CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Trapped beneath a wall cloud of blackness, Noble registered an annoying hum echoing in his ears. From far off in the distance, he heard someone calling his name. He felt as if he’d been encased in cement. He tried to open his eyes but couldn’t lift his heavy lids.
Then, like a lifeline, he heard Nate’s voice in his head. Come on, man. You need to come back to us, bro. You’re scaring the shit out of the women. And I’m no poster child for calm myself.
Hearing and feeling his twin’s anxiety, Noble worked to part the inky veil surrounding him.
“Noble, please wake up,” begged a sweet and palpably terrified female.
It was the same voice that had been plaguing him night and day for what seemed like a lifetime.
Ivy.
A ribbon of light spliced through the gloom, and Noble followed the golden rays like a roadmap to the surface and forced his eyes open.
Ivy was hovering over him with worry marring her angelic face.
The air in his lungs caught and his heart rate tripled.
It wasn’t a dream this time. She’s really here.
Speechless, he gazed into her long-lost pale blue eyes, now rimmed red and filled with concern. Sunlight spilled in behind her, casting her golden curls in an ethereal glow.
Damn if she isn’t the most beautiful woman in the whole world.
“Noble? Can you hear me?” she asked in a tone thick with panic.
A bolt of adrenaline zipped through his system, making him want to murder whatever had upset her. But her fear-filled eyes told him the only thing that was scaring her was him.
Aiming to erase her fright, Noble sent her a gentle smile. Fuck, she was as stunningly gorgeous as the last time he’d laid eyes on her…exhausted, sated, and sleeping. Charged with the boiling need to drag her beneath him again, Noble reached up to touch her and realized that he was flat on his back in the middle of the bakery.
“What am I doing on the goddamn floor?”
“Y-you fainted,” Ivy stammered.
So that’s what passing out feels like.
“The…the news, shocked you so hard you…” She paused and dropped her lashes.
Wait! What news?
His question was internally cresting when the image of Ivy’s rounded belly flashed in his brain, sending a tsunami of dread crashing down on him. Sitting upright, probably faster than he should have, Noble ignored the sparks of light behind his eyes as well as his heart thundering against his ribs and zipped his gaze to the tiny swell of Ivy’s abdomen.
Well, that certainly hadn’t been there when they were in Vegas.
Son of a bitch! She was fucking pregnant.
No. No. No! It’s not mine. Can’t be mine! denial shrieked in his brain.
No way could he have knocked her up.
You sure about that? a little voice inside him prodded.
Had he gloved up that night? Quickly racking his brain, Noble tried to remember, but like the meaning of life itself, the answer eluded him.
Every cell in his body recoiled as the icy hands of fear gripped both his throat and his balls.
No way. I am not the one who knocked her up. It’s impossible.
You sure about that? Nate wordlessly asked, mimicking Noble’s own silent entreaty.
No, he wasn’t sure, but he damn well better not be the one responsible for…that!
As if sensing his repugnance, Ivy slid a protective hand over her stomach.
“Do you feel well enough to get up and sit at one of the tables?” she nervously asked.
Noble lifted his gaze to Ivy’s angst-ridden face and his heart sputtered. Christ, he wanted her again…wanted her desperately.
Swallowing tightly to bury his lust, he nodded. Nate offered him a hand. After accepting, Noble stood. On unsteady legs, he shuffled to the nearest chair and plopped down hard on the seat. Gina hurried to the table and set a cup of water down in front of him before sending him a sympathetic smile.
Ivy was as quiet as a church mouse as she took a seat across the table from him. Her posture was rigid—spine straight, hands tightly folded in her lap. The pensive, uneasy woman in front of him was the polar opposite of the uninhibited sex kitten he’d spent that one unforgettable night with.
Noble took a sip of the cool water and cleared his throat. “So, you’re…p-pregnant?”
I’d say that’s been well established, Captain Obvious! he inwardly chided.
“Yes.”
Her singular, clipped reply was void of any detail he frantically sought. Namely, whose sperm got loose and impregnated her.
Surely, she wasn’t going to try and pin that baby on him, was she?
Noble still couldn’t recall gloving up with her, which was pissing him off. He remembered plenty of other things from that night, like the feel of her soft skin yielding beneath his touch, the taste of her warm, tart cream spilling over his tongue, the sound of her keening cries as she erupted on his face and his cock.
The visuals violently running through his head only magnified his ravenous need to strip her bare and devour her right here and now. The only thing stopping him was the prickly panic pumping through his veins.
His heart thundered wildly as he struggled with the sensation of fire and ice consuming him. Part of him was about to spontaneously combust in fiery lust, while another part of him was frozen in a block of unmitigated fear.
Sweat dotted his brow, while his nerves were screaming like an eighties hair-band.
A million questions burned his tongue like a ghost pepper, but Noble couldn’t push a single one past his lips. He was too fucking scared.
“We’re going to head back over to the bar and give you two kids some time alone to…talk,” Nate announced.
Noble soberly nodded, grateful for the brief respite from the guillotine blade pressed against his throat.
Gina leaned in and gave Ivy a quick hug. “If you need anything, I’m only a phone call away.”
“Thanks. I’ll be fine,” Ivy assured halfheartedly. “I’m sorry again for causing—”
“Nothing to be sorry about,” Nate interrupted. “I’m just glad we were able to get you two…reintroduced.”
Leave, dammit. Noble gave his brother a mental shove.
We are. But chill out. And don’t be a dick to her, all right? Ivy’s a hot mess right now. The last thing she needs is you acting like a bobcat with his balls caught in a bear trap.
Isn’t that Ivy’s purpose…to trap me?
Not if that baby really is yours. Nate flashed a wolfish grin. Then it’ll be…here comes the bride, gorgeous, pregnant, and wide. Here comes the groom, sweating, swearing, and filled with gloom.
Out! Now! Noble clenched his jaw as his nostrils flared.
Nate simply smirked as he slung an arm around Gina’s waist and headed toward the front door.
Noble sat silently cursing Ivy’s still, stony posture until the bakery door snicked closed.
“Before we start discussing…the obvious,” Noble began, straining to harness his growing contempt, “how the hell did you track me down?”
Ivy’s face creased in confusion before she pursed her lips and lifted her chin.
If my first question has already offended her, this is going to get real ugly.
“I didn’t track you down. I…moved here months ago to open Sweet Flours. The fact that you live here too is nothing but a tragic coincidence.”
“You gotta be shitting me,” Noble scoffed. “How the hell have you been living under my damn nose all this time without me knowing it?”
“I don’t know. I wondered the same thing when I first saw you…err, rather, Nate at Gina’s bar.”
“So where exactly do you live?”
“Upstairs,” she replied, pointing to the stairway beyond the cash register.
“You live here alone?”
“Yes.”
“Where’s your husband?”
Ivy blanched. “My husband? I-I don’t… I’m not married.”
“Boyfriend then. Where’s the guy I saw outside washing your windows a while back? He sure as hell wasn’t from Haven.”
Lost in thought, she wrinkled her brow. Long seconds later, she softly laughed. “That was my dad. He was here for my grand opening.”
Noble’s gut coiled.
By process of elimination, the wicked blade at his neck sank in deeper. Still, he wasn’t ready to wave the white flag and give up hope that some other prick had knocked Noble’s dream girl up. Immediately, that thought sent a firestorm of jealousy to race deep in his soul. His stomach pitched as images of someone other than him driving in and out of her sweet pussy filled his brain. The brutally disturbing sensation assaulting him made him gnash his teeth and bite back a howl. He knew then he’d fucked up…broken his most coveted cardinal rule—neverer let a woman worm her way into your heart.
A rush of heat sailed through his body.
Panic gripped him by the throat, the balls, and the heart.
Noble was thoroughly and unequivocally fucked!
The walls of the bakery barreled in around him.
Breathe, man. Nate’s calm and reassuring tone reverberated in Noble’s head, piercing the angst consuming him. Just breathe. Whatever is happening, we’ll deal with it. Just remember you’re not alone.
Right, Noble sent back as he sucked in a ragged breath. Look, no offense, but I need some privacy. I don’t have room in my head for you and all the other shit I’m trying to process here.
Reach out if you need me, Nate mentally sent back, then disappeared.
“Noble,” Ivy whispered softly. “I know the shock you’re feeling right now. Trust me, when Doc Knight told me I was…pregnant, I passed out just like you did.”
“I guess it’s time to stop pussy footing around and just come right out and—”
“You’re the father,” Ivy affirmed barely above a whisper.
Like a lion, rejection roared within.
“How do you know? Show me the blood test that proves it’s mine and not someone else’s kid.” The words, slathered in accusation, were out of his mouth before he could soften them.
Noble immediately wanted to kick his own ass. He’d all but called her a whore. In his heart, he knew she wasn’t a slut. She was a good girl…an amazingly good girl.
Ivy recoiled. Pain was written all over her face as she mutely gaped at him.
Fuck!
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to insinuate that you were a… It’s just, back in Vegas, you were really willing and I don’t… You had every right to hook up with someone after I left without… I’m not saying… Aw, shit.” Noble shoved a hand through his hair. He was struggling to put his jumbled emotions into words. But the contempt, pain, anger, and insult lining Ivy’s face told him he was failing…miserably.
Even though his gut told him she hadn’t crawled into someone else’s bed after he left her in Vegas, self-preservation and fear had him grasping at straws.
Ivy cleared her throat as her whole body turned to granite. Her lips pressed into a tight, angry line as she lifted her chin defiantly.
“Let me state this as succinctly as possible. You are the father. And while I don’t expect you to believe that,” she bit out angrily, “in fact I don’t expect a damn thing from you, I’m not asking you for a damn thing. I don’t want child support, shared visitation, or even your last name—which I still don’t know—on the damn birth certificate.”
Unwittingly, Noble exhaled a billowing burst of relief.
A flicker of annoyance danced across her still, intoxicating pale blue eyes. “Whether you choose to believe me or not, I’ve had sex with one man in the past thirteen months…you!”
Bullshit! Noble inwardly scoffed. Her claim was totally impossible. No creature as lusciously gorgeous sensual, kind, and sexually uninhibited as Ivy could have gone thirteen months without some smooth-talking dick-weed seducing her. It wasn’t even in the realm of reality. Either she’d been living under a rock, locked away in some impenetrable tower, or she was lying her ass off.
“But no one—not even you—is going to demand a cheek swab or blood test to determine the paternity of my child. I know exactly who the father is, and I’m the only one who’ll matter in this child’s life.”
Ivy’s plan to arbitrarily cut him out of the life of his potential child sent a red haze of fury to dim his vision.
“Oh, there will be a damned DNA test, sweetheart. That’s not up for debate. You can fucking count on it.”
That test was the only way Noble would be able to appease his moral conscience. He had to know if he’d dodged a fatal bullet or had to bite the motherfucking thing and walk Ivy and their baby down the aisle.
A new wave of panic slid up his spine.
“That’s not your decision to make,” Ivy hissed in fury.
A fiery conviction blazed in her eyes. Her lush mouth and pretty face were pinched in determination and Noble couldn’t help but grin on the inside. Ivy looked so damn cute when she was all riled up.
“Besides, no one…not even my family knows I’m pregnant. Well, no one but Doc Knight, his nurse, Gina, Nate, and now you. I’ll hide my condition as long as possible, but when the people of Haven find out, I will not breathe a word to anyone that you are the father.”
Her intention of keeping him her dirty little secret pierced him like a pitchfork to the chest.
“My privacy has been sliced, diced, and dissected under a microscope enough for one lifetime. I refuse to let that happen again.”
Noble had no idea what she was referring to but made a mental note to find out.
“If the whole town wants to while their days away gossiping about me, I certainly can’t stop them, but I won’t confirm or deny their speculation. Your identity will be completely concealed.”
Noble didn’t know why her vow to protect him pissed him off, but it did…royally.
His palms itched something fierce. He wanted to take her over his knee and paddle her ass crimson red.
“You’ve got it all planned out, don’t you?” he asked caustically.
“Yes. I do. I’ve had weeks to look at this from every possible angle. You’ve had thirty minutes…tops. I get that you’re still trying to process, I truly do. Give it a few days, and you’ll see that I’m right. So, this is how you and I are going to handle this awkward situation. We’re going to stand up. You’re going to give me a hug, wish me luck, then turn around and walk away. I, correction, we will be fine on our own,” she asserted, strumming her stomach.
Noble finally grasped why Ivy was pissing him off so brutally and bit back a caustic laugh. His mom was the only woman on the planet who had ever issued orders and expected him to obey. But that was years ago when he was child. As an adult, he’d harness the moon for Nola if she asked.
Unfortunately, Ivy wasn’t, as she put it, asking you for a damn thing. No, she was dictating his actions and Noble was already digging in his heels.
Though he was bubbling with rage, a part of him was fascinated. Ivy was showing him a side of herself he’d never known existed. But he knew without a shadow of a doubt if she’d tried pulling rank on him like this out in Vegas, Noble would have tied her sassy ass to the bed and proven beyond a shadow of a doubt who the hell was in charge.
The image of her bound tight and at his mercy made his cock stir.
He’d spent months reliving every ball-churning second with her in Sin City. Now that she was here, sitting across from him, the ache to recreate every magical second was wreaking havoc on his self-control. He balled his hand into a fist to keep from leaning across the table, tugging the elastic band from her ponytail, and sinking his fingers into her silky strawberry curls. Her superior posture, icy façade, and the edict she’d just doled out scraped him raw.
Physically, Ivy was only an arm’s length away, but emotionally, she’d locked herself behind a thick, protective barrier…a barrier designed to keep him out. Noble wasn’t having it. One way or another, he’d pulverize every single brick as well as melt the fucking rebar supports.
He shot a furtive glance toward the stairs. The demand to pluck her from the chair, haul her upstairs, and show her exactly how they were…going to handle this awkward situation crawled up his spine. His growing erection was totally on board with the idea, but Noble had to think with the head with a brain right now.
Biting back the urge to roar, he worked to keep his voice low and calm. “I appreciate your concern regarding my reputation, but there’s no way I’m going along with your…plan.”
“That’s too bad, because it’s not up for discussion. I’ve made up my mind,” she bit out defiantly.
“Then you’ll just have to change it, because if that baby’s mine, he or she will carry my last name…carry the Grayson name!”
As soon as the statement left his lips, an icy and foreboding film covered his skin.
One of these days, you’re going to mess up and be forced to say I do to someone you don’t even love. His mother’s words rolled through his head with a finality that choked the air from Noble’s lungs. When Nola got wind that he’d fucked up and gotten Ivy pregnant—which would be any second in this fucking town—she’d grab her shotgun.
Terror clogged his throat.
His heart felt as if it were going to pound straight out of his chest.
Panic sent a cold sweat to break out over his body.
Marriage? Hell no!
Unlike Sawyer, Noble wasn’t about to set himself up for disaster. No way would he end up in court listening to a judge rattle off the division of assets, visitation schedule—if the baby Ivy carried was indeed his—then slamming down a gavel dissolving his marriage while Noble stood hemorrhaging failure for the whole world to see.
As if that wasn’t bad enough, he’d have to give up his cherished freedom.
And just how much of that coveted freedom have you enjoyed lately? the little voice in his head mocked.
None, and it chafed…chafed that the woman sitting across from him had ruined him, forced him into a life of self-imposed celibacy for reasons he still couldn’t fucking understand.
But what pissed him off the most was the insistent and voracious demand to touch her, caress her milky soft skin one more time.
“That’s crazy. I’m trying to protect you, and you want to go off and announce it to the whole damn world? That’s asking for trouble neither of us wants or needs.”
The urge to latch his mouth over her ripe lips and kiss some fucking sense into her, feel her writhing breathlessly against him careened through him like a meteorite.
“This baby is yours. But I’ll be the one raising him or her alone. Addison—which is my last name, by the way, is the one that is going to be printed on the birth certificate.”
Ivy’s words scored deep gouges in every elemental principle cemented in Noble’s core. The foundation beneath him gave way and tossed him into a hot, toxic sludge of fury.
“The hell it will! No child of mine is going to be raised a bastard!” he thundered, slamming a fist down on the table.
Ivy flinched. Her eyes grew wide and she reared back in her chair. Fear lined her face as her breathing turned shallow and rapid.
Noble quickly reeled in his fury as he inwardly cursed himself. The last thing he wanted to do was scare her. When he finally harnessed his anger, he sent her an apologetic grimace.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to lose my shit.” She accepted his apology with a tentative nod, but Noble didn’t miss the tinges of doubt and fear still lingering in her wary stare. “I need some time to think…to process all of this. Can we table our discussion until tomorrow night?”
“There’s nothing left to discuss.” She shrugged slightly and sent him a pained expression. “I meant what I said, Noble. I don’t want anything from you. I won’t trap you, tie you down, or change your life. All I want is to bring this child into the world and be the best mother possible.”
Not bothering to hide his mounting frustration, he pinned her with a steely stare. “Maybe the man who supposedly helped create that life inside you wants the chance to be the best father he can be as well.”
The look of sorrow mixed with worry lining her face filled him with pain. All he wanted to do was erase it…drag her upstairs and replace the visible tumult with spine-melting pleasure.
But the fragile fate of his future and freedom, or rather, the lack of it, lay in the air, thick and suffocating. He definitely needed time to think, but he couldn’t achieve that while his wildest, wickedest wet dream was peering up at him with those intoxicating eyes…the same eyes that haunted every second of his existence.
He stood and sucked in a ragged breath. “I’ll come by after work tomorrow night.”
Then he turned and started toward the front door.
“Noble,” Ivy called out.
Her breathless tone made him pause mid-stride and sent pulses of electricity skipping over his flesh. He planted his feet to keep from turning around. Noble knew if he looked back, he’d take her…take her up against the wall, across the table, and down on the goddamn floor, driving deep inside her sinful pussy all night long.
“Yeah?” he replied in a hoarse, gravelly voice.
Long, silent seconds ticked by before she realized he couldn’t face her.
“I’m sorry this is so…complicated. But it’s…um, it’s really good to…to see you again.”
The sound of her cracking voice pounded a massive dent in Noble’s heart. He squeezed his eyes shut and swallowed the lump of emotion blocking his throat. “It’s good to see you, too, darlin’.”
Good was a gross understatement.
In that moment, he knew he couldn’t just walk out and leave her broken, scared, and resolved to shut him out.
Against his better judgment, Noble turned.
The tears streaming down Ivy’s face as she quietly sobbed ripped him in two.
Heart aching, he ate up the distance between them in four long strides. Gripping her by the shoulder, Noble lifted her from the chair.
The instant her soft, warm flesh melted beneath his fingers, he jolted at the sense of rightness that settled over him. The cacophony of shock, uncertainty, anger, and fear screaming through him grew eerily silent.
It was as if he’d found the missing pieces of his soul.
Shoving the terrifying implications aside, Noble slid a hand to her nape, slanted his lips over hers, and laid siege to her soft lips. Urgently, greedily, he ate at her, swallowing every whimper and moan rolling off the back of her throat while he unleashed months of pent-up hunger and passion he’d ached to bestow on her once again.
Splaying his palm to the small of her back, he pulled her in tight, flush against his hips, letting her feel how madly he’d missed her. The second he pushed past her lips and swept his tongue along the familiar silky heat of her mouth, Ivy mewled and melded herself to his chest.
He ate at her like a ravenous animal.
Drank in her life force as if he were a fucking vampire.
But it wasn’t enough. It wasn’t ever going to be enough. He needed more…not only sexually but emotionally. Noble wanted to own and possess every cell in her soft, lush body. Right. Fucking. Now.
Like a punch to the gut, awareness slammed home, hard.
No way!
He wasn’t built for the confines of monogamy, marriage, or white picket fences. All he could promise Ivy was a good time, and dammit, she deserved so much more. From left field, the thought of someone else providing all the things he couldn’t, filling Ivy’s life with love and commitment, slammed a spike of jealousy through Noble’s system.
The scrape of Ivy’s sharp fingernails gliding down his back yanked him from the inky ledge of insecurity and sent sparks of demand crackling down his spine. With a moan, he cupped her scalp, tilted her head back, and delved deep as their tongues danced in urgent desperation.
“Well, goodness sakes. My apologies. I didn’t mean to interrupt what looks to be the prequel to a screaming good time any minute now.”
The sound of Trudy’s familiar drawl scraped his flesh as if he’d been rolled in barbed wire. Noble tore from Ivy’s mouth as she abruptly jerked back, blinking the glassy vestiges of lust from her eyes while a bright red blush colored her face.
“I-I’m sorry….” she sputtered breathlessly. “We…err, I’m sorry, the bakery is closed on Mondays.”
“Is it? I didn’t realize that. Darn.” Trudy copped a feigned pout before turning a venomous glare on Noble. “But I must say, it’s a relief to know that the rumors about you aren’t true.”
“Rumors?” He arched a brow, biting back the slew of curses sitting on his tongue.
“You know…that the great Noble Grayson has gone and taken himself right off the market. Why, all the women of Haven are cryin’ in their pillows, missing the magical ways you make them scream your name.” She lowered her voice as she flashed him a hungry smile. “Me included.”
Noble’s heart stopped.
Son. Of. A. Bitch.
He didn’t have to look over at Ivy to gauge her reaction, he could feel the pain exploding off her and singeing his flesh. He’d have to do some serious damage control, but had no clue where to start.
“Speaking of which…Calvin is leaving in the morning to attend a dental seminar in Houston. He won’t be back until late Sunday night. You don’t mind me giving you a call if I have another pesky leak that only that big, thick pipe of yours can fix, do you, sugar?” Trudy purred as she inched closer to him.
Noble held up his hand and took a step back. “You’re a married woman. You already know the answer to that. Like Ivy said, the bakery’s closed. You need to leave…now!”
Trudy sent him a caustic smirk before turning a catty stare on Ivy.
She was no longer blushing. Instead, she’d donned an emotionless mask. But Noble couldn’t miss the flicker of wounded rejection in her blue eyes.
“So Monday is your day off, sugar? Well, you’ll definitely have fun with this big ol’ cowboy. He knows the most creative and unique talents guaranteed to get a girl…off that I’ve ever experienced.” Trudy chuckled dryly as she lifted her hand and waved. “Toot-a-loo y’all.”
Noble briefly closed his eyes and sucked in a ragged breath, picturing the shallow grave he longed to toss the bitch’s body in. When the front door snicked shut, Ivy lifted her chin. Noble wanted to howl at the same rigid, closed-off posture she’d worn earlier.
“You need to leave as well. I have work to do,” Ivy announced coldly.
Noble wasn’t going anywhere. Not until he smoothed over the landmines Trudy had just detonated. “I’ve never been a choirboy, but you need to know that since I returned from Las Vegas, I haven’t been with any other—”
“Don’t!” Ivy barked. “I don’t care who you have or haven’t slept with.”
“Dammit! I care. You mean something to…” His words trailed off as he tried to not only identify but also put into words the feelings lashing him.
A blank, empty expression lined Ivy’s face. “Take care of yourself, Noble.”
Her dismissal stung, but when she turned and walked through a set of steel swinging doors, it gutted him.
Noble knew he could march though those damn doors and force her to listen to him. But the pulsating fear that she would reject him was a dragon he wasn’t quite ready to try and slay. He’d been dealt enough ruthless blows for one day. Inviting another was just plain masochistic.
Forcing his feet to move, he left the bakery and stepped out into the fading afternoon sun. Across the street, Nate strolled from the bar and nodded toward his truck. Noble’s knee-jerk reaction was to brush his brother off so he could go someplace alone to sort his shit out before getting an ugly drunk on.
I know. Nate mentally invaded. But in your current state of mind, I’m not leaving you unsupervised and to your own devices. God only knows what you’ll get yourself into next.
Can’t be any worse than the mess I’m already in, can it? Noble wordlessly asked as he jogged across the street.
Nate let out a snort as he pulled a set of keys from the pocket of his jeans. “Sure it can. You could have accidently knocked up Trudy instead.”
Nate’s stomach pitched and bile bubbled up in the back of his throat. He shook his head and groaned. “Allegedly. Did you really have to go and put that cherry on top of my shit sundae?”
“Just trying to help you keep this clusterfuck in perspective.” Nate chuckled as they climbed into his truck.
“Get me out of this town for a while.”
“Any place in particular?”
“Someplace where I can’t give a fuck,” he replied.
Neither said another word as Nate turned, drove off, leaving Haven behind.
When he passed the driveway to the ranch, Noble knew then where his brother was taking him. He didn’t have the heart to tell his twin that he’d already been to the creek twice this week. It hadn’t helped.