Page 9 of A Lot Like Forever

Ditto.She wouldn’t have come down in her tank top and boy shorts if she’d heard so much as a noise to alert her that she wasn’t going to be alone. But Nate, half-naked and gorgeous before 6:30 am? Now that was enough to make her pulse ignite, even if she was trying not to think about him like that. Hell, she doubted there was a heterosexual woman in the world who’d disagree with her.

He set the juice down on the counter. “I run for an hour before sunup every morning. Did I wake you?”

Faith shook her head, still struggling to raise her eyes from his impressive abs and the arrow of hair that ran from his belly button down to his . . . She swallowed and met his gaze.

“I was just coming down early to grab a coffee and figure out what to make for breakfast,” she managed.

“Sounds good. I’m off to hit the shower.”

Nate walked past her, T-shirt slung over his shoulder, and all she could do was stand and wait for him to pass. What the hell was wrong with her? It wasn’t like she hadn’t seen a bare-chested guy before. But Nate was, well,built. There was nothing about him that didn’t scream sex.

Except she wasn’t going to go there.If she wanted to ogle half-naked men, she could do it on the Internet. Although there was nothing quite like the muscles and warmth of a real-life body. . . . Faith shook her head. She was crazy. Looking was one thing, looking was okay; it was the thought of actually being vulnerable again that was what scared her.

What she needed was a strong coffee, black and sugary, and then she’d head back upstairs to put some clothes on. Clothes that didn’t show offherhalf-naked body, and make it way too easy to imagine what it would be like to be in this house with Nate for another reason entirely, instead of just being his platonic housekeeper.

The one thing her mom had taught her, before she’d left them and disappeared, was the importance of understanding a person’s place in the world, and Faith knew she and Nate were from different worlds. It didn’t mean she couldn’t admire him, but it gave her another reason to remember why it was one thing to look and another thing entirely to act on those thoughts. She’d already made a mistake with one man, and she wasn’t about to do it with another.

She filled the kettle with water, flicked the switch, and found the coffee. Today was about making herself useful, and thinking about what the hell she was going to do with the rest of her life. Today she was starting over, stepping out from the past and making her own way in the world. She just had to figure out what she wanted for once, instead of trying to please everyone else. And remember that Nate was a friend and nothing more.