Free Welcome to Paradise: Welcome to Paradise, Book 1 by Elle Kennedy Page B

be able to forgive me for what I did.”
    “You were miserable?” she echoed.
    He nodded, wanting so badly to tell her about how many relationships he’d screwed up, but he didn’t feel comfortable bringing other women into this private moment between them. It was true, though. He’d dated after Charlotte left, but never truly opened himself up to anyone. Until Evelyn—but that was an angering memory he didn’t want to dwell on right now.
    “I was miserable too,” she confessed. “Every man I was with…I always ended up comparing him to you.”
    Lord, he knew the feeling. “I guess it’s pretty obvious then that we never really got over each other.”
    “Get over you?” She sighed. “I don’t think I can ever get over you.”
    His heart soared. “Does…does that mean you forgive me?”
    After a long moment, she nodded, her green eyes flickering with resignation. “I do…I forgive you, Nate. But… What are we doing here?”
    “Making up for lost time.” He dragged his thumb along the seam of her lips. “Which I’m willing to keep doing for as long as you want.”
    Something he couldn’t decipher moved across her face. “You want a relationship?”
    “It’s all I’ve ever wanted.”
    Another flicker in her eyes, one that might have looked like guilt if he didn’t know better. “My career is important to me,” she said.
    “It’s important to me too.” He bent his head to brush his lips over hers. “I would never interfere with your career. If you need to live in New York for part of the time, then that’s fine. We can make this work, baby. I know we can.”
    He knew that what he was saying was far too premature. She’d only been back in Paradise for a couple of days, after all. But he couldn’t stop the words from exiting his mouth. Charlotte Hill was the only woman he’d ever truly loved, the only woman he could picture spending his life with. He’d already let her go once—he wasn’t sure he could do it again.
    “Nate…”
    He was surprised to see a lone tear leak out from the corner of her eye. “Don’t you cry on me,” he said roughly. “Tell me what you’re thinking.”
    “I…” Her throat bobbed as she gulped. “I was thinking about why I came here…and…”
    Her reply was a bit odd, but he couldn’t figure out why she was suddenly so upset. He didn’t like either. He’d never been good with tears. Quickly pulling her into his arms, he rubbed her upper back and murmured, “All that matters is that you’re back. You have me, Charlie. For as long as you’re here, for as long as you want to be, you have me.”
    She tilted her head up to look at him, her green eyes swimming with both joy and dismay. “I want you,” she murmured back. “I don’t know about the future, but right now, I want you.”
    Grinning, he took her hand and brought it to his zipper. “Then take me.”
    With a responding smile, she unzipped his pants and did just that.
     
     
    Charlotte woke up with the most colossal weight of guilt bearing down on her chest. She couldn’t even believe she’d fallen asleep, though three hours of slumber didn’t really count as a good night of rest.
    She’d made a big mistake. Coming here to seduce Nate, planning to break his heart…there was no way she could go through with any of that now that she knew the truth.
    Nate had broken up with her so she would be able to live her dreams.
    The thought still filled her with shock. All these years she’d hated him for what he’d done, and now she wanted to kick herself for believing the lies so easily. Why hadn’t she stuck around to get the truth from him? Why had she been so willing to believe that he had actually meant everything he’d said to her?
    Because you were an insecure idiot .
    Yep, that about summed it up. Being ostracized by her peers and whispered about by her elders had succeeded in stripping away her confidence. When Nate dumped her, claiming he didn’t even like her, a part of her had