CHAPTER 16
NATHAN
Always been mine.
Katie’s soft words hit me like a punch to the sternum, and I almost buckle under the weight of them.
“I know!” she wails, her hands clutching the lapels of my suit jacket.
“I’m sorry. It was a stupid thing to say.
I just got so mad; you know? It was like my blood was actually boiling in my veins.
How dare she speak about you like that? After what she did, she should grovel at your feet, begging for your forgiveness. ”
I put a finger on her soft lips to silence her. “Kitty Kat, you’ve got nothing to apologise for.”
Her brow furrows, and I move my finger from her lips to her brow to smooth it out, tracing back over her cheek to land on her heart-shaped freckle.
“I don’t?”
My gut clenches as I stare down at her, her face a work of art in the moonlight. “Of course not.”
She swallows. “But I lied to her. A lie that’s so easy to disprove. We have to spend an entire week with these people, and she’s going to let everyone know what I said and how delusional I am.”
My hands fall to her small waist, and I tug her closer to me. “Where’s the lie? I did have a crush on you back at school.”
Her mouth forms a perfect O, like I’d shocked her, and I can’t help it. I brush my lips over hers. Once, twice, three times.
“Um.” Her hands on my jacket tighten, and I swear she pulls me closer. “You did?”
What were we talking about? I’m distracted by her parted lips, her rose-red cheeks, her chest rising and falling.
“Of course.” I gather my wits to reassure her. “Everyone had a crush on you, Kitty Kat.”
She shakes her head and drops her hands from me. Shame. “Now you’re just spouting utter rubbish to make me feel better. And regardless, there’s a difference between a teenage crush and whatever it was that came out of my mouth back there.”
I sigh and turn her around to walk us into our bungalow. “Here, eat a biscuit.”
She does as she’s told, nibbling on a large chocolate chip biscuit like a cute little chipmunk. Does she do anything that isn’t adorable?
“Listen,” I say when she’s finished one biscuit and is on to the next (She loves sweet things, I make a mental note).
“It’s no big deal. Knowing Victoria as I do, she won’t want to share that bit of information with anyone.
She would die before admitting she wasn’t someone’s number one and only choice.
My guess is that conversation will fester inside her but will go no further. ”
Katie’s shoulders relax down from around her ears. “I also called her Vicky,” she admits with a sheepish smile.
My heart swells. This woman is so composed, so elegant and measured, and yet she went into bat for me. When push came to shove, she stood up for me against people who have no reason to attack me, and yet they still do. She cares for me more than any of them.
“She would have hated that. It’s amazing!”
Her face lights with a small but genuine smile, and I sense I’ve talked her off the edge.
Meanwhile, her words are still playing havoc with my mind.
Always been mine. I take a second to stare at her now, sitting on our small couch with the star-studded night sky as her background, and I can’t help but wonder if maybe her words are true.
?·?·?
“The bathroom’s free.”
I turn from where I’ve been pacing our outside deck.
After our welcome dinner debrief session, Katie had been swaying on her feet.
Even though there is only a three-hour time difference between here and home, it’s enough to sneak up on a person and knock them over.
Add that to the long day of travel and the emotional punch that was meeting my family, and she needs her sleep.
And so, I’d offered her first use of the bathroom and had taken myself as far away from the sounds of the rainfall shower and the idea of that woman in there under it.
Far away from the temptation, that is Katie.
“Thanks.”
My gaze takes a trip over her slight form.
She’s backlit by the bright lights inside the bungalow, so I can’t see much more than her silhouette.
Wearing a demure pyjama set—a pair of pale pink silk shorts and matching silk shirt—she’s perfect.
The material caresses her curves, while her hair flows down over her shoulders, framing her face.
I swallow hard and look up, down, and then anywhere but her.
“I’ll just jump in the shower, then,” I tell her, my voice gruff, my words strangled. How am I going to sleep in a bed next to her? Looking like that?
“Okay.”
I march past her, inhaling her delicate scent, and continue on like a man with a mission. Once inside the bathroom, I close the door with an emphatic thump and bang my head against it.
“Pull it together, man,” I mutter under my breath. “She’s doing you a favour. She doesn’t need you salivating at the sight of her.”
I nod at my reflection and rush to take a cold, cold shower.
Once my body and my mind are back on the same page—the page written by a gentleman and not the caveman who wants to devour that woman out there—I pull on a pair of shorts and, at the last minute, a t-shirt as well.
At home, I sleep in my boxers, but here with only one bed for the two of us, that is absolutely not appropriate.
“All good?” Katie asks as I leave the bathroom in a cloud of good intentions.
She’s tucked into bed with the thin white duvet pulled up under her chin, so only her face is visible. Even her neck is covered.
“Kitty Kat.” I take one step towards her and stop. “If you’re not comfortable sleeping in the same bed, I can sleep over there.”
She looks over at the tiny, one-point-five-seater couch and back at me. “That thing isn’t big enough to fit your head.”
A chuckle escapes me, and I step in closer. “Did you just say I have a big head?”
Her cheeks heat, and yet her smile is cheeky. “I mean, in the egotistical sense? Then, perhaps? But anatomically speaking?” Her whiskey eyes sparkle as they trace over me. “It’s just right.”
My chest puffs under her praise. “Thank you. But the offer is still there. If you aren’t comfortable sharing a bed with me and my perfectly proportioned head, I’ll sleep there. No worries.”
She bites down on her bottom lip, and I stifle a groan. I want to bite that lip.
Wow, didn’t take long for that cold shower to wear off.
“It’s fine, Nathan.” She pats the bed next to her. “I trust you.”
My heart pinches. She trusts me. I need to get my body, and my thoughts, and all these feelings under control. Katie is here as a favour to me. I cannot take advantage of that. No matter how much I want her.
“Right. Good.” I settle in next to her, hugging the edge of the bed to get away from her scent. “Well then, I’ll see you in the morning.”
She nods and rolls to face away from me. I blow out a breath, running my hand over my face, before turning off the light and closing my eyes. A sigh escapes me; there’s no way I’m going to fall asleep in this bed with her in it. It’s going to be a long night.
Several minutes (hours?) later, my mind floats into consciousness.
Huh. I fell asleep. I blink awake and see it.
Feel it. Her. Katie. All over me. Every inch of her body is pressed against mine.
At some point during the night, she must have migrated over to me and is now lying on her side, her leg hooked over mine, her arm wrapped around my waist and her head resting against my chest. She’s so close, I’m wearing her hair—all her lovely hair—as a blanket, and it's the most amazing thing I’ve ever felt.
Holding Katie here in my arms is incredible.
She’s going to hate it the minute she wakes up and realises what’s happened.
“You’re testing me,” I mutter to the Big Man upstairs. Whoever is running this universe must be annoyed at me and is punishing me by presenting me with the most perfect woman in my bed and in my arms, and all I can do is try to figure a way out of it.
When every part of me is screaming: Stay like this. Forever.
“Right. Time to move.”
Katie’s sleeping form doesn’t rouse. This is good. It means there’s still a chance I can peel her off me and have her back on her side without her knowing about this brief excursion she took during her REM cycles.
My arm tightens around her for one long moment, and I inhale her uniquely sweet scent before I make the move. It’s a classic manoeuvre from our favourite show Friends. Hug for her, roll for me. And it works. Without even a murmur from my sleeping koala, she’s back on her side and I’m free.
“Shame,” I whisper to her still form. I gaze down at her for several long moments and draw in a deep breath. We made it through night one together; only six more to go.
I dress quickly into my running shorts, fasten my sneakers and write a note for Katie to let her know my whereabouts and then take off out of the bungalow. A morning run on the beach is what I need to get my head back on straight.
With my favourite playlist pounding in tandem with my pounding feet, my body and mind relax into a rhythm of nothingness.
It’s the sort of Zen I can only find when exercising.
The sand flicks up behind me as I run along the shoreline, and I take a moment to appreciate this place in all its beauty.
Yes, I’m here under duress. And yes, I brought along a fake girlfriend whom I have very real feelings for.
But that doesn’t mean I can’t enjoy this setting for what it is: a tropical paradise here on Earth.
“Nathan?”
A deep baritone breaks through Bruno Mars’ Uptown Funk, and I ignore it. My brother doesn’t get to marry my ex-girlfriend and ruin my morning Zen as well.
“Hey, Nathan.”
George steps in front of me, and it’s either stop, or run him over. Hmm, tricky.
“Can we talk?”
I sigh and take my AirPods out of my ears. I guess we’re doing this now. Annoyed, I wipe my hand over my sweat-slick brow and stare down at him. He shifts on his feet, and I revel in the pettiness of being several inches taller than him.
“You want to talk? So, talk.”
My brother holds my gaze for several seconds before turning to look out at the horizon. “I just wanted to check in, is all.”
Check in? He’s a few months late for that. “Sure…” I leave him hanging. It’s not up to me to make this situation comfortable for him.
He clears his throat, his eyes back on me. “Yes, well. I wanted to make sure you and your…girlfriend aren’t here to make any trouble.”
My hands curl into fists at my side. “Spit it out, George. What are you trying to say?”
His fair skin flushes pink from his neck to the tips of his ears. “It’s just that Victoria mentioned your girlfriend was rude to her last night. And I want you to speak to her and ensure that won’t happen again. I won’t let anything ruin this week for my fiancé.”
I’m speechless. I’m actually without words. Here’s my brother, the man who is supposed to love me and be loyal to me, who is getting married to my ex-girlfriend, and he has the nerve to speak to me about Katie—about my Katie—like this? Never going to happen.
“George.” I step into his personal space and again enjoy his neck craning up to look up at me.
“You can tell your precious Victoria that Katie has more class in her little finger than she does in her whole body. If—and I’m putting a big emphasis on the word if—Katie said something that Victoria took offence at, it was deserved.
From what I heard, your wife-to-be wasn’t very shy in expressing some pretty disparaging opinions. ”
“Such as?”
I hesitate. Should I spare his feelings? Nah.
“She told Katie to enjoy her sloppy seconds.” George’s jaw drops, and I press on. “Which is a pretty rich thing to say, given the circumstances.”
He steps back, running a hand through his (thinning?) hair. “What does that mean?”
I survey him, taking in the drooping shoulders, the tightness around his eyes, the frown lines that weren’t there six months ago. Is he really happy with Victoria? And if he’s not, why is he going through with this and putting us all through this sort of heartache?
“What that means”—I put my hands on my hips as my lips curl into an evil smile—“is if Katie is getting her sloppy seconds, well, that would mean you’re getting mine.”
I see the minute the penny drops. He splutters on a breath, hemming and hawing with indignation, and I take it as my cue to get out of here. “Good luck with Victoria,” I tell him as I back away into a jog. “You’re going to need it.”
With that mike-drop moment to complete what was an all-round awful conversation, I turn and take off back down the beach, all Zen-like feelings now gone.
My stomach churns with the aftermath of the confrontation, and I wish I hadn’t sunk to their level.
I wish I’d been the bigger person. In the months since everything went down, since I discovered their betrayal, I had been the bigger person.
All it took was one word spoken against Katie to turn that all to ash.
I will go to any lengths to protect that woman.
Especially from my family and the woman who is joining it.
No one will hurt Katie. Not on my watch.