Come Together by Marie Force
Chapter Nineteen
“Sometimes good things fall apart so better things can fall together.”
—Marilyn Monroe
Noah withdrew slowly from the kiss but kept her tucked in tight against his aroused body.
“What’s wrong?”
“Not a thing is wrong.”
“Why’d you stop?”
Let it go, Noah. I can’t. I want to, but I can’t. “Last night, you said this wasn’t what you wanted. I don’t want to push you into something you’re not ready for.”
“I’m a mess, Noah. I’m a terrible bet.”
He shook his head. “You’re neither of those things.”
“No, I am.”
Kissing her, he whispered, “Not,” against her lips. “You’re so much stronger than you give yourself credit for.”
“I’m not strong at all.”
“Yes, you are. You’re strong and ballsy and funny and sexy and smart. Don’t you ever let anyone make you feel that you’re not all those things and so much more.”
“You think I’m all those things?”
“Hell yes. You come into the inn wearing that sexy white hard hat and have every guy in the place waiting to hear what you have to say because you’re the boss, and we all work for you.”
“They can’t stand me because I’m a woman.”
“That’s not true. The workers respect you because you know what you’re doing and because you’re nice to everyone.”
“Except you,” she said with a bit of a smile that made her eyes twinkle.
“Except me, but I deserved your fury. I was pushing your buttons.” He kissed along her jaw and down her neck, making her shiver. “You want to know why I pushed your buttons so much?”
“Yes, I want to know.”
He shifted so he was on top of her and could press his erection against the V of her legs. “Because this happened every time I laid eyes on you from the second I first saw you.”
“That’s not true!”
“It is true, and it irritated the fuck out of me. I’m a contractor, Brianna. Architects are the bane of my existence. I couldn’t be attracted to the architect.”
Her snort of laughter was the cutest thing he’d ever heard. “You’re gonna get drummed out of the contractor club when they hear about this.”
“You can’t tell anyone. You’ll ruin me.”
“How much is my silence worth to you?”
“A whole lot.” He ensured her silence by kissing her with deep thrusts of his tongue into the heat of her mouth.
She tasted like lemons and honey and everything sweet.
Noah could’ve kissed her for hours and not wanted for anything more—until her hands worked their way under his multiple layers of clothes and landed on his back, sparking a desperate need to feel more of her skin against his. “Tell me to stop.”
“No.”
“This isn’t what you want.”
She curled her legs around his hips and pressed against his hard cock. “It is what I want.”
“Just this or more?”
“Just this for now. The rest? I don’t know.”
Noah knew he ought to stop while he still could. At some point in the last few days, she had become a big deal to him. If they kept this up, he’d end up crushed—again—when she left. But damned if he could bring himself to do what he knew he should. Wrapped up in her, steeped in the delicious scent of her and with her lips still damp from his kisses, protecting himself was the least of his concerns.
He slid a hand under her sweater and lifted himself enough to slide it up and over her head. “I cannot believe you’re wearing that under your Carhartt.”
“This old thing?” She placed her hands on either side of her bra and pushed her breasts together.
“I’ll be sporting wood every second we’re at work knowing what you’ve got on under your work clothes.”
“Wait until you see the bottom part.”
“Yes, please.” It was all he could do not to pant like a dog in heat as he pulled back to get the rest of her clothes off, nearly swallowing his tongue when he uncovered a scrap of fabric that left very little to the imagination.
Thankfully, his imagination was super fertile where she was concerned. He bent over her, pressing his lips to her core through the thin fabric and breathing in the rich, feminine scent of her desire.
“Noah.”
“Yes, Brianna?” He pressed his tongue against her clit.
“I, uh… Ummmm.”
“You were saying?”
“I don’t know what I was saying.”
Laughing, he pulled her panties down her legs and then went back to what he’d been doing, now with nothing between his tongue and her. God, she was so sweet and responsive and sexy. He could spend hours pleasuring her and never get tired of how she reacted to everything he did. But he desperately wanted to be inside her, to be joined with her.
And then he remembered he didn’t have condoms. “Son of a bitch.”
His harsh words startled her. “What’s wrong?”
“No condoms.”
“We don’t need them.”
“What?”
“I’m on long-term birth control, and I’m clean. I haven’t been with anyone but you since my husband, and after that, I had all the tests.”
“I’m clean, too. I got tested recently.”
“Then we’re good to go.”
“Sex with you? Without a condom? I hope you’re ready for this to be fast.”
Her joyful giggle made him ache in the place where his heart had once lived before betrayal had caused it to shrivel up and die. But here with her, he felt it coming alive again. He teetered on the precipice of something new and vital. After what he’d been through, that ought to scare the shit out of him.
But he wasn’t scared of her. He was thrilled, even if he understood that the highest highs could lead to the lowest lows. As much as he’d loved his wife—and he’d truly loved her—he’d always felt a little off-balance with her, as if it could all go wrong at any second. He hadn’t had the sense of connection to her that he did with Brianna. And wasn’t it ironic that the connection had come from their shared experience with betrayal?
Having her arms around him as he made love to her felt better than anything had in, well, forever. He’d never felt this good with any woman, even the one he’d married.
Brianna drew him into a kiss that cleared his mind of every thought but one: I want to be with this woman, no matter what it takes.
* * *
At lunchtime the next day,Noah left the inn and drove to Gray’s house, hoping to catch his brother between clients. Gray answered the door holding a sandwich and gestured for him to come in.
“Hungry?”
“I was going to grab something on the way back to work.”
“I made tenderloin last night. It melts in your mouth. Want a sandwich?”
“Uh, yeah.”
Gray laughed as he made the sandwich. “The secret is in the au jus.”
“I’m officially drooling.”
“I almost like the sandwich the next day better than the initial meal.” He put Noah’s plate in the microwave for thirty seconds, ground some pepper on top and delivered it to him at the table along with a Coke and a bag of chips.
“Thanks. I wasn’t expecting you to feed me.”
“Happy to see you twice in two days. That has to be a record.”
Noah felt guilty for being so absent the last few years and making his family worry about him. “Sorry about that.” He took a bite of the sandwich and moaned. “Holy hell, that’s fantastic.”
“Right?” Gray took another bite and chased it with a drink of water. “You seem good. I can’t help but wonder if your pretty architect friend might be the reason.”
“She is,” Noah said, taking his brother by surprise. It wasn’t like him to be forthcoming about anything, especially his private life. “I like her a lot.”
“I can see why. Although, the shit with Brianna’s ex is a lot to take on.”
“It’s much worse than the shit I went through with mine, but that was pretty bad, too.”
“Is that so?”
Noah nodded and forced himself to tell his brother why he’d come. “I caught her in bed with Miguel.”
Gray’s eyes widened, and his face froze with shock. “Miguel, as in your foreman Miguel, who was also one of your closest friends?”
“The one and only.”
“Oh my God, Noah. I knew he left around the same time she did, but I never put that together.”
“Neither did I. They made a total fool of me.”
“And you caught them?”
Noah nodded. “After a night out with the search-and-rescue team. They were asleep in our bed.”
“Ugh, Noah. I’m so sorry.”
Noah shrugged off the predictable blast of pain that resurfaced any time he recalled that dreadful day.
“What’d you do?”
“I punched him in the face and fired him. And I told her to get the fuck out of my house and not to come back.”
“I don’t even know what to say to you. No wonder you’ve gone deep underground the last few years.”
“It was what I needed to do to get past it. I focused on work and just said fuck it to everything else.”
“I don’t blame you, but I do wonder why you’re telling me this now.”
“I never got divorced, and suddenly that seems like something I need to do.”
“Ah, shit, well, we can get that done. Do you know where she is?”
“No idea. I hoped you might have an investigator who could find her and get her out of my life.”
“I’ve got someone I can put on it.”
“I should’ve done this a long time ago. I just didn’t have any good reason to.”
“And now you do?”
“Maybe. I like Brianna. And I like that she gets what I’ve been through, because she’s been there herself—even worse in her case.”
“I couldn’t believe the things she was saying he did. What a scumbag.”
“Seriously. She’d told me some of it before, but I was still shocked by the new stuff that came out when she was talking to you.”
“What happens when you finish the inn, and she goes back to Boston?”
“I have no idea. She’s going to be done there before much longer. I guess we’ll see what’s what when it’s time for her to go.”
“It’s nice to see you living again, Noah, but I’d hate to see you get your hopes up about her and then have them dashed when she leaves.”
“Maybe I’ll go with her.”
“Really? Your whole life and your business are here.”
“I could get a job there, and it’d be kind of nice not to have the responsibility of running the business anymore.”
“You say that now, but you’ve been self-employed a long time. It’d be tough to go back to working for someone else.”
“I’d hold out for a good fit, and I’m not saying it’s going to happen. I’m just saying I wouldn’t rule it out.”
“I understand better than you might think. If Emma hadn’t been into moving up here, I would’ve moved to New York to be with her and Simone. When it’s right, it’s right, and you should do whatever it takes to make it work.”
“That’s the plan, but first, I need to get divorced.”
“I’ll take care of that.”
* * *
Brianna couldn’t stop thinkingabout her night with Noah and how he’d stayed with her, even while knowing it would cause a stir with his siblings when they discovered he’d been out all night. Noah said he didn’t care what they thought. Knowing how little he’d told them about his private life, that made her feel extra special. He didn’t care if they knew he’d stayed with her.
And she was so glad he had.
She was falling for the sexy contractor, even as she continued to deal with the fallout of her last relationship. Part of her felt like maybe she ought to put this thing with Noah on hold out of fairness to him, but she couldn’t bring herself to go back to where she’d been two nights ago when she’d told him she wasn’t ready for what was happening between them—ready or not.
After last night, there was no going back to before everything had changed with him. There was only forward, hopefully with him.
He’d gone somewhere at lunchtime, saying he’d be back in an hour, and had been quiet and withdrawn since he returned.
The electricians were all over the place doing their work, which made it difficult to do much of anything else. Noah sent his crew home early with orders to be back at seven the following day.
Brianna found him in one of the guest bathrooms, measuring, making notes and talking to himself as he worked.
“Do you ever get an answer?”
Startled, he spun around, saw her leaning against the doorframe and smiled. “I’m capable of in-depth conversations with myself.”
“You want to get out of here and take a walk or something? It’s forty-five degrees, which is like summer around here.”
“Haha, it gets much warmer than that in the summer.”
“For what? Like, five days a year?”
“Easily six. Sometimes seven. And yes, I’d love to get out of here. Let me just finish this, and we can go for a hike.”
“I said walk, not hike.”
“A walk is a hike in Vermont.”
“I’m not signing on for any treks up the side of a mountain or anything.”
“So noted.”
“Why are you remeasuring in here anyway? You should have all the measurements.”
“Just double-checking.”
“Haven’t you learned to trust me on these things?”
Amusement danced in his gorgeous eyes as he surprised her with a kiss. “I trust you more than I’ve trusted anyone in a very long time.”
Suddenly, she realized they were no longer talking about bathroom measurements but something much more important. “I trust you, too.”
“That’s a pretty big deal for both of us.”
“Yes, it is.”
“I want you to know that at lunchtime, I went to see Gray about something I should’ve taken care of years ago.”
She was almost afraid to ask. “What’s that?”
“I need to get divorced.”
“Noah! You never got divorced?”
“Nope. That would’ve required me to contact her, and that was the last fucking thing I wanted to do.”
“But still…”
“I know. I should’ve done it. I just didn’t want to, and I had no reason to. Until now.”
“Why now?”
He slid an arm around her waist and rested his forehead on hers. “After last night, you have to ask me that?”
“What do you see happening here?”
“I don’t know. All I know is I like being with you. I like how I feel when you’re around, and I want as much of that feeling as I can get for as long as I can have it.”
“That’s starting to sound like a pretty big deal.”
“Could be.”
She knew him well enough by now to understand that him saying even that much was the biggest deal of all.
“Does hearing that freak you out?”
“Not like it probably should.” She looked up at him, a smile tugging at her sexy lips. “I’m being sued by my ex. My divorce isn’t final. Your divorce hasn’t even started. I live in Boston. You live here. I mean, what could go wrong?”
Noah grinned at her. “Our timing is horrible.”
“The worst.”
“And yet…” Leaning in so close, his lips a heartbeat away from hers, he made her breathless.
“And yet what?” she asked.
“This.” He kissed her without seeming to care that one of the many electricians working in the building could catch them.
“Ah, that.”
“Mmm, that. It’s all I seem to think about.” He tipped his head and kissed her again from another angle. “And this, too.”
By the time he finished kissing her, she had fists full of his coat, and every part of her was on fire for him. “Maybe we should hike another day.”
“What would you rather do instead?”
“This.” She pressed against his erection as her hands encircled his waist and cupped his ass. “And some of that, too.”
“You’re killing me.”
“Same.”
“I wanted to take you somewhere, do something fun.”
“Take me to my house. We’ll have fun.”
“I meant fun that isn’t the sexy kind.”
“Can’t we have both?”
He held her close, nuzzling her neck until her hard hat fell off with a loud whack that made them laugh. “We absolutely can have both, but first, we’re going to hike.”
She moaned when he withdrew from her. “That’s just mean.”
“How so?”
“You got me all… interested.”
“I assume you’ll still be interested later.”
“If I don’t fall off any cliffs.”
“I won’t let you get anywhere near any cliffs.”
“You say that now.”
Noah cuffed her chin playfully. “I’m already standing at the edge of a cliff with you. It wouldn’t take much for me to take a pretty serious fall.”
Amazed to hear him admit such a thing, Brianna could only stare at him for the longest time.
“Am I standing on that edge by myself?”
She swallowed hard and shook her head. “Not at all. I’m right there with you.”
“Look, I know the timing stinks, and lots of things are a mess for both of us, but this…” He rested his hands on her hips and kissed her. “This is…”
“It’s good. Very, very good.”
“Yeah.”
“And maybe,” she said, “after everything that’s happened to both of us, we deserve to feel good.”
“We do deserve it. Let’s stay focused on things that make us feel good while we deal with the shit that doesn’t, okay?”
“I can do that.”
“Before we hike, I need to get you a good pair of hiking boots.”
“I can get my own hiking boots.”
He guided her out ahead of him toward the stairs. “I insist. My treat.”
“No way. You’re not buying me boots.”
“I get a family discount, and I’m not sharing it with you unless you let me get them for you.”
“How much is the discount?”
“Forty percent.”
“Fine, then you can buy them, but I’m buying dinner.”
“Fine.”
“Fine.”
He grabbed her ass and squeezed it. “Yes, you certainly are.”
“Knock it off, Noah. I’m busy fighting with you.” Lately, she loved fighting with him. It was the most fun she’d had since her life went sideways. He was right about focusing on the stuff that made them feel good while dealing with the crap that didn’t.
Noah asked the lead electrician to lock up when they finished for the day.
“Will do,” the man said.
“I never leave when subs are still working,” he said. “But I’ve been doing business with him for years, and he’s fine on his own.”
“It’s nice to have people you can count on.”
“Indeed, it is.”
