half-listened as Allison broke up several arguments between the twins. Well, that was unfair to Patrick, who wasn’t starting or participating in any of the altercations. They were all instigated and carried out by Kade.
Just as the computer was coming back to life after restarting, the glass door opened and a police officer walked in. He was tall, around Nate’s height but probably had a good twenty pounds of muscle on him. He wore reflective aviator glasses and a take-no-shit expression.
Since Ranger training, Nate assessed men as soon as he met them as to what threat level they would be if, for some reason, he had to take them down. He was trained in hand-to-hand combat and it was ingrained in him to look for weaknesses to use against his opponent for leverage. Sizing someone up usually took less than a minute. This guy wasn’t so fast.
If it came down to it, Nate would definitely do some damage, but he couldn’t honestly say he would come out the victor. He wasn’t intimidated at all, just impressed.
“Hey, E!” Allison greeted the officer with familiarity and a huge smile. “You here for your copier? I got the other one working, I’ll just go get—”
The other man’s face remained as stone as the castle Nate was staying in. “Actually, I’m here on the job.”
Allison’s eyes shot straight to Kade, who had momentarily looked up from his phone.
“Mr. Swanson had his fence torn down again, and after his horse got out the last time, he put up surveillance cameras around his property.”
The cop turned his phone to face them and he played a video.
Nate continued working on the computer, but couldn’t help watching what was unfolding.
Allison’s shoulders sagged and he didn’t think he’d ever seen someone look so defeated. “Kade, what were you think—”
“It wasn’t me! I was at Tyler’s last night, Patrick di—”
“I didn’t say when the vandalism took place.” The cop returned his phone to his pocket.
Kade looked more mad than scared.
Allison looked terrified. “Is Mr. Swanson pressing charges?”
The cop was silent for a minute as he stared at Kade. “No,” he finally answered, but Nate was pretty sure it was for Allison’s benefit, not Kade’s. “He agreed to let him work at his farm after school and on weekends, and then the summer until the amount of his fence repairs is recouped.”
“The summer!” Kade exclaimed. “No way!”
Allison turned to face Kade. “This isn’t a negotiation, Kade. You will go work for Mr. Swanson and you will have a good attitude about it. You will also be writing him a letter of apology and you will go read it to him in person and thank him for his kindness and generosity.”
“You can’t tell me what to do! You’re not my mom!” With that, phone kid stormed out of the room back through the door that he’d come through and slammed it.
“Sorry. He’ll do it. I’ll make sure of it,” Allison promised the cop.
He nodded. “Let me know if you need a hand with that.”
“I will.”
The cop turned to leave, but paused and looked over his shoulder. “Have you heard from Jess?”
Allison’s lips pursed as she shook her head. “No. But she’ll call as soon as she hears.”
With a single nod, the cop turned and left.
With a few more keystrokes, Nate had not only rebooted her system, he’d also installed all of the updates and cleaned up several programs so it should run smoother and faster. He pressed enter and the tray below it popped open.
“Oh my gosh!” Allison exclaimed as she rushed around to see for herself that it was open. When she saw it was, she clasped her hands to her chest. “Thank you so much. What do I owe you?”
“Nothing.”
She shook her head as she reached for the cash drawer. “No, I insist”
“I have a twin brother.” He told her. “Teenage years are the worst. Just consider it me paying it forward.”
“Thank you.” A small, tired grin pulled at her lips. “Well, at least let me give you the glasses as a gift.”
“Deal,” he agreed when he saw it was important to her.
As she wrapped them in protective paper and put them in a bag, he noticed that Patrick had picked up his book and was lost in his own world again. Meeting Patrick and Kade had given him insight into his relationship with his brother that he honestly didn’t think he could’ve gained otherwise. Neil, like Kade, was a tornado. He spun around and didn’t care what he destroyed in the process. The difference was, Kade was a kid. Neil was an adult. He had no excuse.
An epiphany hit him that part of what had been holding him back with Eliza, was Neil. Not out of some misguided sense of loyalty because the two of them had dated in high school, he didn’t give a shit about that. His reluctance stemmed from the same place that had caused Nate to avoid Eliza at the fundraiser. Because Neil was a wild card. There was no telling what he would do, say or who he would hurt to get what he wanted. Or if he didn’t, to make someone pay for his perceived injustice.
Things were different now. Now he’d been with her. Felt her body respond to him. He’d heard her say his name while he was buried deep inside her. They’d crossed a line that couldn’t be uncrossed, not that he wanted it to be.
And today, seeing the dynamic between Kade and Patrick had opened Nate’s eyes to a pattern he hadn’t even been aware he’d fallen into. He was done living his life on eggshells. Neil might not like that Nate loved Eliza, but he was going to have to deal with it.
“Just wanted to make sure that you know these are women’s glasses,” she verified before handing them to him.
“I do.” He smiled as he took them, thinking of the woman he’d be giving them to.
“She’s a lucky girl.” Allison grinned back.
No. He was the lucky one. Even if last night was all they ever had, he was the lucky one.
Chapter 18
The tips of Eliza’s fingers burned from the friction of her rubbing her thumb over them, as she waited for her turn to walk down the aisle. They were so hot it felt like she could start a fire with them, like she had in Girl Scouts with kindling. She couldn’t stop. She’d officially entered into basket-case territory.
She’d tried every trick in the book to calm her racing heart and jittery insides. Meditation. Deep breathing. Refocusing her senses. Distractions. Even shaking out her arms and limbs so much that she looked like one of those inflatable tube men at car dealerships.
Nothing had worked.
After Jess had finished her makeup and hair this afternoon, she’d still had several hours before the ceremony began. All that free time with nothing to do but wait had not helped to alleviate her anxiety. It had amplified it…considerably.
But the moment that she’d been anxiously awaiting was almost upon her. In just a few minutes she’d see Nate again for the first time since he’d taken her body to levels of pleasure she hadn’t known existed. And at some point tonight they would have to address the night before.
There were a few ways the interaction could go and she’d tried to prepare herself for all of them. Her fingers, toes, legs, and arms were crossed, figuratively speaking, that he would smile and give her a look that said last night was just the beginning.
There was also a strong possibility that he would tell her th
at he cared about her but not in that way, and he just wanted to be friends. She hoped in that case that he would let her down easy, maybe say he didn’t want to be a rebound or that it was too weird since she used to date his brother.
Still, he could go another way. He could just ignore the fact that they’d gotten busy in the coat closet completely. There was precedent to suggest he would do just that. That had kind of become his MO since she’d returned.
It was odd, Doug had been overbearing. He’d wanted to know where she was, what she was doing, and who she was with at all times. He’d even put a tracker on her car and used the “Find My Phone” to locate her phone to make sure she was where she’d said she was. He never trusted her. Which was ironic considering what she’d walked in on him doing. She always felt like he was watching her. At first, she’d thought it was because he cared, but now she realized it was because he was controlling and most likely projecting what he was doing onto her.
And the truth was, even though he always kept tabs on her, she never felt safe because of it. She never felt like if she really needed him, he’d come take care of her.
Nate was the opposite. Since she’d been back in town, he’d barely acknowledged her existence. Before last night, that is. He’d basically only interacted with her when he’d been forced to and yet, she’d never felt safer. Just him being back in her life gave her this internal security. She knew, just knew, that if she needed him, needed anything, he’d be there and he’d take care of it. It wasn’t even a question.
Another bridesmaid turned the corner and began her walk and Eliza took one step forward. Three bridesmaids down, three more to go before it was her turn. Her heart rate kicked up from fast to turbo speed.
She had no idea what she was going to see in Nate’s eyes when she turned the corner to the courtyard and saw him. In her mind, everything hinged on the look in his eyes the instant he saw her. If she saw regret in them, then she’d know that last night hadn’t meant to him what it had meant to her. But if she saw anything else—she wasn’t picky—it could be happiness, excitement, even uncertainty, she could work with that.
All He Desires – Nate & Eliza (Crossroads Book 12) Page 15
