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Chapter 17
Nate tilted his head to the side and shook it slightly to get the water out of his ear as he stepped onto the dock. The rest of the guys were still on the water jet skiing, but Nate bailed early. He didn’t think it was responsible to be operating heavy machinery when he was distracted and running on no sleep.
Last night, he’d tossed and turned for hours before finally throwing in the towel and getting up around four a.m. He’d gotten some work done, and then around five thirty he’d gone for a run and watched the sun rise over the bluff. Usually a run helped him relax and focus. Not today. He couldn’t shut his brain off. It was scattered and muddled.
Last night, his blissful state of euphoria ended about an hour after he watched Eliza walk up those stairs. His mind began racing considering the potential aftermath of last night. First and foremost, he had to set the record straight with her about the night of her birthday.
Then what?
That’s where his predictive behavior instincts ran dry. He was fairly sure she would understand the situation he’d been put in. She was there and knew that she was already on top of him when he drifted into consciousness. He’d truly believed that he was dreaming, it certainly wouldn’t have been the first time she’d starred in a dream that she was naked and on top of him. The entire encounter had lasted less than two minutes and by the time he was fully aware of what was happening, she was running out of the door.
He’d gone after her. He wanted to explain that he’d been in such a deep sleep because after a week of finals, with about an hour’s sleep a night, he’d driven twenty hours straight to Whisper Lake. He’d searched everywhere. Knocked on every cabin in the small campsite the seniors were in. He’d searched the woods and the beach where the bonfire was still going strong. He’d searched the small downtown area that consisted of one street, a gas station and a market.
All night he’d looked for her. The next morning, when he was sure that she wasn’t at Whisper Lake, he’d driven back to Harper’s Crossing and gone straight to her house. Her parents told him she’d left on a road trip. That was it. They hadn’t had any more information.
At the time it had infuriated him, how could parents let their daughter—that had only become an adult the day before—drive off and not know where she was going? How could they not know how long she was going to be gone or where she was staying?
His shoulders tensed and he realized that even now, ten years later, it bothered him. As he rolled his shoulders relieving the tension, he felt the heat of the sun relentlessly beating down on his skin. He had barely toweled off, but was completely dry thanks to the heated rays.
As he put his shirt on he sighed. He wasn’t looking forward to standing in a penguin suit in this weather, but he would gladly do it for Brian. Brian was a good guy and he and Becca were perfect for each other. Escorting Eliza down the aisle didn’t hurt either.
When he’d arrived last night and found out that he wouldn’t be walking with Bailey, he was upset. His relationship with Eliza was complicated, to say the least. He’d wanted space from her, not to be coupled up with her.
Things had gone from bad to worse when he’d seen her walking down the aisle, looking soul-wrenchingly beautiful in a dress that made her legs look a mile long. He’d had to work overtime to keep his reaction to her under wraps. Then, as she took her spot in front of him she turned and brushed his groin lightly with her backside. He’d actually had to step away from her at that point. One more second of contact with her perfect ass brushing up against him and he would have gone rock hard in 0.000016 seconds flat.
That woman did things to him that he just…couldn’t control.
Last night, he’d had no intention of anything happening. But after she’d said that she’d wanted him to see her in her lingerie, he hadn’t been able to stop himself from telling her to show him. Then once he saw her sexy curves and the tease of skin that was visible beneath the see-through material in the dim light, he’d still tried to tell himself that he was just looking not touching. But when she’d said his name and please, well…he was a man not a robot.
Any self-imposed distance he’d managed to maintain was shot to hell. But even then he’d told himself it was just going to be a kiss. That was all. Then she’d started unbuttoning his shirt, and he’d known he was in trouble. And when she reached in and stroked him, he lost any shred of self-control he had left.
Things had heated up so fast and burned so bright he hadn’t thought about the consequences, the ramifications or any of the things that he normally would. His brain shut off and all he could do was feel. Take. Give. Love. All things he’d told himself he wouldn’t do.
So now, his head spun with not just the past, but the present and the future. He always had a plan. And a contingency plan. And a contingency plan for the contingency plan. He made it a rule never to make a move in life unless he’d weighed all possible outcomes. Except with Eliza. She broke all his rules.
He squinted as he made his way up to the rental shop to return the key to his jet ski. As he stepped inside he saw a kid that looked about twelve behind the counter. His head was down and he was reading a book. Nate waited for him to lift his head but, when he saw that wasn’t going to happen, he cleared his throat.
The kid looked up. It was obvious from his expression that he’d been a million miles away. “Oh. Hi, can I help you?”
“I need to return this.” Nate held up the key.
“Sure.” He hopped off of the stool, grabbed an envelope from beneath the desk, took the key and then pulled out Nate’s license. “Here you go. Let me get your deposit.”
Nate noticed a rack of sunglasses hanging on the wall beside him and after a moment of browsing he pulled a pair off the metal grid and set them on the counter. “And I’ll take these.”
The kid looked at them and then back up at Nate as he asked reluctantly, “Do you know those are women’s sunglasses?”
“I know.”
The kid shrugged and then scanned the bar code.
“Check this shit out!” A loud voice shouted.
Nate looked up and saw a clone of the kid at the front desk coming out from a door that said “Employees Only” holding out his phone and cracking up.
“There’s a customer.” The kid at the front desk said dryly. Monotone. Like it was something that he’d had to point out to his twin many times before.
The other kid just kept laughing and turned his phone towards Nate repeating, “Check this shit out!”
