16. Laurel
Laurel
THE SUN WAS not welcome the following morning, as it slipped through the billowy curtains of Willa’s Jane Austen suite and woke me from the thirty minutes I’d finally managed to catch in dreamland.
Sleep had eluded me last night, and it didn’t take a rocket scientist to work out why. After Noah had wound me up and then left me high and dry, there was no way I was getting any kind of sleep—and he knew it.
I’d tossed and turned all night, imagining him one floor up, stretched out in bed, naked and hard and thinking of me. It had taken every ounce of willpower I possessed to stay tucked safely away behind my locked door like one of those good girls from an Austen novel.
But it was for my own good. I knew what it was like to fall under Noah’s spell, and I could only imagine how much more potent it would be now that he’d had all these years to perfect it.
Hell, ten minutes in close proximity with him and he’d sparked something inside me that had left me aching and wanting in ways I hadn’t felt…
ever . I’d tried to push it aside and talk myself into believing that my response had been due to my lack of love life.
But the insistent throb between my thighs, even this morning, was a glaring reminder that not just any man could elicit this reaction—it was Noah.
“This mouth of yours has haunted me. The way it feels, the way it tastes.”
As his words echoed in my mind, I slid a hand under the sheet and fingered the edge of my lace panties where a small gold heart adorned the center of a bow. I wonder what he would’ve thought of these?
I smoothed my fingers under the expensive material and sucked in a breath.
Determined not to stop, however, I closed my eyes and brought to mind Noah’s face.
His dark, smoldering eyes, that chiseled jaw line, and the mouth that had driven me wild in a matter of minutes, and I glided my fingers down over my bare mound.
My heart thumped in time with the throb between my thighs, and as I slipped two fingers between my legs, I bit back a moan.
A rush of pleasure swept over me as I clenched my thighs together.
My body was on edge after being denied what it wanted only hours earlier. But it wasn’t about to be denied now.
I flattened my palm so the heel rubbed against my clit, and as I rolled my hips up against my hand, I couldn’t help the desperate sound that left me.
I clamped my teeth into my lower lip, and that immediately brought to mind the way Noah had done the same.
Teasing and taunting me, kissing and biting at my mouth until I’d all but begged him to give me some sort of release.
But he’d denied me. Made me wait. Teased me just enough that the ache was so great I needed some kind of relief.
I kicked the sheet off, my skin now burning up as I pressed my head back into the pillow and slid a finger inside.
A soft cry left me as I pushed a second one in, and when I opened my eyes and looked down at my busy hand, I immediately thought of what it would be like to see Noah down there, his mouth hovering over my heated flesh.
Ah… I slammed my eyes shut and thrust up into my palm, and the climax that hit was soul shaking.
Damn it.
Damn it. Damn it. Damn it.
This was not supposed to be happening. Not with him.
I lay there staring at the ceiling, trying to get my breathing back under control, and when I finally did, I took a quick look at the clock.
Oh, thank God, it was still early enough that if I got dressed now and headed out, the possibility I’d run into him during my walk of shame was much less than if I waited until breakfast was served.
After a quick shower, I slipped back into my dress and slowly pulled open my door to see if anyone was around. When it appeared the coast was clear, I tiptoed down the hallway with every intention of sneaking out the back door, but a voice from the kitchen doorway stopped me in my tracks.
“Don’t even think about it, Laurel May Anderson.”
I winced at Willa’s no-nonsense tone and slowly pivoted to see her propping open the kitchen door with her hip.
She had an apron on and a stainless-steel mixing bowl in her arms. Her eyes dropped to the heels hooked over my fingers, and then to my bare feet, and I curled my toes into the hardwood floor, guilty of making a run for it.
“I wasn’t thinking about anything.”
“Except how fast you could run out the back door.”
Apparently not fast enough. “I just… I didn’t want to get in your way this morning, that’s all.”
Willa arched an eyebrow. “As opposed to every other one of the hundreds of times you’ve talked with me over coffee while I make Sunday baseball muffins?”
Oh shit, with everything that had happened last night, I’d completely forgotten the Sunday baseball game.
“Which did you forget? The game or the day of the week?” Willa chuckled and turned on her heel. “Damn, he must be good.”
The door swung shut behind her, and I hurried through it, not about to let her think I’d spent the night in Noah’s bed. “It’s not like that.”
Willa raised the mixer’s top and clicked the bowl in place. “Not like what?”
“I didn’t sleep with him.”
“I didn’t say you did. But now that I know, I’m kind of disappointed. I was hoping for some details.”
“Some— You’re insane.”
“No offense,” Willa hit the button on the mixer, then said, a little louder, “But I think you get that award this morning. He was all but undressing you with his eyes when I left the two of you. What happened?”
He almost undressed me with his hands…then stopped. “Nothing.”
“If you think I believe that for a second, you must have me confused with someone who doesn’t know you.”
At the sound of footsteps, I glanced over my shoulder.
“Relax, it’s just Tim. I asked him to come and check on the AC unit this morning.” Willa snorted as she opened the fridge. “Nothing happened my ass.”
I pinched one of the choc-chip muffins that were sitting on the cooling rack. I had no idea what time Willa got up on Sundays, but she always made enough muffins to feed a small army. “He kissed me.”
Willa shut the fridge and leaned against it, a colander full of fresh blueberries in her hand. “I knew it. What kind of kiss?”
“What kind?”
“Yes. I’m guessing it wasn’t just a quick kiss goodnight?”
No, it definitely wasn’t. It was more like a come up to my room and let me spend the night inside you kiss.
“It was…” As I tried to think of a way to put that into words, I remembered how it felt when his fingers had crept up my thigh.
Willa grinned. “Pretty damn amazing, judging by the look on your face.”
“Oh God.” I sighed and shook my head. “I can’t be here when he gets up. I need to go.”
“You didn’t do anything wrong. You know that, right?”
“I know, but I don’t act like this. I don’t fall into bed with guys after a week of knowing them.”
Willa crossed the kitchen and put the colander in the sink. “Laurel, he’s not some stranger that just rolled into town. You’ve known him your whole life.”
“No. I knew him when he was a teenager. He might as well be a stranger who rolled into town.”
“Oh, come on. You know what I mean.”
I did, but it didn’t matter. If anything, it made things worse. The Noah I’d known had stolen and broken my heart, and both of those things had forever changed me.
“I need to go. Jake’s on the team today, and I don’t want to make him late.”
“You really think Jake can’t get to the field on his own? That boy is more responsible than most of the adults in town.”
“I know he is, but this is our thing.” It really was, which was kind of ironic, since I was about the least athletic person on the planet. But Sunday baseball was a tradition, and we’d been going to the local game ever since Jake could walk.
“Okay, I’ll give you that.”
Thank you, Jesus. I dropped my heels to the floor and slid my feet inside.
“But Laurel?”
“Yeah?”
“Jake’s almost an adult now. It might be time you start thinking about you for a change. I’m pretty sure he wants you to be happy too, and why not with someone who’s right there in front of you?”
That might be the case, but Noah wasn’t the answer to that.
We had way too much history, and he was only going to be here for a year at the most. Then he’d pack his bags and head back to Italy.
That didn’t scream happiness to me—it screamed heartbreak all over again, and having barely survived it the first time around, I wasn’t about to voluntarily sign up for a second chance.
“I really should go.” I walked to the kitchen door, but before I left, I stopped and looked back at my friend. “Hey, Willa?”
She glanced up from the blueberries she was washing.
“You might want to take some of that advice for yourself.”
Her eyes narrowed. “I go on dates all the time.”
“I know you do.” I looked around the kitchen she’d poured all her time and effort into over the last ten years—five of which had been renovation. “But maybe it’s time you start looking at what’s in front of you?”
Before she could tell me something along the lines of I don’t see anyone , I quickly headed out the door, leaving her to ponder what it was I was truly getting at.