Total pages in book: 84
Estimated words: 79155 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 396(@200wpm)___ 317(@250wpm)___ 264(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 79155 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 396(@200wpm)___ 317(@250wpm)___ 264(@300wpm)
But I knew myself too well. And, I realized, I didn’t know him quite as well as I wanted to, right now.
I swallowed past the tightness in my throat. “You know when you said that thing about talking it out?” I said, looking at the soft amber of his eyes beneath the canopy of the pine tree. “About your, and I quote, sad little life, and your past?”
“Forget about that,” he said softly.
“No,” I told him, my voice firm. “What if I don’t want to ignore that? What if I kind of do want to talk it all out with you?”
He squinted, waving a hand through the air. “Don’t worry about that stuff.”
“I’m not worried,” I told him with certainty. “I’m curious. I give a shit. For fuck’s sake, Nathan, I just spent the whole day with your daughter, and she’s a pretty awesome human. Dude, I didn’t know your ex-wife chewed you out all the time. What happened between you two? Are you okay? I want to know all of these things.”
He squeezed his eyes shut, reaching up to rub at the bridge of his nose. “Kace, when I’m with you, everything is fun,” he said. “And talking about Ranna, and my past, and our problems… that definitely doesn’t feel fun.”
I set my jaw, giving him a look. “With me you just want to turn your brain off, huh?”
He studied my face. “I mean, yes, in a way.”
Something cratered inside me, like I was deflating. “Turn your brain off, and forget who I am?”
He bit his lower lip, looking me up and down. “Hell, no. I never want to forget who you are.”
“Forget that I’m a man, then?” I offered gently. “Forget that I’m someone who might care about you and your life?”
“I want to forget who I am,” he said, defeat in his eyes. “You’re… you’re someone amazing, Kace. You’re so young, and so fucking talented, and you have so much energy and a whole life ahead of you, and I’m just one stop along the way of that life—”
“Hey,” I barked. “I know I joke about you being an old man, but you’re not that fucking old, Nathan. You’re young, talented, and have a ton of life ahead of you, too, even if you’re not 22.”
He pulled in a deep breath. He laced his hands together behind his head, stretching his shoulders out and looking up at the sky. His biceps popped after a long day of physical work, and part of me just wanted to give in and give Nathan what he wanted. To forget about trying to connect with him on a deeper level and just let our bodies do the talking.
But I knew we were both stronger than that. Not just physically. I had a painful past. He had his own, and I’d barely heard about it.
Nathan was watching me again, and having his gaze trained on me was practically enough to make me crack. “I just wanted to kiss you. And—”
“And turn your brain off,” I said. “I know. But I want to talk to you, too. After the fucking shitstorm of a morning you had? I’m a piece of meat, but there is a brain up here, too.”
Nathan swallowed, nodding once. “Shit, Kace. If you don’t think you’re one of the smartest people I’ve met, you’re damn wrong. It’s no wonder you got along with Maddy.”
I puffed out a gentle laugh. “She’s smarter than us both, no question.”
“Damn right.”
“It’s just hard for me to grasp,” Nathan said. “Kace Tomlin wants to know about my life?”
I thought back to my conversation with Maddy earlier.
He’s, like, fucking obsessed with you.
Goddamn, I liked that. I wanted Nathan to be into me. And while I knew I was playing with fire, I didn’t exactly care right now if I got burned.
Something fluttered in my chest. “I do want to know about your life,” I said, surprised by how sincerely I meant it. To some people, Nathan may have just seemed like a small-town business owner, a construction guy, a dad. But he was a fucking diamond in the rough, as far as I was concerned. A man with a heart of gold who had just happened to be here in Jade River. Right here in my house. “I really do.”
Nathan shrugged, finally relenting. “Well, what do you want to know?”
15
NATHAN
Ice snapped in my glass as Kace poured water over it, leaning over the living room coffee table before sitting down on the couch near me. I’d gone for water instead of liquor, feeling like I had to be sharp and ready for anything.
Not that I was feeling sharp at all right now. Not with Kace looking at me like he was, with curiosity in his eyes, like I was the only thing in the world he wanted to know about right now.