Page 2 of The Story of Us
It looked like the Hamilton’s sheep had rampaged through the kitchen. The floor was covered in smashed vases, cocktail glasses and trampled peonies. Bright red spots of blood were scattered across Charlie’s crisp white shirt, and his black tie was flung over his shoulder, a wad of paper towel clutched in his hand.
“What happened?” Eloise asked.
“I slipped. Then I cut my hand, and now I’ve ruined everything,” Charlie hissed.
“I’ll go get Mary.” Nate started to turn, but Eloise grabbed his arm and he ignored the urge to lean into her touch.
“No. Mum’s super stressed about tonight already. I can fix this.” Eloise hurried over to Charlie.
Everyone knew how hard Mary had been working on tonight’s dinner, especially the centrepieces. She’d spent months growing the flowers and studying how best to arrange them. DIY was Mary Hamilton’s middle name.
“I don’t think it needs stitches, but you need to keep pressure on it. Hold it above your heart,” Eloise said before surveying the mess. Nate definitely didn’t notice the way the material of her dress clung to her breasts when she planted her hands on her hips. Nope. Not him.
“Okay.” She clapped, all business and dangerously sexy. “Nate, you’re on clean-up duty. Charlie, stop pretending you’re bleeding to death. I’ll patch you up and then sort something for the centrepieces.”
“What about my shirt? Sera wanted everything to be perfect. You know how her parents can be.” Charlie shot a furtive glance at Nate. “Tell her. You’re the only one who’s met them.”
Out of respect for his best mate, Nate chose his words carefully. The Fletchers were …different.“They’re nice.”
In truth, they were exactly like what anyone would expect a fifth-generation oil magnate from Texas and his socialite wife to be. Friendly, but also not afraid to tell people they owned a blimp with their faces on it and had just purchased a NASCAR team. The Fletchers had achieved an upper echelon of super wealth few people even knew existed. They made the money Nate had earnt during his professional sporting career look like peanuts.
Charlie rolled his eyes, wincing when Eloise plucked a bandage and piece of gauze out of a first-aid kit and started wrapping his wound. “They’re going to eat my parents alive, and you know it. Mum and Dad know it. Hence this ludicrous dinner. The next six weeks are going to be hell.”
Nate was still shocked Charlie had fallen in love with one of the Arizona Mustangs’ cheerleaders on a trip to America to visit him. When Sera had followed Charlie home to Wattle Junction, it had surprised everyone, and now they were hosting a wedding filled with all the glamour and extravagance normally associated with royalty.
He purposely avoided Charlie’s gaze as he rummaged through the cleaning cupboard near the door. There was no need to point out that the only reason they were having this ‘meet the families’ soirée was that Sera’s parents had insisted on organising and paying for everything else for the wedding, even though they lived on the other side of the world. Tonight was the Hamiltons’ only chance to celebrate their son’s marriage on their terms.
Nate started sweeping, salvaging as many flowers as he could. Everything just had to go well. The Hamiltons were some of the nicest, hardest-working people he’d ever met. They were only sixteen when Charlie was born, and everything in this house was a testament to the love they shared and all the sacrifices they’d made for their family. As a transient resident of Wattle Junction since his teens, thanks to scoring a sports scholarship at school in Melbourne, Nate had been grateful that the Hamiltons never treated him any differently. Even after the NFL had made him a superstar and completely changed the trajectory of his life.
“What am I going to do about my shirt?” Charlie asked, and Nate recognised the waver in his friend’s voice for what it was: nerves. Their friendship had changed over the last few years as Charlie and Sera had got more serious, which was fine. And natural. But Charlie was still the guy Nate had grown up with, even if the list of things they had in common these days was dwindling.
“Take it off. We’ll swap.” Nate pulled his shirt out of his pants and shrugged out of it, leaving him in his white cotton singlet.
Eloise’s eyes widened, a pink tinge skating up the column of her throat and blooming on her cheeks. It was just another reminder that Nate’s resolution to stop noticing everything about her was a total failure.
“Instead of staring at Nate’s muscles, do you think you could help me?” Charlie clicked his fingers in front of Eloise’s face, and her blush deepened.
“Shut up and hold still.” She sprang into action, helping her brother with his buttons and tie.
“Charlie?” Sera’s Texan twang floated down the hallway. “Where are you, baby?”
“Are you trying to touch my butt?” Charlie hissed as Eloise started tucking Nate’s shirt into his pants.
“I didn’t touch your … I’m trying to help you.” Her sigh made Nate smile. It widened when she shoved Charlie towards the door. “Keep everyone away from the kitchen. Nate and I will sort this out.”
See? The Hamiltons were just like his family. His brothers Teddy, Owen and Rafferty were always teasing each other. But even better? They never hesitated to support each other as well, which made the fact that Nate had been keeping secrets from them all for years even worse.
“Is my shirt even going to fit you?” Charlie asked Nate.
Charlie was a fit guy from all his work as a builder, but his shoulders weren’t nearly as broad. Nate slid his arms in, the material catching on his biceps and refusing to go any further.
“Oh, wow,” Eloise breathed before stifling a giggle. She crossed the room, and Nate almost swallowed his tongue when one of her toned, tanned legs peeked out through the high slit in the front of her dress.
She held her hands out in front of him. “What if we …” Her hands curled around the open sides of the shirt, and she tugged.
He’d had plenty of dreams about her pulling his clothes off. Never the other way around.
She tugged again. Nothing happened.
