by Jenna Jacob
“Oh, Norman. Just…hush.” Nola’s voice held an unusually sharp edge. She skimmed a glance over the table, scooted back in her chair, and stood. “You all go to the family room and relax. I’ll clean up these dishes.”
As she reached for a plate, Sawyer placed his hand over hers. “You don’t approve of Gina…? You think she’s too old for Nate, don’t you?”
She blinked at him as if her son had suddenly turned clairvoyant. Quickly banking her surprise, Nola shrugged. “Who am I to judge?”
“You never do. That’s why I’m asking.” Sawyer sent her a concerned stare.
“Clearly, he feels responsible for what happened to her, though I’m not entirely sure why. And since she has no family, he’s taken on the onus of helping her. It just seems…I don’t know…sudden.”
“Sudden?” Nash scoffed. “He’s been banging Gina’s brains out for the past six months, Ma.”
Nola blanched.
Sawyer pinned Nash with a seething glare.
Noble, who was sitting beside the big-mouthed idiot, simply smacked him upside the head. “Way to go, ace.”
“What?” Nash gaped. “I thought it was common knowledge among the family.”
“I certainly didn’t know,” Nola bit out tersely.
“Settle down, Momma,” Norman softly soothed. “He’s a grown man. We don’t know how he feels about her. It could be nothing more than him sowing some wild oats.”
Nola jerked her hand from Sawyer and raised an open palm, flashing Norman the international don’t say another word sign.
Noble cleared his throat before he nipped this whole judgmental clusterfuck in the bud. “It’s more than sowing wild oats, and we all know it. Yes, Gina is older. So what? Age is just a number. And yes, she owns a bar. That doesn’t make her trash. You’re forgetting the only important part in all this. She makes Nate happy. That’s got to count for something.”
“It does, and I want him to be happy. It’s just that…I’m worried,” Nola confessed.
“About?”
“Everything,” she said with a sigh. “You all might be grown men, but to me, you’ll always be my babies. I’ll never stop worrying about any of you.”
Her voice cracked, adding a whole new layer of tension to the room.
“I understand that. But you’re going to need to use a chainsaw to cut the apron strings, Ma. In case you didn’t notice…they’re in love.”
“In love?” Nola gasped as if he’d up and slapped her.
Noble had said far too much. He hadn’t meant to share Nate’s personal feelings with the whole family. It was time to steer this conversation in a new direction…lighten up the mood, and then find a way to leave the room. “I’m impressed. Gina didn’t drop a single f-bomb all night. If that isn’t love, I don’t know what is.”
Sawyer shot him a seething glare. Obviously his brother’s sense of humor was locked away in Brea’s purse…along with his balls. But then marriage always changed a man.
“You have no idea what love is,” Sawyer spat. “You’re too scared to find out. That’s why you spend your life hopping from one bed to the next.”
“Scared?” Noble scoffed. “I’m not scared. I’m smart. And who the hell are you to lecture me? You weren’t a damn choirboy before Brea took pity on your sorry ass and married you. The whole town knows you used to spend nearly every weekend getting freaky with the linol—”
“Don’t you have someplace to go?” Sawyer interrupted, shooting daggers at him.
“As a matter of fact I do.” Noble dragged his cell phone from the back pocket of his jeans and started scrolling through his endless list of female contacts. “I wonder which damsel I need to rescue from hours of dreaded horniness tonight.”
Nola scowled as she gathered up the dirty dishes. “You knock up one of those damsels, and my shotgun’s gonna be aimed at your crotch while you watch her walk down the aisle in a pretty white dress. I won’t tolerate any son of mine giving me illegitimate grandchildren.”
Noble scoffed. “Oh, yeah? What are you going to do if I knock ’em all up at the same time?”
“Take a switch to your ass for being horny and careless.”
Noble grinned and stood before easing in beside his mom. He wrapped an arm around her waist and planted a kiss on the top of her head. “Relax, Ma. I’m not an idiot. I never rescue the damsels without wrapping my anaconda in latex.”
“Jesus, bro,” Sawyer groaned. “We just fuckin’ ate.”
Nola spun on her heel and slapped one hand on her hip. “You know better than to curse like that in my house.”
“Sorry,” Sawyer mumbled. Closing his eyes, he pinched the bridge of his nose.
“Sorry-lookin’,” Noble and his brothers replied in unison.
Every since grade school, if one had to apologize for something, the others collectively poked back with the insult; sorry-lookin.
Completely unamused, as always, Nola shook her head and leveled an unhappy stare at Noble.
“Relax, Ma. And keep your shotgun locked up. I’m never getting married.”
“I’ll put it up when you start keeping your junk in your pants. One of these days you’re going to mess up and be forced to say I do to someone you don’t even love.”
“That’ll never fucking happen.”
Nola snatched up a wooden spoon and swatted him on the butt, reminding him to watch his language.
Noble grinned and wiggled his ass. “Oooh, harder, Mommy. Spank me harder.”
The whole room erupted in laughter.
“Where did you come from, you sick freak?” Ned asked, still laughing.
“Same place you did.” Noble smirked. “From between my momma’s—”
“Hush!” Nola barked. “Get out of here, you perverted little heathen.”
“Whoa, wait,” Norman called out, still chuckling. “Before you go out and impregnate half the town, what day are you leaving for Vegas? I need to set up the schedule for next week.”
“Thursday,” Noble replied. “I fly out of Dallas at one o’clock.”
“Got it.” Norman nodded.
“I still can’t believe little Harvey Hays is getting married.” Nola shook her head.
“I can’t believe any woman would want that weasely son of a—”
“Neville Sawyer Grayson, I’m not going to tell you again to watch your mouth,” Nola warned, raising the spoon.
“What? It’s the truth. You remember what he was like growing up, don’t you? Harvey Hays was an obnoxious little bitch,” Sawyer grumbled.
Noble bristled. “Hey! He and I were friends back in the day.”
“You were his only friend back in the day. How long’s it been since you’ve seen him, talked to him? Six? Seven years? Did you ever stop and wonder why the Soy House Coffee King of Seattle invited you to be best man at his wedding?”
“Because Noble’s still his only friend,” Ned said with a snort.
“Kiss my ass!” Being forced to defend his old pal pissed Noble off. “You two don’t know a damn—”
“Easy, boys,” Norman interrupted in the same conciliatory tone he’d used to diffuse their arguments since they were kids. “Obviously, Harvey still feels a strong bond of friendship with Noble and wanted him to be his best man.”
Feeling vindicated, Noble flashed Sawyer a triumphant grin. “Thanks, Dad.”
“What do you know about the girl he’s marrying?” Norman asked.
“Not much. I know her name is Celina and that she owns the crystal and herb store next door to Harvey’s coffee shop.”
“Crystals? You mean like rocks and shit?” Ned scoffed.
“I don’t know. I guess.” Noble shrugged. “Harvey said she sells metaphysical stuff…whatever that means. I know she grew up in Texas, and like Harvey, she moved out to Seattle after high school. That’s where they met.”
“Sounds like kismet. But if Celina’s roots are here, why on earth are they tying the knot in Las Vegas?” Nola wrinkled her nose. “I don’t like th
e idea of you going to a place called Sin City.”
“I’m a big boy, Ma. I’ll be extra careful. I promise.”
“Right!” Sawyer scoffed. “You’ll be like a kid in a candy store.”
Damn straight! If the bachelor party Harvey planned turned out to be true—party bus, open bar, and strippers—this trip was going to be off the chain. Before he could reply, his cell phone pinged. Noble glanced at the screen and smiled.
Trudy: I’m naked and lonely.
His pulse doubled.
Hell yes!
After he quickly tapped out a reply that he was on his way, Noble hurried to the sliding glass door. “I’d love to stay and chat, but the fair maidens of Haven need me to work my magic on them. See y’all in the morning.”
“Just keep your wand covered, Mr. Wizard,” his mom called out.
Laughing, Noble closed the door, raced across the wooden deck, and jogged to his truck. He fired up the engine while placing a call to his lonely, naked damsel. After engaging the speakerphone option, he laid the device on his thigh and turned onto the gravel drive.
Trudy answered in a low, sultry purr that had his blood pumping and his cock stiffening. “I’m on my way, sweet cheeks. Start warming yourself up. I want you nice and ready when I get there.”
“What do you want me to do, lover boy?”
“Spread your legs…spread them nice and wide,” he instructed as the truck bounced along the uneven ground.
“They already are.”
“Wide enough that I can wedge my shoulders between them and dive tongue-first into your dripping cunt?”
Trudy let out a mournful groan. “Uh-huh.”
“Good. Slide your fingers down there and play with your clit. Don’t come before I get there. Understood?”
“Oh, my hands are cold.”
“Not for long. Once you touch your hot pussy, they’ll warm right up. I’ll have you even hotter soon.”
His cock leapt, eager and ready. When the truck tires grabbed hold of the blacktop at the end of the drive, Noble adjusted his dick off the teeth of his gnawing zipper and turned toward town.
“Rub it hard, baby. Get it all nice and swollen for me.”
“Mmm,” she moaned. “It’s slippery and achy.”
“I’ll make it all better real soon. Keep playing with it, but don’t come. I wanna be there to feel and watch you explode.” The pressure inside his jeans made the mile-and-a-half trek to Haven painful as hell.
Her little whimper of understanding slammed from the base of his balls all the way to the tip of his weeping shaft.
Noble sucked in a deep breath. “Dip your fingers inside your pussy for me.”
“Noble…hurry,” she mewled.
“I am. Believe me, I am.” He pressed on the gas pedal, hoping Jasper wasn’t running any speed traps tonight. “You wet?”
“Dripping,” she moaned.
Saliva pooled in Noble’s mouth. “Fuck!”
“What’s wrong?”
“Just anxious to get to you.”
“How close are you, stud muffin?”
“Close.”
He was close, all right…close to shooting a load of choad-nectar in his fucking jeans. Dialing back his demand, he thought about his trip to Vegas instead of pounding Trudy’s hungry pussy. When Noble reached Haven, he sped through the side streets and slammed on the brakes in her driveway.
“Your front door better be unlocked,” he barked impatiently.
“It’s as wide open as my legs, lover boy,” she panted. “Hurry, Noble. I-I’m ready to c-come.”
“No! Take your hands off your pussy…now!”
She exhaled a long-suffering moan that made him grin.
“I’m going to be inside your house and inside you in less than a minute.”
Noble ended the call, killed the engine, and yanked open the glove box. After grabbing a stack of condoms, he bolted from the truck and raced into the house. He kicked the door closed behind him before hauling ass down the hall to Trudy’s bedroom.
He found the nymph breathless and splayed out naked on her bed. Her face was wrinkled in desperation as she writhed on the mattress. A greedy smile tugged his lips as he watched her pluck her berry-hard nipples straining toward the ceiling fan.
Out of patience, Noble strode to the dresser and pulled down a couple of silk scarves before he tore his clothes off. In two long strides, he ate up the distance to the bed and skimmed a stare up and down her squirming body. “You waited for me, didn’t you?”
“Yes, but it was hard,” Trudy whimpered as she longingly stared at his erection.
Noble wrapped a fist around his cock and stroked up and down as he climbed onto the mattress by her head. Trudy licked her lips as a glistening bead of pre-come slid from the crest and over his knuckles. “Harder than this?”
He slapped the wet tip to her mouth and she immediately parted her lips and swallowed him down her throat. The woman could suck the red off a barn, but he didn’t want oral, he wanted pussy.
When he pulled his cock away, Trudy whined pathetically. He simply smirked and wrapped the scarves around her wrists and tied them to the decorative wooden spools on the headboard.
He was a laid-back, go-with-the-flow kind of guy until it came to sex. Then he was a complete control freak. Trudy had embraced his kinky side the last time he’d tied her to the bed. In fact, she’d nearly lost her damn mind. After teasing her with his fingers and mouth, he’d shoved his fat dick inside her. She’d nearly squeezed his cock off. He couldn’t wait to feel her narrow tunnel clamping around him again.
If he didn’t get inside her soon, he was going to roar. But Noble hadn’t earned his esteemed reputation with the ladies by rushing the deed, and he wasn’t going to risk tarnishing it now.
Prowling onto the bed, between Trudy’s legs, he dipped his head and dragged his tongue over her center. In no time, he’d coaxed her to two powerful orgasms and his cock was screaming for relief. Noble quickly sheathed himself, hoisted Trudy’s legs over his shoulders, and slammed balls deep into her pussy. With a low growl, he began pumping in and out of her hot walls as sweat dripped off his brow.
“That’s it, stud. Fuck me hard, like a wild bull,” Trudy cried out.
Noble picked up the pace and pounded her pussy until the familiar swell of release rolled up his body. “Come with me,” he grunted.
Trudy tossed back her head and let out a scream that nearly perforated his eardrums as she clamped around him. Noble pushed through her contracting tissue, grunted, and filled the condom. Again, it wasn’t the best sex he’d ever had, but it definitely took the edge off.
Long minutes later, after their breathing evened out, he slid from inside her. Before disposing of the condom, he untied her wrists. On his way back to the bed, Noble longingly glanced at his jeans and T-shirt heaped on the floor. He enjoyed fucking, but the postcoital snuggling most women expected frightened him. While he never made promises to any of his bed-bunnies, he always feared one of them might confuse their good times as something more. He was definitely not in the market for a girlfriend or, god forbid, a wife. He didn’t do relationships…ever.
Clenching his jaw, he forced himself to join Trudy in the bed.
To his relief, she rolled over and snagged her cigarettes off the nightstand as if he wasn’t there.
“Thanks for the screaming good time again, lover boy.” She lit up and then exhaled a thick fog of smoke. “Unfortunately, I won’t be able to bang your brains out for a while.”
“You leaving town or something?”
“Or something,” she repeated with a humorless snort. “No. My fiancé, Calvin, arrives in the morning and is moving in with me. He’s taking over Dr. Hubbard’s dental practice.”
Fiancé? What the fuck?
The air in his lungs froze.
She had to be kidding, right?
“Y-your fiancé?”
“Yeah.”
Noble slept around. Okay, he slept around a lot
, but never with another man’s woman. He could forgive Trudy for using him but not for manipulating him to break the one cardinal rule he held sacred: Never poach another man’s girl. Anger careened through him faster than the orgasm he’d just achieved.
“Did you purposely forget to mention the fact that you were engaged, or did it simply slip your mind?”
His incredulous tone made her bristle. She sent him a scowl. “Don’t go getting all butt hurt or sanctimonious on me. It’s no big deal.” She took another drag off her smoke and shrugged. “At least not to me.”
“I already gathered that.”
“Wow. I didn’t take you for someone with a conscience.”
Her insult stung. “And why’s that?”
“Well, all the girls in town talk about how good you are in bed. I figured a big, bad-assed man-whore like you wouldn’t give a shit who he’s fucking.”
In two seconds flat she’d made him feel like a piece of gum being scraped off the sole of her shoe. He didn’t like it.
“If I’m wrong”—she was—“then…sorry. You didn’t know, so there’s nothing to feel guilty about.”
But he did, because in Noble’s book, ignorance didn’t equal innocence. He clenched his jaw tighter and mentally counted to ten, working to contain his anger. It wasn’t working.
He pinned her with a glare. “Let me get this straight. You moved to town, kept your engagement quiet, and sought me out to play with until Calvin showed up?”
Inside, Noble was ready to blow a fucking gasket, but somehow he’d managed to keep his voice low and controlled.
Trudy shrugged. “What Calvin doesn’t know won’t hurt him. I mean…it’s not my fault the man has a dick the size of a toddler or shoots off in like five seconds. I just wanted to spend some time with a stud who had a big cock and stamina before I have to live a life of sexual frustration.”
Shock pinged through him like a speeding bullet. “If he’s such a shitty lover, why are you marrying the man?”
“Because Calvin fits into my long-term plans, all right? Don’t judge me,” she snapped defensively.
Plans? Noble didn’t want to know what plans the morally corrupt bitch had up her sleeve.
“Trust me, lover boy, if Calvin’s pathetic pencil was as big and talented as your massive hose, I wouldn’t let anyone else near my pussy.” Trudy’s voice took on that familiar slow, seductive timbre that had snagged Noble’s attention the first time they’d met outside the post office. She dragged her hot pink acrylic fingernails through the dark spattering of hair on his chest while batting her fake eyelashes at him. “The wedding isn’t for a couple of months because Calvin is going to be busy setting up his practice. If we’re careful, you and I could hook up once a week and keep having fun, without him ever finding out.”
