Chapter 13

Chapter Thirteen

Noah

"Hey, there's a poker game next week at the firehouse. You should come. You've met most of the guys."

We'd just hit the four-mile mark and were walking the last quarter of a mile toward the bakery as a cooldown when Cole Sutter, local fireman and my new running partner, spoke up. He hardly seemed winded in his navy Cozy Creek Fire Brigade tee shirt.

"Yeah, count me in." I'd never played poker before in my life, but I could watch some videos and probably figure it out.

He glanced at me sidelong, blue eyes amused and a barely restrained grin on his face. "Always looking for fresh blood."

"You mean fresh meat."

Cole finally laughed. "Come on. It'll be fun. You might even keep your money."

I snorted, doubtful. But it might be nice to have another extracurricular activity in Cozy Creek. I'd met the majority of the people on the fire brigade, and they all seemed nice. I usually met Cole there on his lunch break for our runs during the week. There were always other guys around and he'd been good about introducing me. We'd shoot the shit with the other guys while we stretched and warmed up.

Pace Leigh, one of the firefighters with a ridiculous mustache, joined us for our runs when he was on shift, too.

We usually finished up at the bakery, where we snagged protein shakes, and I went upstairs to my apartment to shower afterward.

Crossing the street, we entered the Cozy Creek Confectionery, and the bell jingled over the front door. I took in the smell of fresh-baked bread and the line of people picking up something for lunch. Madison was working the counter. She was the granddaughter of the owner, and Cole had a huge thing for her. She was also my across-the-hall neighbor. We both lived above the shop, thanks to her grandmother, Gigi.

Madi caught our eyes and nodded toward the end of the counter. Two pale orange shakes waited in clear plastic cups.

Cole had no shame in walking right past the busy line of tourists and locals. I followed without making eye contact.

"Thanks, Madi," Cole said, before leaning his tall frame across the counter and smacking a kiss on the brunette's lips.

I pulled out some cash and dropped it on the counter while Madison and Cole made googly eyes at each other. "Thanks, Madi," I echoed, without the kissing part.

She still looked a little dazed when she mumbled, "No problem, Noah."

"I'll see you tomorrow, Cole."

He turned to me. "Yeah. And don't forget poker next Wednesday. Learn to play between now and then."

I gave a little salute and made my way out to the back stairs and up to my apartment, sipping on my shake. I wondered if Lu knew how to play poker. Maybe she could teach me before next week. She was coming over in thirty. I could ask her then.

"Can you make it zoom in on the image if they hover the cursor over it?"

"Yep," I confirmed. "And I found a plug-in that will integrate with your online shop to correctly calculate shipping based on weight and geographic location."

"Oh, nice."

It was Thursday afternoon, and Lu sat beside me in a kitchen chair she'd dragged around to my side to see the screen better. We'd been working on her website for a couple of hours each day this week. She'd typically come over after my daily run with Cole, then we'd have lunch together and work on the specifics of her site. Then she'd usually hang out on my couch with her tablet, designing new art for her shop while I worked on websites for some of my other clients.

Becca, the graphic designer who'd been my first customer, had come through big-time in word-of-mouth recommendations. She had a steady stream of author friends reaching out to either build something new for them or consult on ways to improve what they already had. A lot of them were getting into direct sales for paperbacks, e-books, and audiobooks on their sites.

Lu had also introduced me to several local business owners interested in my services. The time was coming very soon when I'd need to quit driving for Huber and focus on my web design business full-time.

I was glad. I really was, but it felt weird to be putting down roots in Cozy Creek when I'd been planning my escape for so long. The idea of branching out and making more connections in town felt a little scary. Part of me was also concerned that I'd eventually run into Virginia. But it hadn't happened yet. It would be awkward. But I was sure that with the way things had ended, she hadn't anticipated me hanging around.

It didn't matter. Despite my intentions, Cozy Creek was starting to feel like home.

Glancing at the curtain of blond hair to my right and the face drifting closer and closer to the screen, I realized the reason for that might be a person rather than a place.

"You know, you might need some readers, Luttle Old Lady."

She leaned back abruptly, and I fought a laugh.

"I do not. Your font is just really tiny." I raised my brows but said nothing. "Shut up! Okay, fine." Lu laughed. "Maybe a trip to the optometrist is in my future."

"You would look crazy cute with glasses," I offered.

"Really?"

"Yep. And you'd have the added benefit of actually being able to see, you nut."

"Fiiiiine," she groaned, and I leaned forward to kiss her. "Okay, I need to head back to my apartment. I have some orders to pack up for the week."

"Okay." I rose from my chair, a little stiff from how long we'd been working this afternoon.

Lu was sliding her ballet flats on—purple polka dot today—and grabbing her jean jacket out of the hall closet.

I liked having her in my space, I realized. She had a spot on the kitchen counter where she kept her keys and her water bottle. That giant purse of hers was taking up the armchair in the living room. There was a blue toothbrush in the bathroom and approximately eight thousand hair ties around the apartment courtesy of Lu Billings. And everything sort of smelled like vanilla for a while after she left. I did not hate it. And sort of looked forward to the day when it smelled like her all the time.

I watched her gather her things, knowing it was dangerous to rely on someone with anything as tenuous as feelings. But I couldn't seem to stop myself. Every time I saw Lu, I felt like I was losing bits and pieces of my heart to her, too cowardly to hand it over all in one go. At times, it was like ice cracking and breaking off into the ocean, while at others, it was an avalanche—out of control and unstoppable.

My thoughts were so loud, it was hard to believe she couldn't hear them from her place near the door. I snagged a hair tie off the kitchen table and walked toward her.

In the past week since I'd met her for ice cream, we'd spent every night together. Either I came to her place after driving for half the night or she fell asleep in my bed here, and I woke her up in really fun ways that she didn't seem to mind. We hadn't been dating for very long, but she was already so ingrained in my life that I knew I should be worried. But I just couldn't find it within myself.

This relationship—the healthy give and take, the affection, the mutual respect—felt so right, so true. It was wrong to compare past girlfriends, but I'd never felt for someone the way I felt for Lu. I'd known that what I'd had with Virginia hadn't been real. Nothing made that more glaringly obvious than experiencing it firsthand now.

I was happy. And it wasn't just because of Lu. I had work that fulfilled me and a routine, consistency. And I had friends in Cole and Pace and some of the other guys at the fire brigade. People waved and said hi when they saw me around town. It felt . . . good.

Part of me wanted to raise the alarm and shout a warning, afraid that good things didn't come my way anymore. But I didn't want that fear to take over my life the way it had when I left South Carolina. I wanted to live a life where I wasn't constantly waiting for an asteroid to come down and blow it all apart.

"You coming over tonight?" Lu asked, tugging her hair out from beneath the collar of her jacket.

My shift driving for Jimmy started at five. I nodded and slipped the black elastic around her wrist in case she needed it. "I'll see you later."

She grinned and lifted on her toes to fit her lips to mine. "Bye, beekeeper."

I lowered my voice to something intent and whispered, "Bye, Luanne," against the shell of her ear.

She drew in a sharp breath, and I fought the urge to smile.

I'd have time later to make her shiver.

Just after two in the morning, I slid beneath the soft flannel sheets of Lu's bed. I'd finished up with my last fare twenty minutes ago—a few drunk locals needing a lift home from Bookers on Main Street. Using the spare key Lu had told me about three nights ago, I'd let myself in.

Now I was here, and she was warm beneath the covers in the dark of her bedroom. And she was—I paused, hands seeking her—definitely naked.

Grinning into the dark, I shucked my boxer briefs—my last remaining layer—and pressed myself to her back, spooning behind her. She was so warm and soft. I could feel my shoulders relax and tension leave my body as our skin made contact. Her hair was in a giant bun on the top of her head, so I put my lips against her nape and breathed in her sweet scent.

Lu arched against me when I sucked gently at the juncture of her neck and shoulder. She came awake slowly as I kept kissing her and brought my arm around her waist. Lu stretched like a cat, groaning and squirming in a way that had my erection further stiffening.

"Hey, you," she murmured, voice sleepy but pleased.

"It's Noah," I said before running my nose along the column of her throat up to her ear.

Despite the darkness, I could hear her smile in response to my teasing. I loved knowing that. Being so close, so familiar, that I could sense her reaction in my gut. "Thank you. I forgot who was on the schedule for tonight."

In reply, I scraped my teeth gently behind her ear.

She gasped and pushed herself back into me. My dick was nestled against her perfect ass, and I couldn't fight the urge to thrust and create some friction. I continued sucking and kissing her neck and shoulder as my hand drifted deliberately to the apex of her thighs. Lu parted for me, her hips rocking in time with my small movements.

"How was your night?" she asked a little breathlessly.

"Better now."

My fingers ghosted over her clit and down through her folds. She was wet and hot, slippery against my fingers.

Lu's breath hitched. "What time is it?"

"A little after two."

I sank a finger inside her. So fucking tight. The heel of my hand ground into her clit as she shifted. Her ass was stroking my dick with the rhythm of her hips, and I swallowed hard to keep from lifting her thigh over mine and pushing into her sweet pussy.

But then suddenly, she had a condom in her hand and passed it to me. I ripped the wrapper and slid it on as Lu canted her hips, angling her ass and arching her body before resting her thigh atop mine.

"Oh," she breathed as I lined myself up at her entrance and eased my way in, slow and deliberate.

Once I was fully seated and could go no further, I reached around with my hand, smoothing up the slight curve of her stomach, over her breasts, to rest at the base of her throat. Rolling my hips, I made my thrusts slow and deep. Relaxed in my arms, she was all snug heat, and I wasn't going to last.

I picked up my pace when her eager hand reached back to feel my flexing ass. Little nails dug into my skin, and my eyes rolled back. "Shit," I hissed.

Lowering my hand back down, I felt where we were joined, then brought two fingers to circle her clit. I needed to get her there before this was all over. She felt too fucking good, and the fact that she'd been waiting for me, naked in this bed, made me?—

Lu moaned and stiffened before I felt her walls pulsing around me. That was all I needed. My thrusts grew wild as I chased my own orgasm, detonating with an intensity that had stars flashing behind my closed eyelids.

Minutes, hours, maybe days later, I managed to roll onto my back, breathing hard and staring at the dark ceiling of Lu's bedroom. The bed dipped as she shifted closer. Her shadow a midnight outline hovering above me. She peppered kisses all over my face, and I couldn't help the dopey-ass grin that came over me. God, she was cute.

And that had been so good. It kept being good. From the blow job to our first time together nearly a week ago to now, and every time in between, it was just getting better and better.

I could feel myself falling in deeper—wanting more with Lu until I didn't think it would ever be enough. That sunlamp feeling from the very beginning, warming me from the inside out was now the sun itself shining down over both of us.

Eventually, she left to clean up, and I did the same. We stayed naked and climbed back into bed together, Lu snuggled up against my chest while pieces of hair that escaped her bun tried to infiltrate my airways.

"How was your night?" I finally said. "I meant to ask earlier and got distracted."

Her lips curved, and I felt the movement against my chest. "It was good. I got all my orders packed up to take to the post office tomorrow on my way to the farmers' market."

"Good. I'll drop by and bring you a late lunch at your booth."

"That would be great. Thank you. You could go by Tres Chicas and talk to them about the website they want. I think they need a way to integrate their calendar into the site so people know where their food truck will be on any given day."

"I can do that," I said around a yawn. "It's Marta, right?"

"Yep, and her sisters Luce and Gracie. I went to high school with Luce."

"The six degrees of Cozy Creek."

Lu snorted. "Try three degrees max."

That was okay. I didn't mind the small-town aspect. It's what I was used to, after all.

"Did you always want to live in a small town?" I was curious about why Lu came back here after college. I knew she wanted to be close to her dad, but it was pretty clear that things with her stepfamily hadn't progressed the way she'd hoped.

"Sure. I'm not really built to be in a big city, surrounded by strangers who never wave or talk to one another. I like how friendly and neighborly Cozy Creek is. I like that I can meet new people during tourist season, but that I can run into every teacher I've ever had down at the General Store. Or that my favorite restaurants know I'm a regular and have my take-out order memorized. It's comfort and consistency and knowing that I have a place I belong. If I had to be a tiny gear in a big machine, I'd probably get lost."

"I don't think you could lose yourself anywhere, Lu. You stand out wherever you go. In the best way."

She was quiet for a moment before admitting, "I guess I'm holding out hope that I'll have a real family someday with my dad and my stepmother and stepsister. Sunday dinners and birthdays and holidays." Her voice went from wistful to unsteady from one statement to the next. "Part of me thinks that if I'm not here, in town, in their faces and calling to check in, that my dad will forget I exist entirely. He'll have Kimberly and his new daughter and that will be his family. And that will be enough."

I tightened my arms around her, trying to ease the hurt and knowing there was no way I could. Comfort could only go so far. But sometimes it was enough to pull you back from the brink.

She swallowed against my chest, and I hated that she was trying to hold herself together. Always making the best out of whatever shitty situation she was in. "But Cozy Creek is where my mother was born and raised. She loved it here, and I have so many happy memories because of her."

"Does she still have family here?" I wondered gently.

"No. Mom lost her parents before I was born. No siblings or cousins or anything, but I wish I could have known that side of my family. She named me after her grandmother who was from a tiny town in North Carolina called Kirby Falls. Luanne Billings the original agreed to move here with her husband because of the mountains. She said that while they were bigger and sharper than the mountains back home, they would do in a pinch."

I smiled, lips still pressed against her hair. "I like that."

"Me too."

I thought she might have fallen off to sleep, but suddenly Lu said around a yawn of her own, "I was thinking. What if you built an app for Jimmy? For ride requests. Then people wouldn't have to call him every time, which is, frankly, archaic and offensive."

I laughed but then thought about what Lu was saying. It was a really good idea.

"Do you think Jimmy would go for that?" she asked, her voice getting low and sleepy.

I'd been keeping her up too much, but I couldn't make myself regret it if I got to have her like this—warm in my arms.

"He might. Especially if I did it first and then showed him after. It would be way more convenient, and he could be a little more hands off, have some freedom untethered to his phone. He's stubborn but efficient. This might be right up his alley." Maybe it could be a parting gift for when I had to put in my notice soon.

As if reading my mind, Lu mumbled, "Maybe then he won't kill you for quitting to go work for yourself."

I smiled and pressed a kiss to her forehead. "He's not going to kill me." I still wasn't one hundred percent on that.

Then we went quiet, Lu's chest rising and falling evenly against me.

I took a deep breath full of contentment and peace and felt another little piece of my heart chip away and attach itself to the woman by my side.