I Knew You Were Trouble: A Texas Kings Novel (18 page)

He stopped in the open doorway to find his bed littered with clothes and Faith standing in her underwear. She threw her hands in the air when she saw him. “He called me. The guy you reached out to told a colleague of his, and they want me to come in tomorrow.”

Nate smiled and held out his arms, frowning when she completely ignored him. She had her hands on her hips, staring at the strewn clothes, her breasts way too good to ignore all pushed up in a black lace bra. And the panties that matched made him want to throw her back on the bed just so he could slowly strip them off her, sliding them down her tanned, toned legs.

He decided not to wait for her and crossed the distance between them, reaching out to touch the smooth, delicate skin of her torso, fingertips light on her stomach. “How about we discuss this further. In bed.”

She sighed. “Nate, this is serious.”

“So am I, baby,” he whispered in her ear, pushing his pelvis into her backside and wrapping his arms around her from behind. “Deadly.”

“Nate! Your belt buckle,” she complained, wriggling away from him.

He only let her go enough to unbuckle his belt, using one hand to tug it from the loops and drop it to the floor. “You’re so sexy when you get all flustered.”

She groaned and fought to get out of his arms, squirming around so that she ended up facing him, palms to his chest. Her hair was pulled up into a messy ponytail and it took every inch of his willpower not to reach up and yank the tie out so her hair was tumbling down his shoulders just how he liked it.

“Nate, I have to figure out what to wear. This could be my one and only chance to impress them.”

“They’ll be impressed,” he said, not ready to give up just yet. He kissed her, slowly, gently, just how she usually liked it. “How could anyone not be impressed with you?” he asked when he finally pulled his lips away.

“Can you just sit down over there and take a look at what I’m thinking of wearing?” she pleaded, stepping back and reaching for his hands to tug him over to the chair.

“I was thinking we should celebrate,” he suggested, winking at her, then laughing when he got absolutely no reaction. It was a first; she was usually just as up for it as he was, which was saying something.

“Just sit and watch,” she said, pushing him back so he fell down into the chair.

It made him laugh and he decided to just do as he was told. “Fine. Show me all the outfits, do a twirl in each one, and I’ll tell you what to wear.”

Faith bent over the bed, her G-string-clad butt enough to make him groan. Why did she do things like that to him?

“So this one is kind of my nerdy but sexy look. I just don’t want to look slutty and…”

All he heard was the word “slutty,” the rest of what she was saying drowning out as he watched her zip herself into the black pencil skirt and then slip the cute black top over her head. The neckline wasn’t particularly low, but her breasts were so high that he still got a pretty good view of her cleavage.

“So?” she demanded, slipping on a pair of plain black heels. “What do you think?”

“I think it’d look better off,” he admitted.

“Nate!”

“Sorry.” He held his hands up in the air. “I’m just finding it hard seeing you get dressed when I’m usually up here getting you
undressed
. It’s not the natural order of the world.”

Faith threw her hands up in the air. “I just don’t want to screw this opportunity up, Nate. It’s the first step on turning my dream into a reality.”

“Come here,” he said, opening his arms and not breaking eye contact with her. “Come here,” he repeated. “Promise I’ll be good.”

She finally did, dropping into his lap and slipping her arms around his neck. Her head fell against his chest as he leaned back, content in his arms. Nate dropped a kiss into her hair.

“You’ll look beautiful in whatever you wear, sweetheart. And they’ll love you. How could they not?”

“I don’t have the same confidence in myself that you do. I wasn’t the one born with…” Her voice trailed off.

Nate hugged her tighter, not about to push her away because of what he’d known she was about to say. He’d heard it all before and it wasn’t like she was trying to offend him.

“A silver spoon in his mouth?” he offered.

“Something like that,” she mumbled against his shirt. “Sorry. I didn’t mean it to be cruel.”

“I’ve heard it all before; don’t sweat it.” Nate ran his hand up and down her back. “But I’ll tell you, just like I’ve always told everybody else, that I might have been born into money, but it was never my right. I’ve worked hard for everything, and I will continue to have to work hard to keep our businesses profitable. Nothing in this life comes easy; it’s just that some of us have more opportunities to seize than others, and some of us start with a leg up.”

She snuggled closer, her legs tucked up so that he was completely cradling her. “The last thing I meant to do was offend you after you’ve been so good to me.”

Nate chuckled. “I’m made from tough stuff, sugar. It’ll take more than one offhand comment to piss me off. Now how about you get all this stuff back in the closet and I’ll go down and pour us a drink, make us some dinner.”

That got her attention. “You’re going to make dinner? Like in the kitchen?”

“You don’t need to sound so shocked. I’ve been a bachelor a long time.”

“A bachelor with a Mrs. T to look after you and keep the freezer stocked with delicious food for you to heat.”

He pushed her, making her laugh but catching her before she actually fell. “I’ll have you know I can grill a mean steak, and Chloe said she dropped some around and popped them in the fridge earlier today.”

Faith flicked him on the shoulder with her forefinger and stood over the bed looking down at her clothes. “So just steak and nothing else then?” she teased.

“Well, I season it pretty well.” He jumped up and undid a couple of buttons of his shirt, slapping her bare butt cheeks as he passed on his way to the bathroom.

“What happened to getting the steak on the grill and my wine poured?”

“Geez, woman, this is why I don’t usually open my house up to the ladies. Enough with the questions!”

He walked into his closet and undressed, pulling on a pair of jeans and T-shirt. He hung up his trousers and took off his Rolex, putting it with the rest of his collection in his top drawer. When he sauntered back out he stopped and watched Faith. She was beautiful. Jaw-droppingly, goddamn beautiful, but it was like she still had no idea the effect she had on him. She’d taken her hair out now, the band around her wrist instead of her hair, and it fell forward over both shoulders. He watched as she reached for it, twisting it and pushing it away, top teeth pushed into her lower lip as she studied a jacket that she’d reached for.

He was in seriously dangerous territory with her. On the other hand, he was damn worried that she’d change her mind and end up like virtually every other woman he’d dated, telling him when things came to an end that she’d expected more, that she thought she’d be the one to change him, and probably hating him for it. And he did care for Faith, cared about her more than he’d ever cared about a woman who’d been in his bed before, but he wasn’t going to let himself love her. He couldn’t.

No matter how he felt for her, how selfishly he wanted her all to himself, he wasn’t going to pretend like he could offer her what she needed from a man. Faith needed to be loved and cared for unconditionally, needed a man who wasn’t so damaged that he had made it his life’s mission never to be vulnerable again or let anyone hurt him. He didn’t trust easily and he sure as hell didn’t want to be anyone’s husband, and Faith deserved her cake and all the trimmings.

“Dollar for your thoughts?” Faith’s soft, kind voice jolted him back to reality.

“I was just thinking how gorgeous you look in your underwear.” It wasn’t a lie—up until that moment it was all he’d been thinking about.

“How about I promise to show it to you again later if you get that steak on the grill?”

“I love the way you think,” he replied, grinning and waiting for her to pull a sweatshirt over her head and slip into her jeans, before hooking his arm around her neck and kissing her cheek. “I’ll help you put all that away later. Right now, I need to unwind over a cold drink with you.”

“Hard to believe I’ve been your concubine for over a week now,” she said, arm slipped around his waist as they went sideways through the door, then stayed stuck together like glue as they descended the stairs.

“Sure is.”

And no matter what he wanted to tell himself, what he wanted to pretend, he’d miss her like hell once she was gone. But he wasn’t interested in clipping the wings of any bird, let alone one who was just coming into her own like Faith was.

“Sam came by to see you today.”

Nate groaned. “Now I really need that drink.”

“He knows you’ve been avoiding him.” Faith leaned against the counter as he took out a beer and popped the top, taking a long gulp before setting it down and taking out the wine she liked. “He said it was time the two of you had a talk, man-to-man.”

“I’m not avoiding him,” Nate insisted.

“Yes, you are.”

He poured her wine, slid her the glass, then downed at least half of his beer. “I just don’t know what to say to him. I mean, ‘I’m fucking your sister, but she likes it’ probably isn’t what he wants to hear right now.”

Faith burst out laughing, wiping away tears from her cheeks she was laughing so hard. “Nate, just let him be pissed off with you for a bit. Listen to him rant and rave, then tell him what he needs to hear.”

“And what is that, exactly?” he asked.

“That you won’t hurt me. That I’m the one far more likely to hurt your poor heart than vice versa.”

“Oh really?”

She laughed. “Look, we both know what this is, and we both want to spare Sam from being hurt. So what does it matter what we say so long as it keeps us all happy?”

“Let me get this right,” Nate grumbled. “I thought we were keeping the two of us under wraps? Now you want me to confess my sins after I told him I’d stay away from you?”

Her smile was contagious as she grinned at him. “We are. I just don’t think we can completely pull the wool over Sam’s eyes. He’s going to know something is going on. Will already, in fact.”

“Fine.” Nate pulled open the fridge and took out the steaks, wrapped in brown paper and with a smiley face drawn on the front from his sister-in-law. It made him smile, which only reminded him just how much he was starting to enjoy having so many women permanently in his life. It wasn’t a shock to him that he loved female company, just a shock that he’d opened himself up so readily to his brothers’ wives, and now Faith.

“How about I make a salad to go with that,” Faith suggested, trailing her fingers across his back as she passed.

Nate took out some utensils and headed for the grill, just outside the side door. “I was hoping you’d say that.”

He walked outside to the sound of Faith’s laughter, shaking his head at how easily she’d managed to rub off on him. After he spent so long putting up walls around himself, it had been damn easy for a few particular women to find an opening and just wander on in.

*   *   *

Faith ran her hands down her skirt, not used to having sweaty palms. She was seated in the office, waiting, having been shown in by an older woman with a wide smile. It had settled Faith for a moment, until she’d been left alone.

“You must be the amazing young woman Nate told me about.”

Faith blew out a breath and rose, game face on. “Faith Mendes. Thank you so much for taking the time to meet me.”

The owner of the gallery was probably fifty, maybe older, but his head of thick silver hair made it hard for her to pick. She liked that he held her eye contact, and she calmed down as she sat.

“I took the time to look through the gallery first. I love some of your contemporary pieces.”

He raised his eyebrows. “Which ones caught your eye?”

She recognized the challenge, knew he wanted to catch her out in case she was bluffing. “I’m a huge fan of Eddie Martinez, so naturally his piece caught my eye. The colors he’s used in his recent collection are stunning.”

“Any other favorites?”

“Contemporary painters?” She smiled. “That’s tough, I could rattle off names all day, but Katherine Bernhardt from Canada and Zeng Fanzhi would be two who always surprise me with their forms and textures.”

“You know your art.” He chuckled. “I didn’t think Nate would personally recommend just anybody, but now I know for sure.”

Faith maintained her smile, felt like it was going well.

“So what are your plans after you graduate? Where to next?”

She watched as he settled back in his chair. “I’m not going to deny that I want to live and work in New York, at least for a time, but I want to learn everything I can and I would really like the opportunity to do that here first.” She paused, not wanting to sound desperate, wanting to portray confidence. “I’m a hard worker and I’m not afraid to put the hours in, and I’m impressed with the art you have here.”

Faith dug her nails into her palm, still smiling, waiting for his response.

“Sometimes things happen for a reason. It just so happens I was about to start advertising for an intern, but now that I’ve met you I’m not sure that I need to.”

She couldn’t stop the grin that spread across her face. “Really?”

“Look, you clearly know what you’re talking about, you have genuine passion, and you seem like a capable, driven young woman. Not to mention the fact that your knowing the King family might help me in making some sales to Nate or the old man!”

“So do I have the job?”

He stood and held out his hand. “Yes, Faith. You have the job.”

*   *   *

Nate was walking alongside Sam, dressed down in jeans and boots. He’d decided to work from home for the day, getting his assistant to reschedule a few things and e-mail through everything he needed, and he’d decided that Faith had been right about him catching up with her brother. He was on the ranch working horses with Ryder all day, and Nate had headed down to the round pens to talk to Sam before he started. Before this they’d never gone more than a week without chatting, and when Nate was home he was always making sure to spend a few minutes catching up with his friend.