With Me in Seattle Bundle One (72 page)

When I open them again, the boys have joined us. Luke wraps himself around Natalie and moves against her, all tall, blond and sexy, and suddenly Nate is pressed to my back, his hands on my hips, his face in my neck.

“You are so fucking hot, baby,” he growls against my ear.

I grin back at him, and he leads me through the rest of the song, then through two more, his body pressed close to mine, sending fire through me.

Finally, the band plays a slow Matchbox Twenty song, and Nate wraps me in his arms and sways me back and forth, his hands on my hips. He kisses my forehead, and I lean against his chest, enjoying the slow music and being in my man’s strong arms.

When the song ends, Natalie and I decide we need to get off our feet for a bit, and the guys decide to try their hand at some pool.  They escort us back to the table and then go claim an empty pool table.

“Damn,” I mutter as I take a sip of my drink and watch Nate lean over the pool table to take a shot. His ass fills out those slacks so nicely.

“Our men are hot,” Natalie comments with a grin.

“Very hot.” I nod, and we giggle. “I’m so glad we did this. I’ve missed you.”

“Me, too. Who knew a year ago that our lives would be so different?”

“Right? I know that it’s all good stuff, and I’m thankful, but I miss you.”

“Well, we’ll have to make the effort to see each other more.” Natalie checks her phone, and I smile at her.

“Why don’t you just call her?” I ask.

“I’m sure they’re fine,” Natalie responds as her phone pings. “Oh! She texted me. Yep, they’re fine.” She smiles widely.

I glance over to the pool table and find Nate’s eyes trained on me. I grin at him, and the side of his mouth turns up in a lazy smile, and I feel the hit straight to my loins.

Jesus, he does things to me.

“Well, hello, gorgeous.”

My head twirls and there is DJ, a man I was briefly involved with two years ago, standing at the end of our table. I was so caught up in Nate, I didn’t even notice him.

“Hi, DJ,” I respond unenthusiastically.

“Nat.” He winks at Natalie, and she glares at him.

Things between DJ and I did not end well.

“So, how you been, Jules?” he asks with a cocky grin.

DJ is handsome: tall, toned and dark-haired. He works at the gym I used to work out at and was my trainer for a while.

“I’m great, DJ.”

“Glad to hear it. And to see that you’re maintaining that sweet body of yours.”

He winks at me, and my stomach rolls. He’s an asshole. I want him gone, and I pray that Nate is too busy with his game to notice him.

“Thanks for stopping by, but Natalie and I are enjoying our drinks, DJ. Have a good night.”

“Mind if I join you?”

Jesus, no one ever accused him of being smart.

“Yes, we do mind. Goodbye, DJ.”

“Oh, c’mon, don’t be like that.” He runs his fingers down my cheek, and I catch his wrist in my hand and pull it away from me.

“Don’t touch me. Just go away.”

“Or what, Jules?”

“Or I’ll have to kick your ass,” Nate murmurs quietly behind him.

Chapter Twenty-Six

Fuck.

I look over, and Nate and Luke are both standing behind DJ, Luke with his arms crossed over his chest, watching, and Nate glaring at the back of DJ’s head, his gray eyes hard and narrowed.

DJ turns and offers Nate his cocky smile, the one he thinks is charming, and winks at him. “Hey, dude, I got this. I fucked her a few years ago, and if I play my cards right, I’m hoping to fuck her again later tonight.”

I hear Natalie gasp, and then everything happens in slow motion.

Nate bares his teeth and grabs DJ by the shirt and physically drags him away from our table, past the bar, and right out the front door, with Luke right behind him.

Natalie and I look at each other for a heartbeat, then scramble out of the booth and follow them outside.

Enraged, Nate has DJ up against the wall of the building, his face inches from DJ’s.

“Who the fuck taught you manners, asshole?”

“Fuck you,” DJ spits out and kicks Nate in the shin.

Nate grunts but doesn’t lose his grip on DJ’s shirt. His arms are flexed tight in anger.

DJ looks over Nate’s shoulder at me and smirks. “Hey, baby, did you miss this?” He grabs his cock through his jeans and laughs at his own joke.

“You have no idea who you’re fucking with,” I murmur.

Nate hasn’t moved a muscle. He’s glaring at DJ, breathing hard, but he’s completely controlled, and obviously isn’t hurting the other man, given that he’s able to make rude gestures at me.

“What do you want me to do, Julianne?” Nate asks softly.

DJ smirks. “Gotta ask your girlfriend for permission, pussy?”

“Kick his ass, Nate.”

“Thought you’d never ask, baby.”

Nate takes a step back, releasing DJ, and turns his back on him, and I know what his strategy is: Let DJ take the first shot.

Nate is not disappointed.

DJ grabs Nate’s shoulder and pulls him around to face him and punches him, square in the jaw. Blood spatters from the corner of Nate’s mouth, making me wince and want to run to him, to comfort him, but I stay where I am.

“What do you think of that, asshole?” DJ sneers.

“I think you have a pathetic right hook, moron.”

Nate punches DJ twice, once in the nose, then in the gut, sending DJ to the ground, but the other man is stupid and gets back up, swinging. Nate weaves out of the way and counters with another right hook to the jaw, then grips DJ’s shoulders and pulls him down against his knee, right to the gut, and throws him to the ground again.

“Stay down,” Nate growls.

“Fuck you!” DJ stands, more shaky this time, and rubs his stomach. He lunges for Nate again, fists flying, but Nate crouches and catches DJ around the torso and lifts him, slamming him against the wall with his strong shoulder, and drops DJ to the ground again.

Holy fuck
! I knew Nate was strong, but seeing him like this is just amazing. Not only could he really hurt someone, he could kill someone.

“If you know what’s good for you, you’ll stay down, motherfucker.”

DJ wheezes and coughs, wincing in pain. I’m sure his ribs are bruised, if not broken. He gets up to his knees, and Luke speaks for the first time.

“Are you learning-impaired, dude? Stay the fuck down before he puts you in the hospital.”

DJ is clearly embarrassed as he falls back to the ground, sits on his ass and winces again. A small crowd has gathered to watch the show, mumbling and laughing at DJ.  He looks up at me and glares.

“I should have beat the shit out of you when I had the chance. You’re nothing but a fucking whore anyway.”

Nate rears back to kick DJ in the face, but I yell, “Don’t!”

He stops and whirls on me, his eyes raw with rage. “What?”

I shake my head and look back down at DJ.  I offer him a sweet, fake smile, walk sassily over to him, and squat in my heels so I’m close to him.

“You tried to kick my ass, remember, DJ? And I beat you bloody. I’m pretty sure that nice scar there by your left eye is thanks to me.”

I stand and walk away from him, and he calls out, “Cunt whore!”

“Do it,” I mutter to Nate as I walk past him, and I hear DJ’s low grunt, then his head hitting the pavement, after Nate punches him one last time in the face, knocking him out.

***

“Well, one thing I will say about our nights out, they’re never boring.”  Natalie turns in the passenger seat of their Mercedes and looks back at Nate and me.

“No, never boring,” I murmur and kiss Nate’s bruised and swollen knuckles. “Are you okay?” I ask him.

“I’m fine,” he mutters. He won’t look me in the face, and aside from me touching him, he’s hardly laid a hand on me.

Luke pulls into my driveway, and Nate and I get out of the back seat. I lean in Nat’s window and kiss her cheek.  “Kiss Livie for me. I’ll call you tomorrow.”

“Okay. Bye, Nate. You kick major ass.” She winks at him, Luke waves at us both, and they pull out of the driveway.

“Let’s go in.” I walk toward the front porch, but Nate runs a hand through his hair and stands still.

“Maybe I should just go back to the condo tonight.”

“What?” I turn back to him, confused and a little scared. “Why?”

He shakes his head and looks at his feet. “You said yourself that one night apart won’t kill us.”

I’m completely thrown. This cold, distant man is not
my
Nate.

“I don’t want to sleep without you,” I whisper, and my stomach rolls when he winces and turns away from me.

“Look, Nate, I’m sorry about DJ…”

Nate whirls back to me, his gray eyes angry and face taut.  “Don’t you apologize for that motherfucker, Julianne.”

“Okay.” I step back and fold my arms over my chest. I don’t know what to say. I don’t know what’s wrong.

“You didn’t do anything wrong.”

“Okay,” I repeat and lick my lips nervously. “So why are you punishing me?” I ask quietly.

Nate hangs his head, plants his hands on his hips and takes a deep breath. “That’s not what I’m trying to do.”

“Talk to me, Nate.”

“I’m fucking pissed, Jules. Beyond pissed. I wanted to keep punching him, over and over, until he was a bloody pulp. I have too much adrenaline and anger running through me right now to trust myself to not hurt you. I would never intentionally hurt you, but I’m not feeling gentle.” He pushes his fingers through his hair roughly and paces away in frustration.

“Don’t run away from me.” I throw his words back at him. His back is to me, and he’s gazing down my dark driveway. “You won’t let me run, well, back at you, ace. If you’re pissed, fine. If you’re frustrated, fine. But you’ll be those things with me, not while running away from me.”

We stand like this for what feels like long minutes, but it may only be seconds.

Finally, I hear his low voice. “Why did you ever let that idiot near you?”

“Fuck,” I mutter and rub my forehead.

“Seriously, Julianne, I don’t get it.” He turns and stares at me, his eyes unreadable.

“Nate it was
years
ago. Years.”

“And?” He raises an eyebrow.

“I used to go to the gym he works at. He was—probably still is—a trainer. I was young and stupid enough to think he was cute. We went out on two dates, Nate. I had sex with him one time, and he went stalker-crazy on my ass. I told him I wasn’t interested in seeing him again, he raised a fist, and I knocked a couple of those pretty teeth out.”

I walk to Nate and reach out to touch him, but he backs away from me.

“Stop this,” I whisper.

“You don’t understand. It makes me sick that he ever touched you.” He runs his hands through his hair again and looks up toward the sky and then back at me. “I know that you weren’t innocent when I met you, but I don’t ever need to meet anyone who has been
inside
you. Even if he hadn’t been an asshole, I still would have wanted to kick his ass.”

“Nate, he means less than nothing to me. You saw that yourself. I told you to kick his ass.”

“Yeah, that was new, too. I’ve never asked permission to protect someone before.”

So that’s what this is about.

“Do you know what it means to me that you had the control to take care of me before you took care of him?” He frowns at me, and I keep talking. “You’d never hurt me, babe.”

I take a deep breath before I continue. “Besides, I came face-to-face with the woman who still has your last name, Nate. I wanted to pull her heart out of her asshole but maintained my composure. I won’t do it again.”

“I told you, I don’t have anything to do with her anymore.”

I just tilt my head to the side and stare back at him impassively until he sighs deeply and shakes his head.

“Point taken.”

“If I let myself think about the fact that you were married, or think about the women you’ve been with, Nate, it’ll kill me. I refuse to think about it. I’m with you now, and I know I’m the only one with you now, and that’s all that matters.” I step toward him again and cup his face in my hands, run my fingers through his hair, and he doesn’t move away, but he doesn’t touch me either.

“Thank you for tonight, for protecting me, and making me feel so loved.”

“I do love you,” he whispers, and I smile up at him, so in love with him.

“I know,” I whisper back, and Nate’s arms come around me, pulling me into him.

He tucks my head under his chin and just hugs me close. I wrap my arms around his torso and cling to him as he rocks me back and forth, kissing my hair.

“So, um, does this mean you’ll stay?” I ask, and my stomach settles when I feel him chuckle against my cheek.

“Yeah, I’ll stay, baby.” He kisses my hair once more, and I pull back. Nate grips my chin in his fingers and tilts my head back. “You are mine.”

A slow smile spreads across my face. “Ditto.”

“Jesus, you’re beautiful.”

I’m suddenly cradled in Nate’s arms, and he’s fumbling with the keys, unlocking the front door, and carrying me inside. He sets me down in the foyer, closes and locks the door, and stalks toward me slowly as I back up toward the stairs.

“Do you know what you do to me?” he asks, his voice low and rough, his eyes narrowed and his hands in fists at his sides.

“What?” I ask breathlessly.

“You make me want things I’ve never wanted before. You make me want you. You make me fucking hard.”

My heels hit the bottom step, and I climb the stairs slowly, backward, unable to stop looking at him. I get about five steps up when he mutters, “Stop.”

He unbuttons his shirt as he climbs the steps below me and peels it off his shoulders, letting it fall to the floor. He reaches the fourth step and is eye level with me. I’m gripping the handrail for balance, mesmerized by his beautiful gray eyes. He’s still not touching me, yet my skin is humming in anticipation.

“Touch me,” I whisper.

He leans in and brushes his lips across mine, lightly, and pulls back again, watching me.

“Please touch me,” I whisper again.

His eyes travel from my hair, over my face, down my dress to my shoes and back up again. “Sit on the stairs,” he commands.