Teagan’s mouth gaped. “Someone sat outside my house, smoking?”
He nodded. “And your shed.”
“What about it?”
“On the inside, the insulation had been torn out. Does that make any sense?”
Her face skewed. “Like an animal got into the wall?”
That’d been his hope too. “Not so much. More like it was stripped out.”
Teagan bit her lip. “I never use that old shed. There’s nothing in there. My ex-husband built it to store some equipment and gadgets. That’s why it was insulated, but I haven’t used it in years.” Her brow furrowed.
Interesting. “Last night, before I got home, I ran into your neighborhood watch.”
“We don’t have a neighborhood watch.” Her bottom lip trembled.
“Know anyone named Edward Lee?”
Teagan shook her head. “No.”
That was what Lexi and her husband Parker, an elite hacker Lexi's equal, had turned up too. That person didn’t exist in Eagle’s Ridge, much less Teagan’s neighborhood.
“But…”
Noah’s eyebrows arched as panic set in on her face. “What, Teagan?”
“But Edward Lee was often my ex-husband’s screen name.”
His brow furrowed. “What? Why?”
“It’s some guy. E. Lee. First name’s Edward, but his last name’s Spence. He’s an underwater archaeologist.”
“A what?” he asked.
“Another treasurer hunter.”
Had Noah run into Teagan’s husband? Talked to the bastard? But why? What was going on?
“Was he at my house?” she asked.
Noah’s mind couldn’t keep up, but he would loop the detective in. “Does he smoke?”
Teagan shook her head. “No. He never did.”
“I don’t know what’s going on, but awareness is half the battle. If there’s an issue, Eagle’s Ridge PD has been clued in and will be on the lookout now.”
Teagan looked numb—or maybe shocked.
“Your street will be on their patrol.”
“For what?” she asked.
“Exactly. There hasn’t been a crime committed. Other than the damage to the inside of the shed.”
“And who knows when that damage happened? I haven’t opened that thing in a long time.”
They sat in silence, and Noah let Teagan work through everything he had told her, waiting for her to set aside what he had shared and flip out over what he had done. But that didn’t happen.
“Why are you looking at me like that?” she finally asked.
Ha. He could start a list. The easiest answer was that she was gorgeous. Her expressive eyes made him react in half a dozen ways. She could curl her lips, and Noah would be lust-drunk or laughing. Looking at her was a top favorite pastime, but that wasn’t what she meant. “I was worried.”
“About last night?”
“Nah, stuff like that doesn’t faze me.”
“Then what?”
“I didn’t know how you’d react to me. Reacting to you.” He inched forward, resting his forearms on her desk, and simply watched as her chest rose and fell more than it had when he first arrived. Their dynamic squeezed him from the inside out, and now he could see that it did her too.
What he wouldn’t give to run his hands over her, to feel that she was safe. That was why he was staring, because he was longing.
“And what’s that look for?” Teagan asked in a much quieter, coarser voice.
His hungry gaze dropped, and Noah inhaled deeply before braving a look at her again. “After all the sharing just now, I’m going to keep that to myself.”
He stood before he could say or do anything that would cross a clearly set line. Last night’s line was a guess. The one in his mind was specific, and she didn’t want to cross it again.
They had kissed, and she’d said pull back.
Teagan was comfortable with their relationship as friends, and that was where he would leave it. “I’ll catch you later. Call me if you need anything.”
Then Noah forced himself from her office with the knowledge that one day, they would be a couple. He just needed to back up and let what he knew to be fact catch up with reality.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
The Lego tower now rivaled Will in height and spanned the length of his arms as Teagan sat on the couch in an old pair of sweatpants and an Eagle’s Ridge track T-shirt. She watched one tower sway as her son quickly leaped into action to fortify the base. Only when she was sure that his hours of work wouldn’t crash did she go back to her review of IEPs.
Schoolteachers were finishing interims, and she was keeping an eye on the progress of the new school year start of individual plans for students who needed special help with programs. There was never enough time and resources.
Knock, knock.
Will jumped. “Someone’s at the door! Oh no!”
The tower of blocks, which he had just stabilized, toppled and crashed. Legos shot in every direction, and his cheeks flushed to a frustrated red. “They broke, Mama. I—”
“Don’t say anything you might regret, otherwise all the Legos go up.”
He swallowed what looked to be one hundred kindergarten versions of “shoot” and plopped to the ground to start rebuilding.
“Good decision.” She set her work on the coffee table and headed toward the door, hoping whoever it was had a fantastic reason that she could give Will for the knocking. “Coming.”
Padding down the hallway barefoot, she rolled her pants once to keep them on her hips then opened the door. The world froze.
“Teagan, it’s great to see you,” her ex-husband said on the front porch of the home they used to share before he so cavalierly walked out when she had a newborn in her arms.
How they had managed to avoid each other for five years, she had no idea. Even though Spencer traveled almost constantly, he still called Eagle’s Ridge home. But this was not his house. “What are you doing here?”
“I was hoping to come in and chat.”
She inched out of the door, squeezing it almost shut behind her. “Are you out of your mind? You can’t come here.”
“I didn’t think we parted on those kinds of terms.”
“Were you in my neighborhood recently?” she snapped.
Spencer shook his head. “I was in town a couple weeks ago but not over here. Why?”
“A friend thought he saw you.”
Spencer took a step closer. “Did he? How would he know it was me?”
“Because of Edward Lee. Was that you?”
He pushed a hand against the door. “Let me in, Tea.”
She balked, bumping into the door and clattering for the handle to pull it back again. Will didn’t need to see him. He’d never met his father, and right now wasn’t going to be the time that introduction took place, if ever. “No,” she hissed. “You walked away. Not even a fight for custody.”
The only thing he’d requested was that Teagan notify him before she sold her house, which she’d owned before he moved in with her. If “moving in with” was even a correct description of their living arrangements, considering how often he’d been gone. The judge had given him the right to one final walk-through if she ever sold, for nostalgic purposes.
Her attorney told her to keep quiet, that it was one of the best divorce agreements he’d ever seen. That did nothing but piss her off, though.
Spencer stepped back. “You’re making a scene.”
“You need to leave.”
Will called for her from the living room, and Teagan’s blood formed icicles. “Go. Now.”
“That’s Will, huh? Sounds like a real big kid now.”
“Spencer Shaw, get off my property, so help me God.”
Spence’s cocky smile hung on his tan face, and his sun-bleached hair hung over his eyes in a way that said he’d spent too much time on the beach lately. Yet still he managed to wear nice clothing and, from the looks of the car parked in front of the hous
e, had a nice ride. There were so many questions surrounding him that she’d never wanted to think about again.
“Hey, let me hit the bathroom real quick. Just tell him I’m a salesperson. Doesn’t matter.”
Doesn’t matter. Her heart shattered. It didn’t matter. To Spence, it didn’t. But to Will, it would. His heart would splinter, knowing that his long-lost father wanted to use the bathroom more than he wanted to meet his son.
Her eyelids burned with tears, and Teagan couldn’t manage the words “Go to hell.” She simply stumbled back and slammed the door shut.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
Business was finally picking up at Nuts and Bolts, and Noah had a sense of accomplishment. Not only was he using his hands as he had in demolition, tinkering and troubleshooting to finally tune parts that should flow together effortlessly, but he’d found satisfaction as a new business owner. Entrepreneurship wasn’t Noah’s calling, though. Providing for others was. It would’ve been a bold-faced lie to say he had the slightest interest in accounting or marketing. Putting in hours long after Bella was asleep to learn what came beyond the basics of Business 101 made for tediously long nights, but he was in it for the long haul.
He poured lotion on his hands and wiped the grease off on a cloth then tossed it over his shoulder. He’d earned enough this week to not be in the hole. There was a trust and savings to rely on, but his personal goals made him work hard so he wouldn’t rely on those as if he were starting from scratch. Maybe it was too hard and idealistic for some, but dammit, he was going to do it.
This was his life now. No more jumps out of a helicopter, no surfacing in the water on a strike. He wouldn’t search for enemies, couldn’t calculate for explosions and demolitions. It was a time of transition, and Noah found himself making lists of normal, everyday activities.
He planned to meet Wyatt at Baldie’s for beers later in the week. He wanted to invite the guys over to the house after he made it more of his own place. Noah had signed up to read a story to Bella’s class and was responsible for donating the classroom pumpkin. He downloaded the phone app for the school’s sports booster program even though Bella was too young to participate in any of the Eagle’s Ridge school athletic activities. At least he could track the high school scores, which was a topic of local conversation. All day long, Noah talked to customers and business associates, but at the end of the day, before Bella walked off the bus, an unfamiliar loneliness continued to surround him at his house.
He had connections, but they weren’t personal. Other than Bella. And Teagan—even Will. But he wanted more depth with Teagan. More warmth. More of her. More everything.
Noah dropped to his desk chair and stared blankly at a pile of work.
He took his phone out of his desk drawer and didn’t know who to reach out to, particularly when he had nothing to say. That used to be Lainey, who was there for the few and far between times when he needed somebody to just get him. He scrolled the contact list and swiped Teagan’s name. She didn’t fit the bill as a makeshift replacement for Lainey, but he didn’t want to replace his cousin and didn’t feel as if Teagan needed to adapt to fit a role, or that he needed a reason to talk to her.
Much like Lainey.
She answered on the second ring, but the tone of her hello changed his self-focused reflection to an immediate concern that something was wrong. “Teagan, what’s the matter?”
She grumbled. “That easy to tell? Great. Just peachy.”
“Rotten day at work?” How bad could it be in an elementary school? It wasn’t as if she could be called to the principal’s office.
“It’s just a weird two days. I haven’t heard from my ex-husband in years, and yesterday he shows up and wants to chat. Today the same thing.”
Noah’s lips flattened, and he wasn’t sure how best to answer as a platonic friend. “What’s he want?”
“I can tell you what he doesn’t want. To see Will. Which is fine by me, but it’s also heartbreaking.”
Noah shook his head. “Is there anything I can do?”
“Is it weird that I’m talking to you about him?”
“Why would that be weird?”
“People have preconceived notions about Spence, and frankly, I don’t want to talk to them about him.”
He ignored the solid river of irritation punching in his jugular. “I’ll listen to anything.”
“Thanks. I— Hang on a second.” The phone muffled as he waited. “Someone popped into my office, and I have to jump. But this afternoon I’m headed over to the middle school for a counselors’ meeting, then I’m done for the day. Maybe I could swing by Nuts and Bolts? I’ll bring coffee.”
She could show up throwing spitballs and dropping stink bombs, and Noah wouldn’t send her packing. “You don’t have to bring coffee. But I won’t say no.”
“Sweet! I’ll see you later.”
They said their goodbyes, and he hung up. He tossed the phone onto his desk amid the spreadsheets and orders that he needed to catalog. He hadn’t ever been this excited to sit at his desk and do nothing. Considering their topic of conversation, though, it would take effort to behave like a gentleman. Hell, who’d said anything in their agreement about gentlemanly behavior? Maybe he could be the type of friend who could bounce an ex-husband out of town on his ass.
Didn’t every woman need that kind of man in her life? Yeah, Noah was pretty sure they did, and that was who he was going to be. The ass-kicking acquaintance of the beautiful Teagan Shaw.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
The pitter-patter of Teagan’s heart drummed louder than the bass on the radio. Her stomach was in knots, and her pulse jumped erratically at the recall of Noah’s baritone voice pressed against her ear.
Her excitement level was at an all-time high, buzzing from the second she hung up with him and growing to the point that when she stopped for their coffees, she ordered hers as decaf.
Nuts and Bolts loomed closer, and the simple act of signaling to turn made her smile. “Stop it.”
Especially given the topic. It wasn’t as if Teagan could bounce into Noah’s office, glowing as she was now, and expect to discuss Spencer. Noah would think… Who knew what he would think? She didn’t know what to think.
Spencer had terrified her and broken her heart all over again by how he acted toward Will. Not that she wanted him near her son. But she was giddy to see Noah.
She turned in to the parking lot and let the Subaru idle before shifting into Park and shutting off the engine. “He’s your friend.”
Teagan checked the rearview mirror for the hundredth time then grabbed her purse and the two coffees before sliding out the car door.
Noah was at the front door, an arm overhead and propped against the doorjamb as he leaned his long frame against the wall. Teagan’s confident first step slowed. She didn’t expect him there. Didn’t expect anyone who looked like that, with long arms and thick muscles, to stare at her. Then he smiled, and her heart tried to also, expanding in her chest before her lips got with the program.
“Hey, need a hand?” He pushed off the wall, letting the door swing closed.
“Sure.”
He took the coffee from her and rested a hand on the small of her back, guiding her toward the door, then he held it open as a cold wind blustered.
Inside the warm office, Teagan finger combed her hair back and he set the coffees down, offering to take her jacket. They took their drinks to his office.
Noah’s office was just like the rest of the shop, kind of quirky. A sign behind his desk read:
Ratta-Tat-Tat $10
Ka-Plunk Ka-Plunk $20
Ping-Ping Thud-Thud $30
And the wrench clock and license plate light shades didn’t look his style, but he was smart enough to keep the place the way that it had been. Eagle’s Ridge loved it.
“I’ve heard business has been doing well,” she said.
“It’s picking up.” He leaned back in his chair. “Are you going to tell me, or do I begi
n my list of what-happened-with-Spencer questions?”
Teagan groaned. “I hate that man. Or maybe not. You have to love to hate.”
Noah took a sip of his coffee.
“He showed up and wanted to come on in and chat. The nerve of him. Didn’t even say hi to Will. Not like that’s how I’d want to introduce him to his father, but he wasn’t interested.”
“He was interested in you?” Noah bobbed his brows.
Teagan thought back on it. “No. I don’t know what his deal was. He just wanted to come in.”
“Did he?”
“No.”
“Do you feel safe?” Noah asked.
“From Spencer? Sure. He just makes me so… angry.”
“Because of Will.”
Her eyes burned, and she focused on her coffee. “Because it’s not fair that I was so stupid. He’s such an amazing kid.” Tears slipped free. I want him to have a dad. It wasn’t like I thought that Spencer would be gone. Never like this.” Teagan wiped her cheeks then realized who she was talking to. “God, I must sound so selfish. Here you are when Bella’s lost both her parents. You’ve given up your career.”
Noah stood from his chair, walked to her side of the desk, and sat on the edge. He took her coffee cup from her and wrapped his arms around her back, hugging her to his chest. “Don’t do that.”
She couldn’t help it. Teagan never let her guard down or knew she needed to. But with Noah she could. “I just wish my baby had a life without the threat of heartache. Isn’t that what every mom wants for her children?” She sniffed. “And his father was so close. He was there. He heard Will and just didn’t care.”
The tears fell, and Noah hugged her until she stopped. Her thoughts cleared. His unhesitating hand rubbed her back slowly until she dabbed at her eyes again.
“Sorry about that.” Teagan straightened in her seat as he handed over her coffee. “I didn’t think I was coming here to fall apart.”
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