She leaned over to my spot on the counter and whacked my arm. “You watch yourself, young man.” Her eyes were alight with amusement.
In truth, the few times Fred did come to visit Mary over the years that I was around, they were great models of a healthy relationship, it just wasn’t one that I saw often. Fred was a hilarious foil to Mary’s quiet and often proper demeanor, at least that’s the way she was here. I hadn’t seen her in her own home to know what she was like there. However, if the past few days were any example, she was far more relaxed. Fred liked to poke her buttons to get her to tell him to get in line. Whenever she did, he’d swoop in and kiss her on the cheek.
I shrugged and pulled the bowl of grapes she had on the counter toward me, plucking a few off the stem and popping them in my mouth. Once I finished chewing, I shrugged and looked at Mary, uncertain on how much to share. “I’m working on it. It’s just one, ensuring that Addie comes first, and two, making certain I’m what she needs.”
“What who needs?” Jules’s voice made me sit up and look at Mary in alarm.
“Oh, just the estate service that the young man, Barry, found for us. They need some info from Noah here.” Mary didn’t look up as she whisked the eggs, impressing me with how she thought on her feet.
Young man,Jules mouthed at me with a smile. Barry was, at a minimum, sixty.
I simply shot her a wink, then bumped Mary’s hip with mine. She was saving me now as she had through childhood. In turn, she gave me a look that told me we’d be talking more later.
“Jules, how does an omelet sound to you this morning?” Mary asked as she continued bustling around the kitchen.
“Like you need to run away from Madison and come live with me,” Jules said with a happy noise that made me want to escape to somewhere far more private.
“She’s a keeper, Noah,” Mary said with a calculating smile.
I shook my head and got a cup of coffee to start my day.
Hours later, after a full day of work for Jules, organization and planning for Mary and me, and a delicious lunch and dinner that made me remember the good parts about being home, I stood in my en suite, brushing my teeth as Jules rattled off items on a list, reminding me of what we had ahead. We were going through last-minute prep for tomorrow’s services: the time the minister would meet us and whether tips were needed for anyone from the church to the funeral home to the cemetery. I’d finally conceded to let Mary prepare some food to have at the house. I told her I had zero desire to mingle with my parents’ friends, but she seemed to think it was important, so I let her have that. Maybe I could be rude and hide out in my dad’s office until everyone was gone.
As I put my toothbrush down, I looked at myself in the mirror. Jules’s voice filled the space as she listed off all the dishes Mary was whipping up for tomorrow—all my favorites, I should note.
Staring at myself, I noted how intimate this felt. Preparing for bed, going over plans for the next day, and Jules sitting in my bed in her oversized T-shirt and underwear but no pajama bottoms. I knew that because she’d borrowed the shirt she was wearing from me just a bit ago. She’d done laundry today, much to Mary’s dismay. Jules told her that laundry brought her peace when her mind was stuck—whether she was struggling with accounting or writing, I wasn’t sure, but Mary let her have it. She’d come to me an hour ago, sharing that her pajamas set was in the last load in the dryer and not quite done, so I’d given her my Homestead Brewery tee to wear. I had no idea that it wouldcaptivate my attention like it had. Now I wanted more than anything to see that shirt on the floor.
“And I think that does it,” she called from the bedroom. “After we get through tomorrow, we can head back to Highland Falls if you feel like you’re ready and Mary is on the job up here. You’ll likely need to make one, possibly two, more trips up here to close everything out, but between Mary, Mr. Foley and his office, and the folks he helped you hire, I think they have it well in hand.”
One more glance at my reflection and I couldn’t help but note the resolve in my eyes. We were in my bedroom, alone and without distractions. For the first time in the past few nights, we were ready to go to bed, and neither one of us was asleep, working, or calming an almost-six-year-old to go back to dreamland. Maybe I should wait until we were back in Highland Falls, but there was no telling what would cockblock me there. For all I knew, Lou would move into Jules’s house and have a slumber party. No, I was a firm believer in taking the opportunities that came, and if Jules was still interested in continuing what we starteddaysago, I was all in.
I walked back into the bedroom and took her in as she sat up against the headboard, consulting a list she had written in the tablet on her lap. She was gorgeous while also appearing like the girl next door. There was an innocence about her that was sexy as hell. Before I could say anything, she sensed my presence and looked up. I couldn’t help but watch as she clocked my gray joggers and lack of shirt, her eyes roaming my torso before finally meeting mine. Her cheeks had an adorable flush on them that went down her neck, and I wanted to tug off my shirt that she was wearing to see if the color continued down her chest.
“Hey, Jules,” I whispered, slowly moving toward my bed.
“Hey, Noah,” she whispered back as she blindly reached out and put the list on the bedside table while keeping her gazelocked on mine. Then she bit down on her lower lip, clearly debating her next move, before reaching over to grab the covers and throw them back, welcoming me to the bed.
I slid in next to her, not turning off the lamp on the bedside table. If this was happening, and all indications seemed like green lights in that regard, I wanted to see Jules, not grope around blindly in the dark. The only glow in the room was a soft light from the bedside lamps, but it still worked for me.
I turned in her direction once I was settled to find that she was still watching me with a shy smile, but she seemed to have something she wanted to say. Her body language made it pretty evident when she was holding things back, but I was learning she’d speak up with a small amount of encouragement.
“What’s on your mind, kitten?”
Her face transformed with a smile almost immediately. “I don’t know why I find it sweet that you call me that.”
“Doesn’t have to make sense to work for us, right?”
She gave a slow nod, then looked up with a more tentative expression. “Um, it’s just, I want to make sure you don’t think that just because I write romance that I’m…”
I had a feeling I knew where she was going with this. “That you’re some sex kitten in the bedroom?” Yep, the flush intensified even while she nodded her head. “You mean you don’t like to straddle your partners while they sit against the headboard and you chase your climax like Clara and Josh in book two of your Sleepy Valley series?”
She shot up in bed and looked down at me in what could only be described as shock. “Um, what?”
I moved to a sitting position to mirror her and gave her an innocent shrug. “Or maybe like Anna and Clayton’s sexin publicat a deserted pond after skinny-dipping from your first book? Is that something you’re interested in?”
“You’ve read my books?” Jules asked, mixed emotions everywhere. This wasn’t how I’d intended to tell her, but here we were. It wasn’t something I’d kept from her intentionally, but now that it was out…
“I started reading your books the night you told me about them,” I confessed. “I’ve never met an author, and I thought it was beyond cool that you’ve written and published your books. If all this”—I gestured around us—“hadn’t happened, I’d be much further along in the series. I tend to devour books I like.”
