When he finally ended the kiss, my body was aching for more.
Noah pulled back enough to look at me, his eyes reflecting the same molten passion I felt. “Good night, Nellie. Sleep well.” His voice was low and affected, stroking the flames of my own wanton need.
“Good night,” I whispered. Noah waited until I unlocked my door and stepped inside, then he headed back down the stairs to his truck. I watched from the window as he drove away, my finger pressed to my lips that still buzzed from our kiss.
I’d wanted desperately to invite him in, but I also wanted to take things slow this time. Make sure it was something we both really wanted—especially him. He’d just found out about the pregnancy, and I knew he needed to process that before we went any further.
Then I called Sage to fill her in on what happened, and have her help me work through all my feelings and reservations.
True to her role as my best friend, Sage celebrated the news that I was, sort of, officially dating Noah Wood, then she lectured me on how I shouldn’t let my previous lackluster relationships and familial trauma stop me from something that had amazing potential.
A necessary reminder, as we both knew I tended to self-sabotage.
Chapter Nineteen
Noah
* * *
I thought about Nellie for the rest of the weekend. Under normal circumstances, I would probably try to play it cool, but circumstances weren’t normal. Nellie was pregnant, possibly with my child, and I had a lot of thinking to do.
I’d meant what I said, about how it didn’t matter to me one way or another because I was interested in her, first and foremost, and I had been since I woke up to find her gone from my bed after the night we spent together.
I wanted Nellie, and it didn’t matter to me that she was possibly pregnant with someone else’s child. It didn’t matter to me if the baby was biologically mine or not, I wanted everything with Nellie.
But because she was pregnant, that meant that I had to show her I was serious about her, and that meant a good morning text Sunday morning, and a good evening text Sunday evening, too—to let her know I was thinking about her.
She was consuming my every thought.
So was the fact that I’d have to come clean to Damien sooner rather than later. Keeping things casual between us was no longer an option. Not that it ever really was, with the Hartley sisters’ interest in us.
I got my chance early Monday morning, a half hour before Nellie was scheduled to start. Damien walked in after clearing the parking lot, when I was in the kitchen brewing a pot of coffee. I hadn’t slept well the last two nights, my mind too busy to truly shut off.
“The Rustic is officially up and functional, so you’ll be able to move all those bookings for the Sprucewood,” Damien said when he joined me in the kitchen. He grabbed a mug down from the cupboard and poured himself some coffee.
“Great, we’ll do that today,” I replied, leaning against the counter. Damien nodded and went to leave again. “Mind if we chat for a minute?”
“About what?” Damien scowled at me, taking a sip of his coffee.
“I wanted to let you know that I took Nellie on a date Saturday night, and we’ve decided to start seeing each other.”
“Okay.”
I kind of expected my brother to throw a fit, but Damien didn’t seem surprised in the slightest.
“Okay?” I repeated, confused.
“How did you want me to respond? By telling you it’s a stupid fucking idea to date employees? I’m pretty sure you already know that, but you’re doing it anyway.” He shook his head, taking another sip of coffee.
“You’re right. Normally, I wouldn’t have asked her out. But we have a connection, and we’ve had it since before she started working for us.”
Damien let out a hmpf and continued staring at me, like he knew I wasn’t finished with what I had to say.
Part of me wanted to blurt out the news that she was pregnant, and I might be the father. Mainly because Damien had experience as a father, and I could barely wrap my head around the idea of becoming one.
But I didn’t think Nellie was ready for that news to make the rounds yet, and I wasn’t either. I needed more time to come to terms with it myself, and I needed to figure out how she really felt about me.
The kiss we’d parted with suggested she was as interested in me as I was her, but this pregnancy thing added a whole other layer to it. Serious relationships were already outside my wheelhouse, but serious relationships and pregnancy? That was so far out of my wheelhouse, it was practically in another dimension.
