Page 19 of The Wrong Side Of Us

“It’s hard to focus when you’re naked on top of me,” he muttered.

I jumped off the bed, wincing when my legs contacted the floor. I was so sore. Nathan gave me a knowing smirk. I put on his shirt, buttoning just a few buttons and taking in his intense gaze on me. It darkened.

If he wanted to ever see me undressed ever again, I expected answers then and there. I sat on a chair at the other side of the room with my arms crossed over my chest.

“Really, babe?” he asked, running a hand over his face. I raised an eyebrow, and finally, he sat up. “Yes, it’s the girl from the club but—”

“But what?” I hissed, standing up. “You didn’t think to tell me that your business partner was the woman that had come onto you that night? Did you talk to her after we fucked in that restroom or what?”

Nathan grimaced.

“Oh my God. You did!”

I covered my mouth in shock and disgust. I’d left so overwhelmed that night, and he spent it talking up some chick at the club.

“It’s not like that, Evie.” He ran a hand over his face, complaining about how we should have stayed at my place.

Maybe we should have.

I would have been able to kick him out then.

“You left that night. You were pissed and rightly so. After you left, she figured it out, I guess.” Nathan shrugged, a tight smile forming on his face. “We talked, she gave me her number, and that’s it. I never called her.”

I scoffed. “Are you sure? Because otherwise you wouldn’t have had this business deal with her.”

“Yeah, so remember the couple of dates I went on? The double date thing with Thomas and his wife?”

My eyes widened. “You’re fucking kidding me, Nathan.”

He gave me an ashamed look. “Turns out she’s one of the friends his wife told him about.”

I groaned, running my hands through my hair. “Let me get this straight. Jesse flirts with you at the club. You follow me to the restroom, and we do…stuff. I leave, and you talk to her. She gives you her number. You don’t call her. I leave Pennsylvania. You start dating, and it turns out that in a blind double date, she is the date.”

Nathan gave me a slow nod. “Yeah. Pretty much.”

I glared at him, biting on my lip. “It seems like destiny keeps pushing you two together. I think I’m in the way, to be honest.”

Nathan raised his eyebrows, and then he laughed.

The man had the nerve to laugh at me.

“Baby, you’re being irrational. It didn’t work out, and now we’re just friends. Art is the only thing we have in common,” he said as he approached me.

“Yeah. Just friends. Very friendly friends. Friends that are very friendly when other friends aren’t around. Friends that f—”

“Okay, Evie,” Nathan said, stopping me by cupping my face in his hands. “Shut up and listen to me. Nothing happened between us.” He took my hands in his, placing a kiss on each of them. “I didn’t sleep with her, okay? I know that’s what you’re wondering. I didn’t. Never even considered it. Hm?”

“I am being irrational, aren’t I?” I whispered, searching his face for any annoyance. I didn’t find any.

Nathan didn’t seem frustrated by my outburst or the way I had reacted. In fact, he remained the same patient man I always knew and caressed my cheek softly. “I need you to trust me, Evie. If we want this to work, you need to trust me like I trust you, okay?”

I nodded slowly, but still felt uneasy. As much as I trusted him, I didn’t trust her. Something about her didn’t sit right with me.

The way she looked at him was too flirty. I knew what I saw.

“You’re not comfortable with her, are you?” Nathan knowingly asked.

“No,” I said quietly. “But I’m being stupid.”

---