Welcome to Paradise: Welcome to Paradise, Book 1 (10 page)

Chapter Seven

“I just need to go by the pub for a moment,” Nate said as he stopped the pickup in front of the small corner bar at the edge of Main Street. “Is that okay?”

“Sure,” Charlotte answered. “I’m curious to see what you did with the place, anyway.”

“Not much,” he confessed. “Still looks the same way it did when my dad ran it.”

They climbed out of the truck and the sight of the familiar tinted windows and glowing neon
Open
sign brought a rush of memories. As she followed Nate into Bishop’s Corner, she couldn’t help but remember the nights she and Nate spent there, playing pool, making out in the back booth. When Nate’s dad had been too drunk to work, he’d forced his underage son to tend bar, and Charlotte would come by to keep him company. Though really, she only ended up distracting him.

When they walked inside, she saw that he was right. The place looked exactly the same, with its long bar counter and tall wooden stools, the black vinyl booths and little tables. Even the sports posters and framed photographs on the wood paneled walls hadn’t changed. As Nate rounded the counter, Charlotte drifted over to the wall of photos, grinning when she spotted one of the four Bishop brothers. The picture had been taken at the lake, and each boy held up a fat large-mouthed bass dangling from a fishing rod.

“Are the twins still skinny as twigs?” she called.

Nate laughed as he scribbled something down on a pad of paper. “Nah, they beefed up. You should see Jake—looks like an action hero now.”

She turned away from the photos and stared at Nate, admiring the broad set of his shoulders and the way his rippled biceps rested on the counter. He looked comfortable behind the bar, like he belonged there. She thought of the men she’d dated in Manhattan, with their tailored suits and expensive haircuts, and realized she’d pick Nate and his faded jeans any day.

“So, were you going to do that library thing Mrs. Easton mentioned at the diner?” Nate asked.

Charlotte bit her bottom lip. “I don’t know. Do you think there’ll be a lot of people there?”

“Nah, just the kids. I think you should do it.”

She continued to hesitate. As they’d been leaving the diner just now, one of the librarians had pulled her aside and mentioned that there was some kind of youth club meeting at the library that afternoon. The kids there ranged from middle-grade to high school, and apparently they spent two weeks every summer reviewing last year’s curriculum and preparing for the upcoming school year. Mrs. Easton had said the kids would love to meet her and maybe get an autograph, and though Charlotte liked kids, it was the parents she was worried about. What if Tara was there? Or one of the other girls who’d tormented her in high school?

Then you hold your head high like you did at the reunion and show them you don’t give a damn
.

The newfound confidence eased her nerves. Yeah, why shouldn’t she go? The kids would love it, and screw the parents. Besides, if she and Nate were to have any future, she needed to get over her animosity toward the people of Paradise. Even if Nate weren’t in the picture, letting go of the bitterness was something she probably ought to do anyway.

“Okay, I will then,” she decided.

Nate set down the notepad next to the cash register and headed toward her. “Sorry, I just had to leave some instructions for Marty. I told him I wasn’t coming in today, so he’s working the bar alone.” He took her hand as they walked to the door. “And I’m glad you’re going to the library. I think you’ll have fun.”

They stepped out into the morning sunshine, and Nate turned to her with heat glimmering in his gray eyes. “Did you still feel like going to the lake?”

A little thrill shot through her, along with a spark of regret. Last time they’d gone to the lake, they’d made love for the first time. And then Nate had dumped her.

But before that…the lake had been their haven, where they went to escape the world.

“Yes,” she said, pushing aside the regret. It was time to associate the place with good memories again.

When they slid back in the truck, the cell phone Nate had left in the cup holder was letting out a sequence of chimes, indicating he had a new message. “Can you put it on speaker?” Nate asked as he started the engine and pulled away from the curb. “Voice mail code is three-four-oh-two.”

Charlotte fumbled with the phone and accessed the voice mail. An automated voice came on, indicating two new messages. Charlotte pressed the appropriate button, holding the phone toward Nate so he could hear it better.

“Hey, it’s me,” came a familiar male voice. Nate’s brother, she realized, though she couldn’t tell if it was Owen or Jake since those two sounded identical. “I just left Mom’s house. She gave me the same vague bullshit about Austin. They had a falling out, he’ll come back when he’s ready, yada yada.” There was a grumble of frustration. “I don’t like any of this shit, but Mom wouldn’t say anything else. Call me later and we’ll figure out the next step.”

Charlotte shot Nate a concerned look. “Did something happen to Austin?”

“I have no idea. He’s been out of—” Nate’s features hardened as the next message clicked on.

“Nate, it’s Evelyn. Call me. Please. Just…just talk to me.”

A shiver ran up Charlotte’s spine. The female voice had sounded so anguished, so…devastated. Judging by the deep crease in Nate’s forehead, he wasn’t happy to hear from that particular caller, which only deepened Charlotte’s uneasiness.

“Who was that?”

He didn’t say anything for a long time, his silver eyes focused on the road ahead.

“Nate?”

A sigh shuddered from his chest. “That was Evelyn.”

“Yeah, I got that part. But who is she?” She swallowed. “Who is she to
you
?”

“We dated.” His voice came out rough. “About six months ago. But I broke it off.”

She tried to ignore the jolt of jealousy that tightened her belly. She wasn’t allowed to feel jealous. Of course Nate had dated other women in the fifteen years they’d been apart. Wasn’t like he’d gone celibate.

“Why did you break up?”

“Because she lied,” he said flatly.

“Oh.” Another rush of unease flooded her body. “About what?”

“Her husband.”

Charlotte’s jaw dropped. “What?”

“She was married.” He laughed humorlessly. “Something she neglected to mention when we started going out. The whole relationship was based on a lie. She was living in a hotel, said she’d just moved to town and hadn’t found a house yet, but really, her husband had thrown her out after he caught her cheating for the second time.”

“Wait, she lives in Paradise?”

“No, Wyndham,” he said, naming a neighboring county.

Nate slowed the pickup as they reached the turnoff for the lake. With a ragged breath, he turned to meet Charlotte’s eyes. “About a month into the relationship, she admitted to being married, said she was going through a divorce, and at first I was willing to stick around, maybe see her through it all, but then…”

“Then what?”

“Lexie dug around—”

The sound of Lexie’s name made her spine stiffen.

“—and found out Evelyn had lied about a lot of other things. Like the fact that she had a four-year-old son, who her husband refused to let her see, or that she was actually screwing another guy at the same time she was seeing me.” Nate let out another breath. “Needless to say, it wasn’t a fun time for me. I ended it, but she keeps calling, begging for another chance.”

Charlotte bit her lip. “Do you want to give her another chance?”

“Hell no!” The abrupt exclamation reverberated through the car. “She lied to me from day one. Entered into a relationship with me on false pretenses. I’ll never forgive her for that.”

The conviction in his voice brought a trickling of anxiety. Charlotte swallowed hard, wondering how Nate would react when she told him the truth about why she’d come back to Paradise. Technically, she’d entered into this relationship on false pretenses too.

God, what if he couldn’t forgive her?

“Nate,” she choked out.

His warm hand covered her suddenly frozen one. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to unload all that on you. Evelyn is still a sore subject for me. But I promise you, I’m over that woman. I got over her the second I found out who she really was.” He squeezed her hand. “You’re the only one I want, Charlie. The only one I’ve ever wanted.”

Her heart ached. The words she’d wanted to say lodged in her throat then faded away as Nate leaned over to brush his lips over hers. A shiver tickled her spine. When he deepened the kiss, she melted against him, sighing as his tongue slid into her mouth. He kissed her until she was breathless, until the guilt coursing through her transformed into a burning rush of desire.

Nate was grinning when he finally released her. “So…the lake?”

“The lake,” she echoed softly.

“Wow, you’re actually making time for your best friend,” Lexie said sarcastically, accepting the glass of iced tea Nate handed her. “And here I thought you were one of those annoying jerks who subscribes to the hoes-before-bros philosophy.”

Nate had to laugh. Lexie was always at her wittiest when she was angry. It never failed to amuse him.

He joined her at the table in his backyard and sat down across from her. “I’m sorry,” he said, genuinely apologetic. “But Charlotte won’t be in town for much longer, and I want to spend as much time with her as I can.”

Her blue eyes narrowed. “Why?”

“What do you mean, why?” He bristled. “Because I haven’t seen her in fifteen years? Because I enjoy her company?”

“But…she dumped you!”

“Actually, I dumped her.”

There was a deafening silence. Lexie looked so flustered he started laughing again then grew pensive. “I’m sorry I never told you. I just wasn’t proud of the way I ended things.” He swallowed. “I hurt Charlotte pretty badly.”

The blonde seemed to be working it all over in her head. “You broke up with Charlotte.”

“Yes.”

“And now the two of you are back together.”

“Yes.”

“Why?” she asked again.

“Stop asking why.” Irritation crept up his chest. “Why can’t you just be happy for me?”

“I am. Well, I’m not,” she amended. “But that’s because I don’t trust any of this! It has Evelyn written all over it, Nate.”

“Charlotte is not like Evelyn,” he replied stiffly.

“And you don’t find it the least bit suspicious that she’s so willing to hop into bed with you again after you supposedly destroyed her?”

“I didn’t say I destroyed her. I said I hurt her.”

“Same thing.” Lexie shrugged. “And trust me, Nate, women don’t forget those kinds of things.”

His voice was quiet. “She hasn’t forgotten. But she’s willing to forgive.”

“So she says.”

The suspicion still running rampant on her face intensified his annoyance. He got that Lexie didn’t like Charlotte, but this was starting to piss him off. “Stop it, Lex,” he said in a low voice. “You might not like Charlotte, but at least show her some respect. She makes me happy.”

A lump lodged in his throat. Fuck, she really did make him happy. All these years, he’d carried on with his life, worked at the pub, dated women he didn’t feel anything for. But a piece of him had always been missing. He hadn’t felt whole, content. And then Charlotte walked back into his life and everything made sense again. He could tell Charlotte anything and everything. He could hold her in his arms and feel so completely at peace.

And as much as he cared about Lexie, he refused to let her taint this newfound happiness.

“I love her,” he said gruffly.

Lexie looked shocked. “What?”

“It’s true. I love her. I never stopped loving her.” His throat grew tight. “And I want her in my life.”

“God, Nate, you’re being so—”

“Stop,” he cut in again. Then he sighed. “Do you care about me, Lex?”

Her tone softened. “You know I do.”

“Then drop this. And you know, it wouldn’t kill you to make an effort to get to know Charlotte. The two of you are stuck in the past, focused on petty teenage crap that doesn’t matter anymore.”

“So what are you saying? If I don’t make an effort, you’re going to cut me out of your life?”

He ignored the bite to her voice. “I’ll always be your friend and you know it. But things would be a hell of a lot easier if you tried to accept Charlotte. Because like it or not, I’m not letting her go again. I want her in my life and I’m going to do everything I can to make sure she stays there. I’m serious, Lex, this time it’s forever.”

Lexie strode into the Paradise Public Library forty minutes later, after leaving Nate’s house with a chunk of anger in her throat. She might have promised him that she’d accept his relationship with Charlotte, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t do some digging. In secret, of course.

Truth was she didn’t trust Charlotte farther than she could throw her. And now she trusted her less after she’d learned the truth about Nate and Charlotte’s breakup. She could only imagine what Nate must have said in order for Charlotte to storm out of town in the middle of the night. Lexie remembered having breakfast with her parents at Betty’s at eight in the morning, and Charlotte had already been gone by then.

As she’d told Nate, women didn’t forget. Even the ones who
claimed
to be over a betrayal still thought about it late at night, imagining ways to torment the jerk who hurt them. Lexie ought to know—she’d been fantasizing about kicking Cooper in the balls since he’d thrown her out of his house yesterday.

Anger shot through her. Damn it, she’d promised herself she wouldn’t think about Cooper today. Or ever. The bastard didn’t deserve her. He’d never deserved her. She’d only gotten involved with him to try to forget about Gabe, but now she was even worse off. Now she had to forget
two
assholes instead of one.

Focusing on Charlotte Hill and her evil plans for Nate was a better way to spend her time. And she had no doubt that Nate’s new—or old—girlfriend was up to something. Now she simply had to prove it.

When she strode into the spacious main room of the library, she immediately spotted Charlotte sitting at one of the computer terminals lining the wall. The library was otherwise deserted, which meant that Wanda Easton’s youth club meeting had ended for the day. Perfect. She didn’t want an audience when she confronted Charlotte.