Page 14 of Devoted Enough

I opened the guest bedroom door and walked down the hall. To my right was a door leading outside. I walked past it andinto the family room and abruptly stopped. Two things had my mouth hanging open.

One was the insanely beautiful room with rustic wood planks adorning the walls and the large beams on the ceiling.

Two, Nate stood in black sweatpants and a blue T-shirt, and his feet were bare of shoes or socks.

He’s barefoot. In sweats. Looking hot as hell.

“Oh, God,” I whispered under my breath.Why am I being punished this way? Why?

I walked farther into the room and stopped again when I saw Nate walk over to the wood pile.

“Holy. Shit.”

Nate looked up from where he was building a fire in the fireplace that I hadn’t even noticed. The back side of the room had floor-to-ceiling windows with sliding doors that led out back. A large sectional sofa faced the fire in the middle of the room. Above the fire was a large TV screen. When I turned to my left, I slowly shook my head. A rustic bar made from more large timbers of wood and a stunning black granite counter stood. Behind it were more cabinets, a lighter color than the rest of the cabinets in the house. They held different types of liquor. There was a sink, and as I walked closer, I asked, “Is that draft beer?”

Nate laughed. “Yeah. A request from my cousins when we were designing this area.”

Turning, I looked at a room made of three sides of glass that held wine inside of it. The wall with all of the wine had a black rod system that held all of the wine. It looked like it was made of reclaimed wood.

I looked at Nate. “This room should be in a magazine.”

He winked. “It was. Rose has a friend who works for an architecture firm in Boise, and he designed this whole room, and it was featured in some architecture magazine. They were here for days staging it and taking pictures.”

“I’ve never seen anything like it. Do you like wine?”

Nate shrugged. “I can drink it, but it’s not my go-to. That is.” He pointed to the draft beer, and I laughed. This easy conversation between us wasn’t normal, but I liked it. The intimacy of it. Maybe a little more than I should.

“Speaking of, would you like something to drink?”

“That would be nice.”

“I could make a hot toddy, or a simple glass of whiskey should do the trick.”

Smiling, I said, “Whiskey sounds good. I’ve never had it before.”

Nate paused and glanced over his shoulder. “What?”

“Nope,” I said as I popped my P while sliding onto the bar stool. There were two.

He laughed softly, and I ignored the slight tremor that went through my body at the sound.

He isn’t interested in you like that, Haven.

When he turned around and handed me the whiskey, I was again struck by how handsome Nate Shaw was. His brown hair looked like he had run his hand through it multiple times, and those eyes of his. Were they gray or silver? Maybe the lightest of blue. I just couldn’t tell. All I knew was I had never seen eyes that color before.

“Thank you,” I said as I took the whiskey glass and brought it to my nose. It was sweet and fragrant and had what I could only describe as a grassy or hay-like scent. I took a drink and started to cough.

“Holy shit!” I hit my chest. “That hit the back of my throat, and it burns!”

Nate laughed. “I’m not a fan of whiskey at all.”

“Why did you give it to me then?” I asked.

“You wanted something to warm you up.”

“A spiked pumpkin latte would have been better.”

Nate looked around and held up his hands. “I’m all out of pumpkin spice. Sorry.”

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