CHAPTER ELEVEN
“GOOD MORNING, NOLAN. Thanks for leaving me something to eat for dinner yesterday as well as for breakfast this morning. You didn’t have to do that.”
Plastering a smile on his face, Nolan entered the kitchen and closed the back door behind him. “It’s no longer morning. It’s now afternoon. And you don’t have to thank me for the food. There’s no way I would cook for myself and not share with you.”
Ivy leaned against the counter and his gaze took her in from head to toe. Today she was wearing a pair of white shorts and a printed blouse. Like the day before her hair was in curls and hanging around her shoulders. She looked pretty, well rested. How could that be when he’d heard her moving around late through the night? It wasn’t that she’d disturbed him since he’d had a hard time getting to sleep anyway.
“I stand corrected since it’s after one o’clock, Nolan. Good afternoon. And I do need to thank you because not everyone would be so thoughtful.”
He shoved his hands into the pockets of his jeans. “Then that person isn’t a Madaris.”
He hadn’t seen Ivy since breakfast yesterday. He had returned from the grocery store to find her bedroom door closed. He’d figured she was in the room reading like she’d said she would be doing. He hadn’t got any more text messages from her and was glad of that. Like he’d told her, they needed personal interaction.
After putting the groceries away, he had grabbed his fishing rod and walked down to the dock Blade and Slade had helped him build when he’d first purchased the cottage. It was thirty feet in length and the perfect spot to cast your line.
It had been a good day to fish and by the time he returned to the cottage later that afternoon he’d caught a cooler full of fish. It hadn’t taken long for him to clean them before putting the majority of them in the freezer. He had kept out several and had cooked them outside on the fire pit.
During all that time he hadn’t seen Ivy. Not once did she come out to join him. For a minute he had wondered if she was even still there or if she had fled back to Houston. That suspicion was put to rest when he’d seen her bedroom lights go on. Why he had released a sigh of relief, he wasn’t sure.
It was only after he’d showered later that night and got into bed had he heard her moving around in the kitchen. Had her book been that good that it had kept her behind closed doors all day, or had her absence been a deliberate ploy on her part to avoid him?
That question had been at the forefront of his mind upon wakening this morning. He’d noted she had eaten the grilled fish, squash and corn he had left warming for her in the oven the night before. But she didn’t make an appearance for breakfast like she’d done yesterday.
“You’re right, he wasn’t a Madaris.”
He? That made Nolan wonder who the ingrate was. Not that he needed to know. “Did you finish reading your book?”
“No, not yet. I got a few more pages left. The food was good by the way, and I loved the way you cooked the fish. And the breakfast you left warming in the oven this morning was delicious as well.”
“Thanks.”
He moved toward the refrigerator to grab a beer. Like usual he’d been up at the crack of dawn. After breakfast he had spent time sanding down several pieces of his patio furniture to repaint later. He’d come inside to grab a beer and there she was, standing in the kitchen. His steps had faltered when he’d seen her. He realized he had missed her. How crazy was that?
He leaned against the counter, popped the tab on his beer and took a swallow. Then he glanced over at her. She was still standing there, across the kitchen floor and leaning against a counter as well. Unlike him with the beer, she had a bottle of water. “What are your plans for today?” he asked her.
“I want to finish that book.”
He nodded. “And after that?”
She shrugged her shoulders. He saw her do it but his gaze was mostly on her lips. There was something about the way they were shaped that was a total turn-on for him. “I’m not sure. Why?” she said.
“I was wondering if you’d be interested in playing a couple of games with me later.”
Her brow furrowed. “What kind of games?”
“Video games. Some that I created.”
Her eyes flashed excitement. “Only on one condition.”
“And what condition is that?”
“That we also play a few that I created.”
Nolan chuckled. “Lady, you are on.”
* * *
“HAD ENOUGH YET?”
Ivy gave Nolan a sideways glance and couldn’t help but grin. Not only had he trounced her on three of his games but had done so on two of hers. That was a first. No one had ever done that before, especially with one of the games she’d created. She had to grudgingly hand it to him. He was that good and playing against her had definitely exposed his competitive side.
“No. One more game and I want it to be one of yours.”
He gave her a huge smile, one that should not set sensations off in her stomach...but it did. “Fine with me if you think you can handle another loss.”
“Whatever. So pick one,” she said, trying to calm her stomach.
He shook his head. “No, you pick. I don’t want to be accused of setting you up or anything. Besides, you have plenty to choose from.”
He was telling the truth about that. Nolan had created and designed many games. Some had become quite popular commercially over the years. But then, so had many of hers. Designing video games had been a side gig for her, one she could count on whenever her social life went sour and she needed time to herself...which was the case most of the time. She’d found it easier to curl up with a computer than with a man.
She had known Nolan owned an electronics company, she really hadn’t known just how extensive it was. He’d told her about the technology he would be installing into his cousin’s hotel in Paris. All state-of-the-art. All of it sounded like technology heaven. It had been good to spend time discussing a topic with him that most men would get bored of discussing with a woman.
“Fine, show me the list of games again,” she said.
After perusing the list, she chose one that was a category five. Like her, he rated all his games in categories based on their levels of difficulty, with five being the highest. “I want to try out this one.”
He chuckled. “‘The Mighty Marauder’? You sure about that?”
“Positive.” What she wouldn’t tell him was that she’d played this particular game before against Tessa and knew the key to winning.
“Okay. Suit yourself.”
Ivy knew the heat was on. She also knew that although Nolan had beaten her playing the last five games, she inwardly admitted that one of the reasons for her losses was a lack of concentration. Sitting close to him had made it nearly impossible. Like she’d told Tessa, the man couldn’t do anything about his looks but did he have to smell good all the time as well?
And then there were his hands. Masculine hands. They looked strong. Broad across the palms with long fingers. She couldn’t keep her gaze from becoming fixated on how his fingertips meticulously worked the controllers.
There was no time to talk during game time. Just concentration. And this time she concentrated and perfected her timing. She refused to get off-kilter by his scent, his hands or just the fact they were sitting so close together on the sofa. Her chin up, her fingers wrapped around the controller in a way that made maneuvering easy across the console. Wordlessly demanding a victory and in the end, she got one. A big one.
“I won!” she shouted, jumping up and feeling pretty darn proud of herself. At least she could boast to winning at the hardest game.
“Big deal. I’ll give you that one.”
Her head whipped around. “Give? Please. I whipped you good, Nolan Madaris, and it was a category five.”
“It was also about time, don’t you think? I was beginning to wonder if you were a fake techie or the real thing, Chapman.”
She couldn’t help but laugh at that because the one thing she didn’t have to wonder about was what he thought of her skill as a technology expert. More than once during the game he had complimented her about it. Her losing to him didn’t take away the fact that she was good at what she did. He was just far more advanced.
Ivy learned a lot about Nolan. Even the fact they shared the same high school and college alums. But what impressed her more than anything was the fact that he used to work for Nicholas Chenault. The Nicholas Chenault, creator of the Mangolid chip. The Mangolid was one of the first things she’d studied in college. After the Mangolid, Chenault had gone on to create the Shayla chip, which some say had been named after his wife. The S-chip had been a breakthrough in the medical arena.
It was Ivy’s lifelong dream to one day meet Nicholas Chenault, a man she considered a technology revolutionist way before his time. She would love to sit down with him and pick his brain. And just to think Nolan had not only worked for Chenault for eight years before starting his business, but had worked on the S-chip with him. And knowing that Nolan also considered Nicholas Chenault a personal friend and mentor was way over the top. She had to admit learning things about him while playing their games was more enjoyable than text messages.
“Tell me some more about your time with Chenault,” she requested of Nolan as he began putting the games away. While sitting beside him on the sofa playing video games, more than once she’d had to fight the impulse to lean over to inhale more of his manly scent. She realized this was the first time since Damien that she allowed a man to invade her personal space.
Unlike yesterday when Nolan had walked around shirtless, today he was wearing a pair of khaki shorts and a T-shirt that advertised Luke Madaris Rodeo School. “Don’t know what more I can tell you without giving trade secrets away,” he teased.
“Funny.”
“I never thought of myself as a comedian,” he said, before reaching out and straightening her glasses on her nose. She wondered if seeing her in glasses bothered him. It had Damien, which was why she’d begun wearing contacts. She had gone back to wearing her glasses after her breakup with Damien as a way to rebel at how he’d treated her and how easily she had allowed him to bend her to his will.
She frowned. “I like my glasses,” she blurted out and immediately wondered why she’d done such a thing. Deep down she knew the reason why. It had everything to do with Damien’s frequent criticism of them.
He gave her an odd look before saying, “I would hope so since you’re wearing them.” He stood to put the games away and she watched him walk off, admiring how he looked from the back. It was just as impressive as the front.
“And just for the record, Ivy,” he said, turning around. “I like your glasses, too. They look stylish on you.”
Stylish? Her glasses? He had to be kidding. But she appreciated him for saying so. At times even lies were appreciated. When he returned she said, “I got an idea.”
“What?”
“You’ve been doing a lot of the cooking, so how about if we go out tonight? My treat. I noticed this restaurant at the turnoff to this place.”
He nodded. “Andre’s. It’s a great place to eat if you like seafood.”
“I do.”
“Okay, we can go there, but it doesn’t have to be your treat.”
“I insist that it be.” Besides, she needed to take Tessa’s advice and talk to him about their lack of chemistry and felt getting away from here to do so would be better. This cottage seemed far too intimate at times.
“All right, if you’re going to insist.”
“I do.”
He shook his head, chuckling. “I’m beginning to notice your stubborn streak, Ivy.” He looked at his watch. “How about if we meet back here in an hour?”
“That sounds good to me.” At that moment, her phone rang. The caller ID said Damien.
“Aren’t you going to get that?”
“No.” Then she said, “See you in an hour.” She then walked off to her bedroom.
Once inside the room with the door closed behind her, she tried to slow her heart rate and admonished herself for checking out Nolan every chance she got. She had begun noticing every single thing about him and that wasn’t good. Her heart was pounding just thinking about how he stood across the kitchen from her while drinking his beer. She saw men drink beer all the time, but she didn’t know anyone who could look so utterly sexy while doing it.
At that moment her cell phone rang again. Why was Damien calling her? What could he possibly want? She had a good mind to answer it and tell him to lose the number since he obviously hadn’t got the message when she’d hung up on him the other day. Evidently he didn’t quite understand that the relationship they once had was dead and buried and there would never ever be a resurrection. She wasn’t the weak, starry-eyed, easily impressed, believe-anything-Damien-Fargo-tells-you sort of woman anymore. So what if he’d apologized? She didn’t want his apology. She had defied the odds and had got over Damien. Now she wanted him to stay out of her life.
Her thoughts shifted to Nolan. The very sexy Nolan Madaris whom she had invited to dinner when she thought she needed to return the favor for all the cooking he’d done. Of course there had been that other reason to get him out of the house so they could talk.
How would she broach the subject? It would be awkward, but she had to remember that she and Nolan were in this together. It was them against Nana and Ms. Laverne. Besides, they were supposed to be getting to know each other. What she hadn’t told him was in addition to spending all that time in the bedroom reading yesterday, she’d also written a list of questions to ask him. She would bring that list along so they could discuss more than just chemistry.