Chapter 13 Nicola
The aroma of garlic and oregano, a familiar comfort, embraces me the instant I step into Bella Luna.
This place is Riley and Alice's sanctuary, a haven for everything from celebratory feasts to commiseration dinners.
Tonight, I crave celebration. I've navigated a full day of third graders without spontaneously combusting from the sheer absurdity of being locked in a basement with Odin Baxter.
Progress, maybe? A fragile victory, at least.
Riley beckons me toward their usual corner booth, her smile almost too bright, too wide, a touch too forced.
Alice, ever the picture of grace, offers a warm, genuine smile that crinkles the corners of her eyes.
Stevie is coloring intently, but looks up with a welcoming grin as I sit down.
For a fleeting, deceptive second, normalcy flickers. Then I slide into the booth and see it.
Perched innocently between the breadsticks and water glasses, Riley's phone blazes with a headline that steals the air from my lungs. My stomach plummets.
Local Billionaire Rock Star Engaged to Redwood Hills Schoolteacher!
My name , splashed next to Odin's, screams from some online gossip rag, accompanied by a blurry, pixelated photo.
Where have they even gotten that ? It's grainy, taken from an impossible distance, yet undeniably us.
We're outside my house, from the day he'd wrestled with the porch trim.
I'd felt flustered then, a blush creeping up my neck, but this…
this is a full-blown wildfire of mortification.
"Ne ws travels fast!" Riley chirps, the forced cheer in her voice failing to mask the anxious flicker in her eyes. She watches me, gauging my reaction, her smile not quite reaching her worried gaze.
Alice reaches across the table, her hand warm and reassuring as it closes over mine. "Nicola, dear, are you alright?" Her voice is laced with genuine concern, her brow furrowed with worry.
Alright? My brain feels like a tangled mess of wires, sparking and short-circuiting.
Engaged? To Odin ? The man who likely considers sunshine a personal insult and smiles a sign of weakness?
The man I was trapped with in a musty basement just last night, and…
basement details, not helpful right now, Nicola .
"It has been a long day is all" I manage to croak, my voice a thin, reedy whisper.
I snatch up the phone, my thumb scrolling frantically through the article.
It's a breathless torrent of speculation, gushing pronouncements of a whirlwind romance.
Whirlwind? More like a category five hurricane of awkward silences and simmering, unspoken tension.
"Odin called Mom earlier," Riley explains, her voice softening, losing its forced levity. "He said… wanted us to hear it from him, or at least, see it before it exploded any bigger."
Exploded bigger? It's already a supernova-level detonation in my carefully constructed life. I glance at Alice, her expression a complex tapestry of concern and something else… something akin to hopeful anticipation, a gentle light in her kind eyes.
The past weeks have blurred into a bizarre, surreal fever dream. Brawling with Odin, kissing Odin, shivering in a basement with Odin, and now… engaged to Odin? My life has officially jumped the shark, somersaulted over it, and landed in a vat of absurdity.
I want to laugh it off as some ludicrous misunderstanding, but the words snag in my throat, refusing to surface.
Because a tiny, traitorous part of me, a rebellious whisper in the chaos, remembers the solid warmth of his hand on my back in the basement, the phantom pressure of his lips on mine, and dares to wonder… what if ?
Bef ore I can wrestle that chaotic tangle of thoughts into submission, the restaurant door chimes, announcing a new arrival. And then, he is there.
Odin.
He fills the doorway, a silhouette of sharp angles and brooding intensity, even softened by jeans and a dark sweater.
Every head in Bella Luna swivels, drawn to his magnetic energy.
A spotlight, invisible yet undeniable, illuminates our corner booth.
He moves with a quiet, predatory confidence that commands attention, a ripple of hushed whispers trailing in his wake.
Rock star aura, lingering like expensive cologne, even traded for construction boots and blueprints.
My heart executes a bizarre flutter-kick in my chest, a strange mix of anticipation and a healthy dose of panic. Not fear, not exactly. More like… a thrilling, terrifying precipice.
He spots us instantly, his gaze locking onto mine across the crowded room. Something unreadable flickers in his blue eyes, a fleeting shadow of… what? Nervousness? Impossible. Odin Baxter, nervous? The universe might implode from the sheer paradox.
He strides toward our booth, and the air in the restaurant seems to thicken, charged with an almost palpable energy. Riley and Alice both straighten, their earlier smiles replaced by expressions of stunned fascination, like witnesses to a slow-motion car crash they can't avert their eyes from.
He reaches our table, and for a breathless split second, silence descends, absolute and profound. Then, before my brain can fully register the unfolding scene, he leans down.
And kisses me.
Not a polite peck on the cheek, a chaste brush of lips.
This is a full-throttle, movie-worthy, stop-everything-and-stare kiss.
His hand cups my jaw, warm and firm, tilting my face up to meet his demanding mouth.
His lips are firm, possessive, and… surprisingly, disarmingly soft.
The scent of him, sandalwood and something uniquely Odin , floods my senses, intoxicating and disorienting.
My brain short-circuits again, sparking and sputtering. Kissing. Odin. Publicly. In front of Riley and Alice and half of Redwood Hills. Surreal doesn't even begin to cover it. Intense? Absolutely. And… undeniably, shockingly amazing.
For a dizzying, disorienting moment, everything dissolves. The article, the fake engagement, the basement's damp chill, Tessa Raye's venomous glares, all of it vanishes. There is only Odin, the feel of his lips molding against mine, the unexpected hum of energy vibrating through my body.
Then, just as abruptly as it began, it ends. He breaks the kiss, but his hand remains cupping my jaw, his thumb stroking lightly across my cheekbone, a lingering brand. His eyes, those startlingly blue, intensely focused eyes, lock onto mine, holding me captive.
"Nicola," he says, his voice a low, gravelly rumble that sends shivers dancing down my spine. "Can we talk? Outside?"
Talk? Outside? After that public display of… affection?
I nod, mute, my voice abandoning me entirely. He pulls back, releasing my jaw, but the warmth of his touch lingers, a phantom heat on my skin. He glances at Riley and Alice, a brief, almost apologetic flicker in his eyes.
"Riley, Mom," he acknowledges, wth a nod that promises we’ll be right back. Then he turns back to me, extending his hand, a silent command. "Come on."
He doesn't wait for an answer, simply turns and heads back toward the door, assuming, demanding, I'll follow.
And I do. Of course, I do. My legs feel strangely disconnected, my head still spins in the aftershock of the kiss, but I move, propelled by a potent cocktail of curiosity, confusion, and an undeniable, magnetic pull toward this grumpy, infuriating, and now, surprisingly… captivating man.
We step out of the warm, garlic-scented haven of Bella Luna into the crisp evening air. The sudden chill is a welcome slap of reality, snapping me back to a semblance of coherent thought. Odin leads me a few steps away from the entrance, stopping beneath the soft, forgiving glow of a streetlamp.
He turns to face me, finally releasing my hand, the absence leaving a sudden, unexpected coolness. The restaurant's murmur fades behind us, replaced by the quiet hum of the town settling into evening, a peaceful counterpoint to the turmoil raging within me.
As I looked at Odin, standing under the streetlight, his blue eyes intense and focused on mine, a strange, exhilarating thrill coursed through me, chasing away the lingering chill. Insane, maybe. But definitely, undeniably, not boring.
"Okay," I said, a small, hesitant smile tugging at the corner of my lips. "Let's do this. Let's be... engaged."
"We're going to tell them the truth," he said, his voice low but firm. "Riley and my mother—they need to know this is strategic. Just like we agreed."
I nodded, remembering our conversation from this morning. "Three months, right? Just until the gossip dies down?"
"Three months," he confirmed. "By then, the town will have moved on, and we can stage an amicable breakup."
His gaze softened slightly. "I'm sorry about all this, Nicola. About Tessa, the reporters, everything. You don't deserve to have your private life splashed across the news because of me."
"My reputation in the community matters," I said quietly. "The parents of my students, my neighbors... I’d rather not have them whispering about me being trapped overnight with the town's resident billionaire bad boy."
A ghost of a smile touched his lips. "Bad boy? Is that how you see me?"
"It's how everyone sees you," I countered. "Former rock star, mysterious recluse, intimidating businessman. Not exactly the kind of man a third-grade teacher typically associates with."
"And yet, here we are," he murmured, his eyes never leaving mine. "Engaged."
The word hung between us, weighted with implications neither of us was ready to examine too closely.
"Fa ke engaged," I corrected, needing to remind myself as much as him. "With boundaries and an expiration date."
He nodded, but something flickered in his eyes—something that made my heart skip a beat. "Right. Fake. For now."
For now? What did that mean? Before I could ask, he reached out, tucking a strand of hair behind my ear, his fingers lingering against my cheek.
"We should go back inside," he said, his voice rougher than before. "Riley and Alice are waiting."
I swallowed hard, suddenly aware of how close we were standing, how intimate this moment felt despite the chill in the air and the public setting.
"Right," I managed. "And we need to... practice. Being convincing."
His eyes darkened. "I think that kiss was pretty convincing, don't you?"
Heat flooded my cheeks at the memory. "It was... unexpected."
"But not unwelcome?" There was a vulnerability in the question that caught me off guard.
I met his gaze steadily. "No. Not unwelcome."
Something shifted between us then, a subtle realignment, like tectonic plates settling into a new configuration.
This fake engagement might have started as a solution to a problem, but standing here with Odin, I couldn't shake the feeling that we'd just set something in motion that neither of us fully understood or could control.
"Come on," he said, offering his hand. "Let's go face the music."
I placed my hand in his, marveling at how natural it felt, how right, despite the absurdity of our situation.
"Together," I said, and was rewarded with a rare, genuine smile that transformed his face and sent my pulse racing.
"To gether," he agreed.
And as we walked back into Bella Luna, hand in hand, ready to sell our engagement to the world, I couldn't help wondering if maybe, just maybe, there was a tiny spark of something real flickering beneath the carefully constructed facade of this fake relationship.
A spark that, with time and care, might grow into something neither of us was expecting.
I said, a small, hesitant smile tugging at the corner of my lips, a fragile bud of hope unfurling in the darkness. "Let's play the part."