22
Noah
After leaving a kiss on Jett’s temple, I do as promised.
Getting the water running and laying out towels is nothing. Neither is making sure my sister’s shampoo, conditioner, and body wash are all set out for her, although I wouldn’t mind her smelling like my sandalwood body wash.
Finding the space heater takes a little more work. I finally locate it in the top of the hall closet and quickly work to plug it in before double-checking the water temperature. Then I slip back out to the living area where Jett has once again sunk into a blanket cocoon with only the top of her head peeking out. I softly massage what I can reach before telling her the shower is ready. Once she disappears down the hall and I hear the door latch, I head into the kitchen to throw together a small lunch. I only got toast into Jett’s stomach earlier. She needs to eat.
By the time the water shuts off, a tray of fruit, BLTs, a water for me and a Dr. Pepper for Jett sit on the coffee table by the love seat. As Jett slips back into the room, I motion toward the cushions on the floor for her where it’ll be easier for me to brush her hair, but she walks straight to me, the black sweats I’d left in the bathroom for her swallowing her petite frame. Without thought, I open my arms and envelop her.
“You said don’t ask. Just do.”
“I did.”
“Thank you.”
Without another word, I lead Jett to her spot and sit behind her, her body fitting perfectly between my knees as I carefully comb the tangles from her hair.
After spending fifteen minutes blow drying her hair, I sit back to brush out any new tangles. Several moments in, I have to double check that Jett is still awake. Her body keeps going lax against my leg or the front of the love seat, and she never makes a peep. Finally, as I am attempting to braid her hair—something I haven’t tried to do since my sister was a kid—Jett speaks and, funnily enough, brings up my sister.
“I mean, who has girly bath stuff in their manly bathroom?”
I chuckle. “Oakley leaves her stuff here for when she drops in between flights out of Atlanta, like the night you met her. She’ll swing by long enough for a shower and some sleep then she’s gone again.”
Jett is thoughtful for a moment before she says, “You should talk about them more. Your family, I mean. I know the sad. I want to know the good, too.”
“Yeah?”
At her drowsy nod, I start to explain, but a knock at the door halts the conversation.
“To be continued,” I mumble against her crown before leaving another kiss and standing to open the door, knowing it is McKenna. “Get comfy on the couch, love. I’ll let Sadie back in to snuggle you.”
McKenna took one look at Jett before taking control of the situation. Though I don’t actually know what the situation is. I tried to leave the girls with their privacy, but my loft is only so large. Even Sadie has made herself at home with Jett. I swear that dog loves her more than she loves me.
After what seems like forever, McKenna brings the now-empty food tray back into the kitchen where I’ve been watching videos on some new elevator models.
“Did she tell you what happened yesterday?” I ask McKenna, doubting I’ll get a straightforward answer.
“You’ll have to ask her. Best friend confidentiality and all.” She turns from the sink of dirty dishes and looks at me, face somber. “Look, that girl has been through hell and back more than once. She’s the kind of girl who can sit at rock bottom for weeks before you will notice. Her heart is usually the culprit, so it’s not something to toy with. If you are just here for a quick venture to her bedroom, or if she is your next fix for the next little stretch of time, then leave her alone. Do not try to comfort her. Do not tell her it will all be okay. Do not pass ‘GO,’ and do not collect two hundred dollars.”
I shake my head at McKenna. “I’m not goin’ anywhere, Kenna. That girl means something. More than something. She’s supposed to be in my life.” I pause, looking back toward the couch where my personal bundle of chaos is curled up with Sadie, eyes unfocused as she stares toward the television, hand absentmindedly stroking the Aussie’s coat. “She is all that matters to me. I just want her happy.” It must be the right thing to say, because McKenna’s lips tip into a grin.
“A few years ago, you would have been out that door without a second thought.”
“Four months ago, I wouldn’t have taken off work just to look after someone.” I shrug. Her words are not wrong. Back when I’d met McKenna, I’d been a young twenty-something guy looking to get lucky. She’d been witness to it, watching me fly through partners. Now, though? Now I only have eyes for the kind of chaos that is Jett Taylor. “Like I said, this means something. Jett isn’t just some hookup.”
“You don’t need to explain it to me, Noah. I know how special she is. She and her brother both.” Her words draw my focus, making me really look at McKenna and think back to how we met.
“I know you wanted out from under Trace’s thumb back in the day because you fell for someone less toxic. It was because of Reece, wasn’t it?”
She shoves my shoulder gently before laughing softly at my reddening cheeks and passing me the empty fruit bowl to refill, fully evading my question. “Just go be with her. Let her snuggle you under all the blankets. Feed her fruit and cookies. Fund her Dr. Pepper addiction. All she really needs is someone who will listen, both to what she says and what she keeps to herself.”
I nod at McKenna as she lets herself out then I make my way over to only girl to ever make me feel like this. How does a guy like me deserve the chance to be with a woman like this?
***
“You ready to talk about yesterday?” I ask as I slip under the blankets and pull Jett’s legs into my lap, scooting closer to her.
The only indication that she hears me is a slight lift and drop of the blankets covering most of Jett’s body, including her head. Letting my hands roam up and down her legs, I sit quietly while watching the halftime report. We usually fast forward through it, but it seems like a good excuse to talk today.
Choosing my words carefully, I ask, “What happened yesterday, sweet girl?”
The blankets drop slightly, just enough for me to see that gorgeous face, perfect little button nose, and those amber-flaked green eyes.
“There she is.” I pour as much adoration into my expression as I can, squeezing right above her knee as I watch her eyelids flutter.
“Keep doing that and words won’t come,” she warns quietly.
I offer a cheeky grin. “But you would.”
The shade of red her face turns could give the red line on the ice a run for its money. “Not cool, Slater.”
“In all seriousness, you look exceptionally cute peeking out of your blanket igloo.”
“And you’re full of shit.”
Reaching a hand out, I push back a loose strand of hair. “No shit, you are more beautiful than you give yourself credit for. You far exceed any other woman I know. Now tell me what had you out of sorts yesterday.”
The up tilt of her lips isn’t a smile, but it is progress. “Joey—my ex. He texted me yesterday, and I didn’t handle it well. Clearly. Jumped right into old habits I thought I’d knocked off years ago.”
I force my hands to stay lax, but my heart rate picks up at the mention of a guy who had this perfect woman and gave her up.
“It wasn’t even anything big. He just reached out to see how I was doing. Which is a very Joey-like thing. We were friends before we ever started dating, and he always wanted to make sure everyone in his life was okay, happy.” Her hand finds mine under the blankets. “It’s not whatever you’re imagining right now. I don’t miss our relationship—we needed to end—but it has taken hours of therapy sessions with Kristen to realize that I am stronger without Joey in my life. Sure, if we’d ended sooner, it wouldn’t have been as painful. But he wasn’t in love with me, and I was just comfortable with him. I can admit that now.”
“So, how’d that result in your drunken escapade?”
She shrugs. “I overthought things. Realized it has been four months since everything started falling apart. Things between me and Reece are strained still. I’m trying to stand on my own two feet. Didn’t want to bother you when I knew you hadn’t gotten in until late Saturday.”
“You keeping tabs on me, chaos?”
That shoulder tilt again. “I like knowing you’re home before I go to sleep,” she says bashfully. This girl.
At that, I lift the blankets off of us and pull Jett into my arms. I tuck the blankets back around the two of us before she can protest. “So, back to what you were saying. Did you text your ex back?”
“Not exactly. According to my call log, I dialed his number and his best friend before I went to Riley’s. No clue what I said, but since they were both only minute long calls, it couldn’t have been much. I keep waiting for one of them to call me back, but they haven’t.”
“Do you want them to?” I ask, waiting on bated breath. I won’t sit back and let this loser have her. Not without a fight.
“A little. I promise it’s not because I want to get back together. The only guy I want is here in Havenwood.” She grins up at me, those emerald eyes cutting straight into my soul. “But I miss my friends, and I would like to think we’d be able to get back to some of that back if I can get past the hurt.” She lets out a dry laugh. “Then again, can anyone get past finding their boyfriend getting it on with their friend in the living room after a long day at work?”
I play with the hand that she still has in mine, rubbing circles on her palm. “I think it depends on if you’re both truly happy in your new situations. Would I like the girl I care about hanging with her cheating ex? Probably not, but I’d like to think I’m secure enough to accept it.”
After a minute of silence, I ask, “You know my brother married your brother’s ex while they were still supposedly in a relationship?”
“That…actually makes Reece’s issues with you make a lot of sense.”
“Apparently, I’m the only one who didn’t know why until recently.”
“It’s a stupid reason. Some if it is also because you’re an elevator mechanic and our dad always talked shit about you guys. Again. Stupid reason to not like the coolest guy in town.”
I keep my gaze on the television but silently bask in the warmth her words provide. “Communication can go such a long way. Instead, idiots assume things and create easily avoidable and unnecessary confrontations. Anyway, the girl that Trace just split with was your brother’s girl when she and Trace eloped.” Shaking my head, I let myself squeeze Jett’s thigh again, my fingers trailing up ever so gently.
“I convinced myself romance isn’t real after the Joey and Ella thing. First, my parents split because it was just a marriage of convenience and Mom fell in love with her assistant. She and Jared have twin daughters who are pre-teens now.”
“Do you get to see them often?”
“Not really. I struggle with a relationship with my mom. She had trouble understanding me as a teen anyway, and then when Dad moved to Kentucky after the split, it was and still is a rocky relationship. But her husband and my sisters are cool.”
“Are you and your dad close?”
She smiles. “Oh yeah, he’s the best. He doesn’t get to come down from Kentucky often, but we talk on the phone all the time.”
I lean down to kiss her temple again, loving the feel of her in my arms. “Since we are telling each other all the things as you like to say, you promised talk of a first date.”
A groan slips through her lips that makes me smile. “I did, didn’t I?”
“Tell me what’s off-limits. I don’t want to go planning something that’ll ruin a chance at a second date.”
She sits quietly for a moment before slowly nodding her head. “Crowded places are a big no for me when I can help it. Um, I prefer places I know, too.”
“Do you have any aversions to going somewhere by hiking or horseback?”
“No, not really. It’s been a hot minute since I rode anything, though.” When she looks at me with a soft blush seeping up her neck at the sexual inuendo she accidentally let slip, I can’t help but lean forward and touch my lips to her temple.
“Okay, new topic. How’s the freelancing going? Still have clients pouring in?”
She snorts before giggling at herself. The lightness to her features, her mood elevated, brings my heartrate up. It takes everything in me not to kiss the chaos before me.
“Hilarious. Pouring in. More like trickling as slow as molasses. I had three clients follow me, but their next big projects are still a few months away.”
“You can always work as a farmhand. Declan could use someone to groom and tack horses for him while Drew is still getting his strength back.”
Jett shakes her head but leans closer into me, snuggling into my side. “I can’t be that close to Reece all day, every day. We’ll strangle each other with baling twine.” Her ill-placed humor has her giggling again, and it’s the best sound I’ve heard in years. Making Jett Taylor laugh is one of my new goals in life.
“I asked around about making your dream come to fruition.”
“You mean the one that’s meant to stay a dream?” Shaking her head again, she huffs a breath before leaning back against the couch, eyes closing. “I’ve asked around. I’ve checked the board at the bar. There aren’t any commercial lease locations available.”
Reaching back to squeeze my neck and hoping like hell I’m not overstepping, I say, “I talked to Kelsey. She’s interested in giving you a starting place at the bakery. She has that whole extra room that is just sitting space. You could create a mini bookstore set-up and offer your freelancing out of there, too, if you had clients that wanted to meet in person.”
Her eyes pop open, studying me. There’s a mix of embarrassment and what looks like awe on her face. “You’ve really thought this through, haven’t you?”
“One of these days, you’ll believe that I’m in this for the long haul with you. I want you to succeed and to be happy.” I bring my hand up to grasp her jaw. “Don’t you dare shake that pretty head of yours ‘no’ one more time tonight, sweet girl. You are capable. You can make your dream a reality, and this entire town will support you.”
Jett’s eyes get misty, but she blinks it back. “Well, when you put it like that.” She sniffs and takes a deep breath, holds it for a few seconds then breathes out slowly. “Why are you so perfect, Noah Slater?”
“Not perfect,” I say. “We just seem to balance each other.”
“Like order and chaos.”
“Like order and chaos.
My favorite smile graces her lips, the softest look in her eyes as she whispers, “Perfect.”