Chapter Eleven Noah
Chapter Eleven
Noah
She’s sweet.
It’s the only thing I’m thinking as our mouths move together as if they’ve met before instead of for the first time.
She tastes so fucking sweet, and not just because of the cider she was drinking in the bar. No, it’s her. It’s Odette.
Holy fuck, I’m kissing Odette.
Her lips are silky and pliable as I grab her waist, tugging her even closer. She melts against me, and I let her. Hell, I welcome it. She feels good. Too damn good. Like nothing I’ve ever felt before.
I slide my tongue over her lips, testing the waters, and she opens for me.
I waste no time slipping into her mouth, and she wastes no time rolling her tongue against mine. It’s like all the barriers we were hiding behind have been broken, and we can’t get enough of each other.
I can’t get enough of her. Of how she smells like rain and that familiar floral perfume she always wears. How she tastes like apples and strawberries and something else so damn sweet I don’t think I’ll ever be able to name it.
How she feels pressed so tightly against me.
There’s no way she doesn’t notice how rock hard my cock is. No way she doesn’t know just what she’s doing to me.
Odette fists my shirt like she’s afraid I’ll disappear, and I slip my fingers under hers, desperate to touch her. I’m unsurprised that her skin is just as velvety as it always looks.
She shudders, her whole body vibrating in my arms at the simple touch.
I go higher and grin when she softly grunts as I press my thigh between her legs. She rocks her hips against me as our mouths continue to move together, so in sync that I can hardly believe it.
I’ve never kissed anyone like this before. I’ve never felt anything like this before. Not even with my ex, and I married her, for fuck’s sake.
It was never like this. Never so good. It never made me feel like the earth was spinning, yet everything once askew was righted all at once.
I inch my touch upward, needing to feel more of her, and I relish the way goose bumps break out across her skin. How her fingers dig into me even harder. How she’s pressing even tighter against me until I can’t tell where either of us begins.
Somewhere in the back of my mind, I know I should stop this. This is Odette. A woman who is twelve years younger than me. A woman who is so off-limits, it’s not even funny. Someone who drives me absolutely wild.
I should stop.
But I don’t.
If anything, it makes me want her more. It makes me want to lay her down on one of these old hay bales and see if she tastes sweet everywhere else too. See if I can make her moan. Make her beg for more. See if I can undo her just as she’s undone me.
When my fingers touch the edge of her bra, she wrenches her mouth from mine, and the cold that hits me is so sharp it knocks my breath from my lungs.
Or maybe that was Odette too.
“Wait,” she says on a gasp. “Wait, wait, wait.”
I stop, not moving another inch as I rest my forehead against hers.
“I just . . .”
But she doesn’t say anything else, and I don’t say anything either.
I don’t know what to say, even if I could talk, which I don’t think I can. I can hardly breathe, let alone string together a full sentence.
I’m not sure how long we stand like that, but it’s long enough that I realize she’s shaking.
No, trembling.
I wish I could say it’s all from the rain and the cold, but it’s not. I know it’s not. Because I’m shaking, too, and it’s with nothing but absolute need.
“Are you . . .” I slide my tongue over my lips. They taste like her. “Are you okay?”
She bobs her head up and down at first, then it slowly shifts left and right.
Fuck.
I’ve pushed her too far. I’ve taken advantage of her. I shouldn’t have kissed her. Shouldn’t have touched her. And I really shouldn’t want to do it all over again.
“Listen, I’m—”
“No,” she says, pulling back and putting distance between us—too much distance.
She’s backing away. Farther and farther, still shaking her head.
I take a step toward her. “Odette?”
“I’m sorry.”
It’s all she says before turning on her heel and doing the last thing I expect.
She runs.
I didn’t sleep for shit last night. I tossed and turned, waking up every half hour or so until I finally just got out of bed.
I was up so early that I was already sitting on the porch with coffee in my hand when Tootsie waddled down the driveway, looking for food.
I have no idea how she escaped the shed I put her in last night, but of course she did. They should have named her Houdini instead.
“Ha. Beat you to it today,” I say as she comes and pecks at my boots.
Cluck.
“Yeah, I know. I’m surprised I’m up first too.”
Cluck.
“Why so early? I slept like shit.”
Cluck cluck.
“What’d I do? Something foolish.”
Cluck.
“I kissed Odette Chambers.”
It’s the first time I’ve said it out loud, but certainly not the first time I’ve thought about it.
I replayed our kiss all night. Over and over, trying to figure out what made it so different. All I could come up with? Her.
Cluck.
I look back at Tootsie, who is staring up at me.
“Where is she? She ran away.”
Every part of me wanted to chase after her last night, but I didn’t. I knew she didn’t want me to follow her.
Instead, I stared after her for far too long. It wasn’t until Pork meowed that I realized I was still standing in the middle of the barn, wet and cold and in desperate need of a drink.
So I bundled the kitten in the towel, trudged through the rain to my truck, and drove home.
The kitten, who has been by my side since, pushes to his feet and looks down at Tootsie.
I expect his hair to rise or for the hen to react poorly, but none of that happens.
No, the little cat jumps off the porch swing I’ve been sitting on since before sunrise and walks right up to the chicken like they’re best friends.
Tootsie is apprehensive as Pork sniffs at her, trying to figure out exactly what she’s looking at. But the chicken doesn’t react. She just lets the cat explore and sort it out for himself.
After a few minutes of uncertainty, Pork sits beside Toots and meows. The chicken clucks in response, and that’s what they do. They sit side by side as I sip on my coffee, the early-morning sun showering the land in light, chasing away the fog that flits between the evergreens.
I wish I could have slept better last night. Based on the limbs and debris in my yard, I can’t imagine how rough it looks up by the cidery, which means it will be a long day of cleaning.
Maybe it’s what I need, though—something to distract me from the thoughts that won’t seem to leave my mind.
I pick up my phone to check for a response to the last text I sent Odette, but there isn’t one.
I read through the messages from last night instead.
Me: At least tell me you made it home safely.
Me: Come on, Odette.
Me: If you don’t answer me within five minutes, I’m driving to your apartment.
Her response came swiftly after that threat, though I wish it hadn’t come at all.
Odie: Home. Don’t send the cavalry. Need time.
And that was it.
I texted her again this morning to ask if she was okay, but all I’ve gotten so far is silence, which I’m sure I’ll continue to get.
Fuck. I messed up. I messed up so damn bad, and now I don’t know what to do.
If this were anyone else, I wouldn’t care. It was just one kiss—big deal.
But it’s not just anyone. It’s Odette.
What the hell was I thinking?
Oh, right. I was thinking that she ran out of the bar into the storm with panic in her gorgeous blue eyes, and all I wanted to do was make sure she was safe.
I was thinking that she did it to save a cat because of that big heart of hers, and it’s the kind of selfless thing I like about her.
I was thinking that she looked fucking beautiful, even soaking wet.
I was thinking that I’ve been wanting to kiss her for far too long, and there was no time like the present.
I was thinking that, for the first time in my life, I didn’t want to think. I just wanted to act.
I wanted to kiss Odette.
And I did.
Now it’s clear she’s not talking to me, and I have to live with that.
Once my mug is empty, I head inside with Pork trotting along behind me, trying to push all thoughts of her aside as I get ready for the day.
It works until I make it down to the cidery and my eyes go straight to the barn where I kissed the hell out of her.
Then, the only thing running through my mind was how soft she felt under my touch and the soft sounds she made as I kissed her. How she melted against me, how she pulled me closer.
And the look on her face when she realized what we’d just done and ran.
I tear my gaze away, focusing instead on all the damage.
As expected, there are limbs and debris all over the place, and a tree fell by the pond, making me glad I herded the ducks toward shelter.
The chicken coop is wrecked, and I’ve never been more thankful for the shed than now, sparing the poor hens from the carnage.
The goats are fine, their pen holding steady. I’m not surprised since it’s newer than the coop and definitely newer than the barn.
I look back at the building again and decide to rip the Band-Aid off. I’ll need to go inside and inspect the damage eventually. Might as well be now.
The second I step inside, my attention shifts right to the spot where I kissed Odette, and just like that, she’s back at the front of my mind. Not that she ever really left.
I check my phone again just to torture myself, but there’s nothing.
I pocket it and continue my inspection.
Miraculously, the damage is minimal. A few panels are missing from the sides—older ones I hadn’t gotten around to replacing yet—and some water leaked in, but that’s it. It’s actually in damn good shape, all things considered.
Thank fuck, too, because I was worried we’d just spent all that time working for nothing and we’d have to start over, which would inevitably put us behind, which would mean I’d be disappointing my sister.
I can’t do that. And I can’t disappoint Odette, either, even if she isn’t talking to me right now.