Welcome to Paradise

  His mother’s hand began to knead again, furiously working the dough.

  Suspicion rose inside of him. “Mom. Do you know something?”

  She didn’t answer.

  “Is there a reason Austin has gone AWOL?” he pressed.

  She finally met his gaze, her chest rising as she drew in a troubled breath. “Your brother and I had a falling out the last time he came home.”

  Nate narrowed his eyes. “About what?”

  “Nothing important.” She pushed on before he could object to the vague reply. “He just needs some time to sort it all out, honey. He’ll come home when he’s ready.”

  Fuck, this really was a day for shocks, wasn’t it? First he found out his mom knew that he’d lied about his breakup with Charlotte, then he learned his father was screwing Charlotte’s mother, and now he heard that Della and Austin had had some mysterious argument that nobody else in the family seemed to be aware of.

  He let out a sigh, suddenly wondering what other fun secrets he would discover today.

  “I love your house,” Charlotte announced as she followed Nate onto the giant deck that overlooked his sprawling backyard.

  And she wasn’t just being nice. From the moment she’d walked into Nate’s A-frame home, she’d been at a loss for words. Two-stories high and made of dark logs, the place resembled a ski chalet, complete with a stone fireplace, a second-story deck and polished hardwood floors. She’d seen Della’s decorating touches throughout the house, in the form of thick burgundy rugs, comfortable leather easy chairs and pretty red drapes at every window. Nate’s masculine presence was emphasized by a fifty-inch plasma TV mounted to the living room wall, and the stacks of Sports Illustrated magazines on the long wood coffee table.

  In the kitchen, she’d been surprised to find pots steaming on the stove and an abandoned cutting board sitting next to an impressive-looking salad bowl.

  “And I can’t believe you learned how to cook,” she added, flopping down in one of the wrought-iron chairs ringing the large glass table outside.

  “I had to when I moved out,” he said with a shrug, sitting on the chair opposite hers. “I couldn’t keep coming home and making Mom cook for me.”

  “I’m sure she wouldn’t have minded.”

  A lump lodged in her throat. Della Bishop had always seemed like the perfect mother to her. It was clear to anyone who saw her with her kids that she absolutely adored her boys. She doted on them, helped them with homework, cheered at all of their football games. In all honesty, Charlotte had been wildly jealous of Nate back then. When her own mother wasn’t taking her clothes off for sleazy men, she was screwing them with Charlotte in the other room.

  “Probably not.” Nate paused. “I saw her earlier today and she asked me to tell you to drop by. She’s eager to see you.”

  “I’ll do that tomorrow,” Charlotte promised instantly.

  Nate grew serious. “How long are you in town for, anyway?”

  “I booked the room at the B&B until the end of the week.”

  “And then you’re heading back to New York.”

  “That’s the plan.”

  She thought she saw a flicker of disappointment in his gorgeous gray eyes, but then he stood up and smiled. “The steaks should be done broiling.” When she stood up, he gestured for her to stay put and added, “I’ll bring everything out. It’s not every day I get to serve dinner to a beautiful woman.”

  The offhand comment gave her pause. She got the feeling he was saying something more, telling her something important. Had he shied away from relationships over the years too? She couldn’t imagine a man as virile and sinfully sexy as Nate not having a woman in his life, yet the thought brought a spark of joy to her belly.

  Nate returned a few moments later and placed a plate loaded with food in front of her. He’d made steak, roasted potatoes and mashed carrots, and after the first bite, Charlotte moaned in delight. “This is great, Nate.”

  “Thanks.” His eyes went heavy-lidded for a moment. “Though I’m pretty sure it’s not as delicious as how you look right now.”

  She laughed. “How is it that getting you to talk about private matters is like pulling teeth, but when it comes to sex, you’re always able to say exactly what’s on your mind?”

  He chewed slowly, looking slightly uncomfortable. “I don’t know. I don’t like revealing personal shit.” He hesitated. “I could always do it with you, though.”

  They fell silent, quietly eating their supper while Nate’s revelation floated through her mind. When they’d been dating, they used to talk for hours upon hours, which had been just as out of character for Charlotte as it had been for Nate. She’d told him everything—her anger at her mom, her dreams to be a singer, how she hated the way the kids at school treated her. And he’d reciprocated, confessing how much he loved this small town, despite the frequent drawbacks. They’d talked and kissed and laughed. They’d spent every waking moment together.

  And then he’d broken her heart.

  She choked down the agony suddenly sticking to her throat. “So how are your brothers doing?” she asked, cringing at the overly bright tone of her voice.

  The subject was a harmless one, though, and soon she got caught up in his stories. He told her about Owen’s construction business, Jake’s life of danger in the special forces, Austin’s award-winning photographs. Charlotte reciprocated by telling him about some of her favorite concerts and the new songs she was working on.

  By the time they drifted into the living room and sipped on the beers Nate had cracked open, she felt loose and relaxed. She’d forgotten how easy it was to be with Nate. How nice it was to confide in him. How much she wanted to rip his clothes off…

  She almost gave in to the urge when something caught her eye. “Why do you have a guitar?” she asked, her gaze landing on the light brown acoustic guitar leaning against the bookshelf. “Did you finally learn how to play?”

  Nate looked sheepish. “Uh, no. I just like having it around.”

  Warmth suffused her body. Did he keep a guitar in his house because it reminded him of her?

  Before she could stop herself, she set down her beer bottle, hopped off the couch and went to get the guitar. When she returned to the couch and strummed a few test chords, she was surprised to find the instrument in perfect tune.

  “Can I hear one of your new songs?” Nate asked.

  Pleasure swelled in her belly. With a little nod, she began to strum the opening chords of a song she’d come up with late at night a few weeks ago. There was no nervousness, no hesitation. She simply opened her mouth and began to sing. It came so naturally, singing to this man. As the still-rough lyrics slid out of her mouth, she was reminded of all those nights by the lake when Nate would lie on a blanket staring up at the stars while she perfected melodies in the deserted clearing they used to visit.

  As the last note hung in the air then faded away into silence, Charlotte awkwardly put down the instrument and met Nate’s awed expression.

  “It’s beautiful, Charlie.”

  Their gazes locked, the room went quiet for a moment, and then, in the blink of an eye, Nate stumbled off the recliner, moved to the couch and scooped her up into his strong arms. “I think we need a bed,” he said roughly.

  She grinned and twined her arms around his neck. “I think so too.”

  With hurried strides, Nate carried her upstairs to the large master bedroom he’d showed her earlier and promptly deposited her on the navy blue bedspread.

  “Take off your clothes,” he said in a seductively low voice, already making a move to unbutton his shirt.

  Charlotte kicked off her shoes then took off her jeans and pulled her T-shirt over her head. She lay there in her underwear, watching Nate undress. When he exposed his chest, she sucked in a breath, wondering how he managed to maintain that drool-worthy six-pack working at a pub. Maybe he lifted weights or went running or— Her breath hissed out as his jeans and boxers dropped to the floor.

&
nbsp; She hadn’t just been teasing him the other night—he really was enormous. His cock was long and thick, its width more than that of her wrist. Her mouth went dry at the mere sight of him then filled with moisture as she pictured herself wrapping her lips around that engorged red tip.

  “Why are you still wearing your underwear?” he muttered, those gray eyes burning with arousal.

  “Sorry,” she squeaked, hurriedly wiggling out of her bra and panties.

  Nate didn’t make any move to approach the bed. He just stood at the foot of it, devouring her naked body with his gaze.

  “Are you going to join me?” she asked.

  “Make it worth my while,” he shot back, the corner of his mouth lifting in amusement.

  She narrowed her eyes and cupped her breasts, pressing them together. “Aren’t these worth it?”

  He rumbled out a laugh. “Maybe a little.” His gaze dropped to her thighs. “I’m more interested in what’s between those legs, though.”

  A thrill shimmied up her spine. Licking her lips, she slowly spread her legs, revealing herself to him. The thrill deepened when she heard his sharp intake of breath.

  “Like what you see?” she mocked.

  “Mmm-hmmm.” His features taut with arousal, he lowered his hand to his erection and circled it with his fingers.

  “Come on, Charlie, give me some good material for the next time I jerk off.”

  The crude words made her sex throb. Determined to meet the challenge, she slid her hand down her body and pressed it to her core. Never breaking the eye contact, she stroked herself, rubbing her own clit with her index finger then moving it up and down her wet folds. Tension gathered in her body, her muscles tightening further when she teased her opening with two fingers.

  “That’s it, baby, fuck yourself for me.”

  His growl sent shivers of pleasure to her skin. She couldn’t believe how comfortable she felt with him, how easy it was to simply spread her legs wider and slip one finger into her sopping-wet core. None of the other men she’d been with had made her feel this way. None of them had succeeded in helping her let go of her inhibitions and actually enjoy the sex.

  Nate groaned as she fingered herself, his hand pumping furiously at his cock. Charlotte’s breathing grew labored, the tension inside her coiling tighter until ripples of impending orgasm danced in her belly and curled her toes.

  She abruptly stopped her ministration and squeezed out, “I want you inside me when I come.”

  Without even blinking, Nate joined her on the bed and covered her body with his. A second later, he plunged deep inside, summoning the orgasm she’d tried to keep at bay. Shards of light filled her vision and she moaned loudly as release consumed her body. She wrapped her legs around Nate’s trim hips and thrust upward, crying out when he hit a sensitive spot inside of her and triggered another spurt of pleasure.

  When she finally relaxed her legs, she realized that she could feel him. Him, and not the latex he’d evidently forgotten to use. He must have realized the same thing because he cursed under his breath and said, “We didn’t use anything.”

  He made a move to pull out, but she kept him in place. “I’m on the Pill and I don’t have any diseases.”

  “Me neither,” he admitted then searched her face. “You want me to keep going?”

  “God, yes.”

  His laughter vibrated against her achy breasts. She rubbed her nipples against the wiry dark hairs on his chest and urged him to move again. He immediately obliged, thrusting in so hard she gasped with pleasure that bordered on pain. She wanted him to come, wanted to feel him pour himself into her, and it wasn’t long before she got her wish. She watched his face in fascination as he shuddered with release. His expression went from tortured to sated to utterly hazy. Then he bent down and slid his tongue into her mouth, kissing her so deeply she forgot how to breathe.

  They lay there kissing for a long time until Nate reluctantly rolled off her and headed into the bathroom. He returned with a wet washcloth then proceeded to clean her off while she watched him with a bemused smile. “Always the caretaker,” she teased.

  He shifted in discomfort. “Doesn’t sound very manly.”

  “It’s a perfectly acceptable thing to be,” she assured him. “I remember the way you used to take care of your brothers, how you looked out for them. I thought it was really sweet.”

  And sexy, she almost added. Yeah, it had definitely been sexy watching eighteen-year-old Nate toss a football with the fourteen-year-old twins or helping eleven-year-old Austin with his math homework. Nate had been the eldest, their role model, and he’d taken the job seriously, especially since Henry Bishop had been as terrible a parent as Charlotte’s mother.

  But Nate, despite the fact that everyone thought he was a bad apple because he rode a beat-up Harley around town, had been so good to his brothers. He’d been good to her.

  Anger bubbled in the back of her throat. And then he’d taken everything good he’d ever said and done and turned it into something ugly.

  Unable to fight the burning in her gut, she slid up into a sitting position, nearly banging her skull on the headboard of the bed.

  “You okay?” Nate asked, concern lighting his eyes.

  “No,” she choked out.

  Screw pretending she’d forgiven him. Lexie Price had been right—she was playing games, and after this latest round of amazing sex, Charlotte couldn’t hold her tongue anymore.

  “Why did you do it?” she blurted. “Why did you throw me away like a piece of garbage?”

  Chapter Six

  Nate hadn’t been expecting the question or the sudden cloud of resentment that turned Charlotte’s light green eyes into a dark forest green. He tossed the washcloth onto the nightstand and warily got to his feet, reaching for the jeans he’d discarded on the floor. As he pulled the denim up his legs, he saw that Charlotte wasn’t making any move to get dressed. She just sat there cross-legged, buck naked while her long red hair fell past her shoulders, barely covering her breasts.

  “I need to know,” she said, her voice coming out in a whisper. “I know I said I was over the past, and a part of me really is, but I still want to know why you did it.”

  A sigh rolled out of his chest. Moving back to the bed, he sat down at the edge and met her agonized gaze. “I did it so you would leave town.”

  Irritation flashed across her face. “Yeah, I got that. You didn’t want me around.”

  “No,” he said quickly, “I… What I meant was I did it so you would go to Julliard.”

  Her annoyance dissolved into confusion. “What?”

  Nate fiddled with a loose thread on the bedspread. “You told my mom you were thinking of staying in Paradise instead of going to college. I couldn’t let you throw your future away.”

  “What?”

  “You hated it here,” he burst out. “I knew from the start that I wanted to live here, to help my dad run the pub and live a quiet, uncomplicated life. But you wanted bigger things. You deserved bigger things.” He swallowed. “When my mother told me what you said, I knew exactly why you’d said it. You were going to stay for me, weren’t you, Charlotte?”

  With wide eyes, she nodded.

  “Well, that wouldn’t have been fair to you. You were born to sing, baby, and not in a church choir in front of people who were too stupid to appreciate you. So I lied.”

  “You lied,” she echoed dully.

  He nodded.

  “About everything?” She bit her lush bottom lip. “You lied about being bored with me? About not liking the…the sex?”

  “Every word I said was a lie.” His throat tightened. “Making love to you that first time was the best experience of my life. Fuck, I loved you.” His next words slipped out before he could derail them. “I’m not sure I ever stopped loving you.”

  Her mouth fell open. She went silent for so long, he wondered if she’d fallen asleep with her eyes open or something. A part of him couldn’t believe she’d actually bought
the lies, but he had been pretty damn convincing. He’d chased the love of his life away so she could accomplish her goals, but from the shocked and slightly annoyed expression on her face, he got the feeling she didn’t appreciate the gesture.

  “So let me get this straight,” she finally said. “Your mother told you what I said, and so you just went ahead and made a decision about our future—without having the decency to talk to me about it first?”

  He gulped. Shit, when she phrased it like that, it sounded bad. Not as bad as, say, sleeping with her and then dumping her, but bad just the same.

  “I made a mistake,” he admitted.

  “No kidding.” She shook her head in disbelief. “What about the sex? Why on earth would you sleep with me for the first time when you planned on breaking up with me?”

  “I…I lost control.” Frustration boiled in his gut. “God, Charlotte, it wasn’t like I had some kind of master plan. I honestly didn’t expect things to go as far as they did. I just wanted to kiss you goodbye, but then…then we were on that blanket, and I couldn’t help myself.”

  She scowled at him, causing him to raise his hands in surrender. “I know, that’s no excuse,” he said with a sigh. “I was young and stupid, okay? And I really thought I was doing the right thing by letting you go. I just kept thinking about that dumb saying—if you love someone, let them go.”

  “But you didn’t even give me a choice!” She looked so annoyed he experienced a burst of shame. “Yeah, I was thinking of staying, but if you’d told me back then everything you just said now, maybe I would have still left. Maybe we could have worked out another solution, done the long-distance thing.”

  “Or maybe you would have ruined your life, for me,” he countered.

  “For love,” she corrected.

  “You would have been miserable if you stayed here.” He found the courage to stroke one of her bare knees, and to his surprise, she didn’t shove his hand away. “Your name needed to be on all those albums in my living room. Your music needed to be on people’s CD players and iPods. You know that, Charlie.”