Welcome to Paradise: Welcome to Paradise, Book 1 (4 page)

She was still tiny, barely over five feet. Still curvy, the hills and valleys of her figure hugged by a green dress with a deep vee neckline and a filmy skirt that seductively swirled around her knees. Her bright red hair was tied up in a twist, with wavy wisps framing her heart-shaped face and contrasting wildly with her pale, almost lime-green eyes. Her cupid’s bow of a mouth made his own mouth tingle, and the way she pressed her body into his had him battling the impulse to throw her down on the floor and devour her.

“You look good,” she murmured as she wrapped her arms around his neck.

Nate rested his palms on her waist, fighting the urge to tug her even closer and rub his aching dick against the juncture of her thighs. “You look good too.”

Good? Talk about the understatement of the year.

“Thank you,” she said simply.

They moved to the music in a slow, sensual rhythm. From the corner of his eye, Nate saw Lexie watching them in disapproval. He spun Charlotte around so he wouldn’t have to see Lexie anymore. Charlotte was back. Charlotte was in his arms. Right now, that was all that mattered.

“I’ve been following your career,” he said gruffly. “You’ve done really well for yourself, Charlie.”

She hissed in a breath.

His hand froze on her slender hip. “What?”

“It’s just…nobody’s called me that in years.” Uneasiness flickered across her face. “Actually, you’re the only one who ever did.”

Nate’s chest squeezed as he absorbed the expression in her eyes. She was thinking about the past. More specifically,
their
past. Even more specific—the night he’d broken her heart.

He drew in a ragged breath. He’d always known that eventually he’d have to explain himself. To tell Charlotte why he’d done what he did.

“I’m glad you came home,” he said in a quiet voice. “After you left, I wanted so badly to—”

A red manicured finger pressed against his lips. “I don’t want to talk about why I left.”

Surprise jolted through him. “No?”

She shook her head. “It’s in the past, Nate. I’m over it.”

Relief and doubt warred in his body. “You are?”

A tiny smile tugged on the corner of her lush mouth. “We were kids. I know you probably didn’t even mean half of what you said.”

Try all of it.

“I’m thirty-two,” she went on, the smile becoming wry. “I don’t spend much time thinking about conversations I had when I was seventeen.”

He searched her beautiful face and saw only sincerity reflecting back at him. She was serious. The heartless words that had torn his stomach into knots all these years evidently had not had the same effect on Charlotte.

“I never got to apologize to you,” he found himself blurting.

The finger that seconds ago had touched his lips now gently traced the line of his jaw. “You were forgiven a long time ago.”

Nate could hardly describe the burst of joy that went off inside him like fireworks. Charlotte had forgiven him? For so long he’d longed to see her, to hear her voice and look into her eyes and see anything but the despair he so clearly remembered. For a moment, he almost launched into an apology anyway, at least so he could explain why he’d broken up with her the way he had, but he couldn’t bring himself to say the words. Charlotte was here, with an earnest and slightly playful glimmer in her beautiful green eyes, and he didn’t want to spoil the moment.

The music changed, becoming an up-tempo Bobby Darin song, but neither Nate nor Charlotte altered the lazy pace they’d set. All around them, their former classmates were dancing and laughing and chatting over drinks, but Nate didn’t pay them any attention. All he could focus on was the sexy woman in his arms.

“I thought about you a lot over the years,” Charlotte admitted, nestling her head on his shoulder.

Nate swallowed. “You did?”

“Yeah.” Her breath was warm against his already feverish skin. “I wondered what you looked like now, what you were doing.”

“Not much,” he said with a husky laugh. “Just running Dad’s pub, having a weekly poker game with Owen and some other guys, pretty much living a very boring life.”

“Nate Bishop, boring?” Her eyes twinkled. “What happened to the wild guy I used to know?”

“He grew up.” Nate laughed again. “Your life seems pretty wild, though.”

“More like exhausting.”

She laughed, and the melodic sound sent a jolt of arousal straight down to his groin. Fuck, he wanted her. So damn much. How was it possible that in fifteen years he still felt the same uncontrollable desire for this woman?

“I’m in the studio most of the time, or on tour, or writing songs in my apartment. I don’t go out much, to be honest.”

He believed her. From what he knew from the papers, Charlotte made a huge effort to stay out of the limelight. She rarely gave interviews, never spoke of her personal life and was hardly ever caught by the paparazzi. Which was excruciatingly irritating since he had no way of knowing what she was doing, if she was seeing anyone…

Judging by the bare ring finger of her left hand, and the way she was seductively moving her body against his, he suspected she was very much single.

“Coming here was tough,” she added. “I wasn’t sure if I would.”

He met her eyes. “Why did you?”

After a long beat of hesitation, she tightened her grip around his neck and whispered, “I wanted to see you.”

Nate was dumbfounded. Was he hearing things? The girl he’d once loved so desperately had grown up into a sexy, talented woman, and instead of hating him for the way he’d treated her, she’d come back to a town she despised just to see him.

And just when he thought she couldn’t surprise him any more, she threw him for another loop.

“I missed you, Nate.”

His mouth went bone-dry. “You did?”

“Yeah.” A secretive little smile swept across her mouth. “We had fun together, didn’t we?”

“Yeah, we had fun.”

To his sheer disappointment, her hands dropped from his shoulders and she took a step back. But then he saw the mischief dancing in her eyes and realized she wasn’t about to abandon him. “Why don’t we get a drink and catch up some more?” she suggested, already turning toward the bar without checking to see if he was following.

Which was exactly what he did.

As if a magnet were pulling him toward her, he followed Charlotte’s delectable backside and forced himself not to question this sudden stroke of good fortune.

Charlotte had forgiven him, and for the first time in years, there was a spring to his step as he went to join the only woman he’d ever loved.

He smelled really good. Too good, Charlotte amended as Nate bent to whisper something in her ear and the intoxicating scent of soap and spice and something deliciously masculine floated into her nose. She couldn’t believe how easily he’d bought her lie. Maybe he was so desperate to be rid of his own guilt that he actually believed she’d gotten over what happened between them.

But she hadn’t.

Although she’d had second thoughts about this silly seduction plan, the way Nate so carelessly brought up the past had seriously grated. Yes, she’d seen some guilt in his eyes, but she’d hoped for more.
It’s been a long time
. Fifteen years, and those were the first words he said to her? How about,
Fuck, Charlotte, I’m so, so, so sorry for what I said. For ripping your heart out and stomping on it with my boot. For making you so insecure you couldn’t have sex for four years after what I did.

But no, she got
It’s been a long time
.

And then when she’d acted as if his betrayal didn’t bother her, his face had brightened up like a kid’s eyes on Christmas morning. He’d probably been thinking,
Hey, I got off easy. She doesn’t even care that I dumped her three seconds after taking her virginity.

Jerk.

Though really, what had she been expecting? That he’d get down on his knees and grovel for her forgiveness?

Well, no. But she’d at least hoped to see some shame on his part.

I never got to apologize to you
.

Then do it now, she’d wanted to yell. She might have lied and said she’d forgiven him, but he should have still apologized, still tried to explain his actions. Instead, he’d let it go as effortlessly as she’d pretended to.

“I own all your records.”

His husky voice jolted her from her angry thoughts. Surprise joined the anger when she registered what he’d said. “You do?”

“You’re so talented, Charlie,” he said roughly. “I always knew you’d make it to the big time.”

The nickname made her heart somersault. Damn him. Why did he still affect her this way?

Before she could reply, a tall brunette hesitantly approached them, a napkin and pen in her hand. “I don’t mean to bother you, but would you mind signing an autograph?”

Charlotte pasted on a smile, all the while trying to figure out who the woman was. Cara something or other. Or was it Tara?

“I’m Tara,” the brunette added with a tentative smile. “We had P.E. together senior year.”

Right, Tara. Charlotte resisted the urge to glare as she suddenly remembered precisely who Tara was and what she had done. Tara and a few of her friends had stolen Charlotte’s clothes from the locker room after gym class one afternoon. They’d probably hoped she’d venture out in the hall, in all her nude glory, looking for help, but Charlotte had simply sat down on the hard wooden bench. And cried. Naked. For five hours, until the female janitor finally came into the locker room hours after school ended and scrounged up some clothes for the sobbing teenaged girl.

Fun times.

“My daughter is your biggest fan,” Tara confessed as she held out the napkin. “She said she’d kill me if I didn’t ask for an autograph.”

Clenching her teeth, Charlotte kept up the smile. “What’s her name?”

“Winnie.”

Taking the pen, Charlotte scrawled a quick note and signed her name with a flourish then handed the napkin back to her former tormentor.

“Thank you. She’s going to love it.” Tara smiled again, but the cloud of guilt in her eyes was unmistakable.

She remembered, just as Charlotte did, the locker room incident. With a tiny nod, Tara dashed off.

“That was nice of you,” Nate remarked.

She shrugged. “Part of the job.”

“Yeah, but you could have refused.” There was a knowing glimmer in his gorgeous gray eyes. “She’s the one who stole your clothes.”

Her heart did another flip. “You remember that?”

“I remember everything about you, Charlie.”

Their gazes locked, and, despite herself, Charlotte found herself reacting to his nearness, to the gentle expression on his handsome face. Her thighs squeezed together, her breasts suddenly felt achy and her pulse kicked up another notch.

She swallowed hard and attempted a flirty tone. “I’m not the same girl you knew in high school. I’m all grown up now.”

His eyes raked up and down her body, heating her skin.

Gathering up some much-needed courage, she set down her champagne flute on the counter behind them and placed her hand on his forearm. “What do you say we get out of here?”

Nate blinked. “Are you serious?”

She nodded.

“Don’t you want to stay and catch up with everyone?”

Her lips twisted in a self-deprecating smile. “What do you think?”

Nate laughed softly. “Sorry, stupid question.”

“Besides,” she said, lowering her voice to a sexy pitch, “there’s only one person I want to catch up with. And I think it’ll be way more fun if we did the catching up in private.”

A beat of silence. Nate’s strong, corded throat bobbed as he swallowed.

For a second, Charlotte feared he might turn her down, but to her relief, he gave a brisk nod, cleared his throat and said, “Let’s go.”

Lexie was fuming as she watched Nate leave the party with Charlotte. Their body language practically screamed
We’re going to screw ourselves silly
. Her fingers tightened over the stem of her wineglass. She forced herself to loosen her grip before the damn glass shattered, but it was hard to stay calm when you were watching someone you cared about going off to make the biggest mistake of his life.

Yet it wasn’t jealousy that coursed through her blood. Only concern. Aside from that one awkward kiss she and Nate had shared, there was nothing romantic between them, and never would be. Nate Bishop was the big brother she’d never had. With two younger sisters, Lexie had always been the protector, the one who made sure the people she cared about didn’t get hurt. And then she’d started spending time with Nate and she finally knew what it felt like to be the one being protected. Several years ago, the two of them had shared a booth at Betty’s when the diner had been packed to the gills. Rather than turn away business or make her customers wait, Betty had the habit of seating random people together, often strangers.

Lexie and Nate weren’t strangers, of course, but they hadn’t been friends either. That morning, they’d been forced to eat together, and to Lexie’s surprise, Nate Bishop turned out to be nothing like she’d previously thought. He was actually sweet. Attentive. Intelligent as hell. She’d enjoyed being with him, and to her shock, he’d enjoyed her company too, apparently enough to start having breakfast with her every morning that followed.

Nate Bishop, the boy she’d once considered rude and full of himself, had ended up becoming one of her best friends. Scratch that—her
only
friend.

And she wasn’t about to stand by and watch him get hurt.

Charlotte Hill was up to something. Lexie had always been able to read people, and she’d read Charlotte like a neon billboard right now. What the hell was the woman up to? Maybe Ms. Rich and Famous had simply taken one look at a grown-up, sexy Nate and decided she wanted a trip down memory lane, yet somehow Lexie doubted it. She’d watched them on the dance floor, and for one brief moment, she’d witnessed a flash of pure anger in Charlotte’s eyes. The seductive dance and teasing smiles had been a show. Lexie felt it deep in her gut.

But what game was Charlotte playing, and how did it involve Nate?

Unable to keep a smile on her face any longer, Lexie handed her half-full glass to a passing waiter and made her way through the crowd toward the sidewalk. Forget this reunion. She didn’t feel like making small talk with people whose lives she had zero interest in.