Free Love's Deception by Adrianne Byrd

challenge. “All right, all right. You win. Maybe a day out on the town is just what I need.”
    Helena’s smile widened. “Great. Hurry up and get dressed. I read in the paper than Nieman-Marcus is having some type of sale today and I want to try that new Justin’s restaurant out in Buckhead tonight.”
    “Great.” Carissa exaggerated her enthusiasm and watched her aunt saunter out of the room. Where in the hell did she learn to walk like that? And where can I take lessons?
     
    “I can’t believe she just made herself at home,” Nathan said, handing his stepfather, Smokey, a beer. “She has a lot of nerve.”
    “Believe it or not there are a lot of worse things aman can come home to than a naked woman in his shower. Hell, I wish I had your kind of luck.”
    “You’re missing the point, Pop.” Nathan plopped down beside him on the couch, wearing only a pair of black jeans.
    “Well, I’ll be damned.” Smokey pointed to Nathan’s arm. “When did you get a tattoo?” He referred to the malicious-looking panther posed over Nathan’s large biceps.
    “That happened after a dare and one too many bottles of Jack Daniels.”
    “You still can’t walk away from a dare?”
    “I’ve walked away from a few.” The men laughed, then continued their private drink.
    “So what exactly happened between you and India, anyway? Or are you planning on keeping it a big secret?”
    Nathan was quiet for a moment. His thoughts were instantly tangled in the past. “There was always some type of problem happening. At first they were small. She’d tell me she was doing one thing, then I’d find out that she’d done another. I don’t know, there just seemed to be a lot of unnecessary lies.” He shrugged. “Then the lies got bigger and the next thing I know, she’s sleeping around. And I do mean around.”
    “I’m sorry, son.” Smokey slapped his back, then shook his head. “Damn. I didn’t figure her to be the type.”
    “Pop, if I’ve learned anything about women, it’s you can never know their type until it’s too late.”
    “It sounds like this one left you a little bitter.”
    For some odd reason, Nathan thought of Carissa. “I don’t know if bitter is the word I’m looking for. More like cautious .”
    “Now if I’ve learned anything over the years, it would be that a man can never be too cautious.”
    “Here, here.”
    The men’s bottles clinked together in a quick toast.
    “What time are you going back to the hospital?”
    The question sounded awkward to Nathan’s ears, but he understood his stepfather’s position and knew his concern was only for his benefit. Nathan looked at his watch. “I planned to head back out there in about an hour.”
    “Planning on another all-nighter?”
    “I don’t think I can handle too many more of those. But I’ll stay as long as the body allows.”
    The men nursed their beers in silence, while each wondered what the other was thinking.
    “I know what you’re trying to do is probably the right thing,” Smokey began. “But I have to say I’m kind of surprised.”
    “No more than I am.” Nathan cleared his throat. “I just know that I’ll regret it for the rest of my life if I walk away from him now.”
    “It’s not like he’s been there for you or your mother,” he sneered.
    “I know, but two wrongs don’t make a right.” Nathan stood and moved away. “I was talking with his fiancée at the hospital last night and—”
    “His fiancée?”
    “Yeah, if you can believe it.” Nathan shared a half laugh. “She has to be my age, too. I have to hand it to him—she’s beautiful. Maybe a little uptight, but a definite looker.”
    Smokey lifted a curious brow. “She seems to have made quite an impression on you.”
    Nathan shrugged. “She has. I’m actually happy that she was there last night. She helped me talk through a lot of things—a lot of feelings I didn’t know I had.”
    The men fell silent again.
    Smokey stood. “I guess I better