Always a Temp
Page 18
She choked out a small laugh. “Yeah. I had this brilliant strategy. I’d make up excuses for my knee-jerk reactions instead of trying to find out why I acted that way.”
“Did you have any clue about what your dad had done?”
“Just the dream.”
Nate pushed the hair away from her face. “Well, I happen to know a little about self-protection myself. And I know that while it’s hard to overcome those impulses, you can. Maybe not with everyone right away, but with certain—” he gently kissed her lips “—special—” he kissed her again “—people. The people you love and trust.”
She smiled against his mouth. “What exactly are you saying, Nate?”
“That if you hang around with me, we can whip this together.”
She drew back slightly. “And what about your father and your brother? You know…the ones who like me so much?”
Nate touched his forehead to hers, loving that she showed no sign of backing away, putting up the barriers. “You’ll get used to them. I did.”
“Garrett told me you took the job where you got hurt to prove to me you weren’t boring.”
Nathan made a mental note to kill his brother. “It may have entered into the equation,” he admitted. “I wouldn’t have minded becoming a dynamic guy who you regretted dumping.”
“I never stopped regretting leaving you. Trust me. But I thought it was the only way things could be, that one of us would have devastated the other if I’d stayed.”
“I’m not going to leave you, Callie, and I hope you never leave me. We can go places, we can stay here. I don’t care.”
“Let’s go to where you have a job.” She pushed her hands into his hair as she tilted her lips up to lightly touch his. “Because I can always—”
“Find temp work.”
“Except with you,” she said just before she kissed him. “I plan on this being a permanent job.”
Nathan gathered her closer, pressing her body against his, not caring one bit about scars. “With full benefits,” he murmured.
“Exactly.”
ISBN: 978-1-4268-5255-8
ALWAYS A TEMP
Copyright © 2010 by Jeannie Steinman.
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