Last Summer(63)

“Gawd, Skye. It’s early. Can I at least shower and dress first? Coffee sounds real good.”

Ella glances at the clock. Seven a.m. If they go downstairs for coffee, Nathan will get sucked into conversation with Scott or any one of the other guides or guests. It could be hours before she gets him alone again.

She shakes her head. “No, now. Let’s get this over with so I can go write. I’m on deadline. What did we do on the PCT?”

“Okay, fine. We hiked and we talked.”

“About what?”

He pinches the bridge of his nose and closes his eyes. “I don’t know. A lot of what we rehashed this week.”

She frowns. “That can’t be all.”

His eyebrows rise and hands flip as if saying what else does she expect?

A lot more.

There is a significant reason she agreed to go home with him.

Nathan watches her.

“Well . . . what happened next?” she prompts.

“Something unexpected.” He opens his eyes, letting his hand flop onto his belly. “I fell for you. I invited you to my place, and you helped me work through my guilt.”

“Yeah, I got that, but I feel like there’s something here I’m missing. Did you pull the article because we were involved?” she asks, holding his hand in her lap.

But that doesn’t explain why he came back to Luxe Avenue with the exclusive.

Nathan rubs the side of his nose, glances at the ceiling.

Ella feels a twinge in her chest. Something’s off here. Nathan must sense the moment her mood shifts, because his grip on her hand tightens, brutally so.

“Don’t leave,” he rasps.

Any other time, that rasp in his voice would have her mentally undressing him. Not today, though.

“Let go, please.”

“I love you, Ella. Don’t leave me.”

I don’t want to lose you again.

His words to her two days ago.

Clarity rings clearly.

Ella never was going to leave Damien for Nathan. She left Nathan.

Suddenly, everything comes together. Nathan fell for her. She might have cared for him. She was extremely attracted to him. But she doesn’t believe she fell in love with him. Her plan from the beginning was to return to San Francisco, write the article, and submit it to her editor. To be with Damien and to leave Nathan.

Nathan had only been a fling for her, hadn’t he?

Ella recalls Nathan’s interest in Damien.

How’s Damien handling this?

This has nothing to do with her miscarriage. It has to do with Ella spending time with Nathan. Because Damien knew about last summer’s affair. And Nathan knows he knows. How?

“You blackmailed me.” Nathan’s eyes flare with heat as Ella yanks free her hand. She scoots back on the bed. “The only way you’d let the article run was if I agreed to leave Damien. But I didn’t, so you threatened to tell Damien about our affair unless I killed the assignment. That’s how you convinced me.”

She shakes her head. “No, there’s got to be more,” she thinks out loud, gasping when it hits her. “You threatened to tell my boss about us. That’s how you convinced me.”

If Rebecca knew she slept with Nathan while on the job, Ella would have lost more than the exclusive assignment. She would have lost her position at Luxe Avenue. Blacklisted from getting hired at any credible publication.

Then why is she back on this assignment?

“If you weren’t going to let the article run, why’d you call Rebecca again?”

Nathan snickers. A low, disrespectful noise that heightens the chill Ella felt a moment ago. He then grimaces because his ribs hurt and slowly rolls to his side. He leans up onto his good elbow. “I didn’t plan this.” He motions between them. “It sort of happened. To say I was shocked you agreed to see me is an understatement. I swear to god I didn’t know about your memory loss.”

But he took advantage of it. If he could woo her, appeal to her on the grounds of their common losses, she might fall for him, and this time, she’d stay.

She almost did fall for him.

“Why did you call Rebecca?”

“Because, Ella . . .” He takes a long beat. “I’ve been worried about you since you lost our son.”





CHAPTER 26

“Whoa.” Ella backs off the bed, pointing her finger at Nathan. “Stop right there. Not. Cool. Simon—”

“Was mine.”

A sinking, drifting sensation floods her. She stumbles back, hand pressed to her stomach.

“Did I tell you he was yours?”

“No. I ran into you by accident in Reno last October.” He sits, protecting his ribs with one hand, supporting his weight on the bed with his good arm. “It was obvious you were pregnant. You told me you were nineteen weeks along. That put you with me in Truckee, so I asked.”

“How presumptuous of you. I’m married.”

“You sure aren’t acting like it.”

Ella sees red. “Bastard.” Like he’s one to talk.

“My question was valid, but you never answered me. I had the right to know. I still have that right.” He pushes off the bed and slowly stands. He hisses through his teeth, his muscles tight and sore from yesterday’s fall. “I kept calling you. I wanted a paternity test, but you blocked me.”