20. Bailey
Bailey
It was late. It’d been a long week, and I was aching to collapse into my bed. Preferably next to a curly-haired brunette Adonis, but beggars couldn’t be choosers.
The rush wedding inquiry I’d gotten was consuming every spare second I had, a true bridezilla if I’d ever seen one.
It was fine…mostly. This wedding was a big deal.
It was for the mayor’s daughter, Emory, and the Lewis family was loaded, like no expenses spared, pull off my daughter’s dream wedding in three months kind of loaded.
I could feel the tension building in my neck from the pressure of the event, and I was anxious about making sure it went off without a hitch. My phone buzzed, and I flipped it over, hoping to see Noah’s name flash across the screen.
Caleb.
My stomach dropped. There was no reason he should be contacting me.
No reason for my chest to ache or my vision to start blurring.
Shit. He shouldn’t have been able to make me react like this, at least not anymore.
I barely managed to school my expression before Liam approached my desk out of the blue.
“Late night, Bailey?” he asked.
“Yeah. Something like that.” I forced a smile. “Just finishing up menu requests for the bride. Can I help you with something?”
Apparently, he took my reply as an open invitation. He dragged a chair closer, too close, and sat next to me. I could smell liquor on his breath, tequila maybe, and figured he must have stopped by the bar after his shift.
“What would you think about me and you grabbing dinner sometime?” he asked.
His face was flushed, hair unruly, and not in the effortless way Noah somehow pulled off. I pushed my chair back, suddenly aware of how empty the lobby felt and how isolated my corner desk was at this hour.
“That’s really sweet of you,” I said carefully, “but I’ll have to decline. I’m not really dating right now.”
He placed his hand on my knee, and my eyes snapped to his face. Maybe he’d had more to drink than I realized.
“It’s okay, Bailey,” he slurred slightly. “You don’t have to pretend around me. Think about how good we could be together. I know you wanted me after the festival; you could barely keep your hands off me.”
I shoved his hand off, remembering my agency.
“I don’t date asshole coworkers,” I said sharply. “I’m leaving. Call an Uber or something.”
Liam stood abruptly, his chair crashing to the floor as he stepped into my space, boxing me in.
“Well, I know that’s not true,” he spat. “You’re fucking the boss. I saw the two of you sneaking around. Now you’re suddenly too good for me? I thought you’d spread your legs for anyone.”
My back hit the wall. I tried to step around him, but he shifted with me, blocking every potential exit. My pulse spiked, and panic clawed up my throat.
“Move,” I said, my voice steadier than I felt.
His hand came up, bracing against the wall beside my head. Not yet touching me, but close enough that my skin prickled.
“Don’t worry, I don’t mind having Noah’s sloppy seconds,” he said.
My fingers curled into fists at my sides. I opened my mouth—whether to yell, shove him, or do something, I wasn’t sure.
And then…
Liam was ripped backward by his shoulders.
“She was always too good for you, dipshit.”
Noah.
Liam barely had time to turn before Noah’s fist connected with his nose.
I heard the crunch echo through the empty lobby before I saw it, blood spilling instantly.
Noah didn’t hesitate. He grabbed Liam by the front of his shirt and drove another punch into his ribs, hard enough that Liam folded with a choked grunt, gasping for air.
“Get the fuck away from Bailey,” Noah snarled, each word edged with something dark and lethal. He shoved him back, sending him stumbling. “And get the fuck out of my inn.”
Liam tried to steady himself, one hand clamped over his nose, the other reaching out as if he might actually try to fight back. Big mistake. Noah stepped forward again, slower this time, shoulders squared and eyes locked on him in a way that made even me go still.
“You’re done,” he said, low and final. “If I see you within a mile of her, you’ll wish I hadn’t.”
For a second, it looked like Liam might say something else. But something in Noah’s expression must have gotten through to him.
“The bitch wasn’t worth it anyway!” Liam shouted, clutching his nose as he stumbled outside.
I grabbed Noah’s hand before he could chase after him. His whole body was shaking, breath ragged, and eyes wild. I approached him slowly, careful not to startle him out of the rage still burning in his eyes.
“Noah,” I whispered. “I’m okay. I’m okay, baby.”
My voice seemed to break whatever hold rage had on him. He pulled me into his arms, hands sliding over my shoulders, my back, my arms—like he needed to confirm for himself that I was fine.
“Are you okay?” he asked quietly, eyes raking over my body.
My heart raced, and I could feel myself starting to unravel, but I would be okay, I had to be.
“I should’ve killed him for touching you,” he muttered against my hair.
“No,” I said softly. “You shouldn’t have. My savings aren’t nearly padded enough to bail you out of jail,” I joked halfheartedly.
He nuzzled his nose into my hair, squeezing me almost painfully hard. “He scared you.”
I shook my head. “No. He reminded me.” I looked down at his knuckles and noticed a bruise starting to form. “Let’s go upstairs and clean you up,” I murmured.
I snagged an ice pack on the way to my room.
“Go sit on the bed and let me take care of you,” I said.
I saw the anger still simmering behind his eyes. If I didn’t distract him soon, I worried that he’d start to regret not inflicting more damage on Liam.
“He never should have been allowed within five feet of you,” Noah hissed as I pressed the pack against his knuckles.
“There’s no way any of us could have known, and I doubt he’ll ever show his face around here again,” I said. I took in Noah’s posture—hunched and defeated, as if he were the one who attacked me. I rested my head on his shoulder, not wanting any space between us.
“Thank you for protecting me,” I murmured. “If I didn’t owe you before, I definitely do now.”
“You don’t owe me a goddamn thing, Bailey. God, you should be high-tailing it out of here after having your safety threatened like that.”
“Is that what you want?” I asked. “Do you want me to leave?”
Do you want me to leave you?
“God, no, baby. I’d rather fight off a thousand Liams than wake up knowing I wouldn’t get to see your pretty face anymore. That I wouldn’t get to exist in your presence.”
We were in my room, settled on the bed. I pushed myself back against the headboard, wrapping my arms around my knees.
“I want to share something with you. Something that might explain a little more about why I am the way I am, and you can’t interrupt, because if I stop, I’ll never finish. I need you to trust me to get through this.”
He nodded, turning to face me fully, resting his hands—bruised knuckles and all—on my feet. I took a breath, reminding myself I was with Noah and he wouldn’t judge me.
“I met Caleb during my senior year of college. We ended up in the same finance class and met because we both liked to sit in the back corner of the room. Me, because I couldn’t handle the pressure of getting called on by the professor.
Him, because he was always rolling in late from whatever hangover he was nursing. ”
I could remember his drink of choice like it was yesterday, the smell of bourbon rolling off him in waves.
“It didn’t start badly. It never does. He was the definition of charming. He could persuade a professor to bump a B to an A. His boss to let him leave work early. His girlfriend’s parents that he was a loving and supportive boyfriend instead of a gaslighting piece of shit.”
Noah tensed, and I could tell it took every ounce of restraint he had not to interrupt.
“It started small. ‘Bailey, you know you can’t pull off a dress like that. I love your legs, but not everyone needs to see them.’ Or, ‘Yeah, babe, I’d love to see a movie with you on Friday night,’ and then disappear for hours.
My personal favorite was when he somehow convinced me I was imagining things between him and his female friend.
I was reading into signs that weren't there—acting jealous or possessive. I cried myself to sleep more nights than I could count, apologizing for things I never actually did.”
I held back tears, refusing to give him any more of myself.
“By the time I was strong enough to end things, he had already secured a position at my father’s firm.
‘He’ll be a partner before he’s forty, Bailey, you’ll see,’ he liked to say.
My mother was dumbfounded when I told her about the breakup, and she claimed Caleb was busy and that I should cut him some slack.
Caleb was busy, all right. Busy with his dick inside the latest intern. ”
Noah’s jaw ticked, and his hands tightened against my feet.
“But despite his deplorable actions, he convinced my parents I was in the wrong. I was confused and didn’t know what I wanted. That he would ‘wait for me’ and become the son-in-law my father always wanted.”
I rubbed my eyes, the emotions from the past two hours finally crashing into my nervous system.
“I could have handled Caleb. I would have eventually gotten over his cheating and shitty ways like every other twenty-something woman. It was my parents’ refusal to even consider siding with me that hurt the most. They didn’t just ignore what he did.
They chose him anyway. I don’t even know why I expected differently.
They’ve proven to me time and time again exactly who and what they are, and people don’t ever really change.
It’s why this job and this town have to work out for me.
I can’t go back to a life where my heart is toyed with for sport. ”
Noah leaned closer to me, cupping my face in his hands when my tears finally broke through the dam.
“I’m their daughter,” I cried. “They were supposed to choose me.” My throat burned as the admission tumbled out.
Noah scooped me up into his lap, holding me tight in his arms. He didn’t tell me I was overreacting or that everything would be okay.
He was just there for me, solid and firm.
He rested his head against mine, wiping my tear-stained cheeks with his thumb and pinning me in place with those piercing eyes I loved so much.
“I choose you, Bailey. I’ll choose you every damn day if you let me. But even if you wanted nothing to do with me, you would always have a place here. This town, the inn, my family—they’re all yours now, too, baby. You’ll never feel alone again, not while I have anything to say about it.”
Suddenly, the broken parts of me, the parts I thought no one would ever love or respect, didn’t feel so sharp and jagged, as if Noah was slowly smoothing my edges and piecing me back together all at the same time.
I could finally see him, see us, through the haze. He was a once-in-a-lifetime kind of man, and if I kept pushing him away, it might become my biggest regret of all.
“Can I stay with you tonight?” I asked into his neck.
“You’re crazy if you think there is anywhere else I’d rather be,” he replied.
I huffed out a breath. “I mean, can I stay with you at your place? I think some distance from the inn for the weekend would be good for me.”
His smile was so bright, so pure, that I couldn’t imagine living in a world without it.
“You want to come home with me, peaches?” he asked, rubbing his nose against mine.
“I mean, I could always ask Eli or Grant if you’re not up for it,” I whispered jokingly.
“Careful, pretty girl. I might take you back with me and never let you leave,” he grunted, lifting me off the bed. With a quick swat to my ass, he pushed me toward my closet. “Pack a bag, baby. We’re going home.”
Home.