Chapter Twenty

        “Well, that went well.”

        “You would think that,” Emma Jean muttered as she stomped down the front porch steps toward Noah’s SUV.

        Her parents were head over heels in love with Noah, and by this time next week, she was sure her mother would be texting her photos of wedding ideas and baby names. She wasn’t even divorced yet, for Pete’s sake! And besides, just because she was sleeping with Noah, didn’t mean they were getting married. Or that they’d even be together in a few months. Once she got back on her feet and didn’t need to be living with him, he might decide that he liked his space and a relationship with her had been nothing more than a convenience due to their forced proximity.

        “You got plans for the rest of the day?” he asked, climbing into the driver’s seat and looking down at his phone.

        She sighed. “I was going to take a look at the course catalog for school and map out my first couple of semesters. I think I can take the majority of my classes online, which will be convenient.”

        “Is that something that can wait until later this evening? Or tomorrow, even?”

        “Well, considering that it’s too late to apply for next semester, and I won’t be able to enroll until next fall...yeah. Why?”

        He ignored her question, instead looking her up and down. “You warm enough?”

        She frowned at him, annoyed that he’d answered her question with a question. “Yes.”

        “Good. Buckle up.”

        “Where are we going?”

        “It’s a surprise.” He glanced over at her, taking in her stiff posture. “Baby, trust me.”

        She sighed, settling into her seat and let Noah drive them out of Medicine Wheel and into Pine Creek, the next town over. She perked up again when they passed the sign for the Christmas tree farm. She swung her questioning gaze full of hope to Noah.

        “Got a text from Tally as we were leaving your folks’. She invited us to join her, Luke, and Tuck in picking out their tree. Figured you might like to help me pick one out, too.”

        Clapping her hands in glee, she squealed. She loved real Christmas trees. The Barkers always had one growing up, but Cody insisted on an artificial tree because he didn’t like the smell of pine. Emma Jean was giddy with the idea of having a real tree again.

        They pulled into a parking spot, and Emma Jean jumped from the vehicle before it had come to a complete stop, causing Noah to bite out a curse.

        “You’re going to give me a heart attack!” he clipped, rounding the hood of the car. “Don’t ever do that again.”

        Emma Jean and Tally stood there gaping at his tone.

        “No-no,” Tally hissed his childhood nickname. “Don’t get pissy. She’s just excited.”

        “She could have gotten hurt,” he snapped.

        “I’m standing right here.” And she was. Arms crossed, toe tapping in annoyance.

        Noah turned his angry glare on her. “And thank God for that! You could have been thrown or hit or dragged under-”

        “Okay! Okay. You’re right. It was reckless. I won’t do it again.” Emma Jean tried to soothe the beast her actions had brought forth.

        Noah visibly relaxed. “Good,” he said, wrapping an arm around her neck, anger forgotten. “Let’s go find us a tree.”

        Ten minutes later, Emma Jean was in the midst of an all-out war. Noah and Tuck had ganged up on her, tossing loosely packed snowballs at her from every angle. Her only line of defense was a short row of trees that hadn’t yet grown tall enough to warrant any attention from potential customers. Her snowball-making skills had apparently deteriorated from disuse over the years, but she knew if anyone could take Noah down, it was his sister.

        “Psst! Tally!” she hissed, waving her friend down from where she and Luke were debating the merits of one big tree versus two smaller ones. It sounded to Emma Jean like Tally wanted to put a second tree in the bunkhouse and Luke didn’t think it was necessary. His argument was since she treated her staff like family, and they spent plenty of time in Tally’s farmhouse, there was no reason that their gifts couldn’t be added to the rest of the family’s under one tree.

        Hearing her best friend’s cry for help, Tally came to Emma Jean’s aid, hunkering down behind the too-small trees and narrowly avoided taking a snowball to the head. The insane giggling of her young son identified him as the culprit.

        “That little stinker is going to end up in time out,” Tally threatened in a stage whisper.

        “Aw, don’t blame Tuck. It’s his uncle Noah’s bad influence that makes him act this way,” Emma Jean replied.

        “I am not a bad influence!” Noah called out through the branches.

        “Babe, what’s going on?” Luke asked, having wandered over in search of his fiancée.

        “Incoming!” Tally hollered, grabbing handfuls of Luke’s coat and pulling him down to mirror her crouched position just as a snowball sailed over their heads.

        “Luke! What are you doing over there consorting with the enemy?” Noah yelled.

        Luke quirked an eyebrow at Tally before donning a shit eating grin. “He’s right.” He turned on his heel and crept around the last tree in the row with his hands up. “Don’t shoot! I’m coming over!”

        “Hold your fire, little man,’ Emma Jean could hear Noah saying to Tuck. “Your dad’s got a good arm. We can use him.”

        Noah’s words triggered a memory. Noah and Luke had played baseball together in high school. “Oh, that is so not fair!” she hissed.

        “No kidding,” Tally muttered. “If he pelts me, he’s totally sleeping on the couch tonight!”

        Obviously, Luke heard the threat when he volleyed back, “Aw, babe, now you and I both know there isn’t anything that can keep me from sleepin’ next to you.”

        Emma Jean knew he was teasing, but he had actually survived a kidnapping and torture in a POW camp to make it back to Tally, so he wasn’t lying, either.

        “He’s got a point,” Tally said quietly. “So, we gotta take them down.”

        Emma Jean nodded.

        “Alright. Here’s the plan. We go in hard and fast,” she said, picking up handfuls of snow and packing them together. “Make as many snowballs as you can, and when we have a stockpile, we’ll hit ‘em in rapid fire.”

        Emma Jean’s lips twitched at the serious tone Tally had adopted. She was like an army general rallying the troops. She took her snow wars very seriously, it seemed. Another snowball sailed over their heads as they built up their arsenal.

        “Why aren’t you guys firing back?” Noah called. “Do you surrender?”

        “Never!” Tally cried, lobbing a snowball of her own over the treetops and hearing a satisfying ‘oomph’ from one of the men. Seeing that she and Emma Jean were well armed, she gave the signal, and they split up.

        Tally went right while Emma Jean went left, each of them carrying an armful of icy projectiles. Circling around either end of the trees the men were using for cover, the women pelted them from both sides. Divided, there was nothing the men could do to defend each other, it was suddenly each man for himself with Tuck in the middle of it all cackling.

        When the women were out of ammo, the boys each grinned devilish smiles and took off after them, Luke pausing to scoop his son up before taking off after Tally. Noah chased a laughing Emma Jean down the row of trees into an open area, where most of the trees had been chopped and hauled out, both of them stooping down to scoop up more snow as they went, sloppily tossing it in each other’s direction before Noah tackled Emma Jean and took her down into a snowbank on the edge of the farm.

        Pinning her underneath him, he gazed down at her, eyes roaming her features. Emma Jean’s laughter caught in her throat at Noah’s expression. He was looking at her in wonder, like she was the most beautiful thing he’d ever seen. She imagined she was looking back at him in much the same way. His cheeks were pink above the slight scruff on his jaw. His expressive eyes were wide with wonder but also alive with heat and something else she couldn’t quite place. The energy between them quickly changed from playful to something more sensual. Carnal. Emma Jean’s eyes fluttered shut as Noah lowered his head to hers. The press of his lips ignited a fire in her veins, and she immediately opened her mouth, granting him access. The desire between them was one thing she couldn’t hide, couldn’t hold back. It was all-consuming when they were together, and she gloried in the power it gave her for she knew she was affecting him just as strongly as he affected her.

        A sudden smattering of snow and giggling interrupted their interlude.

        Noah raised his head and twisted to look over his shoulder. “Did you just pelt me with a snowball while I was kissing my girlfriend?”

        “Yep,” Tally answered unapologetically. “You two might want to think of taking yourselves home. There are children present.” Tally’s mock indignation made Emma Jean start laughing all over again.

        “You think this is funny, sunshine?” Noah’s eyes narrowed dangerously.

        “Yes,” Emma Jean admitted, laughing even harder at his expression.

        Noah heaved a melodramatic sigh as he stood, pulling her up with him. “Fine. Let’s get out of here.”

        Twenty minutes later, they were securing their new found Christmas tree to the roof of Noah’s SUV and watching Luke and Tally drive away with their two trees in tow.

        The lighthearted and playful feeling carried them to the closest big box store where they browsed all manner of Christmas decorations. Noah confided that he didn’t have any ornaments for the tree because he’d never put up a tree in his apartment since he always celebrated Christmas at the farmhouse with Tally.

        “Well, since it’s your first tree, you should decide how you want it decorated,” Emma Jean insisted, holding up two sets of ornaments, each in a different color scheme.

        “Nope. I did the heavy lifting getting the tree. You can pick out the trimmings.”

        Emma Jean pursed her lips in indecision, ultimately placing both sets back on the shelf and moving down the aisle. When she reached the section where the individual ornaments were displayed, she smiled. She picked up an ornament of a cat.

        “This one looks like Larry,” she giggled, placing it in the cart.

        “This one could be Heidi,” Noah said, adding a horse ornament.

        Her eyes wandered over the selection until they landed on a baseball and bat together. She placed it in the cart as well. Noah gave her a curious look but didn’t say anything, instead reaching for an ornament that simply said, “Go Team!” and adding it to their collection. They took turns picking out various mismatched ornaments until they had a healthy pile and moved on to lights and tinsel.

        “White lights or colored?”

        “Colored, definitely.” Emma Jean figured white lights were the sophisticated choice, but she liked the way the colored lights looked, and she felt safe in her selection, knowing Noah wouldn’t judge her.

        They added a tree stand and stockings to their cart before checking out and driving home. They managed to get the tree up the stairs without catastrophe, and Emma Jean set about making dinner while Noah unpacked the loot from their shopping expedition. They were planning to decorate after they ate.

Emma Jean stood at the stove, stirring the chili she had thrown together, when two arms wrapped around her from behind.

“Mm, smells good, baby,” he whispered in her ear before lightly flicking her lobe with his tongue.

“Tomorrow, I want to make macaroni and cheese. The real stuff, not from a box.”

“Whatever you want,” he said, sliding a hand in the waistband of her pants and heading south.

“So, if I throw the ingredients together in the morning, can I trust you to turn the crockpot on by three, so it’s ready when I get home from work?”

“Mmhmm...wait...I have a crockpot?”

She giggled. “You do. Found it in the cupboard by the fridge.”

“Huh.”

Emma Jean wasn’t surprised he didn’t know. For a man who didn’t cook, she was surprised he had one, but she figured it was probably Tally’s doing.

Noah, having spotted the crockpot on the counter, said, “Oh, yeah. Tally bought that for me along with a cookbook of crockpot recipes. She said she figured it was something that even I could do.”

Since she found it in the cupboard collecting dust, she guessed that didn’t play out the way Tally had intended it to. Noah still couldn’t cook. “Yes, well, I’ll make sure it gets put to good use. It’s perfect for comfort foods, and-”

“And?” he prompted when her sentence dropped off. “You were saying?”

She could hear the smile in his voice. While she was talking, his hand had dipped lower into her pants, and his fingers were currently stroking her clit.

“I was saying,” she panted. “I...I...um…”

“Yes?” he prompted again, his voice smug.

“I can’t...think when...your hand…”

“What about my hand?” he asked, applying more pressure with his fingers.

“Your hand…”

“Where’s my hand, baby? Tell me where I’m touching you.”

“Your hand...is in...my...cookie jar!” she screamed as she came all over his fingers.

It took her a moment, as she came down, to realize that Noah was shaking behind her. Glancing over her shoulder, she saw that he was biting his lip. His shoulders were shaking with laughter.

“Your...cookie jar?”

She rolled her eyes. “Shut up.”

“No, please tell me. Is that what the kids are calling it these days?” he snorted.

“No,” she grumbled. “It’s what my mom called it when I was little.”

“Really?” This seemed to make him laugh harder.

“You know when you were little and you were first discovering the different parts of your body? Maybe at bath time?” She looked at him expectantly, waiting for him to understand.

“Sure, yeah, no, I get it. When my dad gave me the talk he referred to my dick as my ‘fishing pole.’”

Emma Jean’s lips twitched. “He did?”

“Yup. Warned me that when I decided to go fishing, I should always make sure I wore protection because some water sources were contaminated.”

Emma Jean lost it. She doubled over in laughter. She wrapped her arms around her middle when her ribs started to hurt and let the tears roll down her face. When she finally got control of herself, her breath hitched at the sight of Noah’s face.

“So goddamned beautiful. Always, but especially when you laugh.”

Her chest warmed. She’d always wanted him to see her as beautiful. As something other than his sister’s best friend. Something other than a battered woman he needed to protect. She’d wanted it when she was sixteen, and she wanted it now.

“Noah.” His name was a plea.

“Let’s eat dinner, sunshine. I have a feeling I’m going to want cookies for dessert.”

Her face heated even as she threw a pot holder at his face.