WILD RIDE (11 page)

He
saw us walk in and he sort of froze for a second, halting in mid-story.  He
took in my dress, and the way Nate’s arm was coiled around my waist, and his
eyes flashed a little.  He recollected himself and started talking again, but
his smile was gone.  Nate shook hands with the clients, who clearly knew him
and were mildly in awe or something.  They sort of deferred to him like those
hotel receptionists had.  I guess he commanded respect, just the way he
looked.  Pure alpha and rich to boot.  He introduced me to the clients and the
fawning girls skittered back to the bar as we were led to the table by an
attentive waiter.

We
were offered a plush, two-sided booth and I was seated between Riley and Nate. 
I’ll admit my heart skipped a beat at the configuration but it was no big
deal.  All the cards were on the table.  We all knew what was what.

Nate
was talking to Jonathan and Reese, the clients, who had all kinds of questions
for him.  Riley leaned close to me and murmured, “Hey, Lace.”

I
blushed a little.  It was hard not to, after all that had gone down.  I hadn’t
seen him or spoken to him since … we’d shared an intimacy that made my face
feel all hot just recalling it.  “Hey, Riley.”

“How’s
life?”  He leaned his shoulder against mine lightly, a playful punctuation to
his question.

“Life’s
good.”

“New
dress?”

I
smiled at him, feeling embarrassed, happy, shy and sexy all at once.  “You know
it is.”

“I
like it.  You look …” he paused, and his expression was sincere, a little heart-breaking. 
“… amazing.  Like you always do.”

“Thanks. 
So do you.”  He was all swish, too, with his hair semi-smoothed and his white
shirt.

Nate
was talking, immersed in conversation.  Riley noted this, then said, “My
cousin’s taken a liking to you.”

I
didn’t reply, just looked at his eyes, reading whatever I could there.  Humor,
always.  A light note of regret, maybe.

“Bastard,”
he said, smiling.  “I can’t take him in a fight, regrettably.  Have you seen
the size of those fucking
guns
?”

I
laughed.  “Yeah.”

“You
wouldn’t,” he said, “have chosen me in a line-up, by any chance?”

“I
did choose you in a line-up.”

“That
was a line-up of two, and you chose both.”

Again,
my cheeks burned, but I couldn’t help laughing along with him.  “Yeah.”

“Best
thing that ever happened to either one of us.”

I
let that go, taking comfort from his easy-going, teasing vibe.  But I wanted to
be crystal clear.  Nate was still talking, immersed in the sale he was making. 
The business he was building.  We’d talked about trust and I made a choice to
start earning his, whether he was listening or not, whether this was the only
time I’d ever get the chance.  “Me and Nate.  We’ve got some stuff in common.”

“You
do.”  It wasn’t a question, just an understanding.  Riley looked at Nate, then
he looked at me.  It was a few seconds before he spoke again.  “Yeah, maybe you
do.”

“I
hope we do, at least.”

“So
does he, by the sounds of it.”

“Thanks
for enlightening me, by the way,” I said.

“Anytime,
sugar.”  He held my gaze a second longer and there was a connectivity there,
too, that felt real.  I’d known him for less than a day but we’d shared
something I could only describe as profound.  Even if we parted ways right here
and now and I never saw Riley Walker again, I’d remember him for the rest of my
life.  I’d remember his sunny smile and the lazy, golden temptation of him. 
He’d been the ice-breaker, the gift-giver, the link.  I would treasure all
that, and even moreso because I knew we would never travel that road again.  I
knew it, and so did he.

It
was Reese, I think, who pulled Riley back into the wider conversation.

We
ate dinner and the talk was all about the business deal, the plans, the details. 
It was interesting to listen to but I zoned in and out.  I thought of Cal.  I
didn’t miss him, God knew that.  I wondered if he would miss me.  If he’d give
all my stuff away, if he’d cry or if he’d laugh.

After
the meal was cleared away and some coffee was served, they all shook hands and the
two clients left.

Nate
ordered three whiskeys and we sat back and let the fiery liquid mellow us from
the inside out.

“So
what’s the plan, then?” Riley said.  “With all this stuff Lacey says you two
got in common?”

Nate’s
gaze slid over me.  My face.  My eyes.  I thought I might liquefy under the
crazy potency of his scrutiny.  He didn’t answer right away.  “You know that
property manager’s job at 1515 Tower that’s open?” he said to Riley, but he was
still looking at me.

Riley
nodded.  “The one with the apartment thrown in as part of the employment
package?”

“That’s
the one,” Nate said.

Riley
took a sip of his whiskey.  “Yeah, I remember you mentioning it.”

“Well,
depending on how stuck on Austin Lacey was, considering she doesn’t actually
have a job lined up, or even a place to stay, I was thinking about tryin’ to
talk her into applying for it.”

Riley
contemplated me.  “I guess it depends on what kind of references she has.  If
she’s got any skills, talents, that kind of thing.”  Riley’s words made me blush
again, damn him, but my heart was thumping in my chest.

“If
I can get her to agree to come back to Houston with us tomorrow, to check it
out, I was thinking of suggesting it.”  I watched Nate’s mouth as he sipped from
his drink before continuing.  “She wouldn’t have to commit to anything, of
course.  Just look at it, think about it.  Maybe give it a go for a while, just
to see how things panned out.”

“That
apartment’s been empty for weeks, hasn’t it?  Ready to move into, if I recall.”

“Yeah,”
Nate said.  “Fully furnished, too.”

“She
might not like the decoratin’, though,” Riley commented.  “It might not be her
style.”

I
just sat there, watching them carry out their little charade, wondering if I
was hearing them correctly.  My fantasies were having their goddamn way with me
or something.  I half expected to wake up from a beautiful dream.

Nate’s
finger twirled a loose coiled tendril of my hair, but it was Riley who said, “So
what do you say, Lace?  You up for it?  I’ll accept defeat gracefully, but
don’t go breakin’ his heart.”

Stunned,
I looked at Nate.

“I’ll
be right there the whole time,” he said.

His
hand cupped my face.  He kissed me, brushing his lips across mine,
feather-light.  I kissed him back, falling, falling.

“Come
with me,” he said, his voice inflected with what might have been hope.

And
so I did.

Epilogue

Four months later

As
it turned out, the apartment I was given as part of my job description never got
used.  Not even once.  My bag lived there for a couple of hours before moving
upstairs with me, to Nate’s much larger, much more luxurious apartment on the
tenth floor.

The
job has been easy to learn, and it’s one I enjoy.  More than any job I’ve ever
had, in fact.  To be fair, there wasn’t much competition on that front.  Here, I
do credit screenings and reference checks on potential tenants, then I show
them through the apartment if their applications get approved by the Board of
Directors of the building, which Nate’s a member of.  It’s usually a fairly
pain-free process, since the only people who apply to rent an apartment in 1515
Tower are successful and loaded. 
Very
loaded.  The cheapest apartment
in here is $7,000 a month.  More than ten times what Cal and I used to pay for
our little shack, and worth every penny.  The views over Houston are some of
the best in the city.  New-money oilmen, fashion models, CEOs and rock stars
are just a few of the tenants who live here.  The see-and-be-seen crowd, who
enjoy the limelight and have something to prove.

My
job interview panel consisted of one, and took place the day we arrived in
Houston.  I guess Nate had enough power to make some sort of executive decision. 
I started my job that very day.  Actually, the next day, once the celebrations
had been attended to.

I’ve
made a couple of friends in the 1515 Tower administrative offices.  Ella, who
manages the banking side of things, and Zara, who runs the operations of the
building’s cleaners, doormen and maintenance issues.  We go out for drinks
every Friday afternoon at the same little bar around the corner, which serves
margaritas and tapas and has fun, festive live music.  Sometimes Nate meets us
there, with his brother Leo, his sister Casey, and even Riley.

I
never did make contact with my old friend Sara.  When I did a search online of
the UT Austin student lists, I couldn’t find her name.

I’ve
started taking a few classes in Houston.  Business 101 and finance.  Nate
helped me with the applications, but his help consisted more of moral support
than actual paperwork.  Really, it was all very straight-forward and not nearly
as intimidating as I thought it might be.  I find the workload of my classes
surprisingly easy, and the study comes naturally.  I’m used to reading a lot,
so it’s been a seamless adjustment.  I think I’ll do just fine.

The
more I learn, the more knowledgeable Nate seems about all things business.  He
says that when I’m finished, we’ll start a company together, and he’ll teach me
how to invest our profits.  I can’t believe he’d trust me with something like
that, but the more the idea rolls around in my head, the more I get used to
it.  The more the inspiration seems to merge and grow and take form.  We’ll
see.

Nate’s
family is a close one, and I’ve met his brother Leo several times, his sister
Casey, and his even his parents, who are friendly, stable people who love to
cook, laugh and entertain.  Their house is a haven-like place that’s always full
of visitors and guests.  Leo is a serious character, good-looking and
hard-working and totally focused on the company he runs with Nate.  It’s Nate’s
sister Casey who has become my closest friend.  We’ve started talking on the
phone almost every day, and having lunch together.  When Nate’s away for
business, we sometimes go to a movie together.  She’s as kind as her older
brother, and quick to laugh.  It’s been a long time since I’ve had such a
relaxed, meaningful friendship take hold.

It’s
the people even more than the place that are giving me a new, unfamiliar sense
of sprouting both roots and wings.

I
see Riley sometimes, when we’re socializing, or at Walker family gatherings. 
He’s still one of the easiest people to be around that I’ve ever met, and we
share a bond, a memory, a secret of sorts, that links us in an intense and unusual
way.  In spite of this, or maybe because of it, we enjoy each other’s company
immensely.  I feel like I’ve known him a long time and I feel almost indebted to
him, in a way, for an opportune incitement that ended up changing my life.

Nate
has become both my rock and my guiding light.  He astounds me each and every
day.  He is an insatiable lover, a magician between the sheets, and the most
brawny, perfectly imperfect, beautiful human being who ever walked this earth:
I’m convinced of that.  I trust him implicitly and I nurture his trust in me;
it’s something I never, ever take for granted.

He’s
busy with his work and so am I.  This, I think, makes our time together
something we treasure even more.  Our relationship has taken on an intensity in
just four months that would scare me if it was anyone other than Nate.  He told
me he loved me one week to the day after we met and he’s been telling me every
day since.  I never once thought that true love existed until I felt him touch
me that very first time.  In that pool, on that roof.  I just can’t imagine
anything being as life-affirming and soul-satisfying as the way Nate Walker
makes me feel.

I
love him with everything I have.

It’s
late.  I’m in bed, in that drifting state between wakefulness and sleep, when I
hear him come in.  He slips into bed with me and cradles me into his
iron-strong embrace.  He’s feeling for my hand and he finds it.  My finger. 
There’s a coolness, and he slides something over my knuckle, settling it in
place.  “Don’t look now, but I bought you a present.”

I
breathe him in, pulling him close to me.  “What present?”  But I know.

He
knows I know.  I can feel his smile against my neck.  “Say yes,” he whispers,
and I can feel him, opening me, finding his way inside.

I’m
learning to control the pleasure, at times, but it’s bigger than I am.  It
fills me as he fills me and it’s all I can do to answer him.  “Yes.”

Also by Juliette Jones

BILLIONAIRE

Coming soon:

BILLIONAIRE (Book Two)