by Marie Force
“Vanessa, that’s a lawsuit looking for a place to happen,” Noah said. “You need to tell Gray and ask him what he can do for you.”
“Maybe. I don’t know. I’ll think about it.”
“You have to,” Noah said, feeling more agitated by the second. The thought of a man hassling any of his sisters was enough to make him see red. “You can’t let them get away with that shit. It’s harassment.”
“We’ve been telling her that for weeks,” Ally said.
“I’ll talk to Gray,” Vanessa said. “Now drop it. I don’t want to think about that right now.”
Noah reached across the center console to put his hand on top of hers.
Vanessa turned her hand up to squeeze his. “Thanks for caring, big brother.”
“Of course I care. I’d like to go beat the shit out of the asshole who harassed you.”
She laughed, which made him feel better. “Don’t do that, but thanks for wanting to.”
“Hell yes, I want to.”
“We all do, Nessa,” Sarah said. “It’s total bullshit what he did—and how they covered for him. How much you want to bet it’s not the first complaint they’ve gotten against him? But as long as he keeps the money coming in, they look the other way.”
“Total crap,” Ally said emphatically.
Noah pulled onto his street, wondering whose car was in front of his house with the lights on.
“Who’s that?” Sarah asked.
“Not sure.” As he got closer, he noticed the Massachusetts license plate and realized it was Brianna.
And why did that realization make him feel so happy? When was the last time he’d felt anything close to that? And what the hell was wrong with him?
“Who is it, Noah?” Nessa asked.
“One of my work colleagues.”
“What’s he doing here?”
“I don’t know what she’s doing here, but let’s find out.” He pulled into the driveway and got out of the truck as Brianna got out of her car. She looked cute with a knit hat holding her wildly curly hair down. “Hi there.”
“Hi. I hope you don’t mind that I asked Mrs. H where you live. I thought you guys might be hungry. I brought you some food.”
Touched by the sweet gesture, he couldn’t stop the smile that stretched across his face. He’d been doing a lot of that lately. “That’s so nice of you. We were going to send my brother to Kingdom Pizza.”
“Now you don’t have to.”
“Now we don’t have to.” He couldn’t stop staring at her, drinking in every detail of her pretty face as his heart fluttered erratically. She’d come to his house with food. What did that mean?
She pressed a button on her key fob to open her trunk.
The smell hit him first, making his mouth water. Garlic and basil. “Wow, that smells good. What’d you make?”
“My grandmother’s lasagna. Will you help me carry it in?”
“I suppose that’s the least I can do.”
She put two big pans in his outstretched arms and grabbed another cloth bag from the trunk before shutting the lid and following him into the house. Shockingly, his sisters had already gone in, but only because they were freezing. They were probably watching him through the window and trying to figure out who this woman was to him.
He’d like to know that himself. Inside, he wiped his feet on the mat and went right to the kitchen to put down the heavy load. “You made a ton,” he said when Brianna joined him.
“There are a lot of you. I wanted to make sure there was enough.”
“This is really nice of you. Thank you so much.”
She shrugged off his thanks. “I wanted to help.”
He wanted to kiss her but didn’t dare with his sisters nearby. “You did.”
Brianna unpacked the bag, which contained a large salad, two big loaves of garlic bread and a pan of brownies.
“I can’t believe you did all this,” he said, amazed by what she’d brought.
“Is it too much?” she asked, seeming adorably uncertain.
“No, it’s very sweet. Thank you again. I’m starving.”
“I thought you might be. How’s your sister?”
“She’s okay, but it’s going to be a long road to recovery.”
“I’m so sorry she’s hurt and that you are because she is.”
Before he could respond to that, his sisters came into the room, probably driven by mouthwatering smells as much as a potential scoop. Noah has a woman in his house. That would be big news in the Coleman family.
“Brianna, these are my sisters, Ally, Vanessa and Sarah. Ladies, this is Brianna Esposito, the architect in charge of the inn project.”
Ally’s mouth formed an O as if she’d just put two plus two together to equal God knew what conclusion.
“Brianna brought us dinner. Say thank you, and don’t ask any questions that are none of your business.”
“Thank you, Brianna,” the three of them said.
“Now tell us everything about you,” Vanessa said as she made herself at home in Noah’s kitchen, getting out plates and silverware.
“You don’t have to do that,” Noah said, glaring at his sister.
“I don’t mind,” Brianna said, laughing. “It’s kind of a boring story of school, school, more school, followed by a job in Boston that brought me to Vermont to rebuild the inn with your brother.”
“Where do you live in the city?”
“Back Bay,” Brianna said. “How about you guys?”
“We’re in the North End,” Ally said. “We all live within a few blocks of each other. Our brother Jackson is there, too. He’s skiing in Wyoming with some friends right now.”
“He texted that he’s trying to get home,” Sarah said. “I told him that Izzy is okay and wouldn’t want him to interrupt his vacation, but he’s coming anyway.”
“We’d all do the same thing if we were him,” Nessa said. “This lasagna is fantastic, Brianna. I need the recipe.”
“Sure, I can get it to you. It’s my grandmother’s.”
“Was she Italian?” Ally asked.
“Full-blooded. I loved to cook with her, and she loved to teach me.”
“And Colemans love to eat, so it’s a win-win,” Noah said.
“I’m glad you like it,” Brianna said, seeming embarrassed by their praise.
“You’re not having some?” Nessa asked her.
“I ate earlier.”
Noah suddenly remembered what she’d told him the other night. “Wait, you’re a vegetarian, so you made something for us that you wouldn’t eat yourself?”
“I have no issue cooking with meat. I just don’t like the way it tastes or the consistency of it. I’ve never eaten meat. Even as a little kid, I just hated it.”
“Well, thank you for taking one for the team for us,” Ally said. “It’s excellent.”
The mudroom door opened, and Henry came in, bringing a gust of cold air with him. “What’s this I hear about food?”
“Henry can sniff down food like a bloodhound,” Sarah said.
“Everyone has their talents,” Henry said.
“I’ll get you a plate,” Nessa said. “Meet Noah’s friend Brianna, who makes the best lasagna you’ve ever had.”
“I’m telling Mom you said that,” Sarah said.
“Mom would agree,” Noah said. “This is the best lasagna ever.”
“You guys are good for a girl’s ego,” Brianna said with a smile.
“Brianna, this is my youngest brother, Henry. He’s a bit feral, but we love him anyway.”
“Aw, thanks, Noah. If I’m feral, what the hell are you?”
“Don’t anyone answer that question,” Noah said with a glare for his siblings that made Brianna laugh.
“What’s the age difference between you guys?” Brianna asked.
“Grayson is the oldest,” Sarah said. “He’s thirty-seven. Soon to be thirty-eight. He’s the oldest of all the grandkids. He beat Hannah and Hunter by a month.
”
“I’m next,” Noah said.
“He’ll be thirty-six in March,” Ally said. “Izzy is thirty-five, Nessa is thirty-two, and I just turned thirty.”
“They’re all senior citizens compared to us,” Henry said, receiving scowls from his older siblings. “Jackson is twenty-eight, I’m twenty-four, and Sarah is the ultimate baby diva of the family at twenty-two.”
Sarah stuck her tongue out at her brother. “Shut up.”
“You shut up,” Henry retorted.
“The two of them have been fighting since the second Sarah was born,” Ally said.
“Our family was perfect at seven,” Henry said, frowning dramatically. “They should’ve quit when they realized they’d finally found perfection with me.”
“Oh my God,” Nessa said. “Are you listening to yourself right now?”
“His voice is his favorite one to listen to,” Sarah said.
Brianna lost it laughing. “You guys are hilarious.”
“They’re ridiculous,” Noah said, amused by his siblings. He’d forgotten how fun it was to be with them this way, and even though he felt terrible about Izzy’s accident, he was glad to have them home.
The others did the dishes while Noah sat with Brianna, trying to keep things casual, to not give away too much to his perceptive siblings, who’d zoom right in on the attraction he felt for her if he let it show. He kept it together until they’d all left the kitchen to take showers, check in with work or watch TV.
“So that’s my family, or most of it, anyway. There’re three more.”
“That’s a lot of siblings.”
“Sure is. You should’ve seen what it was like when we all lived at home. Utter mayhem.”
“It sounds like fun to someone who only had one much older sibling.”
“It was, most of the time.” At least until his dad left, and then nothing was fun for a long time. But they’d survived. Somehow.
“You’re lucky to have each other.”
“I know. Gray asked me to be the best man in his wedding. That was surprising.”
She took a sip of the red wine he’d poured for everyone. He didn’t own wineglasses, so Brianna was drinking hers from an old Scooby-Doo jelly jar. “How so?”
“I figured he’d ask Hunter or someone he was closer to than me.”
“What do you suppose it means that he asked you?”
“That he feels closer to me than anyone, which is amazing since we don’t see very much of each other these days.”
“Doesn’t he live here?”
“Yeah, about a mile from here.”
“And you hardly see him?”
Noah squirmed under the intense way she looked at him. He shrugged. “We’re both busy.”
“You ought to see him more often now that you know what you mean to him.”
“Is that right?”
“Yes, that’s right.”
He smiled at the emphatic way she said that. “I’ll take that under advisement.”
“Is it okay that I came here tonight?” she asked, seeming a bit shy and uncertain, which was adorable considering the way she ran roughshod over him at work.
“It was great that you came. We appreciate the meal. It’s been a very long day.”
“I was hoping you wouldn’t mind if I came without asking you first. In the world I live in, I could’ve hit you up and said, ‘Hey, Noah, how about I drop off dinner for you guys?’”
“I like it better this way. It was a nice surprise to come home to—the food and you.” After glancing over his shoulder to make sure no one was lurking, he reached for her hand. “I’m really sorry about last night.”
“Don’t be. You had an emergency.”
“And no way to call you, which we need to rectify.” He released her hand to grab a pen and a napkin. “Give me the number at your house.”
She recited the number.
“And your cell.”
She gave him that number, too.
“Thanks. Feel free to use the number I gave you earlier any time.”
“You do the same.”
“Don’t mind if I do.” He reached for her hand again, this time linking their fingers. “Were you upset last night? Tell me the truth.”
“A little.”
“I’m sorry I did that to you. After everything we talked about the other night, I hope you know I’d never do something like that to you on purpose.”
“I hoped I hadn’t been wrong about you.”
“You weren’t. I swear. Even if I suddenly decided I didn’t want to get together again—and that’s not what happened—I never would’ve just blown you off. I promise you that.”
“That’s a big promise to make.”
“It’s an easy promise to make after what we’ve dealt with in the past.”
“True, and I’ll promise you the same.”
Noah really, really wanted to kiss her, but there was no way he could do that with a houseful of younger siblings who could interrupt them at any minute. But oh, how he wanted to.
Chapter Eleven
“No matter how bad your heart is broken,
the world doesn’t stop for your grief.”
—Faraaz Kazi
The mudroom door opened, and his mother came in with Ray, making Noah doubly glad he hadn’t kissed Brianna.
“Heard there’s pizza here,” Hannah said.
Noah withdrew his hand from Brianna’s and stood to greet his mom and Ray after they’d hung their coats and kicked off their boots. “That was the plan until Brianna came with her amazing lasagna. Brianna, this is my mom, Hannah Coleman, and her, um, friend, Ray Mulvaney.”
“I’m her boyfriend.” Ray grinned at Noah as he shook hands with Brianna. “So nice to meet you.”
“You, too. I should, um, get out of your hair so you can visit with your family.”
“Please don’t leave on our account, Brianna,” Hannah said over her shoulder as she fixed plates for herself and Ray. “This looks delicious. Thank you so much.”
“It was no problem.”
Hannah turned to face Brianna. “Yes, it was, and it was nice of you.”
“I wanted to do something to help out.”
“You did. We appreciate it.”
“How’s Izzy, Mom?” Noah asked, noting the sweet flush in Brianna’s cheeks. He wanted more than anything to have a few minutes alone with her.
“She’s doing a little better. She insisted I come home and get some sleep so I wouldn’t end up in a hospital bed myself.”
“That’s good,” Noah said. “I’m glad she’s better and that she talked you into coming home.”
“If she didn’t, I was gonna,” Ray said with a meaningful look for Hannah. “Your mom is running on fumes.”
“His mother is in the room and can speak for herself, thank you very much,” Hannah retorted with a good-natured grin for Ray.
“Oh, damn, Ray,” Noah said. “Watch out for Hannah when she’s overtired. It’s not pretty.”
“She’s always pretty,” Ray said as he joined them at the table.
“And she is in the room.” Hannah took a bite of lasagna. “Wow, that’s delicious, Brianna.”
“Thanks. All the credit goes to my grandmother.”
“I need the recipe.”
“I’ll get it for you.”
This was not at all how Noah had predicted this evening unfolding, with Brianna sitting at a table with his mom and Ray, as if that was no big deal. It wasn’t a big deal. Of course it wasn’t. They weren’t dating or anything. They’d gone out once, had a great time and ended up in bed together. That didn’t equal a relationship.
But it’d been nice of her to cook up a storm for his whole family. She must’ve gone right from work to the store and then home to cook for hours. And she’d gone to the trouble of asking Mrs. H where he lived.
Noah held back a groan as he wondered what Mrs. H would do with that information. She was friends with Mrs. Andersen, the biggest gossi
p in town. Those two would have him engaged to Brianna in no time. Shit.
Brianna tipped her head, giving him a curious look. “Are you okay?”
When was the last time anyone had asked him that? Well, other than his mother, but she had to ask. It’d been a long time since anyone outside his family had cared whether he was okay. “I’m good.”
“Tell me if I’m outstaying my welcome.”
“You’re not.”
“How do you guys know each other?” Hannah asked.
The question seemed innocent, but Noah knew his mother well enough to surmise that she was picking up on a story, or she never would’ve asked. She’d always been good about not prying into their personal lives. She would say Elmer and Linc did enough of that for everyone.
Brianna looked to him, and he gestured for her to fill in the blanks for his mother. “We’re working together on the inn.”
“Oh.” Hannah took another bite of lasagna, and then her eyes went wide. “Wait, are you the architect from Boston?”
“I am.”
“Oh.” Hannah glanced at Noah and then back at her plate. “Have you ever been to the Pig’s Belly, Brianna?”
Noah held back a laugh at his mother’s shameless question.
“I have! We had the best time there the other night, well, until we found out the accident that stranded us there was Noah’s sister.”
“I love the food there,” Ray said, innocent to the major scoop his mother had just scored.
Maybe she wasn’t above prying after all.
“It’s a very interesting place,” Brianna said, her face flushing again.
Damn, he loved when that happened. That slight blush took her from pretty to stunning, and he couldn’t say why. It just did it for him. And so did she if he was honest with himself. He’d give anything to be able to clear his family out of the house so he could invite her to stay awhile.
But that wasn’t going to happen tonight.
He hoped it happened again soon.
Noah was acting strange, but that was nothing new for him. He was always a little odd, but that made him attractive to Brianna. When she got the big idea to make dinner for him and his huge family, she hadn’t expected to sit at a table with his mother and her boyfriend. Meeting the parents usually signified a significant step forward in a relationship.
