I Knew You Were Trouble: A Texas Kings Novel (12 page)

“Yeah?” Sam glared at Nate like he’d like to kill him. “Well, you just fucking did. We’re through.”

Sam spun around and marched off, leaving her standing there wondering what the hell had happened as Kelly ran after him. Nate was immobile for a moment, then launched forward, went to go after him, but Faith quickly grabbed his arm.

“Don’t,” she said. “Just give him some time.”

Nate stopped without her needing to try to restrain him further. He turned slowly, his eyes falling to hers, his smile grim, nothing like the brightness she’d witnessed earlier when she’d been in his arms.

“We really screwed up,” Nate said, reaching for her anyway and stroking his fingers down her arm. “

“No, I screwed up,” Faith said, wishing she didn’t crave his touch quite so much. She wasn’t going to lie—Nate’s skin on hers sent shoots of pleasure rippling through her, the anticipation of what could happen between them almost as sweet as each touch. And she wasn’t afraid of him, had expected to be scared of him touching her, of going there so soon, but she wasn’t. “This is all on me, not you.”

He shook his head, one side of his mouth curving up into a smile. “I didn’t exactly try to push you away,” he said, cupping her face and looking deep into her eyes. “I’ve wanted you for a long time, Faith, which is why I never should have let you stay.”

Her pulse had ignited again, the flames in her belly stirring into a full-on fire now. “But you did,” she murmured. “And you didn’t seem to mind me kissing you.”

“Darlin’, kissing you is something I could do all night.” Nate chuckled and cupped her cheek, staring at her, before letting his hand fall away. “Every damn night of the week if I had the chance.”

Faith swallowed, moistened her lips with the tip of her tongue. “So just because my brother tells you I’m out-of-bounds, that’s it? You’re going to let him control you like that?”

“No one controls me, Faith. Make no mistake about that.” Nate’s voice had gone from smooth and sexy to deep and gravelly now. “But Sam and I have been buddies since pre-K. He’s the only friend I’ve ever trusted, and I’m not going to throw that away for—”

“A night between the sheets with me?” Faith interrupted.

“
Anything,
” Nate corrected. “I was going to say that I wouldn’t throw away our friendship for anything.”

Faith wrapped her arms around herself again, suddenly feeling a chill even though it probably wasn’t even remotely cold where they were standing.

“You need to let him calm down before you go after him,” she said, wishing things could be different between them but not wanting to ruin their friendship, either. “He’ll need some time to himself; otherwise he’ll just try to kill you again.”

“I let him have that first punch,” Nate muttered.

She stepped closer to him and put her hand to his chest, palm flat as she pushed him back into the light to see how bad the bruise was.

“
Damn!
” she swore softly under her breath.

“Does it look bad?” he asked, staring down at her.

“Yeah. It’s gonna be a serious black eye.” Faith traced gently around the skin of his eye with one soft fingertip. “Sorry.”

She looked up at him, no longer focused on the purple bruise, and her breath caught in her throat at the look on his face, at the desire so evident in the way he was looking at her. He was a different kind of hurt than she’d been, but it still wasn’t nice to see.

“We can’t.” Nate’s voice was guttural and it only made her want him more.

“He already hates you right now, Nate,” she said, her eyes fixed on his lips now, her breath coming in fast pants. “What harm could it do if he never finds out?”

Chapter 7

NATE groaned, the noise coming from deep within him. She might be younger than him, his friend’s little sister, but she was sure as hell all grown-up just like she’d claimed to be. There was nothing about that girl left.

“That’s the worst excuse I’ve ever heard,” he muttered, but he still didn’t back away.

“Sam’s gone,” she said, both hands to his chest now, then running up and over his shoulders. “It’s just you and me.”

“No.” He forced himself to say the word, wanted so badly to do the right thing, but it still wasn’t enough. Because he wasn’t good, never had been, and the more he knew he wasn’t allowed something …

“I wasn’t lying that I needed a teacher,” she whispered, on her tiptoes now, mouth so,
so
close to his.

“And I made it very clear that you don’t need a goddamn teacher.” His fists were balled, his fingers tightening as he tried to resist the urge to touch her. Why was she doing this to him?

“You’d rather I find another man for the job?” she teased.

But he didn’t want to be teased, wasn’t in the mood.

Nate used every inch of his willpower as he slowly closed the gap between them, mouth hovering over Faith’s as he bent down. “You so much as mention another man…”

She sighed into his mouth as he closed his lips over hers, kissing her so softly it almost killed him, was almost impossible to maintain.

“I won’t,” she whispered when he pulled back. “I feel safe with you. It’s only you I want.”

Nate slipped an arm around Faith, the other hand snaking around the back of her head, fingers tangling in her long hair so he could lock her in place, kissing her rough. He wanted to do bad, bad things to her, things he’d fantasized about for years and refused to ever think could come true.

“No one can know about this,” he muttered.

“About what?” she innocently replied, the rise and fall of her breasts as she caught her breath making him want to rip her dress down to expose them, to finally see what she looked like bare.

“We’re going home!” he commanded. “And I’m not touching you until we’re away from here, okay? If Sam sees me so much as look at you like I want you in my bed, the next time I see him he’ll have a gun to my fucking head.” He looked down at Faith and wished he’d kept that last part to himself. “Sorry.”

“Let’s just go,” she said. “You can make it up to me later.”

Nate grabbed her hand when they neared the crowd, needing to get past a ton of people to make the main exit. He’d only had a couple of drinks all night, so he was fine to drive, and he just wanted to get the hell out and to his car. Faith’s petite hand fitted perfectly into his, her hold tight. Whatever the hell he’d just done, there was no going back. And as much as he didn’t want to piss Sam off, Nate also wanted Faith.
Like he’d never, ever wanted a woman before.

*   *   *

“So here we are.”

Nate pushed open the front door and took a few steps inside. It was dark and he’d forgotten to turn any lights on, so he fumbled his hand along the wall until he connected with the switches. His brothers had all sorts of fancy lighting at their new places, but he didn’t care that the main house was a bit ancient. It was immaculately maintained and the old girl had one hell of a history, so he wasn’t exactly hankering for something brand-new. He dealt with shiny glass and chrome buildings on a daily basis, so many of their investments in New York were in the city, and he liked a bit of history at home.

He glanced back at Faith, saw her standing awkwardly near the front door still, suddenly looking a whole lot like the young Faith he’d been warned away from so many years ago and not at all like the confident young woman who’d just propositioned him in the bar.

“I was half-expecting Sam to be waiting on the porch for me.”

She smiled, but her lips only just moved, hovering at the corners. “He’s had too much to drink to be able to drive, and I don’t think Kelly will let him out of her sight until he sobers up.”

“He wasn’t drunk; that’s what worried me,” Nate said grimly. “It’s gonna take a while to repair the damage.”

“And us?” she asked, her bottom lip catching beneath her top teeth.

Nate groaned and stepped toward her, taking her hand in his and looking down into her eyes. “There is no us, Faith,” he said. “It’s not because I don’t want there to be, but you don’t need me as some sort of a rebound guy. And you sure as hell don’t need a pissed-off brother on your hands.”

She raised her gaze, reaching to touch Nate’s face. “I don’t want you to be my rebound, Nate.”

He sighed and fought the urge to kiss her. “I can’t be any more to you than a rebound, Faith. Any ideas you have about something more…”

“I don’t want more,” she said, her fingers strumming a gentle note across his skin, his cheek, and then his jawline. “I just want to have fun for the summer, before life becomes a whole lot more serious. And I want you to…”

“Teach you,” he finished for her.

She moved even closer to him, her body skimming his, breasts to his chest and her head tipped back. “I don’t want to be told that I don’t know what I’m doing again,” she whispered. “I want to…”

“Stop.”
They were getting in a bad habit of interrupting each other’s sentences, but he didn’t want to hear any more of what she had to say. He couldn’t teach her, couldn’t take her to his bed, couldn’t …
or could he?
And what kind of jerk had been telling her that she didn’t know what she was doing in the bedroom?

“Why not?” she asked. “Is it just because of Sam?”

“You make it sound like that’s a stupid reason. It’s not,” he growled back.

“What if he never had to know? Isn’t that why you just brought me back here?”

“Do you want me to lie to him?”

Her smile made Nate want to do wicked things to her mouth just to wipe the grin away, to stop her from being so goddamn cocky when usually she was a whole lot more demure. Maybe it was because he’d never seen her drinking before, but she was turning into one hell of a confident woman.

“Is it lying if we just pretend like I’m only your housekeeper? That what he walked in on was a onetime-only mistake?”

He cleared his throat, staring down at her, into the deepest-brown eyes he’d ever looked into. “Was it a mistake?”

She laughed. “You tell me.”

The only mistake was letting himself near her in the first place. He should have let her in, then jumped on his jet and headed back to New York. Or maybe the mistake was not dragging her to his bed right now and getting her the hell out of his system.

“The mistake was letting you through my front door when I found you here the other day,” he muttered.

“You’re actually regretting it?” she asked, putting her palm to his chest and pushing back a little. “I don’t believe you.”

He grunted, not liking the distance she’d just put between them even though he was telling her the exact opposite. “I’m just pissed off at my sudden lack of self-control.”

“Because you’re always used to being the one calling the shots?” she asked.

“Exactly.”

They stood, staring at each other. Faith was waiting for him to make a move, he could tell, but as much as he wanted her, he still had a shred of control left when it came to her and his friendship with Sam. She’d been ballsy at the bar, but here in Nate’s home she looked a whole lot more uncertain all of a sudden.

“I think we need to call it a night,” he said firmly, finally letting go of her hand.

She nodded, cheeks flushed like she was seriously embarrassed, touched with the softest hint of pink.

“I’m not saying no, Faith, and it’s sure as hell not because I don’t want you.” He couldn’t help but smile at her. “Because I do want you, Faith, with every damn fiber in my body.”

Her mouth flexed into a big smile again. “Good night, Nate.”

Nate stood and watched her go, refused to go after her, resisted the urge to confess to being an idiot and kiss the hell out of her again. Because he needed time to think. Because Faith was forbidden. Because,
damn it,
it just wasn’t right.

*   *   *

Faith splashed cold water on her face and took a deep, shaky breath. She had no idea what the hell had happened tonight, but she was sure as hell grateful for having her own bathroom adjoining the guest room she was staying in. At least she wouldn’t have to see Nate again until morning, and even then she’d be hiding under the covers for as long as she could. He’d never specifically mentioned her having to make him breakfast as part of her live-in-housekeeper role, and she had no intention of offering this weekend. Not when she could do a perfectly good job of keeping her head buried in the sand.

What had possessed her to kiss Nate like that?
It would have been fine if something more had happened between them, but he’d rebuffed her as soon as he’d had time to think it through, the moment they’d arrived home. The only thought keeping her sane was how he’d responded to her when they’d touched, but that was nothing if she never got to feel his hands on her again.
Or his lips
. She’d gone from being scared of a man’s touch to downright craving it.

Faith turned the faucet off and stared at herself in the mirror. She’d screwed up, read the signs wrong. And she’d never forgive herself if Sam and Nate didn’t mend their relationship—they’d been friends for so long, and as much as she wanted Nate, she also didn’t want to be the cause of a serious rift between them.

She ran her fingers through her hair, the curls almost completely fallen out now, and turned from the mirror. What she needed was a good night’s sleep. Everything would seem better in the morning; it always did. That was one of the few things she remembered her mom saying, something that had always stayed with Faith even after she’d left. When she had gone when Faith was just a teenager, it had been Faith’s choice to stay. But at that age, the idea of leaving her friends behind, not to mention her brother, had been almost unbearable, even though in hindsight she could see it had been the wrong decision. Instead of trying to understand, she’d turned her mom into the villain without seeing that her dad was to blame for so many of the reasons their marriage had broken down, and she doubted she’d ever be able to repair the damage even if they ever reconnected.

She undressed, put her dress on a hanger, and pulled on the tank top and boy shorts she always wore to bed, sighing as her head hit the luxurious feather-filled pillow. Everything about Nate’s house was incredible—the duvet was incredibly warm but light as a single feather, with a soft cashmere blanket at the end for extra warmth if she needed it and extra goose-down pillows in the closet. The bathroom was full of oversize supersoft towels, with tiles floor to ceiling, and the bedroom carpet was plush enough to wiggle her toes deep into. As much as she loved it, she was terrified of getting used to such luxuries—another thing she had in common with her mom.