Chapter 10
Nolan was used to being the quiet guy hanging in the back of the room.
He was not known for drawing attention to himself.
However, he wasn’t used to being able to walk right by a deputy guarding a house, nor into the house itself with HRT inside.
But that was exactly what happened. To be fair, it was because Lucas was in the shower and Poppy was still at the café.
But still, it was a lapse in security and that was why he was able to walk into the bed and breakfast with a sleeping bag at ten at night.
Nolan walked up the stairs and saw that the lights were off under Helena’s door.
He was quietly laying out his sleeping bag in the hallway outside her door when he stepped on a section of floor that made the loudest creak.
Nolan paused, hoping he didn’t wake up Helena.
He thought he was in the clear when the door was yanked open and a lamp was swung at him.
Nolan acted on reflex. He grabbed the lamp and yanked it away. “My, what a little hellion you are.”
Helena stood with surprise on her face staring at her now empty hand. “Nolan? What are you doing here? I could have killed you!” Nolan raised his eyebrow and looked at the lamp now in his hand. “I mean, I could have killed someone not as quick with their reflexes as you. What are you doing here?”
“I have the same question. But as a man in love myself, I think I know the answer.” Nolan turned to see Lucas, wearing nothing but a towel over his hips, lowering the gun that he had been pointing at Nolan.
“I’ll leave you to it. But, Nolan? I’ll shoot you the next time you don’t wait for me to answer the door. Goodnight, Helena.”
“Goodnight, Lucas.” Helena turned back to Nolan with a what is going on look. “Why are you camping out in the hallway?”
“Lucas is all the way downstairs. And while he was quick to get up here, you could have been killed during the time I got here and he did.”
Helena turned to the window at the end of the hall. “Isn’t that a deputy?”
“Yeah,” Nolan said as if making his point. “And I got by him without trying. He’s the new guy, so I’m not surprised. He needs to learn the Keeneston ways. If he lasts that long.”
Helena let out an audible sigh and looked down at the carpet runner over the hardwood floor where his sleeping bag was laid out. “Were you really going to sleep on the hard floor for me?”
“Yeah. Why do you sound surprised?”
“I’ve had boyfriends who won’t stay at a four-star hotel for me.”
Nolan’s look on his face must have betrayed his thoughts because Helena chuckled. “I’ve got to wonder what kind of men you have in the city.” Nolan shook his head, unable to fathom not doing anything to spend time with Helena.
“Not the kind to sleep on the floor outside my door to protect me. At least not the men in my circle.”
“Then you need to find a new circle.”
“If only it were that easy.” Helena paused and looked down at the floor and then back at her room. She stepped back and pushed the door the rest of the way open. “Come on in.”
Nolan paused as he was pulling out the small pillow from the backpack he had containing everything he’d need for the night. “Excuse me?”
“I know I don’t know you well, but I know you well enough that nothing I am going to say will stop you from sleeping out here. Except, if I offer you a place to sleep in my room, I won’t be responsible for your sore back.”
Nolan looked into the room and at the gigantic bed.
Then he caught sight of the delicate chair with the fancy little ottoman.
He had to mentally remind himself that he had said to himself that he’d do anything to spend more time with Helena.
Maybe he’d sleep on the floor once she went to bed.
He hoped he didn’t break the chair when he sat on it in the meantime.
Nolan picked up his things and went through the door Helena was holding open for him.
He heard the door close and the lock click in place as he set down his things.
He tried to hide the grimace as he took in the very obviously antique chair.
Here went nothing. Nolan turned and slowly lowered himself down.
He paused, mid-squat, as the chair groaned.
“What are you doing?” Helena asked him. He could tell she was fighting a smile.
“Getting ready to settle in for the night.” Nolan sat the rest of the way down.
The chair groaned again and wobbled. The chair was probably over a hundred years old and he was going to break it.
He carefully used his heels to kick off his sneakers before he tentatively lifted his legs onto the ottoman.
“I meant that you could share the bed. That chair isn’t good for anything except laying out your clothes. Now hurry up and get out of that thing before it breaks.” Helena turned and headed to the bed. She pulled down the sheets with enough force that both sides of the bed were now exposed.
That brought a whole new problem for Nolan in getting up. Just the thought of being in the same bed as her had caused an instant reaction. One that would be completely obvious when he stood up in his gray sweatpants.
“Are you sure? I don’t want to make you uncomfortable.”
Helena shook her head. “You really are nothing like the guys in my circle.”
“That sounds like a good thing to me, but you’re making me think I’m the odd one here.”
Helena made a disgruntled sound and looked down at the bed as she climbed into it. Nolan made his move and practically sprang from the chair into the bed, yanking up the covers to cover his lap.
Helena looked over at him with surprise.
“I thought I was going to have to beg you to get into bed with me.” Nolan bit the inside of his cheek as he tried not to groan.
His hellion was really determined to kill him.
“Anyway,” she said as she flipped off the light, snuggled down into the bed, and rolled onto her side to look at him.
Nolan followed suit so they could easily see each other in the dim glow from the streetlamps through the sheer curtains.
It was so hard not to lean forward and kiss her.
“It’s not a bad thing at all. It’s just different. Do you know much about me?”
“Is this a trick question?” Nolan asked with a grin. “It feels like a trick question.”
He loved the way Helena giggled. “No. Not a trick question. I was trying to explain about my circle and why it’s a good thing you’re different from it.”
“I know you’re a badass attorney and you fight for people who don’t have voices. I know you’re pretty unflappable, smart, sarcastic, and love to laugh. I know your favorite drink is champagne and that you’re a very good friend to Quinn. And I know you’re half sweet and half hellion.”
Nolan watched as a pink blush spread across her cheeks.
“You’re the first person to notice those qualities,” she admitted quietly.
“See, I grew up in a very wealthy family. I went to the best schools money could buy. I was a debutant in New York, Paris, and Athens.” She must have seen his reaction and sighed.
“Yeah, that’s where I lose most people. They think I’m some spoiled rich brat. ”
“I knew we were different, but I don’t think I realized how much. But, while we might be different, there’s no way I’d call you a brat.” Nolan paused and smiled so she knew he was going to tease her. “At least not to your face.”
Helena swatted his arm and laughed as he promised he was only teasing her.
“We were raised differently. Yet another difference between you and my circle. And it’s not a bad thing.
It’s actually very good. It’s why I’m so close to Quinn.
She never judged me on my family or my wealth.
It didn’t matter to her. She was the friend I always longed for.
And here in Keeneston I found that too.”
“Sorry to burst your bubble, but here you might not be rich. I mean, Sebastian Abel, the Rahmi Royal Family . . .”
Helena giggled again and it made it easier for Nolan to navigate this difficult subject.
The fact was, while several citizens were incredibly wealthy, no one in Keeneston cared.
Now, if your pie crust was too mushy or if you didn’t use good manners, then they cared—and if you cheered for Louisville in any college sporting events. They really cared about that.
“The point being that I grew up with a skewed view of the world. The women were appreciated more for their potential value as wives than for their education, even when we all got the best education. The men were the power players and I was expected to acquiesce to all their thoughts and wants. When I didn’t, I was labeled as difficult.
I got annoyed one day when I was a senior in high school and stomped down the street after school let out.
I was eighteen and just wandering for a while but I accidentally found a church with a bunch of women hanging around the front steps sewing and knitting.
They were war widows and their children had lost so much.
Genocide was happening in their country and the church had worked to bring the women and children to safety.
I sat and started talking to a girl I thought was older than me but she was only thirteen.
War, abuse, and oppression had aged her at least ten years.
That afternoon my life changed. No more was I blind to anything beyond what was going on in my little bubble. ”
“That’s what inspired you to go to law school?” Nolan asked, now getting a clearer picture of her. “How did your parents feel about it?”
“They were excited and proud to have a lawyer in the family, but then my mom realized it wasn’t to marry a partner in my firm, but to travel to less-than-ideal places and help people who no one else would, and she felt a little conflicted about it.
Not because of what I was doing, but because she wants me to have what she did at my age—a family.
My father is proud. He forged his own path too.
However, as he likes to remind me, his path was far less dangerous. ”
Nolan reached over and brushed a lock of her hair from her forehead.
There was something so intimate about lying in bed and talking in the dark.
He felt Helena shiver as he ran his finger down her neck and slowly pulled it back.
“I’ve found it difficult to focus on the society men my mom keeps throwing at me in hopes of giving her grandchildren even more so recently. ”
“Hmm.” Nolan bent his knee enough that he grazed her thigh and left it there, feeling her heat even through his sweatpants. “And why is that?”
Helena looked him right in the eye. Even in the mostly dark room he saw the war of emotions playing on her face. “Why do you think?”
There was something about the dark that made you want to confess all your secrets. So he did. “I hope it’s for the same reason I have for not looking at another woman since I met you.”
“You . . . you haven’t?”
“Not once. A sweet hellion has taken over all my thoughts,” Nolan admitted.
Helena let out a whoosh of air as if she’d been holding her breath. “Thank goodness,” she whispered as she wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled his lips to hers.
As soon as she applied pressure to his neck, Nolan moved too. Relief, excitement, and the desire to kiss Helena for real and not in his dreams overtook everything. He slid his hand to the back of her neck, angled her head, and their lips met.