Page 47 of Rescued Love
“I thought you normally meet up with Hailey on Saturday nights,” Nathan leans down and whispers his open-ended question in my ear.
I grin at him and explain, “Normally, but Wesley is on shift Sunday. When that happens, we have to plan ahead because he won’t drink anything, even one beer, if it’s too close to his shift.”
“Good man,” he mutters.
I can’t help but agree. The bar is busy enough on Friday night anyway. When I see Hailey and Wesley at a table, I wave at them. Nathan starts to lead me their way, but I veer off and go toward the bar.
“You go sit down, I’ll get your drink, Kitten,” he insists.
“Nope,” I tell him with a shake of my head, “I lost a bet to Hailey. First round is on me.”
Nathan arches an eyebrow in question and my face heats up under his perusal. I clear my throat and mumble under my breath, “It was a bet about you.”
I’m not sure whether he hears me or not when he prods, “I’m sorry, what? It’s kind of loud in here and I couldn’t hear you.”
“Fine,” I sigh and roll my eyes. “It was a bet about you.” His eyes widen and I’m quick to add, “It’s nothing bad, I promise. The other day when she called me, after you spent the night,” I bite my lip and he nods slowly, his eyes turning lustful, “she said you’d be waiting for me again when I got home.”
“You didn’t think I’d be there?” There’s a sliver of hurt in his voice as his eyebrows pull together.
“It’s not that. I wanted you to be there. We just, hadn’t, you know, made solid plans or anything,” I explain. “When she said that first round was on me if you were there waiting for me, it’s not like I bet against you. I was,” I pause trying to find the right word, “hopeful you’d be there.”
He chuckles and shakes his head while wrapping an arm around my shoulders and tucking me into his side. “I should have made plans with you. That day I was worried about whether it would be too much. I didn’t want to push you, but I also wanted to see you.” His voice lowers as he moves closer, his lips brushing my ear as he admits, “I couldn’t stop thinking about you all day, Kimball. I’m finding it to be a chronic problem.”
“Oh? Is it? Do you need to see a specialist for that problem?”
His soft chuckle shoots right through me. “Yeah,” he agrees, “just you. Just need to see you and it seems I’m cured.”
I melt against him, soaking up his strength and warmth. When someone clears their throat on the other side of the bar, I look up to find Dixon grinning from ear to ear as his eyes bounce back and forth between us.
He practically fucking crows, “I knew it.” He leans over the bar slightly. “I wasn’t sure if the rumors going around town were true or not, but I was hoping they were.”
Nathan pipes up, “Rumors?”
I sigh and Dixon chuckles. “Small towns, man. Not much stays a secret around here for long. People like to talk,” he holds his hands up, “normally not in a bad way.”
“Talk or put their noses in everyone’s business,” I lob his direction.
He scratches jaw like he’s thinking about it for a moment before shrugging. “Both?”
“Definitely both,” I agree and grin.
My belly knots because maybe Nathan doesn’t like people talking about him. It’s not like in the city where there’s a certain level of anonymity. We know each other here and, for the majority of us, we’ve lived around each other for our entire lives.
Some people find that comforting. I could also imagine that some people would find it invasive and stifling.
I hazard a glance up at Nathan to find him relaxed and seemingly not at all bothered about being talked about. When he looks down at me, he winks before kissing my forehead.
Oh. Okay. I guess we’re really doing this.
“You gotta know, that’ll get people talking even more,” I tell him out of the corner of my mouth.
“Good,” he grunts.
Dixon chuckles as he places two beers and two glasses in front of us. When I go to grab my cash out of my back pocket, Nathan beats me to it and pulls out his wallet.
“I got it,” I tell him, but he just shakes his head.
“Don’t think so, Kitten.” When he pulls his card out, he hands it to Dixon and smiles. “Can I start a tab?”