Broken Hill Hearts (Broken Hill High 4)

I stare in shock at the sudden intrusion in my room.

Nate stands before me with a grin the size of Texas on his face. He looks as though he’s about to say something when he stares down at the shirt I’m wearing. I don’t know how but that grin seems to triple in size. “Fuck, you look good.”

“Well, hello to you too,” I laugh, walking forward to get the feel of his skin on mine which suddenly makes my intense need to be wearing this shirt completely pointless. I mean, if I knew I was about to get the real thing, I wouldn’t have bothered tearing my room apart to find it. But now that I’m wearing it, it’s not like I’m about to take it off.

Nate takes me by the shoulders and holds me at arm’s length. “Nope,” he says. “No time for that.”

“Bullshit,” I grunt, trying to get around his arms. “There’s always time for this.”

He shakes his head. “If you start kissing and touching me, I won’t be able to resist and then I’m going to be fucking you against every available surface in this house instead of doing what I came here to do.”

“And what’s that?” I question, grinning back up at him.

He shakes his head. “Don’t even think about it. Just get dressed.”

“What?” I gasp. “You would not be asking me that if you had any idea what a challenge it was to get dressed in this in the first place.”

His eyebrows pull down before he looks up over my shoulder and into my closet. “What the fuck happened in there? It looks like a bomb went off.”

“Thanks, dad,” I grumble.

Nate’s hand snakes out and spanks my ass. “I can handle just about any insult you’ve got for me, but not that.”

I laugh as I back away from him. “What are you going to do about it?”

“Nothing,” he says. “Hurry up, get dressed.”

I groan as I study him. “What kind of dressed?” His brows pull down in confusion and I try my best to clarify. “Party or just chilling at your place?”

He scrunches his face up as he considers it. “I don’t know. Somewhere in the middle.”

“Huh?” I grunt, walking to my closet and looking over my shoulder at him. He watches me walk but doesn’t offer me anything else. Oh well, if he doesn’t want to help me out then I’m going comfortable. I pull on a pair of jeans and my combat boots before pulling his shirt off and jamming it between my legs as I search through the mess for a bra.

Not ready to part with his shirt, I pull it back on and rip the elastic out of my hair. I roll up the sleeves a few times and tie up the shirt so I’m showing off just the perfect amount of my toned waist. Next up, I flick my chestnut hair around a few times to give me that real ‘I don’t give a shit’ look and suddenly, I’m done.

I step out of my closet and watch with delight as the appreciation seeps into Nate’s eyes.

Yep, job well done.

“Come on,” he says with a giddiness I’ve never seen from him before. He reaches out and takes my hand before dragging me out the door, only sparing half a second to let me grab my phone off my bed.

Nate drags me down the stairs and I have to hurry to keep up with him. “Slow down, would you?” I grunt as I focus all of my concentration on the stairs beneath my feet, hoping and praying I don’t fall flat on my face. I mean, it’s a very real possibility right now.

Nate groans, stops halfway down, grabs me, and hauls me over his shoulder. I squeal out as he continues rushing down the stairs with a hand on my ass to hold me steady. “Don’t you dare drop me,” I yell as I wind my hands around him, holding on for dear life.

We get to the bottom of the stairs and Nate keeps me over his shoulder. I see mom down the hallway staring at us in surprise. “Um, have fun,” she calls up the hallway. “Be safe.”

“Love you,” I call back.

“Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.”

“I can’t guarantee that,” I laugh as Nate steps out the door and pulls it closed behind him. He hurries down the last set of stairs and finally stops when I see the driveway beneath his feet. Only then does he let me down.

My head spins from the rush of blood pulsing through it, but it only takes a second for me to right myself. Nate takes my shoulder and in one quick movement, he spins me around.

My mouth drops open as I take in the dark grey Mustang with double black stripes from front to back, right through the center. My eyes roam over the sexiest hood I’ve ever seen, and the black rims… wow. “Are you serious?” I gasp. “You finished it?”