Her Rebound Men (4 page)

“What’re
ya
doing, Nate?” His boss, Paul, asked.

“I’m,
erm
… going to make a call,” he said, stumbling over his words.

“Okay, don’t forget the blue
needs to have a new clutch,” Paul said, wiping his greasy hands on a cloth.

His boss was awesome and didn’t
push for explanations.

Staring back at his phone
Nate started to get nervous. His hands were sweaty, and he wiped them down his
uniform.

Shit, what’s the matter with me?

No other woman left him
feeling so nervous or out of place. The feel of her body against his last night
had been the best feeling in the world. Nate moved out of the glaring sun
before pressing the call button.

Fuck, he didn’t have a
choice but to talk to her now.

“Hello.” Kate’s fresh
sounding voice came over the line.

“Hello, Kate,” he said,
smiling. From the sound of her voice alone he was back on the dance floor with
her in his arms.

“Who is this?”

“You don’t remember me? I’m
hurt.” Leaning against the brick wall Nate wished he could see her face. “I’m
the guy from the bar last night.”

She gasped. “How did you get
my number?”

“One of your friends thinks
you need to get to know me,” Nate said. He was going to do something for Lilly,
a box of chocolates, roses, or something to thank her for putting him into
contact with Kate. Even if their time together was fleeting, the way Kate’s
voice affected his body, Nate knew it would be worth every second.

Kate suddenly chuckled.
“Lilly did tell me she’d given my number to you. I just wanted to know how
you’d handle that,” she said.

Nate couldn’t stop himself.
He chuckled as well. “How did I do?” Nate asked.

“I think you did really
well. What I want to know is why a guy from a bar wants to call me? You don’t
really know me, and when I left last night you didn’t ask my name.”

Kate sounded suspicious.
Running fingers through his hair Nate looked over the mechanic shop where he
worked. The shop was filled with cars in different states of use. He loved
working with cars. There was something about taking a machine that sounded like
it was in its last days and working with it until the car sounded brand new.
Nate recalled when working on a car had satisfied
Kev
.
His brother used to be so carefree.

“What can I say? I’m a
sucker for a beautiful woman,” he said.

“Really?
Out of everything you could say you’re going to work
with that line. Do you have any idea how many romance novels and films work
with
that
line?”

Now Kate sounded angry.

“I thought I’d go with the
sucker line because the truth is I want to fuck you so badly. I ache to be
inside you. Are you wet for me, Kate?”

He heard her gasp over the
phone.

“I can’t believe I’m still
talking with you.”

Glancing down at his watch
Nate decided to take matters into his own hands. “How about you give me one
more chance? I know you’re dealing with a broken heart and all that crap. Why
don’t you get over your guy by letting me inside your body?” Nate waited for
his words to sink in. He didn’t expect anything from her, and he wasn’t going
to change to suit her needs. Kate was going to get the real man he was. Nate
didn’t beat around the bush. He told everything like it was. If the grass is
green then
it’s
green and all that. But
Kev
liked to brush everything over and pretend something
wasn’t happening.

“You’re still talking to me
because you and I both know your pussy is dripping wet.”

Another gasp came over the
line.

“Give me a chance, Kate. I
can make every single one of your fantasies come true,” he said.

She didn’t speak. Nate knew
she was contemplating his offer.

“Come on, Kate. You’ve got nothing
to lose. No pressure. Spend one date with me, no sex to start off with, and
then if you want more, we’ll have more, and if you don’t, we don’t,” he said.
He’d make sure she wouldn’t regret his offer.

“Why the hell am I even
considering this?”

Nate laughed. “I’ll give you
a call tomorrow with a time and a place.”

“How about I pick the
place?” Kate asked.

“No,
baby.
I’m in charge, and we’ll do what I want. This is
about me showing you a good time, not the other way around.”

She growled in frustration.
When she went silent he heard the unmistakable sound of another female voice.

“Fine,” she said. “I’ll be
waiting for your call.”

“You won’t regret it.”

Kate hung up. Smiling, Nate
dialed
Kev’s
number.

“What? I’m working,”
Kev
said.

“Well, that’s a shock. I’m
going to take Kate to a fancy restaurant on Friday. You better be there, and
I’ve got a game plan in place,” Nate said.

“What? All I need to do is
arrange the place and be there?”
Kev
asked.

“That’s it.”

There was silence on the
other end.

“Fine.
I’ll call you back within the hour with a place and a
time.”

“Good.” Nate closed his cell
phone and made his way back into the shop. His brother had a bad attitude, but
for once he wasn’t going to worry about
Kev
.

His attention focused on
only one thing, Kate.

Chapter Four

There
were
a hell
of a lot of emotions rolling through Kate at the moment. She set
her cell on the table and glared at Megan and Lilly. The traitors sat in the
living room laughing and murmuring to each other. She was aroused, but she was
also pissed. Why in the hell hadn’t she hung up on his arrogant ass when she
had the chance?
 

Because seeing him at the bar last night woke
something up inside of you, something that you want to explore.
It was true. Kate had gotten instantly wet when she
heard the deep growl of his voice on the end of the line.

“You two bitches.” Kate
glared at the two of them. They stopped mid-sentence and slowly turned to face
her.

“What?” Megan’s eyes were
big and shocked, but Lilly had a smirk on her face.

“That was him, wasn’t it?” Lilly
looked at Megan. “What was his name, Ken, or Kent, or…” Lilly looked up at the
ceiling then snapped her fingers.
“
Kev
!”

“Who?”
Kate said.

“The
hottie
with the body at the bar.
The one in the suit that wore the
shit out of that thing.”

Kate shook her head and
reached deep down inside of her for patience.

“How many people did you
give my freaking number to last night?”
 
Kate’s ire rose. She loved Lilly, but she
pulled stunts like this frequently. Well she had before Jeff had come in the
picture. It looked like her best friend was back on track with match-making.

“I only gave it to
Kev
, and it looks like he is
very
interested.”

Kate rolled her eyes. “That
wasn’t even
Kev
.” Confusion washed over Lilly’s
perfectly made-up face.

“It wasn’t?” Megan chimed in,
and Kate cast her much quieter best friend a narrow-eyed glance.

“I see Lilly pulled you in
on it, too.” She sat on the couch and exhaled. “What would make you think I’d
want to get together with a stranger anyway?”

“First things first, who
called you?” Lilly’s voice was full of curiosity, and that irritated Kate even
more.

“Nate.”

Lilly’s eyes widened.
“That’s
Kev’s
brother, the bad boy with all the
tattoos.” Megan’s eyes were the size of saucers as she looked between Kate and
Lilly.

“Ugh, what the hell did you
get me into?” Kate stared at the ceiling.

“
I
didn’t get you into anything. I heard that phone conversation.
You were all giggling and sighing and shit. You liked him calling you, and
whatever the hell he was saying to you.”

Kate felt her cheeks heat at
Lilly’s words. “That’s so beside the point. You gave some strange guy my
number, who obviously passed it along to his brother. Now they are probably
thinking I’m into some kinky threesome.” Images of the two men in question
washed through her mind, and she held back the sigh. Her body had been heated
during her conversation with Nate, but she could see his brother clearly in her
mind. That suit had made him look so powerful, yet so in control. Kate couldn’t
help but wonder if he was like that in the bedroom.

Ugh, don’t even go there.
The room became awfully quiet, and Kate lifted her head to look at
Lilly. Megan silent wasn’t too much of a surprise, but Lilly keeping her mouth
shut was damn near unheard of.

“What?” More silence. Kate
sat up straighter. “What else did you do?”

“I didn’t do anything.”

“Lilly just tell her.” Megan
finally chimed in.

Lilly threw her hands up in
the air. “Listen, I’m just sick of seeing you mope around because of that
douche Jeff. His pencil dick ass needed to get the boot anyway, and you feeling
shitty because of all the crap he spouted off to you
is
pure bullshit. Maybe I shouldn’t have given some random guy your number, but
hot damn, girl, he was
smokin
’.” Lilly took a deep
breath because she wasn’t nearly done yet; Kate was sure about that. “He may or
may not have said something about you, him, and possibly his brother.”

“Lilly
Elizabeth!”
Kate stood so fast her head
spun. “What in the fuck were you thinking?”

She rolled her eyes and
huffed out. “Oh, calm your ass down. I saw an opportunity and took it. Picking
up a guy in a bar and sleeping him is not something new with the female
population—”

Kate cut in. “It is for me,
Lilly. I’m not ready to jump into anything new with a guy, let alone two.”

“I know,
hun
,
but you need to get out of this funk you’ve been in, and what better way to do
that than fuck it out? I miss the Kate that was crazy in college and didn’t
give a shit what people thought.”

Kate groaned at Lilly’s
choice of words. “You’re incorrigible.” She turned and looked at Megan. “And I
suppose you had nothing to do with this?” Megan looked sheepish and glanced
away. Out of the three of them Megan was definitely the most innocent. They
were all twenty-three, but Megan was still a virgin and had the philosophy that
waiting until marriage before she gave up her V-card was the right course of
action. Kate applauded her for her restraint, but she knew that if the right
guy came along and
was deserving
enough of the gentle
nature and sweet demeanor that was all Megan, she would give herself over.

Megan held up her hands in
surrender. “I told her it was a bad idea from the beginning, but you know her.”
She tossed her hand toward Lilly. “She makes up her own rules.” Yeah, that she
did.

Lilly stood and smoothed her
hands down the skinny jeans that looked tight enough to cut off circulation.
“Listen, I know I’m a lot of things, but in the end I love you and just want
the old Kate back. It isn’t like you
have
to actually
do anything with them, but I heard enough of the conversation to know you
obviously plan on seeing this Nate fellow.” Lilly’s grin was wide and
definitely scheming. “So when are you seeing this bad boy?”

 
Kate rolled her
eyes in exasperation, but smiled at both of her friends. Was she actually
contemplating two men, at the same time? She hadn’t heard anything from this
Kev
guy, but if what Lilly said was true and a ménage was
what they wanted, could she actually go through with it? She had slept with two
guys at the same time once in college. It certainly hadn’t been anything
memorable, but that might have been because she had drunk so much at the frat
party. What she did remember from that horrid night was how sloppy the kisses
had been and how … less than endowed they had been.

“You remember the woman you
used to be, the one who liked to have fun and didn’t let some asshole ex bring
her down.” Why did Lilly have to make everything sound so … reasonable? “So?”
She looked at Kate expectantly.

“So,
what?”

“Are you going to tell us
when and where you’re meeting them?”

“There is no ‘them’, Lilly.
I talked to Nate, and he didn’t mention anything about someone else wanting to
meet me.” What was more realistic was that this
Kev
guy had simply been the wingman for his brother and gotten her number. “He’s
going to call me tomorrow to schedule our date.”