Nate (A Texas Jacks Novel) (12 page)

“Don’t you
woman
me, Curly!” Halley fires back at Holt, causing him to smile, knowing that he’s got her.

“Don’t you know how to check your phone?” Holt asks, having moved off to her left side, staring down at her.

Standing behind Holt is Tucker, who’s looking over at Naomi, and then there’s Nathan. However, it’s not me he’s looking at. It’s Dave.

“Dave.” He states gruffly.

“Nate. What’s up? I didn’t expect to see you in here tonight. How’s it going, man?” Dave greets, turning around to acknowledge Tucker and Nate.

“We have a date.” Nathan casually replies, watching for what seems like a reaction from Dave.

Dave looks hopeful when he asks, “Oh? Who’s your date? Anyone I know?”

“We
all
have a date, and you’re holding it up, to be honest.” Tucker cuts in, staring Dave down.

Raising my eyebrows, I look over to Naomi. She only glances back with a small shrug of her shoulders. Shaking my head, I look back over to the guys.

Nathan moves around Dave to my right, and wraps his left arm around my shoulders, effectively bringing me closer to him before he places a kiss on the crown of my head. He lets me go slightly while still keeping his arm loosely around me. Raising my head to look up at him, I see that he’s looking down at me with a sweet smile on his full lips, causing me to smile back at him and feeling those butterflies all over again.

“You see, we’re actually here to meet
these
three lovely ladies,” Holt smiles at each of us before bringing his attention back to Dave. “We appreciate you hanging out with them, keeping them company and warding off the other prowling men until we got here,” he continues, trying to cut out the weird tension that surrounds the men.

“Oh. Yeah, sure. No problem. It was a pleasure, ladies. I won’t hold you up further, and I’m sure my break is up now anyway. I’ll check in later with you. Have a good time.” Dave says, looking a tad mournful before he gives me a sideways glance, and then smiles over at Halley and Naomi while leaving our area.

Watching Dave around Charlie irritates me. I’m normally not the possessive type, and I'm certainly not one to go all caveman, like Holt. However, I didn’t like the looks he was throwing my girl. He probably doesn’t realize I caught them, too.

“Was that necessary?” Halley asks Holt through narrowed eyes, her eyebrows creasing.

“What? We’re on a date, and he was holding it up. Why are you looking at me like that, woman?”

“Oh, so you felt the need to go all territorial on the poor guy?” she shoots back, obviously irritated with him.

“He wasn’t even doing anything but talking with us. He was telling us about some girl he likes that hangs out here, and how he’s slow about asking her out.” Naomi fills them in before the room explodes with the two hot heads sitting across from us.

“Is that so? And who was he referring to?” Tucker asks, looking pointedly at me. However, his question is meant for the girls.

“Who knows? You Neanderthals interrupted before we could find out,” Halley huffs out.

“Hey, don’t throw me in to that statement. I didn’t do anything to rile anyone up.” I say, defending myself.

Surprising us all, Charlie says, “Why don’t we just turn down the hormone levels all around and take a breather? I thought we were out to have fun, not size anyone up with petty jealousies.”

That’s my quiet little one,
I think before giving her shoulders a squeeze.

“Well, what are you all standing around for? Pull up a chair and sit awhile.” Charlie tells us, and we proceed to do what the little lady instructed.

Before the night is over, we’re laughing and having a great time. Dave makes an appearance once more, looking a bit dejected to see us still sitting with the girls before heading back to his post. The girls are in rare form tonight, and all the while I’m sitting here, holding on to Charlie’s hand again, thinking about the promise of finally getting her number before we leave the parking lot.

Charlie happens to catch me smiling to myself and asks, “What’s that smile for, cowboy?”

“Oh, it’s
cowboy
now, is it?” I tease her back.

“Yes, and I’m wondering what that smile’s all about. Care to share?”

“Nope.” Staring into her beautiful blue eyes, I tell her, “You’ll just have to wait and find out.”

“I think we need to get going before these two love birds make us gag,” I hear Tucker say.

“There’s always one bad apple that has to ruin it for the others.” I say and look over to Tucker, while he gives me an all too pleased smile. Shaking my head, I turn back to Charlie. “Well, little one, let’s head out to the lot. The others can catch up. I do believe we have some unfinished business to attend to.”

Not even giving her a second to think, I pull her out of her chair and lead her out of the club, leaving the others to catch up in a few minutes.

I walk Charlie over to my truck and lean up against it, like I did last time, guiding her to stand in front of me as I slowly move my hands down to her hips. I draw her forward until our foreheads are touching, and I quietly ask, “Did you have a good time tonight, sweetheart?”

She softly replies, “Yes, thanks to you.”

“Why is that?” I want to hear her say the words out loud to me.

“You kept my dance card full all night.” She says with a little grin on her face, which I find is really cute.

“So, you weren’t upset that I hogged all of your time and attention from the male population?”

She laughs and shakes her head. “You didn’t hear me complaining, did you?”

“Not one complaint came from these sweet lips.” I say, lightly running a finger across her full, pouty bottom lip, causing her cheeks to blush and her chest to inhale sharply. Tipping her face up until she’s looking into my eyes, I ask her, “Charlie, can I have your number?”

I’m standing here staring into Nathan’s eyes, thinking he’s about to ask me to kiss him and he
… asks for my number?

“What?” I ask stupidly.

He chuckles. “I’m asking you for your number, sweetheart. That’s our unfinished business. Remember? You did promise me that the next time we met you would give it to me.”

“Oh. Yes. You’re right.” I say, stumbling over my words.
Great.
He gets me all flustered, and now I can’t even form a sentence correctly.

“Charlie, it’s okay. It’s not like I’m asking for the key to your heart, little one. If you’re not comfortable or ready, I can wait until the next time.”

“It’s okay. I know you’re not asking for something major here. I was just thrown off there for a minute.” I tell him honestly before looking down at his boots like they’re the best things since chocolate before taking the plunge and admitting, “I want you to have my number. I was actually thinking this week how I had wished I’d given it to you last week.”

“It’s okay that you didn’t. Even though I really wanted it, I’m glad you made me wait this whole week. It was worth it.” He admits, causing me to look back up, searching his eyes for the truth in that statement. “Really,
you’re
worth it. Honestly. I feel like I’m in uncharted territory with you, Charlie. I barely know you, yet I can’t stop thinking about you. I find that I’m dancing through this, making up the moves as I go.”

“That makes two of us. Honestly, I’m new at this. I don’t even know what I’m doing. I feel so out of place, but I can’t get you off my mind, either.” Shyly looking into his eyes, I admit to him, “I barely know you, too, Nate. However, I really like you, and want to get to know you better. It’s not like I haven’t dated, it’s just been a really long time. I’m not sure what I’m supposed to do. Sometimes I feel like I want to do all the things couples do in public — like holding hands — but then I’m afraid that it’s too fast for me. But I don’t want to be afraid anymore, either.”

“I get that you’re vulnerable, and I’ll try to take things slowly. There’s no pressure here, little one. You’re in good hands, and I don’t want you to feel like you have to do something just because it’s what others are doing. We aren’t like that. If slow is what you want, then I’m willing to do that. However, I reserve the right to kiss you or hold your hand at any given time.” He says with a teasing grin. I can’t help it; I smile back, and nod my head, trying not to let my hormones over take my body.

He places a kiss on my forehead and says in a husky voice, “Don’t worry, sweetheart. When I kiss your sweet lips for the first time, it will be worth the wait.”

By the time Nathan hugs me and kisses my cheek one more time, I’m left in a daze of happiness. I know I’ll sleep well tonight.