Starting Over (Nugget Romance 4) (25 page)

She lifted her butt up so that Nate could unzip the back of her skirt and tug it down her legs. He tossed it across the room and all she could think was thank goodness she’d worn her good underwear. Lace boy-shorts.

“What about you?” she asked.

Nate pulled his T-shirt over his head and Sam sucked in a breath at the sheer perfection of him. He was everything she’d thought he would be and more. Broad shoulders, solid chest, and a set of abs that made her mouth go dry. Whorls of dark hair sprinkled his chest, forming a strip down his stomach that disappeared underneath the waistband of his pants.

She pulled on his jeans until he finally arched up and shucked them off. “Happy now?”

“Mm-hmm.” She kissed his neck and his chin and his lips while he played with the lace of her bottoms, dipping his hand underneath the elastic band to feel her wetness. “Oh God.”

He scraped the lobe of her ear with his teeth. “You feel good, Sam. So ready for me.”

She slipped her hand inside his shorts and wrapped her fingers around his thickness. He was long and unbelievably hard.

He put his hand over hers to hold it still. “Keep that up and I’ll embarrass myself.”

“I want you, Nate.”

“I’ve wanted you since the first day I saw you.”

She pushed up on both elbows. “You hated me on sight.”

“That doesn’t mean I didn’t want you.” Nate pushed her back down and rolled on top of her, putting his weight on both hands as he rubbed against her. “These have to go.” He pulled her panties down and used his foot to kick them away, then yanked off his own, wedging himself between her legs.

She moaned with pleasure, pumping and rubbing until she thought she’d go mad.

From a drawer next to the bed, he grabbed a couple of foil packets and put them on top of the nightstand, then kissed his way down the length of her body, licking her bellybutton, the insides of her thighs, delving into the place that quivered for him.

“Nate,” she whimpered.

“Hmm?”

“Please.”

“Please what?”

She tried to roll on top of him, but he held her down and said, “Let me enjoy you. We’ve got all night.”

Nothing had ever felt this good. Not even those wonderful starlit nights at the summerhouse, when she’d been impossibly young and in love. Nate continued to lave her in kisses and explore her body with his hands and mouth until she thought she would explode. And finally, finding it impossible to wait any longer, she did.

“Good?” Nate moved over her as he tore the wrapper off a condom and rolled it down the length of him.

“God, yes.” She pulled him closer, wanting him inside of her. But when he entered her, she jolted; his size a little overwhelming at first.

“You okay?” He stopped, giving her time to grow accustomed to him, then slowly moving inside of her, making her feel like liquid fire ready to combust.

“Mmm,” she whimpered. “More.”

He gave her so much more that by the time they fell asleep it was dawn. And when she opened her eyes it was bright outside and he was gone. Just a note on his empty pillow.

That was the extent of the note. No “Last night was great,” or “Sam, you were the best sex I’ve ever had,” or “Be mine forever.” Not even so much as “Hey, let’s have dinner later.” Just “Thanks.” And was that thanks for transcendent sex, or thanks for meeting with Fifi? Sam had no idea, but chided herself for being such a girl about it.

They had sex. Sex that she had initiated. They’d been dancing around it for months now and had finally nipped it in the bud. No big deal.

“So why are you anguishing over a perfectly innocuous note?” she asked herself aloud, shoved on her clothes, and made sure the coast was clear before making a run down the hall for her room.

It would all be fine, she told herself. They’d make a joke of it.
Ha, ha, can you believe we actually did that?

But as Sam stepped into the shower, she decided that sleeping with Nate was possibly the stupidest thing she’d ever done.

Because now she liked him—like really, really liked him. And the best he had to offer was to tell her to break a leg.

N
ate couldn’t care less about San Francisco’s occupancy rates. Well, actually he did care about it, because it could make or break his business. He just didn’t care about it at this very moment. Not when he’d had to leave a warm and willing woman in his bed to listen to someone from the city’s travel board drone on about tourism and what it meant to the city.

He was still trying to wrap his head around the fact that they’d done it. If he wanted to level with himself, they’d been working up to last night for some time. Flirting. Kissing. Throwing barbs at each other like school kids with a crush.

In bed, she’d been something else. She may have started out as the aggressor, but she’d ultimately let him run the show. Call him a caveman, but he liked taking the lead, making her feel so good that she lost her mind, because it made him lose his.

The whole night had been like that. Total sweet insanity. And if he thought she looked hot in clothes, she was a supermodel out of them. Weird how she had gotten insecure about her body, which did it for him like no other woman’s body did. It made him wonder why. But then again, women could be strange about being naked.

After the meeting, Nate caught a Lyft taxi back to the hotel. He thought about popping in on Sam’s conference with Fifi, but decided that he’d leave her to it. When he got to Breyer’s corporate offices, his assistant, Lorna, waylaid him at the door.

“I’ve been trying to reach you all morning,” she said.

Nate pulled his phone out of his pocket and found a blank screen.

“Sorry, I thought I had it on vibrate. What’s going on?”

“Your sister is desperate to get ahold of you.”

Lilly flashed in his head, then Emma. But it could just as easily be Rhys. He was the cop, after all. He brushed past Lorna into his office, grabbed the landline and hit automatic dial.

The phone rang only once before Maddy picked up. “It’s about time.”

“Is everyone okay?”

He must’ve sounded panicked because Maddy said, “I didn’t mean to scare you, Nate. It’s Gold Mountain. You told me to keep quiet about it, so I didn’t know if I could tell Lorna. Someone’s made an offer.”

He took a deep breath, relieved. He could handle losing Gold Mountain, but his family . . . “How do you know?”

“The buyers asked Pat Donnelly to do an inspection and give them an estimate on fixing some of the cabins. Pat took Colin with him, Colin mentioned it to Harlee, and Harlee told me.”

That was Nugget for you. Everyone knew everybody’s business. “Is it a done deal or is there time for us to swoop in?”

“I don’t think it’s a done deal yet,” Maddy said. “Apparently, Pat’s bid was high and these folks are strapped for cash. It sounds like they’re working with a bank. But if we came in with cash . . . I just hate feeling pressured to rush in.”

“That’s business, Maddy. Do we know who these folks are?”

“Harlee didn’t know and I didn’t want to seem overly interested.”

Smart thinking, given that Harlee, nosy reporter, had good instincts when it came to sniffing out a story. Gold Mountain changing hands was just the kind of news people in Plumas County went for, since not a lot happened there. “I think we should make a cash offer, but lowball it. Even if they don’t accept it, it’ll stall a possible sale with this other party until we decide how high we want to go.”

“All right. But you better get here quick.”

“I can be there in five hours.” He was allowing for traffic across the Bay Bridge and through Sacramento. “In the meantime, why don’t you contact their broker and tell them we’d like to set up a meeting to present an offer. I’ll have our lawyer draw up something and fax it to the Lumber Baron.”

“Okay,” she said. “Wow. I can’t believe we’re doing this.”

“Sometimes you’ve gotta just go for it.” Yeah, that had obviously been his motto last night.

Nate hung up, called his lawyer, and got on the road as fast as he could. Somewhere near Auburn, Maddy telephoned to say they had their meeting. He’d have just enough time to get home, change, and pick up his sister.

On the Bluetooth, he tried Sam a few times to see how it had gone with Fifi, but failed to reach her. By now their meeting should’ve been long over. He was anxious to hear how the two women had gotten along. Had he known how impressed Fifi would be with Sam’s last name, he would’ve had her handle the account from the get-go.

They could talk tomorrow when she got home. A little distance right now would do them good because he couldn’t stop thinking about her. It was more than just last night. More than her being his physical type, in and out of bed. She . . . well . . . she just got him. His house was a perfect example. Everything she’d done in there exhibited what was important to him. The pictures, the books and the warm, welcoming feeling he got when he walked in the door. She even understood about Lilly.

He’d just passed Sierraville when the phone rang. He pressed the Bluetooth button on his dash, hoping it was Sam.

“The papers have been faxed,” Nate’s lawyer said.

“Thanks, Josh. As soon as I know more we’ll be in touch.”

Thirty minutes later he pulled into his driveway only to find Samantha on his front porch. She hustled down the steps as he got out of the car.

“They told me you had an emergency at home, so I caught the first flight to Reno,” she said. “I just got back and came here immediately. Is everyone—”

“Everyone is fine. It’s just a business situation, Sam.”

“Thank God.” She visibly relaxed, then her expression turned worried again. “Is it the Lumber Baron?”

“No,” Nate assured her. “I’m sorry. I should’ve told Lorna. It’s a property Maddy and I are interested in buying, but we’ve been keeping it on the down-low. Look, we’re supposed to present an offer and I still have to change and pick up my sister. I want to hear about your meeting with Fifi. Can we do it when I get back?”

“Of course,” she said, and seemed a little disconcerted. Then again, she’d just hopped a sixty-minute flight from SFO and driven fifty minutes from Reno because she thought something terrible had happened to him. “I’m just glad everything’s okay here. I guess I overreacted.”

“I should have left you a note.” He felt bad that he’d put her through the worry. For a piece of property, no less.

She gave him a weak smile. “We’ll talk tomorrow. I’m exhausted.”

He watched her walk away, wondering if he should go after her and ask what was wrong with talking tonight. But he still had to go to the Lumber Baron and pick up the paperwork, his phone pinged with text messages, and the clock was ticking.

 

That night, Nate returned home the proud owner of Gold Mountain. At least he would be as long as they got a passing property inspection on the derelict cabin colony. He still couldn’t believe that the old man’s kids had agreed to the price. But according to the broker, they barely spoke to one another after one of the brothers had roped the entire family into a bad investment. Some sort of pyramid scheme that forced one of the siblings into bankruptcy and another into losing her home. They were just happy to have a short escrow and the cash.

Instead of pulling his car into the garage, he left it in the driveway and considered wandering over to Sam’s place. But her house was pitch-dark. If he didn’t know better, he’d think she wasn’t home. Nate looked at his watch. A little after eleven. After they’d cut their deal, he’d gone over to Maddy and Rhys’s house to celebrate.

He made it as far as Sam’s porch before turning around. Tomorrow would be soon enough to talk about the gala. Halfway back to his house, he hung a U-turn and rang the bell on her door. A few minutes later he heard movement, a light flickered on, and he saw one blue eye through the peephole. He smiled back at her and she opened the door in boxer shorts, a tank top, and a bad case of bed head.

“Were you asleep?” he asked with all the innocence he could muster, then let himself in and made his way into her kitchen. “Can I have a drink?”

She padded after him and got the bottle of brandy and two snifters down from the cabinet.

“I was thinking more in terms of coffee, but that’ll work.”

Sam looked at him like he was nuts. “It’s nearly midnight.”

“Yep. And I just bought a run-down, piece-of-shit cabin park.”

“That’s the property you made an offer on?”

“It’s called Gold Mountain and it’s about fifteen minutes from here and fifteen minutes from Glory Junction.”

“That cute little ski town?”

“That’s the one,” he said, and watched her hop on one of the center-island stools. She wasn’t wearing a bra.

“What’s your plan for it?”

“Fix it up. It’s one of those places that for generations the same families have been coming back to, year after year. But the infrastructure has gone to hell and none of the cabins are winterized, cutting the season short. I’d like to upgrade them and run a bus back and forth from Gold Mountain to the ski resorts in the winter.”

“Sounds smart,” she said.

“Yeah, I’m a smart guy.” That’s why he was contemplating doing something incredibly stupid, like taking her to bed again. But she was so damn pretty . . . the outline of her breasts in that tank top was arousing the hell out of him. Even though he no longer wanted to talk shop, he forced himself to ask, “How did it go with Fifi?” After all, that’s why he’d come. To discuss business.

Keep telling yourself that
.

“It went well,” she said, stretching one pale, bare leg down the length of the stool. Her toenails, he noticed, were fire-engine red. Sexy. “For some reason, we hit it off.”

“Not overly demanding?” Nate asked, and sipped his brandy.

“Oh, she’s demanding. You should hear some of the crazy ideas she’s come up with. She thinks she’ll get Sting to perform. Hey, her problem, not ours. Our bone of contention is the food. She hates Richard. And frankly I can’t blame her. The guy thinks he’s Jöel Robuchon.”

Nate laughed. God, she was hot. He loved the way she talked about business, like she’d been working in the hospitality industry for years. “I can’t fire Richard.”

“I know.” She chewed on her bottom lip and Nate knew he wasn’t going to like her plan. “I’m thinking of bringing in Brady.” Sam put up her hand to stop him from interrupting. “Before you say no, hear me out.”

He didn’t want to hear her out. He wanted to carry her into the bedroom and get his hands and mouth on her. “Okay.”

“Brady impressed me at Emily’s wedding. He wasn’t even getting paid and he jumped right in. And the man knows his stuff. He’s also nice, not a diva like Richard. So we put him in charge of catering for the gala and let him use Richard’s staff.”

“Richard won’t like us using his people,” Nate said.

“Who pays them? Richard or Breyer Hotels?”

“Jeez, listen to you. I’ve created a monster.” Nate scrubbed his hands through his hair. “You think Fifi will go for Brady? The woman wanted Thomas Keller, for God’s sake.”

“We’ll tell Brady to turn on his Southern charm. No woman can resist it.”

“What? You think Brady’s charming? Brady’s not charming.”

“Of course he is,” Sam said, and let out a little yawn.

“But I’m more charming, right?” He spun her stool sideways so that he could stand between her legs.

“If you say so.” She flashed him a teasing smile and reached up to kiss him. It was dark outside, but her lips felt like sunshine, warming him all the way to his toes.

“Wanna go to bed?” He slid his hands under her tank top, inching up until he fondled her breasts. His brain was screaming
You idiot
, but the rest of him promised this would be the last time. Just tonight.

Right
.

“With you or Brady?” she said.

“Not funny. You wanna just do it here?” He was partially kidding.

But when she didn’t say no, he boosted her up on the counter and untied the drawstring on her shorts. She wrapped her legs around his waist and reached for his belt. He tongued her beautiful breasts through the thin fabric of her top.

“What are we doing, Nate?”

“Having fun,” he said low in his throat because while she brushed her hand against his fly he was finding it difficult to breathe.

She undid the buttons on his shirt, running her fingers through the hair on his chest. He shrugged the shirt off, tugged off her tank, and she wiggled out of her shorts until they dropped on the floor. They kissed and touched and rubbed on each other until he couldn’t wait anymore. He grabbed a condom from his wallet and dropped his pants.

“Is that all?” she asked, spreading her gorgeous thighs to let him in.

“All what?” He’d lost track of the conversation about two intense kisses ago.

“Just having fun?” she said as he pulled her to the edge of the granite, slid inside her and pumped so hard and fast he thought he’d lose his mind. “Because I think I may be falling in love with you.”

And that’s when Nate climaxed.

 

He didn’t say anything when they were done, just pulled up his pants and lifted Sam off the counter. She stood there naked and sated and sure that she’d turned fifty shades of red. How could she have blurted such a thing? Hopefully he would think her declaration a mere spontaneous utterance. A lot of people said weird things in the throes of passion. Everyone knew it didn’t mean anything. Maybe she was just a floozy who told every man she slept with that she loved him.

“I better get going,” he finally said, and she scrambled for her tank top and shorts, throwing them on like a teenager who’d just been caught having sex with the boy next door.

“Okay.” It came out like a croak. “See you tomorrow.”

“Yeah, see you tomorrow.” Maybe it was her imagination, but he seemed to run for the door.