by Jenna Jacob
Noble looked away before gripping his beer and standing. “I’ll meet you in the back when you’re done swapping spit.”
He hadn’t intended his voice to carry an angry growl. He clenched his jaw and asked himself for the umpteenth time how a girl he’d spent one fucking night with had sucked the desire for any other woman clean out of him. And oh, god, how that woman could suck! Memories of her soft lips, the blistering, wet heat of her mouth, and the sinful swirl of her tongue as she glided up and down his pulsating cock seared his brain. The feel of her buttery-smooth skin beneath his fingertips…the sound of her kitten-soft moans and keening cries of ecstasy, along with her infectious laughter uncoiled inside him.
Being haunted to this degree by a woman he couldn’t call, text, or even find was driving him batshit crazy.
It’s official. I’m losing my goddamn mind.
With beer in hand, he strode to the back of the bar. After snatching a pool stick off the rack, Noble started taking out his unrelenting frustration and sexual anger on the cluster of colorful resin balls.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
After slapping her alarm into silent submission, Ivy groaned and snuggled deeper under the covers. “Five more minutes,” she whined.
Keeping up the constant pace of long days and short nights was catching up with her. She sat up and scrubbed the gritty sand from her eyes. Averaging four hours of sleep a night, she was finding it harder and harder to dredge up the will to crawl out of bed each morning.
It had been nearly two weeks since her grand opening, and customers were still clamoring for her baked goods. Sales were soaring, putting to rest her initial fear of failure. If only she could put her obsession with Noble to rest, all would be grand in Ivy’s world.
So far that hadn’t happened. The ghosts of incredible sex past came to haunt her every time there was a lull in customers. Even when she plucked out her credit card to order more supplies, there was Noble, spilling heat down her back and whispering sexual innuendos in her ear as he helped unlock her hotel room door.
The sinful specter was even invading her dreams every damn night, seducing her over and over until she woke in the throes of core-clutching orgasms.
She couldn’t escape him.
Thinking about him now filled her with frustration and turned her body into a throbbing, weeping mass of need.
Ignoring her lonely, dripping pussy, she groaned and tossed the covers back.
The minute her feet hit the floor, her stomach began bubbling up the back of her throat…again! Racing to the bathroom, Ivy dropped to her knees and dry-heaved for several long minutes.
“This is crazy,” she mumbled.
Her angst about opening the bakery had long passed, yet her morning purge-fest was getting worse. As she stood on shaky legs and rinsed her mouth, Ivy looked down at her stomach. She was visibly bloated.
Like a flashfire, her imagination started running wild. Something was seriously wrong. Could it be an ulcer? What if she had stomach cancer? A blast of fear zipped through her and Ivy quickly shoved it away. Maybe some weird microorganism she’d picked up somewhere was wreaking havoc with her digestive system. She didn’t know what was going on, but she knew it was time to see a doctor. Hopefully, she’d only need a round of antibiotics. Taking an entire Monday—the only day the bakery was closed—to drive to her doctor in Dallas was a waste of time. Since she’d planted her roots here in Haven, Ivy decided she’d make an appointment with the local doctor, after she talked to Gina.
Over the past few weeks, the spunky bar owner had grown to be a good friend, one Ivy trusted would tell her if the local physician was competent or not.
After filling the display cases, Ivy unlocked the front door and spied Gina across the street sweeping the sidewalk in front of the bar.
“Hey,” Ivy called, leaning out the door. Gina jerked her head up and smiled. “When you get done, can you come over? I’ll buy you a cup of java and a chunk of that coffee cake you love so much.”
“Will do, but I still owe you a drink.”
“I know. I’ll come over when I’m not so busy.”
Gina scoffed. “Honey, you’re a business owner. You’re always going to be busy. You gotta make time. All work and no play makes Jane…pent up and bitchy as hell!”
Don’t I know it.
“I will.” Ivy grinned.
“Damn right you will, or I’ll drag your skinny ass over here and get you shit-faced myself,” Gina threatened, grinning. “Be there in a few.”
Ivy waved and was about to close the door when she noticed Emmett Hill plodding past the post office. “Are you coming to see me this morning?”
“You betcha, beautiful. I’m not sure what drug you’re putting in my coffee, but I’m mighty addicted.”
She laughed. “It’s only beans and water. I swear.”
The old man grinned before glancing over at her busily sweeping friend. “Heard you jawin’ with Gina. She’s good people.”
“Yes, she is.” Ivy nodded, holding the door open for the man.
“Whatcha got good in that case, besides everything?” Grinning, she stepped in beside the man and studied the goodies with him. “Those strawberry cheesecake deelie-bobs you always give me are good, but I’m gonna live dangerous today and try something different.”
“How about a cinnamon roll? I can warm it up for you and slather it in butter.”
Emmett’s rheumy blue eyes widened. “Any chance you’d consider hooking up with an older man?”
Ivy schooled her grin and cocked her head, pretending to ponder his question. “How old are we talking?”
“Ninety-seven next August, if I’m still on the upside of the grass, that is. I might not be a spring chicken, but you wouldn’t want for anything. I got a slew of savings accounts, I get a damn good pension, and I have more life insurance than you could spend in three lifetimes.” He winked.
“Hrmm. You’re giving me a tempting offer, Emmett, but I’m not the kind who likes to hook up. I’m independent, hardheaded, and way too busy to add a man into my life.”
He nodded and winked. “Can’t blame a guy for holding on to a pocket full of dreams, can you?”
“Never. Let’s let you start living dangerous. I’ll fix you that cinnamon roll and a large cup of coffee and hold the perfume.”
“You know me too well, pretty missy.”
Emmett sat at the table near the window, devouring his breakfast as he watched the customers come and go. A short time later, Gina entered, wearing an expectant smile, and arched a brow at the butter crumb coffee cake in the display case.
“Grab a seat. I’ll bring it out to you in a sec.”
After carrying over two coffees and a massive wedge of Gina’s favorite indulgence, Ivy plopped down in the chair beside her.
“You always get up at the ass crack of dawn to start baking all this stuff?”
“No. I usually stay up past one, then I get up at the ass crack of dawn and fill the display cases.”
“Jesus. That’s some long hours. Makes dealing with drunks almost a vacation. You need to hire some help. You’re going to get sick if you keep this pace up.”
“Funny you should say that. I’ve got some kind of stomach thing going on.”
“You mean like the flu?”
“No. It’s not the flu. I thought it was stress…you know, wigging out about opening up the shop. But it hasn’t gone away. In fact, it’s getting worse. I’m throwing up almost every morning.”
Gina shot her a blank stare. “Any chance you’re pregnant?”
“No. I’d actually have to have sex in order to get pregnant. Besides, I have an IUD.”
Gina frowned. “Sexual dry spells suck donkey balls. I feel for you…been there done that, used to collect the damn T-shirts. I can’t fix your gut, but my boyfriend’s got a slew of sexy brothers I can fix you up with.”
Ivy shook her head. The thought of having sex with any one besides Noble was last place on her bucket list. “Nah, I
’m good. But I did want to ask you about the town doctor. What’s he like?”
“Doc Knight? Oh, he’s one of the kindest souls on the planet. He’s always been so gentle with me when…err, when I’ve gone to see him,” Gina stammered, quickly averting her stare as if hiding something.
Ivy wasn’t going to press her about it and upset their new friendship. When and if Gina wanted to share, Ivy would be glad to listen.
“Give Doc Knight a call and make an appointment,” Gina continued. “He’ll figure out what’s going on.”
Her praise of the doctor sent relief settling over Ivy. “I’ll do that. Thank you.”
Gina took a bite of her coffee cake and moaned. “This is so good it’s sinful. Get your ass over to my place tonight so I can fix you something that will make you dance and lose your pants. We’ll find a stud to give your IUD a hell of a workout, sister.”
Ivy chuckled. “Don’t hold your breath about finding me a stud, but I will come over tonight. Just don’t let me get too toasted. I still have to work tonight.”
“I’ll take good care of you. That’s what friends are for…well, that and to help you bury the bodies.”
“Thank you.”
“There’s only one body I want help burying, but that’s a discussion for another time,” Gina announced before draining her coffee cup. “I need to get back to the bar. Thanks for the goodies. I’ll see you tonight.”
When four o’clock finally arrived, Ivy locked the door. All she wanted to do was climb upstairs, wash the flour, sugar, and sweat from her body, then crawl into bed. She’d never felt so completely tapped out before, not even after the marathon sex-fest she’d had with Noble. She’d been deliciously sore and spectacularly sated, but nowhere close to the kind of exhaustion screaming through her now.
Maybe Gina had been right. Maybe she did need to hire an assistant.
It was clear that burning the candle at both ends had caught up with her.
Maybe she wasn’t seriously sick at all but suffering from exhaustion.
She’d find out Monday morning when she went to her appointment with Doc Knight.
After cleaning the shop, Ivy trudged upstairs and peeled off her clothes before taking a long, hot shower. With her batteries semi-recharged, she took the time to dry and curl her hair before applying a bit of makeup. She dressed in a pair of soft, faded jeans and pulled on a cuddly cashmere sweater that hugged her boobs, just in case a handsome cowboy or two happened to drop into the bar. After grabbing her purse, Ivy headed across the street.
When she entered the bar, she smiled at the rustic ambiance, the dim lights, and the scent of wood and whiskey. But Ivy was taken aback at the lack of customers. How did Gina make a profit from this place?
It’s a Thursday night, barely past six. Later on it’ll probably be filled to the rafters with rowdy cowboys, loud music, and raucous laughter.
“Oh, my god! Somebody please call Ripley’s. She’s here! She actually turned off her fucking ovens and strolled her bony ass across the street. It’s a miracle,” Gina called out dramatically from behind the bar.
As the three older men seated at a table in the rear of the room peered up at her, Gina burst out laughing, causing Ivy’s cheeks to grow hot. She jerked her chin up and sent her a playful grin. “Ha, ha. I told you I was coming over.”
“Yeah, well, you’ve fed me that line for weeks now. Come on up and grab a seat. I’ll get you fixed up proper.”
Ivy sat down and watched her friend pour several different kinds of liquor together before rimming a crystal flute in sugar and pouring the concoction into the glass.
Gina added a plump cherry and orange slice, then set the light amber-colored drink on the bar. “Voila!” She grinned.
“What exactly is this?”
“I call it the guaranteed hangover.”
Immediately, Ivy’s mind flipped to the brain-blasting headache she’d woken with the morning after Noble had left her sated and sore. Blocking the memories, she swallowed tightly. “You do remember I have to bake my buns off tonight, right?”
“Aw, you’ll be fine,” Gina assured, waving her hand absently.
“Easy for you to say. I don’t drink very often. This will probably knock me on my ass.” Ivy brought the rim to her lips and took a tentative sip. Her taste buds exploded as the sweet and slightly tart liquid slid over her tongue. “Oh, wow! That’s…too good.”
“I was hoping you’d like it. Go on. Drink up. I’ll make you as many as you can handle.”
Ivy chuckled. “If I drink more than one, your crumb cake’s liable to taste like dirt in the morning.”
When she lifted the glass for another drink, movement on the stairs to the left of the bar caught Ivy’s attention. She skimmed her gaze up a pair of muscular thighs encased in well-worn denim. Coasting her gaze higher, she swallowed down the liquid in her mouth with an audible gulp. The sight of defined, masculine abs and broad, rugged shoulders outlined beneath a black T-shirt jolted her system. But when she settled on the man’s face, shock and disbelief ripped through her like an atomic bomb.
Noble?
Her heart sputtered.
Her stomach pitched.
The room began to sway.
Gaping at the man who’d left her in a perpetual state of frustration for months, she wanted to weep. Noble looked as virile and knee-knocking arousing as he had in Vegas.
What the hell is Noble doing here? Confusion charged her brain, while fragments of elation and anxiety splintered her soul.
The floodgates holding back her memories ripped open.
Tingles and tremors assaulted her body as every kiss, every touch, every thrust skipped beneath her flesh.
Butterflies dipped and swooped in her stomach.
Each breath she struggled to suck into her lungs felt like sand.
Her body ignited in hunger and longing.
And all the while, the same question circled her brain…
What the hell is Noble doing here?
Of all the places on the planet, how had she found him here…in Gina’s bar? In Haven?
Ivy didn’t have a clue, but she intended to find out.
Nibbling her bottom lip, she felt anticipation spike as she willed him to look her way. Each second ticking by felt like an eternity as she waited for those glorious green eyes to land on her…waited for the first flickers of recognition to morph into shock and disbelief before pure unadulterated happiness lit up his sexy face. She could already see him flash her that toe-curling smile before he plucked her off the barstool and wrapped her in his rugged arms again.
But Noble didn’t even realize she was there. His attention was fixed, no, it was riveted on Gina as he swaggered off the last step and strode behind the bar.
Ivy’s heartbeat tripled when the seductive grin she knew all too well kicked up one corner of his mouth. But he wasn’t granting her a peek at that sexy smile, he lavished it on Gina as he clutched her in a lover’s embrace.
Like a bloody, torturous massacre, denial screamed through Ivy as she mutely watched the man who’d drowned her in mindless orgasms press his magically talented mouth to Gina’s.
The torrid, passionate kiss they shared sent the walls to close in all around Ivy.
Suffocating beneath a swell of panic, Ivy felt the ground beneath her crumbling away. Her heart sank to the pit of her churning stomach as a barrage of envy, rejection, and bitterness warred with heartbreak, pain, and overwhelming embarrassment.
I’m such a fucking fool.
Trembling like a leaf, she mentally begged herself to wake up from this brutal, flesh-peeling nightmare, but Ivy knew in her heart that she wasn’t sleeping.
The man who held the staring role in her masturbation fantasies was kissing her new best friend with the same passion and possession he’d branded to Ivy’s soul over four long months ago.
In that moment, Ivy realized that Noble was as unattainable now as he’d been when she’d left Las Vegas.
Tear
s stung the backs of her eyes.
Acid boiled in her belly.
The sweet, citrus remnants of the drink staining her tongue turned toxic.
“Did you enjoy your shower, baby?” Gina asked after Noble finally ended the kiss.
“It was okay. It would have been a hell of a lot more fun if you’d been with me.”
Noble’s familiar whiskey-smooth voice flowed over Ivy’s flesh. But instead of coating her in a balm of reassurance and security, sharp blades sliced deep ribbons to bleed into her soul.
As the bittersweet longing that had fluttered up inside her shattered into a million pieces, an anvil of guilt flattened her to the ground.
I fucked my best friend’s boyfriend.
Ivy didn’t have a clue how long Gina and Noble had been together, but woman’s intuition told her their relationship wasn’t new. But on the other hand, Haven was a small town. There was no way Noble could have been living across the street from her for very long. Ivy surely would have run into him someplace…the grocery store, the café, the post office…hell, how had she not seen him walking down the sidewalk, for fuck’s sake? There was no way he could have been living under nose all this time, was there?
“Baby, there’s someone I want you to meet,” Gina announced, flashing Ivy a wink and a grin.
When Noble finally turned Ivy’s way, time slowed. She held her breath as the listless nanoseconds ticked by. When he finally locked those emerald-green pools on her once again, a shiver slid through her.
But instead of the anticipated look of recognition, shock, or even an awkward grimace, Noble simply sent her a polite, blank totally emotionally void smile.
It was definitely not the kind of greeting she expected him to give the woman who’d taken his thick cock to the back of her throat, sucking him to climax, while filthy, erotic, provoking words rolled off his tongue.
Noble wasn’t looking at her but rather looking through her as if he’d never laid eyes on Ivy in his life.
The anxiety singing through her veins immediately bled out, replaced by indignation and fury.
“Do you know who this pretty young thing is?” Gina smiled up at Noble.
