“He makes me feel safe to be who I really am.” I flash to last night, curled up in his lap on his couch. “And I think he feels safe with me too.”
“Funny thing about con men. They’re pretty good at making you think and feel exactly what they want you to. Facts, Mina. Not feelings. If Nathan West isn’t a villain, what is he?”
“He’s none of your damn business, that’s what.” I unfurl the throw from around my shoulders, fold it carefully and drape it over the back of the couch. “I don’t know if you’re upset because you were wrong about him and will have to stop telling everyone he’s a bad guy or—”
Fallon gasps. “You don’t have to get mean just because you don’t like when I’m right.”
Getting mean? That wasn’t mean. That was me, telling her what I’m thinking, just like she’s been telling me. So, she’s allowed to speak without a filter, but I’m not?
Has our friendship always been this off balance?
Dear God. Feeling a little blindsided right about now. Clarity would be a blessing. Yours forever, Mina Blake.
“You know what.” I hold up my hands in defeat. “I’m gonna go.”
“Mina…”
“We’re not getting anywhere, and I don’t want to go round and round with you. Thank you for looking out for me, but stop, Fallon. Just stop.”
I leave, but don’t want to go home. There’s only one place I want to be, one person I want to be with. I make the drive to Nathan’s house with Fallon’s arguments circling my head. Does she really think now is the time to ask him for favors? I can’t wrap my mind around that. Sure, I haven’t told him she’s my friend yet. I keep meaning to, but the time is never right. And now we’ve come so far, and he hates her so much, I can’t imagine his reaction when I finally do tell him.
Scratch that. I can totally imagine his reaction.
It won’t be pretty.
I haven’t intentionally kept it a secret, and last night was not the time to drop that bomb.
But maybe now is.
And I can tell him everything she said about him, about us, and he can assure me she’s wrong and all will feel right with the world again.
I park in the driveway, then knock on the door, tapping my fingers against my thigh as I wait.
And then Nathan appears in the doorway, looking just as happy to see me as I am to see him, and I take my first full breath since leaving Fallon’s apartment.
“I was just thinking of you.” He draws a knuckle across my cheekbone, and I shiver in delight.
“I’m just now realizing I probably should have called or something. I was out and wanted to see you and here I am.”
Nathan draws me inside, wrapping his arms around me and kissing me deeply. “Don’t be silly,” he whispers, his lips brushing mine. “You’ve made my evening. I was just about to have a drink and enjoy the sky.” He jerks his chin in that direction. “Join me?”
I nod and follow him through the living room and onto the deck. The setting sun sends golden light shimmering over the ocean, and I take a moment to lean against the rail and breathe it in. The wind rustles my hair and my skirt brushes against my legs while Nathan presses a kiss to the back of my neck, my shoulder, my throat.
Maybe I don’t need to say anything about Fallon.
Or maybe now isn’t the time.
Or maybe I need to stop making that excuse and get it over with.
“Are you okay?” Nathan asks, resting a hip on the rail beside me. “You seem tense.”
“I’m fine. I had a strange conversation with my friend and just needed…you.”
“Me?”
“Yeah. You make everything better and—”
Nathan silences me with a kiss. His lips are charged, electricity releasing from his body to mine as his hand lifts my skirt and slides up my thigh. “Funny. I’ve been thinking the same thing about you.”
I pull back because I need to tell him about Fallon before I get distracted by his touch. “Nathan, I—”
“Tell me after,” he growls, his voice sending a shiver of delight down my spine.
After, I think as he nuzzles my neck.
After, I think as his teeth graze my lips.
And then he palms the tight bundle of nerves between my thighs and I stop thinking altogether.
His fingers fumble with his pants and he bends me over the rail. I’m staring at the ocean as he kicks at my feet, spreading my thighs. I glance over my shoulder to find him watching as he enters me, his face transforming in ecstasy as his cock slides inside. With one thrust he has me weak in the knees. With another I’m little more than the night sky, hanging somewhere near the moon and glimmering with the stars. He grabs my hair, wrapping it around his fist as he pulls my face skyward, changing the angle while I grunt and moan each time our bodies collide.
“You’re so beautiful,” he murmurs. “So perfect. So exactly what I needed.”
And then he’s beyond speaking and it’s just his hands on my body. His fist in my hair.
The rush of the water blends with my moans and then there’s nothing but sensation. Nothing but Nathan.
Nothing but us.
