by Tori Fox
“I searched the house for anything that might give me proof she used to come here with him. I found nothing. But I just know, I know that was why I could never write here after he died. His ghost haunted this place as much as it haunted my heart.”
My hands clench around her as I hear her say more words that prove Kyle was nowhere near deserving of her. And honestly, I almost want to kill Becca too.
Anna turns in my lap and kneels in front of me. “Having you here cleanses this place of those ghosts, Noah. Being with you, making new memories. I can hear the music again. Feel the melody in my fingertips. You gave it all back to me, Noah.”
I watch as a tear slides down her cheek and brush it away. “I just want to give you what you deserve.”
She smiles at me before turning back to the fireplace. She opens the letter one last time before throwing it into the flames.
She stands in front of me, her hands clasping the rings around her neck. “I have one last thing to do. Will you come with me?”
I nod as I move my wine glass from the floor to the coffee table and stand. She grabs my hand as she walks to the door.
“Babe, it’s still pouring rain out there.”
She looks me in the eyes, a desperation there I haven’t seen before. “It’s time I finally do this.”
I have no idea what she means but I would follow her through any storm.
We walk down the steps of the porch and into the rain. We cross the sand dune and fight the wind as we make our way to the crashing waves.
“I’ve let this control me for too long. Let the past direct my life. Take me on a path I never should have gone. It needs to be done. I need my life back.”
I watch her as she unclasps the rings from around her neck. She holds them in her hands, giving them a silent prayer before she throws them both in the roaring waves.
She grabs my hand, holding it hard as she watches the wave recess into the ocean. She takes a deep breath before she turns to me and smiles.
I know whatever she was holding in is gone. The ghosts of her past left to sink to the bottom of the ocean.
When we finally make it inside, she grabs my soaking shirt and rips it over my head.
I see a fire in her eyes.
A need burning deep.
A hunger I know how to fulfill.
I pull her shirt over her head and she pushes down her pants. Her fingers go for the button of my jeans and has them off within seconds. I lay her down on the leopard print blanket as I worship her body in front of the roaring fire. I make her come again and again. My own needs forgotten. But when our bodies finally come together as one, it’s love we are making. And for the first time in five years, the idea doesn’t scare the shit out of me.
6
Anna
I wake up to a very hard body pressed against my back with a very large dick pressing into my pussy. I hook my leg over Noah’s hip as he slowly enters me.
Last night on that blanket, Noah showed me pleasure I never felt before. And when he finally was inside of me I knew it was different.
Just like now.
This isn’t a rush to the finish line.
This is slow and steady.
This is devotion and adoration.
This is everything I need.
I turn in his arms, wanting to look into his eyes when we reach the precipice. And when we do, it’s the most beautiful thing I have ever experienced.
He presses a soft kiss to my lips and pulls away, his forehead resting against mine.
I love you, Noah Taylor. The words are on the tip of my tongue but I hold them back. I don’t even know why. Everything that was holding me back from opening up my heart is gone. I don’t fear love anymore because what I had before wasn’t love. But with Noah, it’s hard to believe it’s not.
“What’s going on in that head of yours?” Noah asks me.
“I wish we could stay here longer.”
He brushes a piece of hair behind my ear. “Why can’t we?”
I run my fingers along his chest. “You have to go back to work.”
His hands find their way to my ass, pulling me closer to him. “I asked my boss yesterday if I could take the week off. He wasn’t too happy but he approved it. Man’s been bugging me for years to use my vacation time I’ve racked up.”
I throw a leg over his hip as I grip his face. “Really?”
“Yeah baby.”
I press my lips to his as I feel his dick stir beneath me. “Maybe we should get out of bed so we don’t spend the whole day in it.”
He licks up my throat before biting on my ear. “Would that be so bad?”
“We can’t just have sex all day, Noah.”
He chuckles into my neck. “Baby, that’s where you’re wrong. I don’t need to be in bed to find a way to have sex with you all day.”
I roll my eyes and push away from him, slowly climbing out of bed. “Prove me wrong then.”
Noah jumps out of the bed. I have no time to react before he has me pinned against a wall, both of us laughing.
“Girl, you had me worried sick!” Seraphina shouts into the phone.
I pull the phone away from my ear as I stand on a sidewalk outside of a clothing store. “I know Noah let you know I was fine, so calm down.”
“How was I to know he didn’t just tell me that and he is really a serial killer?”
“I think you have been watching too much Investigation Discovery lately.”
“Oh come on, you know it keeps me entertained. Anyway, what the hell happened?”
I sit on a bench outside the ice cream shop next door. This is going to be a long talk. “You better be sitting down for this.”
I hear her fumbling around in the background. “Hold on a sec, let me grab some popcorn.”
I roll my eyes at her waiting until she gives me the go to talk. “Kyle was a dick.”
“No shit. I could have told you that.”
“He wasn’t always that way, Sera. He was great for a while.”
“Fine. He wasn’t always an asshole but I told you before you even agreed to marry him I wasn’t getting good juju from him.”
I snort. “Sera, you say you don’t get good juju from a lot of people. And when you do get good juju it’s usually only for the night with some guy with a hot bod.”
“Ugh. Whatever. So tell me what set fire to your feet so you had to hightail it out of dodge.”
I take a deep breath before I start. “Kyle cheated on me. A lot. In fact, he was having an affair with Becca. And—”
“Shut the front door. I knew something was happening between them.”
“Sera, you weren’t even around when it happened.”
“Juju.”
I shake my head as I tell her the rest of the story. The letter, Becca’s child, her nonchalance over the whole thing.
“That fucking bitch. I knew something was off with her.”
For years, Sera has been trying to warn me away from Becca. She has never been a fan, mostly because Becca was a bitch when she found out I made a friend in college who was my new best friend. The two of them never got along.
“It is what it is. I can’t change the past.”
“How are you holding up with all this?”
I play with the fabric of my ripped jeans thinking about everything. “It ripped me apart. Seeing Becca’s son’s eyes and knowing the truth. I felt so betrayed. I was ruined. Running was the only thing I could do. But I’m managing now.”
“Where did you go?”
I never told Sera about this place. And I still want to keep it my secret. “I just got in the car and drove. Went to the coast.”
“How did Noah find you?”
“Well he is a cop; he has his ways.” Not a total lie.
“You don’t usually want someone around when you run away.”
“Yeah, well I needed him when I didn’t know I did.”
Sera exaggerates a gasp into the phone. “Are you telling me you aren’t as co
ld-hearted as you pretend to be?”
“Only around you,” I joke.
“So how has this affected you and Noah?”
I bite my lip thinking about the last twenty-four hours we spent together. Me pouring my heartache and pain into every word I said. And he was there for me, listening, holding my hand. “It’s been good,” I whisper.
“Good? You got to give me more than that!”
I sigh, trying to put it all into words without giving away too much. “He’s just been there. Listened. Supported me. With him, I don’t have to try.”
“Mmhmm. I see.”
“See what?”
“You’re in love with him.”
“I—I’m...” I don’t know why I’m keeping it from her or trying to make up some excuse. I am in love with him. There is no denying it.
“That bad, huh?”
“Fine,” I groan. “I’m in love with him. Okay?”
Sera laughs into the phone. “And how does that make you feel?”
“Are you my therapist now too?”
“I’m kidding, Anna. You sound happy despite all the shit you just found out. And that makes me happy. So what are you guys doing?”
“Well I ran here with no clothes so I am buying a few things. Noah wants to take me on a proper date tonight.”
“Make sure you buy some fancy lingerie.”
“Newsflash, Sera, he’s seen me naked.”
“Yeah, but fancy lingerie does something to a man.”
I shake my head at her. “I’m going to go. Need to be ready in a few hours.”
“Have fun tonight! And green lace will look best on you!”
I hang up my phone laughing. I am not buying fancy lingerie for Noah.
Noah brought my overnight bag when he came here, but I wanted something new for tonight. I end up buying a few shirts, a pair of jeans, and a gorgeous white and yellow floral wrap dress. I drive back to the cottage excited for our date tonight. I park my car in the street and gather my bags as I head down the boardwalk to the cottage. I nearly drop everything when I see Noah standing shirtless outside. And it’s not his body that has me in awe.
He is power washing the house, bringing out the vibrancy that it once had. I notice the broken boardwalk below my feet is repaired and the steps leading to the porch look new. I was only gone a few hours but Noah has made this place feel like it did when my great-aunt lived here.
Noah turns off the machine when he sees me. His smile wide. It makes my knees weak. Because I love this man more than anything and I need to tell him.
“Hey Mayberry.”
“You did all this while I was gone?” I gesture to the boardwalk under my feet and the house.
He shrugs. “I know this place means a lot to you. And it needed some repairs. I want you to feel that inspiration here that you used to feel. And I thought if the house looked new again, you would feel it.”
This time I do drop my shopping bags as I cut across the grass and throw my arms around him. He’s sweaty from the heat of the sun but I don’t care. My lips are on his neck, his face, his mouth. He lifts me up, pulling my legs around his waist.
“Thank you,” I whisper as I pull away, resting my forehead against his.
“Anything for you.”
I want to say those three words again but I still hold back. An inkling of fear holding down my emotions.
7
Noah
I sit at the dinette set as I wait for Anna to get ready. I made us a dinner reservation at a seafood restaurant overlooking the waterway and marsh between the islands. It’s our first official date. I feel bad I never took her out anywhere before. Our relationship has been spent mostly in private. Our dates on either one of our couches. I’m not complaining about it either. For some reason it felt right that way between us. We were comfortable at home, allowed to spill our secrets without anyone interrupting.
But with the time I have spent with her at this cottage, I felt I needed to do something special for her. Her heart’s been dragged through hell the last few days and I want to pull her away from all of it.
I hear the bedroom door open and watch as Anna walks out. She is fucking gorgeous. Her body wrapped in a floral dress that hugs her body in all the right places. Her wild red curls full and beautiful. She put on a bit of eyeliner, making her green eyes pop. She kept the rest of her face fresh so I can see the freckles spattering her cheeks.
I walk to her, my eyes focused on her lips, covered with a pink gloss, and I want nothing more than to suck it off. We are attracted to each other like magnets, both of us reaching for the other at the same time. My hands go to her face and I pull those delicious lips into my mouth, kissing her with a fervor only she awakens in me.
I pull away and she takes her fingers to my mouth, wiping the gloss from my lips. “You are covered in lip gloss.”
“I don’t care.”
“Let me fix mine and then we can go,” she says as she turns.
I pull her back to me, giving her one more brief kiss. I can’t keep my hands off her. “You look beautiful, Anna May.”
She blushes. “Thank you. You don’t look so bad yourself.”
I look down at my outfit. A navy button-down that I had brought for dinner with her parents and a clean pair of jeans. Nothing special but I like that she likes it.
When she is finished fixing her lip gloss, we walk out the door. She locks up the cottage and we head to my car. We drive in silence to the restaurant, enjoying the presence of each other’s company.
We are seated outside looking over the water. She sits next to me so we can both take in the scenery. I can’t take my eyes off Anna as she watches the birds dance along the shoreline. My feelings for her are strong and undeniable. With every day we spend together, I find myself forgetting more about my past and looking forward to the future. A future with her.
Those twenty-four hours of not knowing where she was, had me at a loss for words. I couldn’t place the feeling. My heart was heavy, my mind a wreck. I promised myself I would never let a woman control my emotions this way. But with Anna, it’s so easy to let her in. Easy to let my past be the past. Easy to see myself falling for her.
And I am falling for her.
She is this beautiful, talented woman.
Her energy is addicting.
I can’t keep myself away from her.
“It’s creepy when you stare at me like that,” Anna says as she turns toward me and away from the water.
“I just want to make sure you are okay.”
“I am. You make it okay, Noah.”
I smile at her as she takes me in. But I can see the hesitation still there. Her hand goes to her neck, reaching for the necklace she threw in the ocean last night.
The waiter interrupts us and her hand goes back to her side. We order a bottle of wine and a plate of oysters.
“I can’t believe you are going to make me eat those,” she says.
“You spent so many summers here and you never had oysters?”
“Once. And trust me, that was enough.”
I smirk at her. “You know they are an aphrodisiac?”
She bites her lip before she smiles back at me. “Do you really think I need an aphrodisiac with you?”
I reach my hand across the table, grabbing hers. “Oh I know you don’t.”
“Then why the oysters?”
“I love them. Trust me. If you try them my way, you’ll like them too.”
She raises a brow at me. “Doubtful.”
“You know your taste buds change.”
She sips her wine. “My taste for men might change too.”
I move my hand to her thigh, higher than some would deem appropriate. “Doubtful.”
Her cheeks flame to my favorite shade of pink just as the waiter brings out the oysters.
“So, how am I supposed to eat this?”
I show her the best way to eat raw oysters. A little bit of lemon and a little bit of horseradish. I swallow one down
and I watch her as she watches it slide down my throat.
“You swallow it whole?” she shrieks.
“Yeah.”
She shudders as she prepares one in front of her. “The last time I had one I chewed it and it was so gross.”
“Don’t chew. Swallow.” I lean into her ear and whisper, “I know you’re good at that. It’s one of my favorite things about you.”
Her cheeks turn pink again and I press a kiss to one. “Just try one.”
She loosens the oyster from the shell before she tosses her head back, swallowing it down.
“What do you think?”
She shrugs and then grabs another off the plate causing me to chuckle. “You’re right, they aren’t terrible if I swallow. I’ll remember that later.”
I throw my head back in laughter. I love spending time with this woman. She makes me feel carefree and it’s a feeling I could get used to.
We spend the rest of dinner laughing and joking. The mood light and refreshing.
When we get back to the house, I want nothing more than to rip her dress off and show her how much I need her. But she has other plans.
As we step onto the porch, she twirls, her skirt raising giving me a glimpse of green lace panties. I try to wrap my arms around her but she dodges me.
“Not yet, mister.” She points toward the west side of the house. “The sun is about to set and I love the changing colors of the sky. It’s when I find the most inspiration.”
She heads inside while I sit on the railing of the porch looking over the marshland to see the sun. Anna comes out with a guitar and sits on the steps of the porch.
“This was my aunt’s. You asked what was in the other room before and I lied when I said storage. It was her music room. One of my favorite places. It’s where I learned to play piano and guitar. Every night we would sit out here and play music as the sun set. Sometimes the neighbors would come by, sometimes it was just us and my sister. We would play everything from folk to rock to bluegrass.”
I move next to her and sit beside her as she strums a few notes on the guitar.
