The Best Kind of Trouble (21 page)

The following Sunday, I was woken up by a loud banging on the front door. Katie and I both stumbled from our rooms, bleary-eyed, and I opened the door. My mouth popped open at the sight.

Drew stood there, angry and upset all at once.  His eyes were bloodshot red, and dark circles sagged under his eyes. 

“I need to talk to you, Katie.”

She rolled her eyes, snorted, and crossed her arms across her chest. His face dropped, along with most of his anger.

“Please, baby.”

I opened the door a little wider.  When I looked over Drew’s shoulder, I saw Nathan, leaning against his truck.  My sympathy for Drew and Katie quickly turned to annoyance. Our eyes locked and I scowled, but Nathan’s face remained stoic.

“Katie, I’m sorry, alright? I’m an asshole.  But I love you. Please. I’m miserable here, baby,” Drew pleaded. I saw Katie’s lower lip tremble. Drew must have saw her resolve slipping too. He moved around me, into the house, and wrapped both arms around her.  She started sobbing into his chest.

I looked back at Nathan. He pushed himself off the car and ambled towards me.  The crazy irrational thing was, I couldn’t help but admire him. 

His sun-kissed skin looked so warm and inviting.  The way his blue t-shirt stretched across his broad chest and hugged his biceps was a sin.  The color made his piercing eyes look even bluer.

There was something in his confident stroll, in the way he never took his eyes off me, in the strong set of his jaw that absolutely mesmerized me. That had me fantasizing and remembering the way it felt to kiss him, the way he gripped me and held me against him.

The way it felt when he was mine.

Our conversation nearly two weeks ago in my apartment replayed in my head.
Was he ever mine?

I love you. I’ll never stop loving you.

He’d said it so easily. Like it was a hard fact. I wasn’t even sure I could say that I still loved him.
Did I?

I was still so mixed up over him. Attracted. But hurt.

I watched him as he sauntered up the path towards me, closing in like a lion trapping its prey.  His jeans hung low dangerously low on his hips. Desire and lust stirred deep in my belly.

I snorted. Attracted?
Christ,
that man reduced me to a quivering aching ball of pure want.

How the hell did I go from angry and heartbroken over this man to ready to beg him to take me to bed?
I wondered.

The somber look on his face vanished and a cocky smirk titled his full lips.

Arching an eyebrow he asked “Hungry, doll face?”

My cheeks burst into flames. 
Was I that obvious?

 “Huh?”

His smirk turned into a full out grin. Like he just read my freaking mind.
Dammit, get a hold of yourself, Ashley.

He leaned against the door frame and chuckled. “Are you hungry? Do you want to go get some breakfast and let those two work it out?”

I looked behind me and noticed Katie and Drew were nowhere to be seen.  I turned back to Nathan and frowned.

“Did you tell him she was here?”

Nathan snorted. “Of course I did. My friend called me, in a panic, feeling like an asshole and thinking he lost his girl.”

“Ahh, so you recognized the feeling?”

Nathan frowned, but he recovered quickly.  With his smirk back in place, he leaned closer.  “Have breakfast with me, doll face.”

My heart stuttered. I bit my lip and looked up at him through my lashes.

There was something altogether different about him today compared with the last two times I’d seen him. He was missing that desperation that had tugged so hard at my insides. He seemed light.

Playful even.

It reminded me of the first night I’d met him. And our first two dates. I swallowed hard against the lump that formed in my throat.

His eyes darted back and forth between mine. “Just coffee?”

I pressed my lips into a thin line.
Was this his new plan? Was he changing tactics on me?

“Just as friends.”

He raised both eyebrows and gave me a pleading look. My heart twisted. He was doing a really good job of chipping away at my defenses.

“Okay,” I finally said.  “But stop calling me that.”

I turned to go inside and he followed me.

“Okay,” he said happily.  “Next time I’ll just kiss your smart mouth.”

I was glad I was facing away from him.  My whole face was probably as red as a lobster.

~000~

Nathan took me to his place for coffee. After he fixed us two cups, we sat out on the balcony of his condo, admiring the ocean view.

Nathan and I talked for hours. He told me about football and his new teammates.  I talked about being on the road and the first time I had heard my song on the radio.  We laughed and talked until the middle of the afternoon.

It was amazing. And made me wish I could trust those promises I could see in his eyes. He didn’t even try to hide his feelings for me. The heat and desire and love shone like a bright beacon in the night.

As corny as it sounded, I could feel it calling out to me somewhere deep in my gut. In my soul.

Shit, I’m in trouble.
I really need to get out of there. Before I said damn the consequences and did something stupid. Like kiss his face.

Just as I was about to tell Nathan I needed to get back home, he reached out and grabbed my hand.

A shock of electricity skittered along my skin.

“Stay,” he said softly.  “We can watch a movie or something.”

Our eyes collided and I stared into the blue depths of his.  The memory of the first movie we had watched together replayed in vivid detail in my mind.
Was he thinking about that night too?

“I have Netflix,” he said, like that was what I needed to make me say yes.

I laughed. “Well, in that case.”

Nathan led me into his bedroom and handed me the remote.  I began to scroll through the selections.

“No,” Nathan said adamantly when I landed on one.  He plopped down onto his bed next to me, close enough I could feel the heat from his body.

I frowned. “Why not?”

“Because,” he huffed. “The guy basically gets his heart broken into smithereens.”

“And that bothers you.”

“Well, yeah,” he said.  He turned to me and the force of his gaze knocked the breath from my lungs.  “It hits a little close to home.”

My heart sped up. Trying to deflect, I said, “High school sweetheart?”

The half-smile that had been on his face dropped, his features solemn and serious.  “No.”

You
, I thought. He didn’t say it in words, but it hit me like a freight train anyway. He leaned into me. It wasn’t until his breath hit my lips that I found my voice.

“Wait,” I whispered. Panic laced my tone.  “I can’t do this.”

But I didn’t move away.  I sat there, frozen, lips a mere inch apart from Nathan’s. The moment seemed to last forever, the tension was so taut between us I was sure any moment the string would snap.

And then what would happen?

Finally, Nathan closed his eyes, sighing as he touched his forehead to mine.

“What are you doing?” I asked.
Was that my voice?
I sounded breathless.

“Trying to not kiss you,” he whispered hoarsely.

“Why?”
Oh god. What was I saying?

Nathan made a noise in the back of his throat. “Christ, Ashley, you’re killing me here.”

Unbidden, tears fell from my closed eyes and streamed down my cheeks. Nathan brought his hands up, cradling my head and shoved his fingers into my hair. “Baby, you’re breaking my heart. Please don’t…I can’t—”

He leaned into me, his breath hit my lips and I parted them instantly.
Kiss me. Please, God, let him kiss me. Now.

He growled in frustration.  “What would happen if I kissed you right now, Face? Would you let me? Would you stay? Or would you be gone when I woke up in the morning?”

His harsh voice destroyed the moment and the lust filled haze I’d been swimming in only a moment before. I shoved myself away from him.

“That’s not fair,” my voice wobbled. Fresh anger and adrenaline shot through my veins making my stomach clench and my body shake.

“Tell me this,” he said, narrowing his eyes. “Would you stay? Would you give me another chance?”

“I don’t…I—” I stuttered. I didn’t know. I didn’t even trust him. How could I?

I turned away and he covered my hand with his, stopping me from leaving.

A tense moment passed and then he whispered, “Where are you going to go right now? To
him
?”

I wanted to scream and say no. I wanted to deny it so vehemently that he’d recoil from me and feel guilt deep in his gut. 

But the truth slapped me across the face. Hard.

The fire that Nathan had lit inside me, that was raging in an all-out inferno needed to be doused. And Caleb would do just that. He’d obliterate the pain and memories. I could bury my heartache, my frustration and hurt in his skin.

Instead of answering, I rose from the bed, gathered my purse and practically ran from the room. Just as I went to open the front door, Nathan slammed his hand against it.  I could feel his hot breath on my neck, and the tension coiled in his muscles.

“Ashley,” he murmured next to my ear. “I know I keep fucking things up.  Tell me how to make it right.”

I swallowed the lump in my throat and tried to fight the urge to turn around and fling myself at him.  To let his kisses, his touch, push away the bad. To just remember his skin, his mouth, the fervor and passion in our connection and let it ease, erase, and restore.