The Bucket List (13 page)

"Yeah, she's up," he said. "Hang on."

He held the phone out to Rae. She just rolled her eyes and ignored it. Obviously, he wasn't the only one who needed to suck up to her today.

"Sorry
Nate, she's a bit busy right now."

"I'm not busy, I just don't want to speak to him," Rae snapped.

"She said..."

"Yeah, I heard,"
Nate said. "Tell her she left something in my room yesterday. I was packing when I noticed it."

"You left something in his room," he repeated.

"Tell him he can stuff it up his ass!"

"She doesn't want it back,"
Corey told him.

"Tell her if she doesn't come and get it herself, I'll have to come up and give it to you."

"Why? Is it something I shouldn't know about?"

He saw Rae tense again.

"Just tell her, please."

"He said if you don't go get it, he'll give it to me," he repeated, feeling a bit like a parrot now.

With an irritated sigh, she grabbed the phone from him and put it to her ear.

"What is it,
Nate?" she asked.

"You left your painkillers."

"Give them to me at the airport."

"If you don't come and get them now, I swear I'll bring them up. What's it going to be, Rae?"

She frowned in irritation then noticed Corey was watching her, a frown also marring his features. Obviously Nate had got him thinking. The last thing she wanted was for Corey to go poking his nose around Nate and find out what Nate had more or less hinted he wasn't supposed to know. She would have to sort Nate out, make sure he kept his mouth shut.

"Give me a few minutes," she said through grit teeth,
then hung up.

"What's that all about?"
Corey asked.

"Did I not tell you in words you can understand? Back-the-fuck-off!" she snapped, glad that she had an excuse not to answer him.

She found the little dress and low heeled sandals she planned on wearing to the airport in the bag, ignoring him completely as she got herself dressed.

"Hey,"
Nate said when he opened the door for her about ten minutes later.

"Hand them over, then," Rae said.

"Come in. They're in my drawer. I didn't want to leave them lying about in case Brian saw them," Nate said as he stood aside for her to enter. "In case you didn't know, I don't really have a good track record with them."

She walked in, her arms crossed and a dark look on her face. He had to say, she looked absolutely gorgeous. He couldn't help himself as his eyes traveled down to her bottom, then over the smooth, long legs that the short dress she wore exposed.

"Hand them over," she said again, turning around to face him.

"Not until you let me explain," he said.

"There's nothing to explain. You said what you said and now I know where you stand. If you give me my shit back, you'll never have to talk to me again."

"No, you don't know where I stand. I'm going through a lot of shit, Rae. I know it's no excuse, but when you literally fell into my arms in the elevator I just freaked out. There's you with all these problems, and the drugs you're taking, I just... I couldn't handle it,"
Nate said.

"Just give me my stuff,
Nate," Rae sighed. "You won't have to handle anything."

"Hear me out,"
Nate begged. "I wasn't talking to you out of pity. I shouldn't have said that to you and I'm sorry."

"Would it be easier for you if I just accepted your apology? Would you just give me my stuff and let me get out of here?"

"Rae..."

"No, you listen to me. I don't have time to waste with this shit," Rae angrily cut in. "Yesterday, I thought you were a nice guy, I told you stuff that my best friend doesn't know. I trusted you and you basically told me to fuck off."

"I'm sorry."

"Sorry doesn't cut it. It's my fault, anyway. I shouldn't have told you anything at all but I thought we were on our way to becoming friends. I don't have time to deal with two faced jerks."

He ran a hand through his hair and turned away from her. How would he make her see how sorry he was? The words that had come out of his mouth were just that... words. When she'd started talking about all the things she would normally have been doing, he had just panicked. The last thing he wanted was to jump from one bad relationship to another. She hadn't come out and said it straight that she wanted him, but from what she had revealed, he knew she was looking for a relationship. Or at least, she was trying. She'd said she wanted someone to make her feel special.

She wasn't his type, he was right about that. Yes she was gorgeous, yes she was sexy and yes he'd imagined fucking her, just as every
hot blooded male who'd met her probably imagined. He was only human. But this was just an experiment to her. If he got with her, he would inevitably get all these unwanted feelings and then what? She would get bored and move on to the next experiment. Or she'd see what was right in front of her and end up with Corey. He'd be heartbroken all over again. It would be Beth all over again. He didn't want that. So he'd had to tell her that he was only there out of pity. It was mean of him, he knew that, but his first instinct had been to protect himself.

"Rae," he started again. "I wasn't pretending. I did mean it when I said you could talk to me anytime and I do want us to become friends."

"Nate, please," Rae sighed. "You don't have to do this. I understand where you're coming from. A girl passed out in your arms, told you she was dying and you felt sorry for her. Anyone would have done the same thing."

"Rae, you're not listening to me. I didn't talk to you out of pity," he snapped.

"Oh, so now you're snapping at me? Just give me the pills."

"No! What I'm trying to say is, I could have just sent you on your way after you came to and not bothered about it. We weren't friends. Even with you telling me what you did, I could have just let you go."

"Well, thanks! Tell you what," she said as she walked to the door. "Keep the damn pills. I've got more. I just came up here to tell you to keep your mouth shut."

He pushed the door closed before she could fully open it and let his
arm rest on it. He wasn't explaining himself well. It was a complicated situation, surely she could see that. He probably should have just let her go but something in him wouldn't let him. When she turned round, her eyes were spitting fire at him and he thought again how hot she looked when she was angry. He also realised she was trapped between the door and his body.

"Open the door, right now," she spat out.

God, she was hot! His body was reacting to her closeness, reacting in a way it hadn't since he had left Beth.

"I lied to you," he said, deciding to go with the truth.

"What?"

"When I implied I wouldn't jump you the second you started flirting with me," he whispered as he moved his body even closer to hers.

"I'm not flirting with you," Rae pointed out.

"I know."

Her hair smelt gorgeous, he couldn't resist burying his face in it. He would regret this, he knew, but for now it all felt right. He knew all about her, knew she would probably crush his already broken heart and feed it to the dogs. This was so wrong on so many levels and the loser would only be him.

"
Nate..."

"Shh shh," he whispered, placing a finger on her lips.

He knew what she'd been about to say. She couldn't do this, she was trying to change. He didn't really want to hear that. His hand moved from her mouth and slowly trailed down to her breast. She had already given in, he could tell. Her body reacted to his simple touch like he had never seen before. He could say in all honesty, that made him hornier than he had ever been in his whole life.

Urgently, he took her mouth as his hand reached under her short dress and ripped her little thongs off. She had awakened an animal inside him without even trying, and the beast needed satisfaction. There was no time for preliminaries. When his fingers easily slid into her, he let out a hungry groan. She was already so wet...

In seconds he had undone his belt buckle and zip. There was no time to take anything off. Later on, when he had enjoyed her, he would probably get pissed off with himself for doing the very thing he had said he wouldn't do. But for now he'd take what he was being offered. He pushed the thoughts of her with all those other guys over the weekend completely out of his mind. There was no room on his bed for them as well. It would plague him afterwards how he had given in to his desires so easily but his need was bigger than him. He had to have her. Even if it turned out to be for just one time.

The first hard thrust released a loud cry from him and all thoughts ceased to exist. There, against the door with her long legs wrapped tightly around him, he saw heaven. He had never known anything more beautiful.

Rae sat next to
Alyssa and John at the terminal as they waited for their flight. Corey had gone off to sort her a seat on their plane as another way to suck up. She hadn't said a word to him since returning from Nate's room. She had gone straight to have another shower and to change and the looks she had shot Corey and John had defied them to ask questions. She was in no mood to talk.

She still couldn't believe that
Nate had fucked her. Over and over again, actually. And he'd been amazing. She hadn't expected that at all. From the first earth-shattering orgasm against the door, Nate had promptly moved her over to the table where he'd bent her over and quickly brought on yet another orgasm with his long, hard strokes. Then somehow they had ended up out on the balcony, naked in the light of the morning with the view of Orlando stretching ahead of them. He'd taken her over the railings of the balcony, gripping her butt to sink himself deeper into her while she'd quivered in his arms. No one had ever done her so... thoroughly... before. And she was certain a few people had heard her screams, seen Nate urgently nailing her in plain view of whoever wanted to watch the show. It had been just the sort of crazy thing the old Rae would have done. Eventually, he'd carried her to his bed. She'd been surprised he still had the strength to do that as her own legs had gone completely useless. On the bed, he had made love to her. Slow, sweet and tender. He had made her feel like the most precious thing in the world, which was what she had been looking for in the first place. He had held her eyes the whole time and for the first time in her life, she felt like she had made a connection on a more deeper level. Nate had touched something in her that she had not even known existed. It had scared her.

Before she'd gone to his room she had already decided to find someone else, the whole morning had just confused her. She had not come on to him at all, which was an amazing feat in itself so his reaction had been a complete surprise. Her first reaction hadn't surprised her at all. She had gone a full 24 hours without
sex, her body had almost been in withdrawal. One single touch had lit her up like a Christmas tree. The sparks, when his body had brushed against her, had been all-consuming. She'd stood no chance whatsoever of declining what her body craved for. It was when he'd gently placed her on the bed and done whatever voodoo that he'd done that she'd freaked out.

After that shattering explosion, when they'd been fighting to catch their breaths, he had been about to say something but Kendrick had walked in and she'd seen her chance to escape. She had just pulled her dress on, found her shoes and left. Of course, Brian had stood there like an idiot the whole time and watched her dress while
Nate had begged her not to go, to let him explain. He'd probably been about to pull the 'we can still be friends' speech that she had used a million times in the past. She'd been too freaked to listen.

This whole thing was confusing her. She had never had sex like that. Yes, she liked to
connect, that was what always ensured the sex was always off the charts. She let her senses take over her, let her mind, body and soul connect, but Nate had taken that connection to a whole new level. She had started getting these... feelings. She had no idea what they were or where they'd come from, she'd never felt anything for anyone before except lust. She didn't know what to do. Plus, where did he get off telling her she wasn't his type one minute then jumping her bones the next? Why did people say one thing when they meant another? Had he been trying to sleep with her all along? And the big question was, would she be able to stand him now that she'd had him? Even though she had experienced something different, made a connection with someone, would she want to do it again with him? She'd never gone back for seconds before, no matter how good the first time was.

So now she had no idea what to do. Should she seek
Nate out and find out what the hell was going on, or should she run in the opposite direction and find someone totally different so she could control the whole situation until the time came for her to leave?

The light was blinding her, even with her big sunglasses and she still had a splitting headache.
Alyssa looked as pitiful as she did sitting next to her. She also wore sun glasses to protect her eyes and she looked sickly.

"So are you going to tell me about this man with the big pipe?" John asked.

"What man?" Rae frowned.

John chuckled.

"He had something that couldn't fit in the hole."

Both ladies looked at him as if he was losing his mind.

"What the hell did you two do last night?" John laughed.

"We had a drink then came back to the hotel,"
Alyssa said.

"You don't remember, do you?" John guessed.

"Not a damn thing," Alyssa answered.

Nate
chose that moment to walk to them, his hands in the pockets of his baggy jeans, the hood of his top pulled low over his eyes so people could only see his the tip of his nose and his mouth. She'd noticed him the second he had arrived and had known he'd been watching her, the little headphones of his iPod in his ears as always. She hadn't expected him to approach her, though, at least not with all the Final Battle roster watching him.

"Can we talk?" he asked when he finally stood in front of her. "In private?"

"Not now, Nate."

She couldn't make any decisions, not in her frame of mind.

"I could just as easily sit right here next to you and say what I have to say in front of John and Alyssa."

"Are you always such a dick?" she snapped, referring to the fact that this was the second time he's threatened to reveal her business that morning.

"If it's the only way I can get you to listen to me."

"You have one minute," she said through grit teeth as she stood up and walked away from John and
Alyssa.

Nate
lowered his hood and followed her to a spot away from the other fighters.

"Rae... what happened this morning wasn't me. I've never slept with a girl I hardly know,"
Nate started.

Was he trying to brush her off? Did he think that, just because she'd revealed that she was looking for a relationship she'd try and get her hooks into him, now that he'd slept with her?

"And now you regret it, yada yada," Rae cut in. "It's all right, Nate. What's done is done. You don't have to keep apologizing to me."

"Will you let me speak? I don't regret it at all. It was incredible. I've never had such a connection with anyone, not from the get go. I just wanted to find out where you stand on all this," he said. "You left in such a hurry, I didn't know what to think."

"What?"

What did he mean he never had such a connection from the get go. Did that shit happen all the time for him?

"I know this is all crazy, Rae. We only met yesterday and quite by coincidence as well. I know you'd never have spoken to me otherwise and then this morning would never have happened. I'm really messed up and probably the last thing you need right now but this morning you came into my room looking seriously hot, I couldn't help myself. I forgot all the reasons why I'd told myself I couldn't touch you."

"What are you saying?" she asked, looking deep into his eyes.

"I'm saying, if you'll let me, I want to get to know you and for you to know me," Nate replied. "I want to be the one to make you feel special."

She looked into his eyes a minute longer and saw the sincerity in them. This is what she'd wanted, wasn't it? To live out her last few weeks with one man who would show her what her life could have been like.

"I don't know. I can't think right now. I don't think you've really thought this through, either. I'll probably end up fucking you over or something."

She had no idea where that came from. Why was she even questioning the gift that had been placed at her feet? And when had she ever considered anyone else's feelings?

"We'll worry about that if it happens. Just give me a chance. I've been mopping around nursing a broken heart and broken dreams for three months now, then this morning you made me see that there's something else out there, it was like I suddenly started living again and my chains were broken. I haven't felt like this in a long time. I'm not ready to let you go just yet," he said. "Just think about it, okay? I'm not putting any pressure on you."

She nodded her head in agreement even though she knew she'd say yes. He was different and trying to unravel all the complexities that made him who he was would keep her interested. How did someone make love like that? Did it not scare him? It was like he had looked into her very soul and found only beauty in it, beauty that he had nurtured with every sensual thrust until it had exploded all around her and washed over her.

Before she knew what was happening, he pulled her into his arms and gave her a tender kiss, right there in front of everyone. She had never been kissed like that before. All her kisses were urgent, hungry ones that led to sex. Nate's kiss made her feel... special, and it confirmed it for her again that she had picked the right guy.

"Just to make sure you do think about me," he whispered with a little smile before walking away.

Corey stopped in his tracks when he saw Nate pull Rae into a kiss. He didn't know what had happened between them the previous night but he knew that morning Nate had fucked the shit out of her! He could always tell when Rae had been indulgent. Somehow, he had thought that would be the end of Nate. The last thing he'd expected was this kiss.

When
Nate pulled away, he noticed the goofy little smile that played on Rae's lips. That was when it really hit home. She was serious. She really wanted someone other than him to cuddle at night. She really wanted to make room in her life for someone other than him. He knew it sounded crazy, but he had never imagined he would actually have to give her up to someone else.

Not that she was his to give. They were just friends, he could never give her what she was obviously looking for. It was just that she was his person. He had thought she wouldn't buy into all this love bullshit. The deal they had made had been her idea, after all. She had told him that theirs would be a relationship based on mutual respect and thirty years of shared secrets. She had told him they had a
bond which could never be broken. Well, there went their five babies and the big six bedroomed house with a swimming pool and room for a few ponies.

He couldn't understand any of it. He didn't see anything wrong with the way she lived now. What was wrong with taking what you wanted when you wanted it? She was only
young, she was supposed to live dangerously! Then when thirty came, all of it would be behind her and she'd be ready to give her all to raising a family. She was doing this five years too soon. They were supposed to do it together.

But he was nowhere near ready to settle down so obviously he had to let her go. Her happiness came first, after all. So sure, her being in a relationship would throw up so many boundaries, but he'd cross those bridges when he got to them. She was his best
friend, he would stand by her no matter what. If only he could be sure that she wouldn't drift away from him while she chased down this mythical love. He couldn't imagine not having her in his life.

"It hurts, doesn't it?"

He turned his head to see Peyton standing next to him.

"What?" he frowned in
irritation.

"Watching someone you're in love with make out with someone else."
Peyton smirked.

"Don't talk
stupid!" Corey snapped.

"I've watched you two over the weekend. You're in love with her, your face says it all,"
Peyton laughed. "How did you feel when she was whoring with half the roster? Did you look at them like you're looking at Nate?"

"You don't know shit,
Peyton. I'm no more in love with her than I'm in love with you! I do love her though, which is more than I can say about you," Corey snapped. "I wouldn't even piss on you if you were on fire!"

With that he walked towards Rae, a cup of coffee in his hand. Love? The Great Legend Killer didn't do love.

"Do you think he realizes he's in love with her?" Alyssa asked.

They had been watching
Nate and Rae's little exchange when their attention had been drawn to Corey. He'd looked like his best friend had just died.

"No," John answered. "If you tell him he'll just bite your head off, though. Rae doesn't either. I tried smacking their heads together about it once but they laughed at me like I'd just told the funniest joke ever."

"That's a shame. I think Corey is the best person to help her find what she's looking for," Alyssa stated. "No one knows her better and they've practically been married their whole lives. It's a no brainer."

"They don't see it that way. The sad part about it is that I think they'll realise it when it's too late."

"What do you mean?"

"It will take one of them actually falling in love with someone else before the other realizes how they feel," John
explained. "It's like a doomed love story."

"I don't think so,"
Alyssa argued. "I think the reason they fly from one meaningless night to another is because they are destined to be together. They can't fall in love with anyone else when they already love each other."