Chapter Fourteen
Red rose petals were scattered over the soft duvet. Long-stemmed roses in the same shade were artfully arranged in a modern blown glass vase on one of the artisan wooden bedside tables. A bottle of sparkling wine was chilling in a silver bucket of ice, and beside it on the small dining table, also on ice, was a platter of chocolate-covered strawberries.
Ellie had just put the finishing touches on a gift basket that she and the other bridesmaids had put together, all little things that the happy couple might want or need on their wedding night or the morning after—coconut water, aspirin, even a small bottle of massage oil, though she didn’t much care to think of Chase using that.
The honeymoon suite was all set for a big night of romance. And looking around, Ellie could do nothing but feel her heart ache.
She didn’t want to get married right this second or anything. Hell, before this weekend, she hadn’t been certain that she wanted to get married at all. But it just went to show that when the right person was involved, all previous notions went right out the window.
Ellie had first felt that spark between her and Nate when they were little more than children, and now…
While this weekend had started with him helping her prove a point, that she was a desirable woman, she’d broken the rules. Hell, had she ever had a chance? A man who would arrange such a sweet romantic gesture for his friends—it melted the steely reserves that she’d so desperately tried to shore up.
She’d be lying to herself if she said that she wanted anything other than Nate to tell her that he wanted her forever. But even if he did, no matter how hot the flame between them burned, she knew, she just knew, that out in the real world, away from their home town, it would be extinguished with one small gust of a supermodel.
It wasn’t low self-esteem saying that, nor was it pessimism. It was just a fact. His dates were featured in the tabloids. He was one of America’s most eligible bachelors.
And she? She was an optometrist from his childhood. Pretty on good days, but still lacking that sparkle he couldn’t resist. The math wasn’t hard.
So all that was left was to decide how to handle their final encounter—and she knew there would be one. She’d never make it hard for him to walk away. But that didn’t mean she wouldn’t gorge herself on every last drop of him before he left.
She wasn’t even surprised to hear the electronic beep that signalled someone using their key card to enter the room. She’d seen the determination in Nate’s eyes before she slipped upstairs. He hadn’t gotten where he was in life by giving up.
And ninety per cent of her was thrilled to have that kind of drive focused on her. The other ten percent, though? It was absolutely, completely terrified.
“You’re hiding from me.” Nate slipped into the room and closed the door behind him with his heel, then latched the security chain. She expected him to stalk toward her, to run his hands over her body, to do the things that already felt familiar.
Instead he stood just inside the room, hands stuffed in the pockets of his suit jacket. And unless she was very much mistaken, he was pissed.
“I’m not hiding.” His irritation teased out her own, and she turned away from him, pretending to fuss with the contents of the gift basket. “Someone had to decorate the room for the newlyweds. I was elected.”
“Don’t lie to me.” Nate’s voice was sharp, sharper than she’d ever heard it before, and she whipped her gaze to where he stood, his lean frame set in tense lines. “Whatever else happens here, Ellie, we’ll be honest with each other.”
“I—” Why did this suddenly feel like the end? And why did it feel like her fault? Panic rushed through her, turning her fingers to ice and clogging her throat.
“Ellie.” Cursing beneath his breath, Nate closed the space between them. Ellie reached for him, wrapping her arms around his shoulders. He pulled her in close against his chest, and she drew in a deep breath, savoring his scent.
His next words stopped her cold.
“Don’t you see, Ellie?” He spoke into her hair, still arranged so carefully in the neat blonde coils from the salon. “The ball is in your court. I need you to tell me what you want. I can’t give it to you unless you do.”
Ellie felt her pulse stutter. Nate brought out a side of her that she hadn’t known existed, and with him she could push herself… but he was asking her for the one thing she couldn’t do.
“Nate.” She knew what she wanted to tell him—that she wanted more than just this weekend. But she couldn’t be one of those women who threw herself at him. How could he want her in return if she did? They all threw themselves at him.
And though he waited, watching her with his face set in impassive lines, she wanted to be more to him than just another woman. She wanted to be different. And if he wanted more than a weekend, he was going to have to say so.
“Kiss me.” Okay, maybe she wasn’t so different from all of those other women, because as he tightened his arms around her, desperation reared up, slamming against her ribcage, demanding to be heard.
Still, the words that mattered stuck in her throat.
No, she couldn’t tell him, but maybe she could show him—could show him even just the merest sliver of what she felt.
“Ellie.” Nate’s voice was raw as he allowed her to drag his face down to meet hers. And when his lips crashed into hers, she could taste the same desperation fuelling her, and to her mortification, a single scalding tear slipped down her cheek as emotion wracked her body.
“Just tell me. Please.” Nate spoke the words with his lips still pressed to her own, one hand reaching up to tug at the smooth coils of her hair.
The words remained lodged in her throat. She pressed her lips to his again. She needed the fire. He gave it to her, but banked the bright flame with tenderness, leaving her trembling and unsure even as she gave him everything she had.
The sound of a key card fumbling at the lock had Nate freezing where he stood, his arms full of Ellie. He blinked, everything fuzzy, all of his senses saturated with Ellie, as he tried to blink his way out of the haze she had him in.
“Nate!” Ellie’s wide blue eyes were full of panic as she shoved him away. Her hands worked frantically through the mess he’d made of her sleek hairstyle, then traced over the lipstick that no longer glossed her mouth. “Someone’s coming!”
And that—that was all it took to snap him out of his trance. Taking one stride forward, closing the space between them again, he tangled his hand in her hair, tilting her head up until she was forced to look him in the eye.
“Let them see.” Ellie tried to tug away; he held firm. He watched as something that looked to him like hope fluttered across her face, mirroring what he felt in his heart.
He wanted so badly to tell her what he felt, what he wanted. There were a million reasons why he needed her to make that move, to prove that she really wanted him—issues with his mother, all of the women who had only wanted his money, needing to know for certain that, with her submissive nature, she hadn’t been pushed into agreeing with what he wanted, just to please him.
All of that fell by the wayside when confronted with the thought of losing her. He’d shove aside his pride, his dominance, everything that made him a man, if only it meant that he could keep her in his life.
“Let them see, Ellie.” The electronic beep of the card in the actual lock sounded; they only had seconds.
The door opened, and there was a curse as it caught on the security chain that Nate had slid into place when he entered the room. “Open the damn door, you two. I know you’re in there.”
It was Chase.
He knew.
Ellie’s eyes were wide with terror.
“We’re not doing anything wrong. Let him see that we’re together.”
“You’ve taken this too far, Nate!” she whispered fiercely as she pulled again at his grip on her hair.
He let her go, his heart shattering loudly enough that he was sure he could hear the shards of it crashing to the floor.
“This will never work. You know that. And I’m not telling Chase something that will hurt him and ruin his wedding day for no reason.”
I’m not telling Chase something that will hurt him and ruin his wedding day for no reason.
Even after all of their shared history, even after everything that had happened between them this weekend, she still thought he wouldn’t stay. The realization was like a blow straight to his gut.
Wordless, he stared down at her, trying to read the expression in those summer sky eyes.
The fact that she looked away told him everything he needed to know.
“Open the fucking door.” Chase pounded on it with his fist. “Meredith saw you both head up here. We need to talk. Now.”
Turning resolutely away from Ellie, Nate undid the security chain. Chase shoved forward into the room, and Nate simply stepped out of the way, impassively watching his best friend face off with the love of his life, as though it was happening to someone else.
“Ellie.” Chase looked his baby sister up and down, then groaned. Nate watched as Ellie’s hands fisted at her sides, catching in the silky fabric of her dress.
She said nothing, but as Chase looked from Ellie over to Nate, there was no denying the mess of his sister’s hair, the swollen lips, the tension that filled the room.
Chase glared at Nate. Nate stared back impassively until his friend pointed a finger at him sharply.
“I’m not surprised by this, coming from you. You’ve always wanted her, though I thought that maybe, just maybe you could hold yourself back, given that she is my little sister.”
Chase looked ready to punch him, and Nate…Well, before Chase had rushed through that door, Nate would have been ready to fight back, just to prove that his feelings for Ellie were real. Now, though… now that he truly understood how she thought of him?
There was no point. He’d stand here and let Chase beat the shit out of him, because without Ellie, what did it matter, after all?
“And you, Ellie.” Chase turned back to his sister, disappointment etched in the lines of his face. “I thought you were smarter than this.”
“What the hell is that supposed to mean?” Ellie’s spine straightened, and Nate felt a quick flicker of hope. Had she changed her mind? Was she going to own up to what they had between them?
“I mean that Nate is my friend,” Chase started, casting a sidelong glance at Nate. The judgment he saw there…
It transported Nate right back to his teen years, back to the days when most of the town looked at him and saw nothing but trash.
“He’s my friend,” Chase repeated slowly, stuffing his hands in the pockets of his suit trousers. “But you know what he’s like, El. You know. No matter what rainbows and unicorns you’ve dreamt up in your head about the two of you… they’re not going to happen. Nate’s a player. Hell, he’ll tell you that himself. And you deserve more.”
Chase gestured to Nate, as if asking him to support his point.
And in that moment Nate wondered if the biggest fool of all here was him.
He’d thought that when it came down to it, at least his friends would have his back. But maybe, even to them, he’d always been just low class Nathan Archer.
The silence was deafening as Nate swallowed thickly and looked at Ellie. She met his eyes, and her lips parted. He felt hope rise—here, finally, was someone who would defend him. Someone who saw him as he was.
But she said nothing, nothing more than a choked little cry that escaped her lips. And then Nate had to face the truth. Ellie cared for him. He knew that. What they had between them was real.
But she saw him the way the rest of the world did—as a playboy who would break her heart.
And as he shook his head and slammed out of the silent room, he knew that he had no one to blame but himself.