11. Reid
I’m a fucking idiot.
I’ll admit, agreeing to come out to eat with Nova wasn’t my smartest choice. Especially when I’m trying to get her out of my head.
Sitting across from her in the little rundown pizza shop almost feels normal, like we’ve been here a million times.
As it turns out, sweet crabs are the love child of a donut and an elephant ear, in the shape of a crab and smothered in whatever fruit, syrup, or ice cream you want. Nova orders two while we wait for our pizza in the town’s only pizza place.
From the outside, you would think this place was just another ramshackle house that used to be one of the grandest on the island. From the inside, it’s everything you’d picture when you think of a house-turned-pizzeria.
The front half of the main floor is all open and not a single chair is empty. People stare at me, but I ignore them. I’m used to people in town looking at me. I’m an outsider. It comes with moving around and I’ve grown accustomed to people’s prying eyes in the last decade I’ve been traveling.
Nova, on the other hand, stares back at an elderly couple with as much intimidation as a rabid bunny rabbit until they avert their gazes.
How they aren’t quaking in fear, I’ll never know.
“People are so rude,” she grumbles, tearing off a chunk from a strawberries and cream sweet crab. Ask me what my mind goes to when she gets some of the cream on her lip.
I can tell you, it’s nothing platonic.
Shaking the thoughts from my head, I grab a bite of the one in front of me. Blueberry banana.
“This island has a thing for blueberries,” I murmur, shoving the bite in my mouth. She watches for my reaction, so I throw her a bone. “It’s good.”
Nova beams brighter than I’ve ever seen her. “See, I told you they were the best thing you’d ever taste.”
“I can think of something that is much sweeter.”
Her eyes zero in on me, calculating. Then, when she seems to understand what I’m getting at, her face turns the same shade as the bright red paint on the walls.
Told you it’s fucking addicting.
“Are you always this crude?” she asks, cocking her head and taking a bite of our blueberry sweet crab.
“Are you always this shy?”
I know for a fact, she’s not.
“I’m not shy,” she rolls her eyes. “I’m just not used to someone—”
“Telling the truth?”
Something flashes across her gaze before it’s quickly replaced with a blank slate. I fucking hate it.
“So, where are you going after Port Nova?” she asks, quickly changing the subject. It’s probably for the better. I won’t pry any answers out of her in a crowded room full of people.
“Alaska. In September.”
“That’s only six weeks away.”
“I know. Why do you think I want the boat fixed? I’ve got traps to clean up before I go.”
She stares down at a strawberry in front of her. “What’s in Alaska? Besides snow?”
“King crab. I was hired to captain a ship. Need to be there a month early to get ready for the season.”
She shakes her head. “Wait, a whole ship?”
I shrug. “Six or seven guys. Nothing huge, but . . . those waters are rough. Lot of people don’t come home at the end of the season.”
Something about the look on her face pisses me off. Like she’s concerned.
“You look worried, Nova.”
“Well,” she stalls. “I would hate for something to happen to you. It sounds dangerous.”
I don’t like the idea of her worrying for me. Like we’re suddenly the best of friends. Platonic. “It is dangerous, but I’ve been through worse.”
“Okay, like what?”
I don’t get a chance to answer before our pizza is delivered. I recognize the woman who brings it as one who hit on me outside the hardware store last week when I went in for some nails.
Don’t get me wrong, she’s beautiful, but by that point, this obsession with Nova Fischer was already well underway. And I hadn’t even made her come, yet.
“Nova, Reid,” Sophie greets, setting the pizza down in front of us. “Nova, how are Gran and Pappap?”
“They’re okay,” she smiles, though it doesn’t quite reach her eyes. “Old.”
“Lord, your grandpa scares me. I saw him get on a rickety old ladder the other day and couldn’t believe you’d let him do that.”
Nova winces and I study her for a moment. Something is . . . off between these two.
“Well, the inn won’t fix itself, you know?” Nova jokes, but Sophie’s not paying an ounce of attention to her.
No, unfortunately, that attention has been turned to me.
“You should hire Reid to do it. He’s a strong man, right, Reid?” Sophie asks, hand on my shoulder. I must admit, watching the fire flare for a brief second in Nova’s eyes does something for my ego.
And my cock.
“I’ve got it,” Nova snaps, cheeks darkening.
“Oh, come on, Nova. You can’t possibly do it all.”
I don’t miss the look Nova shoots at Sophie, who deflects it with a bright smile. Almost like something unspoken passed between them.
Women are fucking weird.
“Why not?”
“Nova, you need help.”
“I do not,” Nova argues stubbornly. “I can handle it.”
“We’re working on it,” I interject before the girls can fucking maim each other.
“Well, what still needs fixed?”
“Nothing—”
“The whole damned building is crumbling,” Sophie rolls her eyes, cutting Nova off. “It’s old.”
Okay, it’s not that bad.
“I swear it’s like I’m not even speaking,” Nova grumbles.
“Well, you won’t ask for help, so the rest of us have to do it for you. You can’t keep letting that place go. The AC doesn’t work and the boiler’s been broken. It’s going to get cold in a few months and you know how Gran gets in the cold.”
“Of course, I know my own grandma, Sophie,” Nova snaps, but Sophie doesn’t even seem to notice.
“You do, which is why it needs fixed.”
That shuts Nova up.
“Let me take a look at the boiler. I’ll get it running.”
Nova just shakes her head.
“You’re a good man, Reid.” Sophie nudges Nova. “Right, Nova?”
“Yeah,” Nova grumbles. “The best.”
I hold back my chuckle when Sophie pats me on the shoulder, her fingers slipping down my arm. Nova shoots daggers at her back as she walks away.
“Little bird, if I didn’t know any better, I’d say you’re jealous.”
That earns me a look.
“I am not jealous. Why would I be jealous?”
“No reason,” I smirk, and she rolls her eyes.
Oh, little bird, you have no idea what you’re getting yourself into.
“It’s not a big deal, Nova. The place needs a couple things fixed. I doubt it’s cheap to have people come from the mainland to fix the place.”
“You have no idea,” she murmurs, taking a slice of mushroom and pepper pizza—her choice. “I called for a quote on just getting some painting done in the rooms to remove that awful wallpaper and they said thirty-five thousand. I nearly laid an egg.”
“Thank you for that image.”
She gawks at me, shoving at my leg with hers under the table. Heat swells in my cock, but I try to ignore it with visions of elderly bikini contests, famous baseball moments, and boxing matches throughout history.
It doesn’t fucking work.
Her phone starts buzzing on the table between us and instantly, she’s picking it up and looking at it, her brow furrowing. I’ve noticed it goes off all the time and it’s always someone at the inn needing something. Needing to know where something is, needing to know how to do something.
“Don’t you pay people to know how to do their jobs?”
She finally puts it back down after typing out a long message.
“Yes, but people need guidance. I apologize, I won’t look at it, again.”
Bull.
Sitting forward, I cross my hands in front of me on the table. She sits back, probably due to how close we are, but I don’t let it stop me.
“Nova, people should be able to handle things on their own. You should be able to leave for a couple hours without them hounding you.”
“They aren’t hounding me,” she argues, rolling her eyes and as if they’re listening, her phone vibrates, again.
I eye her, challenging her to pick it up.
She eyes me back, though I can see her resolve slowly crumbling.
“It might be important,” she winces, picking it up and reading the text on the screen. “Besides, don’t you know? Everyone’s always glued to their cellphones nowadays.”
I wait for her to put it back down before she turns to me, waiting for me to respond.
“Let me guess,” she hums. “The infamous Reid Morrison doesn’t have a cellphone?”
“Kind of defeats the whole purpose of doing whatever I want in life, doesn’t it?”
“What about family? Surely, they want to make sure you’re okay.”
When I don’t respond, the smile slowly fades from her face.
“Oh. I’m sorry.”
“Stop.”
For once, she actually fucking listens.
“Did they at least have good pizza in North Carolina?” she asks after a long pause filled with nothing but awkward silence.
“Been so long, I don’t remember.”
I neglect to tell her I didn’t get much pizza growing up. If there was food in the house after Mom died, it was because my grandmother brought it. After she died, it was whatever I could manage to get out of Dad before he bought his beer for the week.
Something tells me Nova’s never gone to bed hungry.
As I said, sweet and innocent.
“Well, what part of North Carolina did you grow up in?”
The shit part.
“Let’s just say, we didn’t grow up the same class.”
She narrows her eyes on me.
“Do you think I grew up differently than you?”
Agitation grows inside me. Maybe it’s because I know she’s way too fucking good for me. Maybe it’s because I’ve shoved that distant part of myself so far down, I rarely think about it anymore, or maybe it’s seeing how much people love her, but something is digging up a past that I would rather stay buried.
“I know you did.”
“Okay, Reid, since you seem to know everything about me. What was my childhood like?”
“Probably had anything you could want. Mom and Dad loved each other. Probably still do. You got to spend summers on the island with your Gran and Pap. Probably grew up the sweet, popular girl. Bet Mom and Dad still call you every night, just to make sure their little princess doesn’t need anything, too.” I pause, waiting for her to say something. “Did I miss anything?”
“Just that you’re an asshole,” she snaps, rising from the booth.
Well, fuck.
“Nova,” I grit, but she ignores me and something in me snaps. I reach out for her hand and she freezes, staring down at me with a mixture of hurt and anger on her face. “Please.”
Something flashes across her eyes before it’s masked. Something that looked a whole lot like I’m already in over my head.
“Listen, Reid. You don’t know the first thing about my childhood. Don’t presume to think I won’t understand you just because I grew up with my parents around. Sometimes, it’s not all rainbows and butterflies.”
“I’m sorry,” I grit, dropping her hand and scrubbing my fingers through my hair. Nova watches me, eyes softening before finally taking her seat again.
For once in my life, the prying eyes of everyone around us gets under my skin.
“I don’t talk about that shit.”
“Okay,” she shrugs. “So, what do you talk about?”
“Nova.”
“I’m serious.”
“So am I? Can’t we just enjoy sweet crabs and talk about right now?”
She stares at me for a beat and I think she’s going to storm out. But, she stays.
“Fine,” she concedes, but something else crosses her face. “But you can’t keep secrets forever, Reid . . . Sometimes, they catch up to you.”