Free FIRST ONE DOWN: A Paul Sutton Novel by R.J. Belle

the sandy shore, looking towards her, and she came to a complete stop about ten yards away from him. The expression on her face was one Nate could not read entirely. It appeared to be a mixture of shock, happiness and sorrow all at the same time. He was sure, if he could look into her eyes, there would be a deep hurt that would be painful for him to absorb knowing it was brought on by his own actions. Knowing he had caused her emotional pain.
    Walking towards her slowly, he reached out one hand as if to offer some sort of relief from her pain. He wanted to soothe her, to comfort her and to bring her into his embrace. Although she didn't recoil, she didn't reach out for it either. She stood there, staring blankly up at him and he could see tears begin to roll down her face from behind her dark sunglasses.
    "Don't cry baby, please don't cry," Nate said, looking down at her.
    "What are you doing here?" She asked flatly.
    He thought about his answer for a minute, knowing that she would not approve of him tracking her movements through the running app. He opted to answer her with a half-truth, "I wanted to see you, I couldn't stay away another day longer. I need you Kali."
    Nate watched anger overcome her. She clenched her fists at her sides, bit her bottom lip hard and said, "You have no right to see me, you have no right to follow me or try to talk to me. You have no right to text me and you have no right to make me cry. You lost those privileges, Nate, when you screwed one of my friends." She looked down at the sand, and her tears turned to full blown sobs.
    She didn't pull away when he placed his hands upon her shoulders and pulled her into his arms. Holding her tight as she continued to sob, he felt her clenched fists relax and her arms make their way to his lower back. Being able to breathe in her scent again, after all this time, took Nate right back to that last time they were together. Nate questioned how he could have been such a fool. How he could have put their relationship in jeopardy the way he had. And all for another woman who didn't make him feel anything beyond lust. Kali made him feel with his heart, the heart he hadn’t known he possessed. He had opened her eyes to a whole new world, he thought, but she had opened his to a new world also.
    Breaking their embrace and gently pushing her back away from him a half step, he pulled her chin up and stared down at her beautiful tear stained face. He pushed her sunglasses up onto the top of her head and stared deep into her dark brown eyes. With the back of his hand, he brushed the wetness of her tears off of her flushed cheeks, and smiled warmly down at her.
    "I did not have sex with Olivia. I would never do anything to hurt you, Kali. I wish you would believe me."
    "You did have sex with Olivia, I know you did, Nate, and for you to stand here, look me in the eyes and lie, only adds insult to injury. I know she was at your house that night, and I know that's why you wouldn't let me come in. Stupid me - I was coming over to comfort you. I didn't want you to be alone, I didn't want you to wake up on Christmas morning and be all alone with your memories of that day from your childhood and the sadness it brings. I wanted to be there to soften the blow somehow. I was thinking about you, Nate. About your feelings. And you...you were thinking about you, too. Only you. Isn't that how it usually is, Nate? You get what you want, when you want it, and screw what anyone else wants or needs." She said, her tone cold, full of anger and pain.
    Kali moved back away from him, put her sunglasses back over her eyes and began to run up towards the lot. Nate stood there for a few seconds contemplating how to try to unravel the web of lies he had spun to cover up what he was hiding about that night. He ran after her, and as he caught up to her, he grabbed the back of her arm and stopped her abruptly, catching her off guard. She spun around and the flash of fury he saw in her immediately had