But somehow, coming from Nate...maybe it was because he’d only met her a couple of days ago. Maybe it was something to do with the warmth pulsing in her chest, the feeling that she knew was the mate-bond. It was almost like she could feel the truth in his words, like her own doubts and self-recriminations didn’t have room to breathe, when surrounded by his affirmation.
It was crazy. But she felt...lighter.
Just a bit. But lighter.
“I—maybe,” she managed to get out. “Maybe.”
Nate looked at her with those gorgeous blue eyes, full of compassion and affection and...something else. Stella lifted her chin and looked right back.
“Anyway,” he added dryly, “it’s not like I’m perfect, either.”
Stella laughed a little. “Oh, no?”
He shook his head solemnly. “Nope. I—well, I guess I’m not a womanizer anymore.”
That sent a thrill of fear and excitement through her.
“But I was, for a long time. When I was younger, I wasn’t always the best at making sure everyone understood that no commitment was involved, that the whole thing should be casual. I hurt some feelings.” He sounded serious.
Stella could easily imagine a twenty-year-old Nate breaking some serious hearts. “But you don’t do that anymore,” she pointed out.
“Well, if we’re only judging by what we’re doing now,” he said, with a twinkle in his eye, “then someone is working her butt off to send her kid to college.”
Stella breathed out a little laugh. “Fair enough.”
“And I’m not always the greatest at fulfilling my responsibilities even today,” he went on. “Connie is always on my case about the paperwork, because it’s my least favorite thing to do, so I put it off until she threatens to quit.”
Stella smiled. “She sounds like a good employee.”
“The best,” Nate said fervently. “Better at my job than I am, some days. And I’m terrible at sitting still. I always have to be moving. Women hate it, mostly.”
Stella frowned. “You’ve sat still with me a bunch of times.”
He stopped short. Then his brows came together.
“I suppose you’re right,” he said slowly.
“I mean, I don’t expect you to change your entire personality for me or anything,” Stella said hastily. “I don’t mind if you’re up and around all the time. I can be like that sometimes, too. Eva hates it, though.”
Nate laughed. “I could tell. I drove her out of the kitchen earlier, being too active.”
“Especially in the mornings,” Stella agreed. “She just wants to take some time to sit with her caffeine and slooowly wake up. Even when she was little, it was better to wait until she was done with breakfast before you tried to have a real conversation with her.”
“I’ll remember that,” he said solemnly.
Which suddenly struck Stella with its impact—the idea that Nate might be around to remember that.
“Oh, God,” she said, feeling the edges of panic creep up behind her. “Are we going to live together? You, me, and Eva? Here in town? Or somewhere else—where do you even live, anyway? If we move, what am I going to do for work? But if I stay here, what about your job?”
“Whoa, whoa!” He held up his hands. “I don’t know! I really...don’t know.”
And at that, she saw the first hint of uncertainty edge into his expression.
Paradoxically, though, that made her calm down. She wasn’t used to being so anxious about the future, anyway. Normally, she threw herself headlong into new opportunities, and let the risks sort themselves out later, the choices be made when they happened.
Of course, normally she chose the new opportunities, rather than waking up and realizing that they were happening to her no matter what she might say or do.
And normally, she wasn’t coming to a new opportunity in the middle of this whole...Todd situation. There had been a lot of sleepless nights in the last month.