by T. L. Haddix
In an instant, he was back, her gown and robe in hand. He laid them on the table beside her and did up his jeans, then he hurried to the kitchenette and returned with some paper towels. He smiled as he helped her up, his eyes warm and intimate.
“What’s funny?” She barely resisted the urge to cover her breasts with an arm. Sure as heck she wasn’t used to being naked in a woodshop in the middle of the night.
He scratched his cheek. “I’ll just never be able to look at that table the same way again, that’s all.” Once she had her gown on, he cupped her face and kissed her softly. “Hi.”
“Hi.” Sophie ran a hand over his chest, feeling the coolness of his skin. “What in the world were you thinking, coming out without even a shirt? Not that I’m complaining about the view.”
“I didn’t.” He grabbed a flannel shirt from one of the workbenches and shrugged it on. “Come on. Let’s get back to the house where it’s warm.”
“Please.” She was torn between running back to the warmth and waiting to walk alongside him. The need for nearness won out, and she stayed with him as he locked up the shop.
Thankfully he moved fast, and in less than a minute, they were back at the house. An anxious Fig met them at the door with a meow.
“Hey, girl. It’s okay. We just stepped out for a bit,” Noah said, picking her up.
She nudged his chin with her face then let out a long purr.
“She really misses you when you leave, doesn’t she?” Sophie asked as she crossed to Eli’s bedroom door. “I need to get cleaned up.”
Noah put Fig down and walked over to Sophie. “Mind some company? The tub’s big enough for two.”
Sophie blinked at him then looked toward the bathroom. She’d taken a long nap when they got in from Lexington, then she had a soaking bath when she got up. “Oh. I was just going to… another bath? That does sound good.”
“It’s a fast way of getting warm—and naked,” he said with a smile, leaning against the doorjamb. He brushed a lock of her hair off her shoulder, letting his hand trail down her arm. “But I don’t want to make you uncomfortable. I still can’t believe I’m not dreaming.”
“Well, you aren’t,” she said, slipping her arms around his waist. She tipped her face up for a kiss, gratified when he obliged without hesitation. Very quickly, the kiss turned heated.
He slowly lifted his lips from hers. “Or we could go upstairs and see what a real bed feels like.”
Sophie didn’t quite know if she was physically up to a second round of lovemaking, but there was no way she would say no. She’d waited too many years to share this kind of intimacy with Noah, and she’d deal with any discomfort that might arise. It was a small price to pay to be with him. And it wasn’t as if she didn’t want him—she did. Desperately.
“That sounds like an excellent idea,” she said. “Slow this time?”
He gave a rueful grin. “I’ll try.” A flash of uncertainty crossed his face. “Things weren’t exactly smooth out there.”
“No, but they were good.” She realized that after a ten-year period of abstinence, he was bound to be a bit insecure. “Things were very, very good.”
“I thought so too.” Noah pulled her in for another kiss, reverent and slow. “Come share my bed, Sophie. Be with me,” he whispered when he pulled back.
She nodded, feeling emotional. “I’d love to.”
As the reality of the situation sank in, she exhaled shakily. Unlike the other night when they’d shared a bed, tonight they’d be lovers. She’d be able to touch, to taste, to love Noah as she’d never been able to before, and she could hardly wait.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Noah had never slept so soundly in his life. After he and Sophie finally got to sleep around three, he didn’t think the dead could wake him. Though apparently, judging by the frustrated expression on his grandmother’s face when he rolled over at nine thirty, they’d tried. He hastily made sure the bedcovers were in place over his nakedness.
“Boy, I thought you were in a coma or something,” Molly Dean said. She walked through a beam of sunlight, disappearing in the brightness for a moment then reappearing at the foot of the bed. “Get your butt up and get dressed. Company’s coming, and you don’t want Sophie to have to handle it alone.” With a snap of her fingers for emphasis, she was gone.
Sitting up, he glanced around. Sophie’s side of the bed was rumpled, her coat was tossed over the chair, but she wasn’t in the room. If not for the presence of that coat, he’d have feared he’d imagined the entire night. Regret pricked his heart as he realized that if his grandmother was right—and she always was—he didn’t have time to relish the memories of what had transpired in this bed. There’d be time enough for that later, he supposed.
“Sophie?” he called.
“Down here. I was just getting ready to wake you up. Hope you’re hungry.”
He heard the oven door open, and as he got up and pulled on some clothes, the tantalizing aroma of something sweet and yeasty reached him. “Be right down.”
He hurried into the bathroom, where Molly’s words and his desire to see Sophie ushered him through his ablutions. In three minutes, he was downstairs, halfway across the floor to the kitchen. The sight of Sophie dressed in one of his shirts, no pants, and thick socks, with her long hair pulled back into a loose ponytail at the nape of her neck, stopped him in his tracks.
“Hi.” She greeted him with a smile as she moved around the kitchen. “Coffee’s ready. The bacon’s in the oven. And I made cinnamon rolls.”
Noah stepped up to her, ignoring the bowl she held in one hand, and pulled her to him. Half his family could have been beating down the door, and that wouldn’t have stopped him from kissing her.
She pulled back with a breathless laugh to set down the bowl, then she wound her arms around his neck. “Good morning.”
“Good morning to you too,” he murmured against her mouth. His hands slipped under the shirt to caress her curves as they kissed again. Reluctantly, he lifted his mouth from hers. “You’d better get dressed. Grandma Molly said company’s coming.”
Sophie’s eyes widened briefly, then she nodded. “Okay.” But she kept her hands on his shoulders, studying him closely. “Are you all right? I know you were worried about being intimate and that lowering your defenses.”
Despite the need to let her go, he pulled her in for a hug. “I’m okay. I’m a little more ‘on’ this morning, I think, but I’m also… more settled, if that makes sense.” He ducked his head. “I wondered if that would be how it was if we were ever together.”
She traced his lips and tilted her head. “And it is?”
“Yeah. I’m stronger, more focused. So I think it’s safe to say we can do this sort of thing as much as we want without repercussions.” He winked at her.
“Good. That’s very good to hear,” she said with a soft smile. She kissed him again then backed up with a sigh. “I’ll go make myself decent. The bacon should be fine until I come back out.”
Noah watched her go, enjoying every step. “I like the way you look in my clothes, Sophie Turner.”
She stopped at the door to Eli’s bedroom, where her suitcases were, and sent him a heated look over her shoulder. “I like wearing your clothes. Just how sure are you that someone’s coming?”
The sound of a car pulling into the gravel driveway made him curse under his breath. “Very sure. They just got here. Rain check?”
“Absolutely.”
He forced himself to go to the door instead of after her. A quick look outside made his eyebrows move together to form a frown of concern. He unlocked the door as his phone rang.
“Mom? What’s wrong?” he asked as he answered, opening the door.
His mother waved from the car. “Nothing. We just wanted to make sure we weren’t i
nterrupting before we came knocking.”
Noah laughed even as his face heated. “Come on in.” He hung up and waited for them to reach the door. “What’s going on?”
Zanny accepted his hug. “We came up to get showered at your grandparents’ house, but there’s a tree down across the driveway.”
John hung up their coats. “I called Dad to let him know, but Easton had already told him. He came up to spend the night since Rachel and Lee aren’t home. Anyhow, he found it on his jog this morning. He called Eli, and he and Haley are on their way up to help move it. Where’s Sophie?” He looked around eagerly, paying close attention to the open door to Noah’s bedroom. “Still asleep?”
Noah cleared his throat. “She’s getting dressed. I just got up. She’s apparently been cooking all morning.” He gestured to the food on the counter. “Want some coffee?”
“Sure. That’d be good.” John stepped over to him, grinning, and laid his hand on Noah’s forehead. “You don’t have a fever, but your cheeks are flushed. What in the world made you sleep so late? You aren’t getting sick, are you?”
“John Campbell! Leave him alone,” Zanny said, chuckling. She took a seat at the island.
“Are you kidding me? I’ve been waiting years to catch the boy in a compromising situation,” John teased. “I can’t pass this up.”
“Yes, you can. Really, Dad, you can.” Noah shook his head as he got down three mugs. “I am an adult, you know.”
John wasn’t the least bit deterred. He leaned against the counter and crossed his arms, relaxed and happy as he watched Noah. “Sorry, buddy, but I helped bring you into this world. That gives me lifetime teasing privileges. You can call this payback for that ridiculous accusation you and your brother made a few months back about my mistress.”
Noah set his mug down with a thunk, staring straight ahead. “I swear I’m moving someplace where no one is named Campbell for at least fifty miles. Maybe a hundred.”
He and Eli had accidentally stumbled upon John and Zanny’s liaison at a local motel, and because of the circumstances surrounding what they’d seen—which hadn’t been clear—they’d gone to their parents’ house that evening and accused John of having an affair.
Suffice it to say, John had been more than happy to set them straight about who he’d been with, thoroughly enjoying his boys’ embarrassed discomfort.
Noah ignored his father’s knowing grin and handed Zanny her coffee. “I take it from your presence here at the farm that the power’s not back on.”
“No. Later this afternoon hopefully.”
“So what brought the tree down?”
When John snorted, Zanny lifted an eyebrow at him. “You really must have been out of it last night,” she told Noah. “A huge storm line went through about four. Didn’t you hear it?”
“I did not.” Noah checked on the bacon, feeling ridiculously awkward. He’d been caught with his pants down, and everyone in the room knew it.
“I’d be surprised if there aren’t more trees down around the property,” John said. He gestured to the rolls. “Are those ready to eat? I’m starving.”
Noah scowled. “How do you eat like you do and stay in shape? I swear, you’re worse than a teenager.”
John’s expression was smug. “Your mother works it off of me.”
Zanny coughed and sputtered, her cheeks turning pink. “John, stop that right now!” But she was laughing.
“I should have known better than to ask.” Noah groaned and covered his ears. “Stop it, you two.”
The door to Eli’s bedroom opened, and Sophie stepped out, dressed and ready for the day. The crestfallen look on John’s face when he realized she’d not been in Noah’s bedroom after all was priceless and, Noah thought, the perfect payback.
“Hi,” Sophie said softly as she joined them. “Is everything okay?”
“Just fine, sweetie,” Zanny said. “We came up for showers. The power’s still off.”
“Speaking of,” Noah said as Sophie came around the island, “you’re welcome to the bathrooms here.”
“Okay. We might take you up on that,” his mother told him with a smile.
“How long have you been up?” Noah asked Sophie as he plated up the rolls. “Let’s all move to the table to eat.”
She grabbed the bacon. “A couple of hours. Fig woke me since she didn’t have any luck with you.”
While Noah knew very well Sophie’d slept in his bed, the sentence could have been construed in a way that indicated she hadn’t. From the frown on his father’s face, that was how John had interpreted it. But the frown faded when he took his first bite of cinnamon roll.
“Oh, man,” he said. “Sophie, you made these from scratch? These are beyond good.”
She nodded. “Thank you. I hope that’s okay,” she told Noah. “I was bored.”
Noah smiled across the table at her. “It’s fine.”
John was engrossed in eating for a couple of minutes, then he returned to trying to puzzle out Noah and Sophie’s relationship.
“So does the fact that you spent the night together mean you’ve settled your differences?” he asked.
Noah looked at Sophie. “I guess you could say that. I mean, it’s nice that we’re friends again. A guy can never have too many friends, you know?” He reached out with his foot to nudge her ankle under the table.
John and Sophie shot him disgruntled looks while his mother groaned.
“Right. Friends.” His father sat back and crossed his arms, frowning. From the assessing look he gave Noah, he was debating on how to phrase his next sally.
Noah wasn’t going to give him the opportunity, at least not immediately. “So has Molly decided whether she’s going to stay at home for a while or not?” he asked Zanny. “I know she talked about moving in with Sophie.”
Zanny shrugged. “She isn’t sure. She said she’d know more when she sees where she’ll be working because she only wants to move once. I know she was looking forward to being able to spend time with you, Sophie, since you’re both single and all that.”
“I was too. We’ve been plotting all the different kinds of trouble we could get into together.” She winked at Zanny, who laughed.
“Now, now, none of that,” John said sternly, though he was smiling. “She’s a good kid. Growing up way too fast on us however.” He sighed and snagged another roll from the plate in the middle of the table.
“‘Growing up’? More like ‘has grown up,’” Noah countered. “It happened overnight.” He went to the kitchen to wash the sticky sugar from the rolls off his hands. “I hope she can get the job here. I know she was really excited about the interview she had a few weeks back.”
“She was,” Sophie said quietly, joining him at the sink. “I hate that they’re dragging out their response to her.”
“She’ll figure it out,” John said, back to being watchful. “So you two are really just friends?”
“Dad, geez!” Noah shook his head, laughing. “You don’t give up, do you?”
John spread his hands. “I’m only asking.”
“Uh-huh. Sure.”
“And yes, to answer your question,” Sophie said as she grabbed a piece of bacon from the cookie sheet. “Just friends. Nothing more.”
Noah’s heart stopped, and he stared at her, his mouth agape. “But… what?”
“You’re the one who said it first. And it’s true—you never can have too many buddies.” She crunched on the strip of bacon, her gaze challenging him as she chewed.
“Sophie, no, hang on a second.” He scowled, running his hand through his hair. “Wait just a damned second. We’re not just friends.”
When her laughter bubbled out and she pinched his cheek, he realized he’d walked straight into her trap. “Gotcha.”
&
nbsp; “Oh, you got schooled, big boy,” John crowed. “I knew there was more between you two.”
He blew out a breath as his parents laughed. “That was mean.”
“No meaner than you denying we were… whatever we’re doing,” she said softly. A flash of very real hurt went through her eyes, and she looked away.
Noah wrapped his arms around her from behind and hugged her tight. “Silly Sophie,” he whispered in her ear as he tickled her. “I will get you back for that.”
“I knew the boy had more sense than he was exhibiting,” John told Zanny, grinning.
She shook her head. “John David Campbell, you’re as much of a meddling menace as your father is. Sophie, fair warning—it runs in the family.”
John huffed. “Me? I’m a meddling menace?”
“Yes, you.” She flicked her napkin in his direction as she stood. “Now, if you kids don’t mind, I’m going to get cleaned up.”
John stood as well. “I’ll grab our bag. Noah, which bathroom do you want us to use? I’ll probably wait until after the tree’s taken care of though.”
“Either’s fine. I’ll get you some fresh towels.”
Zanny waved. “I brought some. We’re good. All we need is hot water.”
John came back in with their bag a couple of minutes later. “Eli called. He and Haley had to drive around. There’re some trees down on the path coming up the hill. I’m going to walk down and meet them at the one in Dad’s driveway.”
“I’ll catch up with you,” Noah said. Once they were alone, he tugged Sophie away from where she was working on the dishes. “Hey. Are you okay?”
She gave an embarrassed shrug and laughed. “Yeah. I just… didn’t know what you were doing exactly, not at first. It’s nothing.”
She started to turn back to the sink, but he stopped her, this time cupping her face. “Sophie, it’s not all right if it hurt you, and I know it did. I didn’t even imagine you wouldn’t know I was joking with Dad. He’s been harassing me since he walked in the door, and I wanted to aggravate him back. I’m sorry. I never would have said what I did if I thought it would hurt you.”