He choked out a laugh. “I’m not talking about sex. I’m talking about what happens after. I’m not a guy who sticks around. I don’t do love and romance. I don’t do long-term relationships and marriage.”
“I’m not asking more from you than you’re willing to give. I just want this, us together, making love under the stars.”
“Are you sure about that?”
Maybe he was right. Maybe this was a mistake, a mistake that she might not recover from because, while Nate had made it clear that he didn’t want more than a physical relationship, she did. She wanted so much more. Afraid she’d get a little emotional if she said the words, if she told him she wasn’t sure at all, she went to shake her head instead. But the rebellious side of her stopped that unhappy head shake with a thought. What if this was exactly what needed to happen for Nate to realize how good they could be together?
“I’ve never been more sure of anything in my life,” she whispered, drawing his mouth back to hers.
Chapter Eighteen
Nate opened one eye, squinting up at the bright blue sky and then down at the woman asleep in his arms. With her long silky hair spread over his chest, Ellie was pressed naked against his side with one leg flung over his. And instead of feeling trapped, a feeling that had him reaching for his boots the moment he woke up after spending the night with a woman, all he wanted to do was lie there with Ellie in his arms. He swore under his breath.
She lifted her head, kissed his chest, and offered him a sleepy smile. “H—” She broke off as she took in their surroundings. “Nate, it’s morning!” She nearly emasculated him trying to get out of the sleeping bag.
“Damn it, Ellie, give me a minute.”
“I don’t have a minute!” she said, wriggling out of the open end of the sleeping bag. She searched the ground. “I can’t find my phone. Where’s yours? I need to know the time.” With her hand, she motioned for him to hurry. But apparently he wasn’t fast enough because, less than a second later, she was running from the clearing.
“Ellie, you’re naked!” And so gorgeous, with the sun glistening off the midnight-black hair streaming behind her and on that incredible body he’d worshipped every inch of last night, he nearly swallowed his tongue.
She stopped, looked down at herself, then shrugged. “No one can see me here.”
“You don’t know that,” he shouted after her, thinking about the guy who’d been taking photos the other day. Nate tossed the sleeping bag aside, found his jeans, and quickly pulled them on. As he did, he scanned the area for their phones and her clothes. He spotted her T-shirt a couple yards away and had a visceral memory of stripping it off her. It was a memory he wouldn’t soon forget. He had a feeling he wouldn’t get a single second of the night they’d spent together out of his head. Worse, he didn’t want to.
“Idiot,” he muttered at himself as he walked to retrieve her T-shirt. He’d messed up big-time. He never should have made love with Ellie. Sex, you had sex, he told himself. But even as he repeated the word in his head, he knew it wasn’t true. It had been more. Everything with Ellie was more. He scooped up her T-shirt, spotted their phones nearby, and grabbed them.
“Ellie, it’s six thirty. We’ve got plenty of time,” he called out, jogging in the direction she’d gone. He found her half-hidden behind the cabin closest to the lake, peeking around the side of it.
“What are you doing?” he asked, then remembered he had her T-shirt in his hand. “Here.” He tossed it to her from where he stood, afraid that if he got too close, he wouldn’t be able to resist the temptation that was Ellie MacLeod.
She caught it, seemingly unfazed that she was naked. The woman was completely comfortable with her body, which surprised him. In his experience, most women weren’t. Then again, when a woman looked as incredible as Ellie did, he supposed he shouldn’t be surprised.
She shushed him. “Voices carry on the water. I’m checking to see who’s at the inn. I only have a view of the edge of the parking lot from here. You go check.” She pulled the T-shirt over her head.
“It’s not like it will change anything, Ellie.” He kept his eyes firmly on the ground. “Everyone knows we were out all night.”
“Not necessarily. We can say we went for an early breakfast. But if Granny, Sadie, or Abby are there, we won’t be able to fool them. Go.” She waved him off.
He sighed and walked down to the water’s edge. “We’re good. The truck is the only vehicle in the parking lot.” From the corner of his eye, he caught movement on the dock.
Joe waved. “Hey there, son. You kids have a nice, romantic night?”
* * *
“It’s your fault,” Nate told Chase as they replenished their trays with sandwiches in the kitchen six hours later.
Chase grinned. “I didn’t tell you to stay out all night or to let Joe see you this morning.” He popped a pink flower sandwich into his mouth.
“No, but you put the sleeping bag in there, and the wine.” It was a lame argument. He had no one to blame but himself. And the woman currently serving tea to a table of six. Ellie looked up and their gazes met and held. She smiled at him. There was nothing flirtatious or sexy about her smile, but his body reacted as if she’d just promised him a night like the one they’d shared.
“Sorry to be the one to break it to you. But it had nothing to do with the sleeping bag and wine. You haven’t taken your eyes off Ellie since Sadie and I arrived. You follow her every move, and she does the same with you. Then you both get these sappy looks on your faces and smile at each other. Face it, buddy. You’re in love with her.”
I’m not smiling, he started to say, but then he realized he was. Damn it. “Maybe you’ve been married too long to recognize the difference. It’s lust, not love, bro.” And just like that, Nate’s conversation with Ellie about couples in love came back to him. The conversation they’d had seconds before they’d made love. Seconds before they’d had sex, he corrected his wayward brain, at the same time remembering what Ellie had said couples in love do. Exactly what his best friend said they were doing.
Chase patted him on the back. “Keep telling yourself that if it makes you feel better.”
Sadie rushed over and grabbed the sandwich her husband was about to pop into his mouth. “Stop eating the sandwiches. We have another seating in twenty minutes.”
Right, the one where Nate’s family would take up half the dining room. He looked down at the kilt he’d been strong-armed into wearing by Abby. She’d had the brilliant idea that the staff at the inn should be dressed in Highland garb to pay tribute to the town’s Scottish roots and name. Nate would never live this down. His brothers-in-law would tease him mercilessly. At least Chase would have to endure it too.
“Hey,” Chase protested when Sadie popped the sandwich into her mouth. “How come you get to eat it and I don’t?”
She swallowed, then grinned and patted her husband’s cheek. “Because you’ve had four and I haven’t had any.”
And she knew this because she’d been sharing flirty glances with her husband the entire time she was waiting on tables. Nate and Ellie had been doing the same, only their glances weren’t flirty. They were heated, fueled by the memory of last night.