Green Mountain Collection 1 by Marie Force (37)

Leaving the garage in Skeeter’s unreliable hands for the next two and a half days, Nolan went home at noon to change and pack a bag before he picked up Hannah. Normally, he’d be stressing out about leaving the garage for even a day, let alone more than two days, but he had other things on his mind besides whether Skeeter could actually run his business into the ground in that short amount of time. Left to his own devices, Skeeter was capable of just about anything, but Nolan decided to have faith.

He had much better things to think about as he searched through piles of clean clothes he’d never gotten around to putting away for something decent to wear, settling on a red plaid flannel shirt and yet another pair of faded jeans. What if she expected him to wear something nicer?

That thought sent him rummaging through his closet, where he found a dress shirt and a pair of black jeans he’d forgotten about. Hopefully, that would be good enough if they went out to dinner or something. He had to see about getting some better clothes. A classy woman like Hannah wouldn’t want to be with a guy whose entire wardrobe was made up of denim and flannel.

Jeez, will you listen to yourself? She doesn’t care what you’re wearing. She’s not like that, so quit thinking that way. He dropped his shaving kit and a box of condoms into the bag and then wondered if maybe that was being too presumptuous.

Nolan sat on the edge of his bed, hoping to calm his rampaging nerves. After what happened last night, it wasn’t presumptuous to include condoms when they’d made plans to be alone together. Still, he couldn’t ignore a lingering sense of intruding where he didn’t belong. Even after all this time and everything he’d shared with her, in many ways, Hannah was still Caleb’s girl and thus off limits to him.

He knew it was ridiculous to think such things, especially when she’d been practically naked in his arms last night, but he couldn’t help it. The troubling thoughts weren’t going to keep him from her, but they nagged at him just the same.

By the time he arrived at her house twenty minutes later, he had almost talked himself out of this entire thing. He was crazy to think that a low-key under-the-radar guy like him could ever make a woman happy after she’d been loved by over-the-top, outrageously obnoxious and incredibly brilliant Caleb Guthrie. Who was he trying to fool by thinking he’d ever be enough for her?

She came to the door looking beautiful as she always did—so beautiful she took his breath away. He took a closer look and what he saw slammed him like a fist to the gut.

“You’ve been crying.”

She didn’t deny it. Rather she stepped aside to welcome him into the house.

He stepped into the front hall. “Listen, Hannah, we don’t have to do this—”

She silenced him with two fingers to his mouth and humbled him when she removed her fingers and replaced them with her lips. Her arms curled around his neck as he sank into the sweet heaven of her kiss.

He held her close, so close he felt her tremble when she withdrew from the kiss and rested her forehead on his shoulder.

“What’s wrong, honey?” Surrounded by her alluring scent and the soft silk of her hair, Nolan desperately wanted to know what had upset her.

“I’ll tell you about it while we’re away, but for now, could we just do this for another minute?”

Relieved that she still wanted to go away with him, he said, “For as long as you want.”

They stood wrapped up in each other in her front hall for a long time. Nolan had no idea how long it was before her trembling subsided and she raised her head off his shoulder to meet his gaze.

“Thank you.”

“You don’t have to thank me for holding you, Hannah. It’s become my favorite thing to do.”

“I’m thanking you for much more than that.” She flattened her hands on his chest as she looked up at him. “I’m thanking you for your patience while you waited for me to be ready for this. I’m thanking you for years of friendship with me and with Caleb. I’m thanking you for being willing to navigate the treacherous waters that come with being the first relationship after . . . Well, you’ve been amazing, and I appreciate everything. I wanted you to know that.”

Because he couldn’t resist touching her, he framed her face with his hands. “You’re the amazing one, Hannah. You amaze all of us with your good humor and your unwavering grace. Please don’t thank me for feeling like the luckiest guy in the world because I get to hold your hand whenever I want to.”

He leaned his forehead against hers, more in love with her than he’d ever imagined possible. In that moment, it didn’t matter that he was no match for Caleb Guthrie. It only mattered that he was apparently a perfect match for her. She was the other half of him. He’d long suspected that to be the case. Now he was certain.

“Are you sure you still want to go?” he asked after a long period of contented quiet.

“I very much want to go.”

“Let’s get to it then.” He held her coat for her, picked up her bag and ushered her out the door, stopping to make sure the house was locked before he followed her down the sidewalk.

“Where should we go?” she asked when they were in the truck. Her hands folded and unfolded in her lap, which was the only indication of nerves he could detect in her.

“I did a little looking around online last night, and I found the perfect place.”

“Where is it?”

“Up north a bit, half an hour or so from here in Lower Waterford.”

“Oh I’ve heard about a great B and B up there called the Candlewick Inn, and I’ve wanted to check it out to get some tips for the retreat.”

“That’s where we’re going.”

“Great,” she said with a warm smile for him that filled him with the confidence he’d lacked earlier. “I can’t wait to see it.” She reached across the seat for his hand. “Thank you for this, too. It’s exactly what I needed right now.”

“I hope you’ll always tell me what you need so I can try to get it for you.”

“My needs are usually pretty simple.”

“I still can’t wait to hear about every one of them.”

She bit her lip and gave him a sultry look that fired him up, and they weren’t even out of Butler yet.

“Does your family know where you’re going?”

“My mother does. I told her to tell Hunter so he doesn’t send out the search-and-rescue team, but they won’t tell anyone else.”

“Not even your dad?”

“Well, my mom might tell him.”

“Which means everyone else will know, too,” Nolan said with a low laugh.

“Does that bother you?”

“Hell no. I don’t care. I’ve been around you Abbotts long enough by now to know how things work. I just hope . . .” He didn’t know how to say it without sounding like an insecure nitwit.

“What do you hope?”

“A couple of things, actually. For one, I hope no one in your life thinks I felt this way about you when Caleb was alive.”

“God, Nolan,” she said softly. “No one would ever think such a thing.”

“Sure they would. People can be mean and spiteful and say awful things that hurt innocent people like you. I’d never want to be the cause of that kind of pain for you. I knew you long before he did. What’s to stop someone from saying I was jealous of him and happy to have him out of the picture?”

“You were one of his closest friends. How could anyone think that?”

Nolan shrugged, hating that she sounded so undone by the possibility. “It’s something I’ve worried about.” After a protracted stretch of silence, he glanced over at her. “What’re you thinking?”

“That I’ve spent an awful lot of time considering how difficult it is for me to start dating again, but I haven’t given nearly as much thought to what it’s like to be you in this situation. I’m sorry you’ve worried about that. If anyone dares to breathe even a hint of that in your direction, they’ll see a very ugly side of me.”

“Is that right?” he said with a chuckle. “Easy, tiger.”

“I’m serious! That anyone would dare to say such an awful thing after everything we’ve both been through since Caleb died . . . The thought of it makes me furious.”

“You’re very cute when you’re pissed.”

“This is no time for jokes.”

“I’m not joking. You’re seriously sexy when you’re pissed. And when you’re not pissed, too. You’re sexy pretty much all the time.”

“Nolan!”

“What? I only speak the truth.”

“I want you to promise me if anyone ever says anything even remotely like that you’ll tell me. Do you promise?”

“I’d be a little afraid to tell you. I wouldn’t want to have to bail you out of jail.”

“I mean it. I’d want to know so I could set the person straight.”

“I’m the sort of guy who prefers to fight his own battles.”

“I’d want to know. Do you promise?”

“Fine. I promise. Jeez, I never knew you had this pushy aggressive side to you,” he said in a teasing tone. “It turns me on.”

“Shut up,” she said, laughing.

He brought their joined hands to his lap and placed her palm over his erection. “You think I’m joking?”

“Nolan . . .”

“Hmm?” He was having trouble keeping the truck on the road with the heat of her hand burning through his clothes.

“How much longer until we get there?”

“Not long.”

She sighed and dropped her head back against the seat but kept her hand right where he’d put it. “You said that was one thing. What are some of the other things you worry about?”

“I’m afraid to tell you after the way you reacted to that one.”

“Tell me anyway.”

Nolan stared out at the stretch of road that was marked by trees in full bloom and grass just beginning to turn green. “I worry sometimes that after him I’ll seem kind of boring to you.”

“What? That’s nuts. Why in the world would you think that?”

“He was so . . . multifaceted, I guess you would say. Complicated, complex, larger than life. I’m none of those things. I’m a pretty simple what-you-see-is-what-you-get kind of guy. How do I begin to compete with the memory of a guy who was all those things and so much more?”

“You don’t have to compete with him, Nolan. I’d never want you to feel that way. He was what he was, and we all loved him, but he was far from perfect. At times I used to plead with him to sit down, shut up and just be. He usually lasted about five minutes, and then he was onto something else. He exhausted me. There were plenty of things about him I couldn’t stand at times.”

“Like what?” Nolan asked, truly amazed by the unprecedented view of the other side of what had seemed to him like a perfect marriage.

“The drinking was an issue. I hated how he couldn’t have just a few beers socially. It was always about getting plowed. When he was drunk he could be loud and obnoxious, which was often embarrassing to me. His language was awful, and it drove me crazy that he forgot sometimes to apply the filter when my parents and grandparents were around. We used to have big ugly fights about those things.”

“I had no idea you guys ever fought.”

“Oh my God! Are you kidding? We fought like tomcats.”

“You sure made it look good to the rest of us.”

“Most of the time, it was good. But it was far from perfect.”

“I’m truly stunned to hear that. It appeared blissful.”

“A lot of times it was, but no one knows what really goes on inside a marriage except the two people who are in it.”

“That’s true.”

“I loved him with everything I had, but I wasn’t blind to his faults, and he wasn’t blind to mine.”

“What faults do you possibly have?”

“You’ll just have to stick around to find out, won’t you?”

As much as it pained him to lose her touch down below, he raised their joined hands to his lips. “I’ll look forward to discovering every awful, terrible, sinister thing about you.”

Her laughter pleased and relaxed him. It felt good to be able to air out the bad stuff along with the good. He’d never been with anyone who was as easy to talk to as she was. He let their hands fall back to his lap, but rested them on his thigh because he couldn’t take any more of the sweet torture of her hand on his cock.

“Any other worries?” she asked, looking at him with genuine interest and concern reflected in her gaze.

“One more. It’s kind of a big one.”

“Okay. I can take it. Bring it on.”

“I can’t remember where I heard this, only that it stayed with me because of how it might apply to me—and you—if I ever got the chance to be with you. It might’ve been on TV or something, but the person said that most of the time after someone is divorced or widowed that the first relationship doesn’t work out. And I really want this to work out.”

“So do I, Nolan. I’m not with you or going away with you this weekend to check a post-widow box on my way to something better. You are something better. In the back of my mind, I always knew when I was ready, you were waiting and that was comforting. It’s not like no one asked me out in all this time. People did.”

“People. People like Myles Johansen?”

“How do you know about that?”

“I have my sources.”

“Did my dad tell you that? I’ll kill him. He’s such a gossip!”

“He only pointed out that a wise man is aware of any potential competition when he’s trying to win the heart of a certain woman. Since I was unaware of any potential competition, I believe he took some pleasure in illuminating me as to Myles’s interest.”

“I am going to kill him.”

“No, you’re not. He was looking out for you, and shockingly, I think he might’ve even been looking out for me, too. Which leads me to a confession . . .”

“What confession?”

“Apparently, he and your grandfather might’ve had something to do with the dead battery that brought me to your door that day.”

Her eyes went wide with surprise and fury. “Are you kidding me? They’re totally out of control!”

“It worked, didn’t it?”

“They actually messed with the battery in my car to get me to call you?”

“I believe it was much more calculated than that. They messed with your battery on a day when they knew you had somewhere to be and on a day when most of your family was elsewhere, thus I was the only choice.”

“That’s nothing short of diabolical.”

“I’ll repeat—it worked, didn’t it? Here you are. Here I am. Thanks to a little nudge from a couple of well-meaning old dudes.”

“Well-meaning,” she said with a snort. “If that’s what you want to call it.”

“I hate to side with the enemy, and I’d never disclose this to them under the threat of torture, but I do appreciate their . . . assistance, I guess we’ll call it. They gave us the nudge we needed, and they put me out of the misery I’d been in since the dance at the Grange.”

“Why were you in misery?”

“Because I’d kissed you and called you and you didn’t call me back, so I figured I’d already blown any chance I’d ever had with you. If that’s not misery, I don’t know what is.”

“I’m sorry I put you through that. I wanted to call you. I wanted to so badly.”

“Then they did us a favor giving you a reason to call me, and for that you should probably cut them a break.”

“I’ll take that under consideration.”

“Personally, I’d like to send them a thank-you note. Wish I’d thought of messing with your car sooner.”

“You never would’ve done that!”

“Desperate times call for desperate measures, and after one taste of you, I was feeling pretty damned desperate.”

“Just so you know, I spent an inordinate amount of time reliving that kiss and trying to figure out why I’d pulled away from you when that was the last thing I wanted to do.”

“Why do you think you did that?”

“Because it was the first time since . . . everything. I’m sort of hoping that doesn’t happen again.” He heard her swallow hard. “This weekend.”

“If it does, it does. You’re under no pressure here, Hannah. None at all. Let’s just relax and enjoy being together. Anything else is a bonus, all right?”

“Thank you for understanding that I’m a little nervous.”

“Please don’t be.”

They arrived at the rustic country inn a short time later and pulled into the parking lot. Situated on twenty acres of rolling farmland in the foothills of the Green Mountains, the Candlewick Inn had come highly recommended by various websites as a premium romantic spot in Northern Vermont. Hearing that she was nervous, Nolan was glad he’d thought of the first item on their agenda.

Upon check-in, the innkeeper herself showed them to a spacious room with a country theme. Blond wood floors and navy blue accents took some of the focus off the king-sized bed that occupied the far corner of the room. It included a fireplace and a Jacuzzi tub. He’d requested both.

“I hope this meets with your satisfaction, Mr. Roberts,” the friendly innkeeper said.

“It’s perfect. Thank you.”

She handed him a slip of paper. “Confirmation of your spa appointment in thirty minutes.”

“Great, thanks.”

“Enjoy your stay, and please feel free to let us know if we can do anything to make you more comfortable.”

When they were alone, Hannah turned to him. “We have a spa appointment?”

“Yes, we do.”

“You are going to a spa?”

“Apparently so.”

“And what are you having done? I’m picturing you strapped to the waxing table, screaming your head off.”

“As appealing as that sounds—and as intrigued as I am by how you might know what it’s like to be strapped to a waxing table—that’s not what we’re doing.”

“What are we doing?”

“A couple’s massage.”

Her eyes lit up with unmistakable pleasure. “Really? We are?”

He loved seeing her so happy, especially when she hadn’t yet told him why she’d been crying before he picked her up. “Yes, we are.”

“Have you ever had a massage before?”

“I can’t say that I have.”

Her delicate laughter made him smile. “This ought to be interesting.”

“I remembered how much you enjoy your spa days with the girls, so I figured I couldn’t miss with some spa time.”

She shed her coat, tossed it over a chair and came to him, sliding her hands up his chest to rest on his shoulders. “Thank you for arranging this, Nolan. It’s such a relief to be away from everything and everyone. Except for you, of course.”

“You’ve had a tough week,” he said, noticing when her smile dimmed and desperately wanting to know why. “Some R and R is just what you need.” He hugged her and breathed in the fragrant scent of her hair. “We should get to the spa.”

“You sound almost enthusiastic.”

“I do? That wasn’t intentional.”

She smiled and let her hand slide down his arm to take his hand. “Don’t knock it until you try it.”

He wouldn’t knock it, and he would try anything that made her smile so brightly.