Nate

Addilyn leads the way to her old room. She’s so worried about what everyone thinks of her being single, but being here the very short time I have I can already say she has nothing to worry about. They’ve all got their own problems going on, but that’s family. I’m not sure she knows or realizes but she’s probably been a good distraction for them to focus on.

Opening the door, she steps inside. “I didn’t even consider the sleeping situation. I’ll take the floor.”

I put the bags by the closet and sit down on the queen sized bed covered with a pink and purple floral comforter. There are boy band posters around the room and stuffed animals on a small chair in the corner. Pictures lining the walls of a younger Addilyn and friends bring a small grin to my face.

“Nice room,” I joke.

Covering her face, she groans. “This is so embarrassing.”

“It’s not embarrassing for me,” I laugh.

She jerks her head toward me and shakes it. “It’s bad enough you’re dealing with my family, but getting a glimpse into my past, that’s not what I wanted.” Falling face first onto the bed, she turns her head to look at me. “You really are good at what you do.”

Pushing a piece of fallen hair out of her face, I smile. “I told you I was.”

Her green eyes bounce around searching mine before she clears her throat. “That story you told about how we met. Is that umm, is that the script you follow?”

I rest back on my elbows and turn my head toward her. “You can’t analyze everything I say and do or you’ll drive yourself crazy. Think of it like this, if you were in a new relationship, would you wonder if everything he said was something he’s said before?”

“No I wouldn’t, but he also wouldn’t be a guy that was hired to be my boyfriend so I wouldn’t think about it,” she says, slightly lifting one shoulder.

“Okay listen and I’m only going to say this once. No I’ve never said that story before. I don’t follow a script, I go with my gut. My gut told me if we were set up that’s how it would have went down,” I admit. Why do I admit it? I have no idea because the less she knows the better it is when I walk away at the end of this.

A small blush colors her cheeks as she drops her eyes for a minute. “Are you always this charming?”

I laugh and fall onto my back focusing on the ceiling. “No, I’m definitely not.”

“How’d you get into doing this? I mean let’s be honest here you’re damn hot, I don’t think you’d have a problem getting a date or a quickie.”

“I didn’t decide to do this to meet women, I told you my rules and I’ve never broken one. It’s about giving women the confidence they need to get out of their own way. To let them discover it’s not me they are in search of, it’s finding out who they really are,” I explain.

“And you do that in a day or two?” she asks, unconvinced.

Standing up, I motion with my head for her. “Get up.”

“What?” she asks, laughing.

“I said, get up,” I say a bit more forcefully.

She sits up looking at me for a second before she stands. “Okay, I’m up. Now what?”

She’s a real smartass, but I like it. “You asked if I’m able to do all that in a day or two, right?”

Crossing her arms, she raises a brow. “Yeah I did because no one is that good.”

I step toward her slowly and with each step I take forward, she takes one backwards. My eyes are locked onto hers, drinking her in and I can see her chest start to rise and fall a bit quicker. She backs right up against the wall and I push my leg between hers. Grabbing her wrists, I pin her arms above her head. My lips are a breath away from hers when I hear her let out a soft sigh.

“Close your eyes,” I whisper. Her smart mouth has nothing to say this time and she quickly closes them. Moving my mouth to her ear the urge to nip at it is strong, but I won’t break my rules. “Addilyn, you are a strong, beautiful, independent woman. You don’t need a man to make you feel good about yourself, you already do. It shows in the way you carry yourself. You’re  extremely confident. You’re funny, sexy, intelligent and any man would be lucky to have you.” Moving my lips back to hers, I let them hover right above them. “You need to let down your guard and let everyone around you see how fucking amazing you are.”

I step back and grin when she stays pressed against the wall.

“Damn,” she whispers. Cracking her eyes open, she licks her lips. “You’re some kind of magician, Nate.”

“Told you. Now come on, let’s go impress your family.”

They are loud and crazy, but you can see they all have love for each other. It reminds me of spending Christmas with my family before they decided to pack up and move to London. Don’t get me wrong, we’re still close, we just don’t see each other.

“So Nate, what is it you do for a living anyway?” Charles asks as we finish up dessert.

Addilyn’s eyes widen a bit and I squeeze her leg under the table. She needs to stop giving away her fears so easily and have a bit of faith in me.

“I’m in personal investments,” I say, sipping my coffee as I toss my arm over Addilyn’s chair.

“Oh, that sounds interesting. What is it exactly?” Bridget asks.

“Sounds like he’s trying to hide the fact he doesn’t have a job,” Andrew mumbles. That guy is a dick and I’m gonna end up punching him in the mouth. But, I get it, overprotective brother and all.

Clearing my throat, I look around the table at them all, pinning him with my stare. “No Andrew I do in fact have a job. A very good paying job actually.” Turning to Bridget, I grin. “I listen to what it is people want and I help them build that dream.”

“Wow Addie, you did good. I mean he’s good looking, smart, and has money. Don’t screw this one up,” Abigail says, laughing as she sips her wine.

“Jealous?” Addilyn asks and it makes me fucking grin. There’s her confidence.

“Jealous? Please, you’ve envied me for years,” Abigail comes backs with.

Charles stands up and everyone shuts up. “Enough girls. Now, if you’ll excuse me, Nate and I are going to the basement.”

Kissing Addilyn on the cheek, I stand. “Lead the way.”

I can hear the complaining of no one else being invited to come to the basement. It makes me chuckle as I follow Charles. Once down there he flicks on the lights and it comes to life. He goes on and on about where he got each piece of the train set. How it took years to get the display like this. The amount of time and money he’s spent trying to find just the right piece. It’s not my thing, but I have to give him credit that he loves what he’s doing.

“So, I guess you and Addie are getting pretty close, huh?” he asks, puffing on his cigar.

“We’re definitely in a good place,” I say, trying to cover up the truth.

Slapping me on the back, he smiles. “She’s a good girl, I’m glad she’s found such a good guy.”

For the first time I feel a cluster of guilt for what I’m doing. She’s going to end up having a mess to clean up after I walk away and I don’t like that thought. Not at all.

When we finally make our way back upstairs it’s late and everyone has gone to bed. I get into the bedroom and Addilyn is making a bed on the floor.

“What the hell are you doing?” I ask, picking up the pillows she’s just thrown down.

“I’m exhausted so I’m making my bed,” she says, trying to pull them away from me.

Shaking my head, I toss them on the bed. “Don’t be ridiculous, get in the bed. You’re not sleeping on the floor like a damn dog. I’m not going to touch you, just sleep next to you.”

Chewing her plump bottom lip, she keeps looking from me to the bed. “I don’t know.”

Pulling off my shirt and stepping out of my jeans, I stand there in just my boxers. I pull back the covers and pat the bed. “Well I do, so get your ass in the bed so we can go to sleep.”

I climb in and finally she does too, but making sure to keep a huge distance between us. She’s wearing this small T-shirt and panties, that’s it. How do I know? Because I can see her hard nipples poking through her shirt and I need to adjust my cock. Maybe she’s right, maybe this is a bad idea because for the first time ever I’m attracted to a client. What I said to her earlier in the bedroom, it was all true. Mix that with how beautiful she is and her sexy body and it makes for a bad situation. Or a good one depending on how you want to look at it.