Page 23 of Devoted Enough

She huffed. “You certainly implied it. And you embarrassed me in front of Hank by offering to pay.”

“How in the hell did I embarrass you, Haven? The guy told me you couldn’t afford new tires, not the other way around.”

I headed toward the steps to the family room and waited to see if she followed. It took her half a second, but she was definitely following me.

“I’ll just call Ted. He can come and pick me up.”

“Great,” I replied. “If you need my address forTed, let me know.”

“You really are a jerk.”

Stopping, I turned to face her. “Why is that, Haven?”

“You’re just…you’re being too nice. You want something.”

I let out a bark of laughter. “You think you have me all figured out. Because I offered to bring you to my house so you could get warm and dry and fed you dinner because I was secretly hoping to just push you over the kitchen island and fuck you as payment for my good deeds.”

Her cheeks turned bright red.

The fire had gone down and I closed up the glass doors. I turned to see Haven had already dumped out the beer and had washed both glasses. They were sitting on a hand towel drying.

After ensuring everything was okay and I had given Haven enough time to call this Ted guy, I headed to the main floor. Haven was standing in the kitchen, leaning against the counter, her arms folded over her chest. I walked toward her and stopped.

“Is he on his way?”

Her lips pressed into a tight line, and she looked out the window into the darkness. I waited patiently for her to say something.

“He, um, he doesn’t think it’s a good idea to get out in this weather with some of the roads flooding.”

I nodded. What kind of pussy ass guy leaves the girl he is dating stranded at another man’s house?

“Do you want me to drive you home, Haven?”

Her gaze lifted, and I was gutted to see the emptiness in her beautiful eyes. Haven was always so full of energy, and to see her looking defeated, for lack of better words, left me remembering the last time I saw that look in her eyes. A strange ache squeezed my chest.

“If you don’t mind, I’d like to head home.”

I nodded. “I’ll just go change.”

Turning, I made my way to my bedroom and tried to tell myself there was no good reason to insist she stay the night. If she wanted to leave, then so be it. It was honestly for the best. Having her in my home was almost too much to take. My heart also knew that the sooner she left, the better.

Chapter Four

HAVEN

I watched as Nate turned and headed to his bedroom to change. Turning away from him, I paced the kitchen while wringing my hands. I hadn’t expected Ted to drop everything and drive to the Shaw Ranch to pick me up. We’d only been on a few dates, and he was a great guy, but we weren’t exclusive—he was probably with a woman.

Closing my eyes, I mumbled, “Stupid, Haven. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid.”

While Nate was changing, I quickly made my way back to the guest room to clean it up. I brought the clothes Nate had given me to wear and put them in the laundry room. As I made my way out, I didn’t see that he was right there and I bumped into Nate. He grabbed me by my arms to steady me.

“Whoa, you okay?”

The feel of his hands on my body made me tremble, and I quickly took a step back. “Yes, sorry about that.”

I quickly looked him over. He was wearing jeans, cowboy boots, and a long-sleeve navy shirt. I groaned internally. Why did he have to be so good-looking? It made it that much harder to dislike him.

Nathan stepped back and motioned for me to walk ahead of him.