| |
NATE DUG OUT A SPARE T-shirt from the boxes he’d already brought to the house. There were some sweats, as well. They’d be way too big, but she’d be covered by more than the dress that had been ripped by glass. He pushed the anger away again. Now wasn’t the time.
Not exactly how he and had envisioned his evening ending, but they were both safe, and that was what mattered. Perci didn’t even have more than a scratch or two on her.
If she had...if he had lost her...
She had the broom and the dustpan when he came back in after speaking with his brother. “I’ll sweep up the glass, if you want to get some boards to cover the window tonight. Keep out the rain. We can get this cleaned up in less than an hour, I think.”
“Why didn’t you leave?” Nate figured they’d beaten around the bush long enough. Too much dancing around each other. Nothing would ever get resolved that way. “Persephone, why did you choose to stay?”
“Well, it wasn’t because of pomegranate seeds, that’s for sure.” She clutched the broom tightly.
He took it from her hand. He didn’t care about the damned broom. He let it clatter to the floor.
Hands reached. He wasn’t sure who moved first. Then she was in his arms. Right where she belonged.
***
“I WASN’T GOING TO LEAVE you tonight. I told you that.” She meant it. Her stomach tightened with nerves. Everything was going to change tonight. They both knew it. And there was no going back “Nate?”
And then he grabbed her by the waistband of the far too big sweatpants and used the cotton to lift her right off of her feet. “Did you mean what we were doing before?”
Perci didn’t answer, just nodded.
“Then I say screw this window. The mess. I say we finish what we started, before we both forget how we feel right now. Take a chance for once.”
“I’ve never hated you, Nate. I want you to be clear on that.” Perci slipped her arms around his broad shoulders. He still had his hand on her rear, holding her off the ground. He was a full twelve inches taller than she was, and more than one hundred and fifty pounds heavier. Never had she felt the differences between them more. “I’m still trying to figure out exactly what it is that I feel for you. But I don’t despise you. Not anymore.”
“Good. Because I’ve burned for you from the very moment we met.”
Months. That was more than eighteen months ago. “Nate?”
“My brothers knew. Hell, half the people at the hospital knew. You were the only one who didn’t.”
Perci was quiet for a moment as he carried her up the stairs. Eighteen months ago, she was in no position to even think about a relationship with a man like Nate Masterson. He had terrified her from the very first meeting. Then the fire and flames had started between them, and that was all she had focused on.
He had scared her on a seriously deep level. So she had run. Figuratively. Run and fought and snarled and done anything she could do to keep him away.
It hadn’t worked.
She had fought this man from the moment they’d met until the night his brother had dragged a drunken Phoenix home. Within hours, Nate had been camped on her couch. Watching over her sister.
She’d been terrified that night, too. She’d known how concussions could be, known what a risk Phoebe had taken because they couldn’t pay the hospital bill. Having Nate right there had made some of that fear more manageable.
But the flames between them had gotten so much worse after that.
Until tonight. It was time to stop trying to extinguish those flames, and just see what happened when the fire ran its course.
And being in his arms felt absolutely right. She slipped her legs around his waist and tightened her arms on his neck. “Do you have a bed here?”
“You’d better believe I do.”
Perci leaned down and kissed him. She wasn’t going anywhere else tonight. She pulled back and looked at him. “Then take me there. I think we’ve waited long enough.”