by Marika Ray
She finished her absolutely insane explanation on character assumptions and I found myself with a silly grin on my face. She was certifiable, but in the best way.
Without thinking it through too hard, I decided it was time. I reached up and ripped the mustache off, relieved not to have that thing between us any longer. Lenora’s eyes went wide and scanned my face. Extending my hand across the console, I attempted to make things right.
“Hi, I’m Jayden Sutter, Bain’s little brother. Can we be friends, Nora?”
Lenora blinked comically slow, the rest of her frozen in place. For a guy who didn’t care to get in any kind of a relationship, I sure sat on the proverbial edge of my seat waiting for Lenora to take my hand and assure me we could be friends.
She sucked in a huge breath while I willed my eyes to stay on her face and not take in the breasts that got me in trouble last time in that tight red tank top.
“Hold up. You’re Jayden? Bain’s brother? That means—” She spun around and gaped at Red. “He’s Addi’s?”
Anger—the instant and flaming hot kind—bit through any confusion. I pulled my hand back. “No. He’s mine.”
Lenora’s gaze came back to mine, understanding dawning. “Right. Your baby. Wow. Okay.”
She screwed up her face and then waved a hand through the air. “Sorry, yes, we can be friends, Jayden. Just took me a second to catch up with who you are and what I knew about you from when Addi came to Hell.”
She stuck her hand out and after a split second of debating, I closed my hand around hers. We shook on it, as if simply saying it and holding hands for a brief moment could cross the canyon of lies, half-truths, and reluctance I had for getting involved with a woman, even in a friend capacity.
I pulled my hand back, unbuckling my seat belt. “Can you give me a ride Sunday morning?”
She nodded and smiled. I climbed out of the car and got in the back seat to remove Red’s car seat. Lenora rounded the back and got my suitcase. By the time I got Red out of the car, he was starting to stir from the nap interruption.
“Thanks. I’ll see you Sunday.” I nodded and moved toward the house. “Last time I’ll need a ride.”
“Wait, what?” Lenora called after me. “But I just got your candy order!”
I spun on the doorstep and saw her standing by her car with a frown on her face. “You can still get the Red Hots. I just won’t need you to drive me any longer. Red and I are moving to Hell permanently next week.”
7
Lenora
“I need a stiff drink.”
Jayden and Red went into Bain and Lucy’s place while I sat in the car and stewed. I was a pretty level-headed, calm person in both normal circumstances and in crises. But I was feeling my own kind of red hot at the moment, thinking about how much Jay—no, excuse me, Jayden—had kept from me. His kiss made me weak in the knees and I hadn’t even known his real name!
I had only myself to blame. Who goes around kissing guys with fake mustaches? I was no better than a Ted Bundy groupie, ignoring red flags and barreling forward with daydreams and lustful thoughts. Here I was celebrating my college graduation tomorrow night and I was dumb as a doornail when it came to men.
At least Jayden had been upfront today about not wanting to get into a relationship. I didn’t want a relationship either, yet I didn’t have the lady balls to say no and stay focused on my own priorities, namely finding a good paying job so I could stop giving rides to these nutcases.
The more I thought about it, the madder I got. Both at myself and at Jayden. I got in the car and slammed the door, gunning the engine like I wasn’t one blown gasket away from a tow to the junkyard on the back of Clyde’s rust bucket truck. I breathed in and out with purpose, trying to find a level of calm that would allow me to drive without incident. When I had my anger simmering at a manageable level, I pulled out onto the street and drove away from my mistake.
Not five houses away from Lucy’s, a giant seagull swooped down right in front of me, careening straight at my windshield like he had every intention of pecking my forehead to death, glass windshield be damned. His beady little eyes locked on me and he showed no fear.
“Move, you shitlicker!” I yelled at him, panic making my voice louder than I anticipated.
Just as I slammed on the brakes, he pulled up, the entire underside of his body smearing against the top couple inches of windshield. A line of poop and a single solitary white feather floating down to lie on my hood was all that remained of the scary encounter.
I’d just played chicken with a seagull.
“Jesus, Joseph, and Mary, what is wrong with these stupid birds around here?” I yelled out loud. I shook my fist at the sky.
The anger I’d gotten down to a simmer just moments before reignited, bubbling up and choking out common sense. I wasn’t the calm and kind pushover Lenora right now. I was Nora, the spitfire who cursed at seagulls and idiot drivers. The girl who stole kisses where she could and demanded answers from people instead of extending grace. I was all powerful in my anger and looking for a fight.
And I knew just where I could find one.
I stepped on the gas and threw the wheel to the left, making a sharp U-turn in the middle of the street and leaving a strip of black rubber on the asphalt for good measure. Better than a strip of shit like my poor windshield. Before the flame could burn out, I was going to find out everything there was to know about Jayden Sutter.
I banged on Bain and Lucy’s front door, then winced, remembering poor Roxy. She was only nine months old and could possibly be napping. Lucy would have my head if my pounding woke her up. I’d have to offer to babysit for a straight month or something to make things right. No skin off my nose; I loved that little girl.
The door swung open and Lucy stood there with her hair piled on top of her head, Roxy on her hip.
“Lenora? Hey, beautiful. Come on in.”
I smiled, enjoying the fact that I lived in a small town. Instead of thinking something was wrong or making the excuse they were busy, Lucy immediately invited me in for a visit. Bain might be irritated, but he was a city boy. It had taken Lucy almost a year to get Bain to quit locking the front door every time he left to run a quick errand. I stepped through the doorway and hugged Lucy, giving Roxy a loud kiss on her round little cheek.
“Nora?” Jayden’s voice had me breaking away from Roxy.
He stood there in the doorway to the living room, looking gorgeous in his jeans and thermal shirt, the sleeves of which were pushed up his muscled forearms. Even the little drool spot on his shoulder didn’t take away from his good looks.
“Wait, you know Lenora?” Lucy asked, standing next to me and frowning in confusion at Jayden.
Jayden’s eyes darted to Lucy and then back to me, the unease I saw in them warring with something else. Something that burned hot and made my skin flush.
“Yeah, yeah, I do,” he muttered, more to himself than for our benefit.
Bain came up behind him with Red on his hip. Standing together, the similarities between the brothers were remarkable. Sure, Jayden was a bit shorter, but he had even more muscle on him than Bain did. Twin gray eyes stared back at us, Bain’s drifting to his wife and softening. Bain’s features were harsh while Jayden’s looked more like a playboy, quick to wink and flash a dimple to burn the panties off every female in a ten-mile radius.
“What can we do for you, honey?” Lucy’s soft voice broke the stare-down.
My brain scrambled to remember what I was doing here. Then I remembered the seagull, the pit of anger in my belly, and the all-mighty Nora here to slay grown men. I pulled myself up as tall as I could in a room full of giants—minus the babies—and directed my explanation to Jayden.
“I’d like to hear what you’re doing in Auburn Hill. I mean, I thought you were Ted Bundy reincarnated. Then you rip off the mustache and tell me you’re my best friend’s husband’s brother? It’s like a full-fledged Maury Povich show up in here. You just said we were friends,
right? Well, friends tell each other the truth, with or without a paternity test. So”—I walked past him, refusing a well-timed sniff to catch a whiff of his cologne despite how badly I wanted to, and had a seat on the couch—“start talking.”
I lifted my nose in the air and got comfortable on the fluffy couch. I wasn’t leaving without an explanation. If he hadn’t kissed me, I wouldn’t be here, but that step over the line emboldened me. I’d gotten my heart all aflutter and it was his fault. If he was going to be living here in Hell, I wanted to know the details so I could start building my defense plan. I couldn’t see him all over town in all his forearm muscle glory, knowing he didn’t want to get into a relationship with me, unless I built up my walls sufficiently beforehand.
Lucy was the first to react, snorting and sauntering into the room to have a seat next to me, settling Roxy on her lap with a teething ring.
“Well, this night just got a whole lot more fun.” Lucy winked at me, the glee of good gossip forthcoming making up for the dark shadows under her eyes. Roxy was a cutie, but she wasn’t the best sleeper. “Mustaches, Ted Bundy reincarnated, and Maury Povich, huh?” She let out a whistle.
Jayden finally came into the room—accepting my demands quicker than I anticipated—and had a seat on the floor, clearing away a few pink toys to find enough space. He tucked his legs under him and leaned back on his arms, making even his lounging look sexy. Ugh. See, this was why I needed super tall walls. Without them, my brain would go right to the gutter and stay there, eye fucking him from afar and living in unrequited misery. I’d have to become a nun and wear all that blah material, vowing chastity because he’d ruined me for all mankind forevermore.
I had a flair for the dramatic, I know.
Bain took a seat on the recliner and bounced Red, who squealed in baby bliss. I’d have to be careful not to drink the water around here. Babies and slobber everywhere. I had to get my career going before I could let my biological clock catch wind of the permeating smell of babies in the room.
Jayden pinned me with an angry stare and then launched into his tale, keeping his gaze trained on Bain and Lucy. “As I was saying before Nora here invited herself in, I sold my company in LA. You guys know that. I decided to take that money and move to Auburn Hill with my son. But I knew I didn’t want to just retire and live off the sales of my company. I wanted to start something new. Last time I was here cleaning up the Addi fiasco, I ran into the mayor. He and I exchanged a few emails recently and that started me down my current path.”
He quit talking.
I glanced at Lucy, she glanced at Bain, and Bain glanced at me. And then we all looked back at Jayden.
“Yeah, that’s great. And? What? What’s your current path?” I asked, my voice rising with each question.
“You’re being cryptic, dude. Just spit it out already before the kids have to go to bed.” Bain looked as irritated as I felt.
Jayden’s gaze dropped to the rug. “I don’t sign the final paperwork on the business until next week, so I don’t want to announce anything too soon. Trust me on this one. But I was kind of hoping you’d help me next week when I move all our stuff here. I can put it in storage and live at the hotel with Red for a bit, but I’ll need to start looking for my own place too.”
Bain nodded immediately, like he finally realized his brother was moving to town to be closer to him. “Of course we’ll help you, little brother. I’m ecstatic you’re moving here. I wondered if all those well-placed hints would actually pay off.” He chuckled and then his voice dropped to a hoarse whisper. “Bro, our kids will grow up together.”
The boys had a moment, the air thick with emotion. It felt weird to be here for this intimate conversation and I momentarily regretted barging in. I glanced at Lucy to give them their privacy. Her eyes misted over and she hugged Roxy harder.
“Jayden, this is great news. The very best. Whatever you need, we’re here for you, okay?” Her voice was thick.
Jayden nodded at her, their gazes locked, his own eyes suspiciously bright.
Ah crap.
Which meant my eyes were tearing up too because I was a sympathetic crier. If anyone so much as shed a half a tear in my presence, I was right there with the waterworks. Even if that someone was just on the television screen in a badly done commercial. My tear ducts were cursed.
While everyone else in the room joined hands and sang Kumbaya at the news of Jayden moving here, I remained confused and suspicious. Why wouldn’t he tell us about his business? Why did he lie about who he was the multiple times he’d been here in Hell? Why did he kiss me and turn my insides to mush and then step back to just being friends? How does one individual win the lottery when it came to handing out sexy forearms?
“I hate to break up the moment, but Roxy here needs a new diaper.” Lucy got up from the couch and lifted her in the air. “Don’t you, you little pee machine?” She nuzzled Roxy’s round tummy and got her laughing.
There was no better sound in the universe than a baby’s uninhibited laughter. My grumpy mood started to lift hearing Roxy giggle, which left me with very little in terms of a defense. I’d been running on anger, but now that that was going away, all I had were flimsy questions, which would never hold up against the power of the aforementioned forearms, gray eyes, and sexy smirk.
“I think Red here is fitting in nicely already. He needs a new diaper too.” Bain stood up, Red tucked into his arm like a football.
Jayden scrambled to his feet. “I got him.”
Bain waved him away. “Nah, I’ll go with my bride. I’m an expert diaper changer by now.”
The two walked out of the room and the silence stretched out between Jayden and me. I shifted on the couch and recrossed my legs. I glanced around at the pictures on the wall and tried to ignore the part of my brain currently yelling at me that I didn’t belong here. That I should have never shoved my way into a family matter. That Jayden and I were nothing to each other.
“Nora.”
I jolted, realizing Jayden stood right in front of me. My gaze ran up his delicious body to find his gray eyes hooded. Reminding me of something. Reminding me of exactly how they’d looked the second before he kissed me beneath the oak tree. A fire lit in my gut and I realized two very important things.
One: I was a goner for this Ted Bundy reincarnated.
Two: I needed really, really, really tall walls built to protect my heart.
“Y-yes?” My throat closed, the word coming out as a wobbly question. As wobbly as my resolve to be all-mighty, man-killer Nora tonight.
Instead of answering, he reached down and grabbed my hand, pulling me off the couch and into his hard body. Not an inch of space separated us, a fact my nipples delighted in as they came out to play. Hands settled on the hips of my jean shorts, his heat searing through my clothes.
“You want to go out on a date with me and Red tonight?” His lovely thumbs swept back and forth across the skin at my waist, below the fabric of my shirt.
Hell in summer was always a warm place, but tonight it was steaming, heating me from the inside. My knees wobbled and for a quick second I wondered if I had heatstroke.
“Sure,” I whispered back. Saying no wasn’t an option. Wasn’t even a thought in my head. The word didn’t exist when it came to Jayden.
“Okay, what’s going on with you two?” Lucy’s voice from behind Jayden had my eyes widening.
But even then, I didn’t step back from him. We stayed where we were, gazes locked and bodies touching. I should be downplaying my attraction for him. I knew it in the back of my brain, but my body wouldn’t comply. He’d just told me he couldn’t do a relationship. That he just wanted to be friends, but then he’d looked at me like I was a human-sized Red Hot and asked me out on a date. He was a flip-flopper. Said one thing and did another.
I should be stepping back. Running far, far away. I had at least ten reasons why this wasn’t a good idea. And yet, I couldn’t. Or wouldn’t. I was all in on this train wreck.
<
br /> Still looking me dead in the eye, Jayden answered her. “We’re going on a date tonight. The three of us.”
“I see.” Lucy stepped up next to us, Roxy no longer in her arms. “And is this what you want, Lenora?”
I finally broke the stare, turning to Lucy and seeing the firm set of her face. Mama-bear mode activated. I hadn’t seen her this serious since sperm got stolen from her clinic. I nodded.
“Yes, I really think I do.”
Lucy broke out into a smile. “In that case, how about we take Red for the night? Have a little cousins sleepover. The first of many.”
The next thing I knew, Red and all his toys and clothes were handed over to Bain and Lucy, along with a long list about his nightly routine. Jayden had his hand on my back, shuffling me out the door and into the balmy Friday night air.
I was finally going on a date with Jayden Sutter.
My mystery man.
8
Jayden
I walked directly to Nora’s car, realizing I didn’t have a vehicle to take her on a date with. Or any idea what we were going to do. Or what restaurants there were in town. Or why the hell I’d followed through on the instinct to spend more time with her no matter the cost when I’d just set things right—ish—between us.
Spinning around, I opened my mouth to discuss the night’s plan with Nora. She bumped right into my chest and looked up at me with as much confusion on her face as I felt in my gut.
“Sorry,” she muttered, pulling herself away from me. She crossed her arms over her chest and looked away. I realized like a lightning bolt to the chest I’d rather take a goat tongue to the tonsils again than hurt her.
“Hey.” I uncrossed her arms gently and slid down her silky skin till my fingers laced with hers. “I’m sorry for keeping things from you and I’m sorry for pushing you away and then pulling you back in. I don’t mean to play games. I promise.”
She finally gave me her eyes and I could see the indecision warring there. She had every right to distrust me. I’d lied about who I was from the beginning and I’d told her straight up I didn’t want a relationship. I needed to give her something. A true peek inside my head. That was the only way she’d open up to me.
