Chapter Twenty-One Noah #2
It takes me a while to sort out, but in the very back corner, I find the slightest flaw in my design. I shoveled away too much dirt in one spot by a few inches and didn’t tamp down the fencing tight enough. It’s just enough space for Tootsie to burrow herself in and pop free.
“I got you now,” I say to the chicken, then get on with fixing it.
All the while, my eyes drift back to the barn and the guys still hovering around Odette.
She laughs at something one of them says, but I can tell from here that she doesn’t really find what they say funny. It’s the kind of polite laugh you give an unfunny comedian at an open mic night. Just enough not to hurt her feelings.
But these chucklefucks don’t realize that. They think they have her. They think she’s hanging on every word of theirs. And I know this because one of them reaches out and grabs her arm, squeezing it.
He touched her. He fucking touched her.
I drop my tools and march over to her before I even realize what I’m doing. I slide up next to her, wrap my arm around her waist, and tug her back against me.
If Odette is surprised by it, she doesn’t react. Instead, she sinks against me, like I’m a comfortable blanket and she’s been searching for me on a long winter night.
“How’s it going over here?” I ask, staring each one of them down, especially the one who dared to lay a hand on her.
“Holy shit,” one says, staring up at me with wide eyes. “You’re Noah Stevens.”
“Like the Noah Stevens,” another speaks up.
“As in the guy who scored a hat trick in game seven of the Stanley Cup Final in double overtime, giving the team a win, Noah Stevens.”
They all seem completely starstruck. I think I might actually enjoy this if it weren’t for the fact that these guys were just flirting with my girl.
My girl.
Fuck. There I go again, saying Odette is mine when she’s not.
Still, it doesn’t stop me from tightening my hold on her.
I’m jealous.
It’s strange. I’ve never been like this before, not with Chelsea or any of my other ex-girlfriends who came before her. I was never bothered by this stuff. But seeing these guys fall all over the woman pressed against me? I don’t know. It brings out a side of me I have never experienced.
One of the guys takes his hat off and thrusts it toward me.
“Can you sign this? I can’t believe I’m meeting you right now.
I mean, I knew when we booked this gig that you owned the place, but I thought it was just like one of those celebrities owning a brand sort of deal, you know?
I didn’t think that you would actually be here. ”
I almost feel bad for my possessiveness. Almost.
“Guys,” Odette says, holding her hands out to stop him.
“While I’m sure Noah here is very flattered by your admiration, this is still his business, and he’s kind of in the middle of work.
We’re kind of in the middle of work. We have a rehearsal, so let’s get on with that so you can get out of here.
We still have a lot to set up for the wedding, and we’re burning daylight. ”
The guy looks a little dejected, but nods anyway, putting his cap back on his head.
Odette ushers them away and then turns toward me. She’s so close I can see all the different shades of blue in her eyes, and they’re absolutely gorgeous in the warm summer light.
She’s grinning up at me, and all it does is pull my frown deeper.
“What.” It doesn’t even come out a question.
She laughs lightly. “Nothing. Nothing at all.”
I narrow my eyes, not believing her. “I didn’t like the way they were looking at you, okay?”
“They were just being nice, is all.”
“Being nice my ass,” I grumble. “I know being nice, and they were being way more than just nice. They were looking at you like you were a piece of meat.”
“They were not. You’re overreacting.”
“I’m not. I promise you I’m not. I see you, Odette. I know what those curves do to a man.”
“Oh?” Her fingers dance along the hem of my plain orange T-shirt. “Care to elaborate on that at all?”
She blinks up at me, and I know what she’s doing. She’s toying with me. She’s trying to rile me up.
And fuck if it isn’t working.
“Odette . . .” I warn. “I am not beyond pulling you to the back side of the barn, pressing you up against it, sinking my cock into you, and letting those assholes hear every damn moan that leaves you because of me.”
She gulps. She knows from experience that I’m being completely serious. I don’t know what it is about her, but I lose all sense of myself and do things I would normally never do, like fuck her outside. We could have easily been caught, but I didn’t care.
Luckily for us, it was late, and there were only a few customers inside the taproom. We were completely out of sight, and the only way they could’ve caught us was if they came searching for us.
But even now with a full cidery and band inside the barn, I still want to whisk her away and have my way with her until she’s nothing but a mess beneath me.
“All right. Fine. You win. I’ll behave,” she says. “But only for now.”
I fully believe her.
“I’m going to head back in there, but do you think you could do a mini signing session later? The last thing I need is for these guys to continue to fan over you and totally blow their set during the wedding.”
I don’t want to sign anything for these assholes, but it wouldn’t be for them. It would be for Odette, and I think I might do anything for her.
“Yeah,” I agree. “I can do that. But only if you promise to come get me if they start being even a little bit inappropriate with you, and I’m serious. I mean a glance that lingers too long or a squeeze on your arm. Anything.”
She nods, a grin curling on her lips. “I still don’t think they were flirting with me, but yes, I will let you know if the boys I’m not even remotely interested in or attracted to decide to look at me too long.”
“Not attracted to them, huh?”
She wrinkles her nose in genuine disgust. “Not even a little bit.”
“Yeah? What exactly are you attracted to then?”
“Oh, you know. Guys with deep-brown hair and eyes that match. Cute little crinkles right at the corners.” She reaches up, tracing her finger beside my eye, right over those crinkles she’s talking about. “A nose that looks like it’s maybe taken a high stick or two.”
“Or that’s been beaten up by a bathroom door,” I add, circling my hands around her waist.
She giggles. “Or a bathroom door. Somebody a little rough around the edges, but in all the best ways. Somebody who has experience. Who isn’t so green. Who has lived a life and maybe has a few gray hairs to prove it.”
Her hand dives into my hair right at my temples where the said gray hairs lie, and I lean into her touch, pressing a kiss against the palm of her hand.
We are being so damn reckless right now, yet I can’t find it in me to care.
“You know . . .” she whispers. She pushes to her tiptoes, her beautiful pink, full lips ghosting over mine, then my cheek, and right to my ear. A shiver races down my spine. “Someone old.”
I drop my head back on a groan as she laughs, pulling away, leaving me missing her far too much, especially when she’s just called me old yet again.
“Oh, and hey, Noah? Remember when I said that I kind of like a grumpy, growly side of you? Well, I think I like the jealous side even more.”
She gives me a saucy smirk before turning and walking away, an extra sway in her hips as I watch her go.
Fuck. I swear this woman wants to be the death of me.
The wildest part? I’d let her be.