Chapter Four
Well, that was a mistake.
Anita reached out to cup Noah’s face, but he stepped out of reach. Her stomach dropped. She should have known better. He wasn’t like the flirtatious, capricious July men she’d had in the past. He wouldn’t like knowing he was one of many. In fact, now that she thought about it, she hadn’t told most of her other flings there had been other July guys. They might have assumed, but she’d never made a point of telling them.
To avoid his incredulous stare, she turned and topped off their wineglasses, emptying the bottle. “Don’t take that the wrong way.”
“What way would that be? You’ve had affairs with eighteen different men? Shit, Charlene is the only woman I’ve ever had sex with. What am I supposed to think?”
A chill ran down her spine. “I don’t know. What do you think, Noah? That I’m a slut?”
“No! God, no. That’s not it at all.” He began to pace in front of her. “Anita, you’re not like anyone else I’ve ever met. I’ve lived in this little town my whole life. I married the girl I started dating in tenth grade.” He grabbed his wine and drank the glass down. “I’m sorry. I’m not judging you. Now that I think about it, I suppose it’s not that strange to have had that many boyfriends.”
“There were a few guys back in college I had sex with, but none of those relationships were serious, and I’m not counting them now. You asked about the men I proposed flings with.” After all the lies she’d been told over the years, direct and truthful was the only way she could be. “Not all of them agreed, of course. I try to be discerning before I bring it up, but a few of them weren’t interested. None of the men who agreed could be considered my boyfriends. They’ve all been flings. July flings.”
“What?”
“I know that’s not considered normal, and that’s okay with me.” But she didn’t like the incredulous look on Noah’s face. And she didn’t like the fact that she didn’t like it. “Every July, I travel to a new place. I study the art culture, I paint for my own enjoyment, and I have a fling with a new man. The rest of the year is work.” She shrugged and tried a small smile. “This year, I’m in Lakeside for the month of July.”
“So I happened to be the first single man you met? It could have been anyone?”
“No. I told you. I wouldn’t have mentioned it if there weren’t already that spark between us. You can’t deny the spark.”
He didn’t say anything. But he didn’t deny it.
“And I’ve spent time with you. Got to know you a little bit. Know that I liked you. Thought you liked me. That’s why I proposed the fling.”
“And all these men were okay with the one-month time limit?” he asked as if he wasn’t okay with it.
Damn, she hadn’t let herself admit how much she wanted him to be okay with it.
“There were a few over the years who weren’t interested.” She shrugged. C’est la vie. “But the rest of them never had a problem with enjoying fun and sex and conversation and companionship with me for a month.” She smiled. “We always part amicably.”
Noah didn’t smile back. “And you never got serious about any of these men?”
“No.” What was the point in getting serious? She’d learned years ago that opening her heart would only lead to disappointment and heartbreak. It had started with her parents’ lousy example and had gone downhill from there until she’d realized keeping her heart out of the equation was the only solution.
He shook his head, and it pissed her off that he couldn’t understand. Or was he uncomfortable with the idea of her having been with so many men?
“I’ve never cheated on anyone. Or caused anyone else to cheat. I’m not ashamed of the way I’ve lived my life.”
“Of course not, and I’d never want to make you feel that way.” He cleared his throat, and she knew she wasn’t going to like what he had to say. “I’m not a fling kind of guy.”
“So your wife left you, and you’re going to live the rest of your life like a monk?”
“I hope not. But I’ve never considered getting involved with someone knowing from the onset that it doesn’t have the chance of developing into something serious.”
“You should try it. It’s incredibly freeing.”
“Or lonely.”
“No.”
“Cowardly, then.”
Anita’s first instinct was to slap him across his handsome, self-satisfied face, but she pulled back her hand before her palm made contact. “I’m not a coward. You don’t know anything about it.”
“Tell me then. Because I like you, too, Anita, and it sounds to me as if you’re hiding from love. I can’t understand why you wouldn’t even give yourself the chance.”
“We’re talking about love now? Okay, let me tell you. My mother gave up the life she’d dreamed of for the man she loved. But my father abandoned us both rather than change his plans so he could stay with us. My mom turned into a bitter woman whose only advice to me was to never get serious about a man because he’d only kill my dreams.”
“Anita—”
“She wanted to be a doctor, but she dropped out of school when the morning sickness got too bad. Her mother, Aggie, threw her out because she got pregnant out of wedlock. My father married her and continued his schooling. Anyway, at some point, he wanted to move back to his native Spain, and she didn’t want to leave America. So he left her. Left us.”
“I’m sorry that happened, but that doesn’t mean the man you fall in love with would make that decision.”
“Why are we talking about love anyway? I’m here for a month only. I’m not staying here. Why on earth would I want to fall in love?”
His face was blank. “I guess you wouldn’t.”
“What would be lonely is spending this month apart when we don’t have to.” She placed her hand on his arm even though she was afraid he’d pull away. When he didn’t, she welcomed the shimmer of hope. “I would enjoy spending time with you, salvage man.”
He surprised her by tugging her close. “I don’t know what to think. You’ve thrown me for a loop. I won’t say no, because I have to admit, I’m tempted. But I can’t say yes tonight, either.” He brushed his hands up and down her back. “See, I’m not so sure I could jump into a fling with someone I liked and not want to get serious. And I don’t want to risk falling for someone who’s going to leave.”
She wrapped her arms around his waist. “Okay, I get it.” It was probably hypocritical that she liked hearing Noah thought he could fall for her. She should be horrified. But it would never happen anyway. They were way too different.
Anita hugged him tightly and then stepped away. “I guess we should call it a night. I’m cleaning out the downstairs bedroom tomorrow. Call me or text me your estimate tomorrow, and we’ll go from there.”
“I will.”
She gathered up the glasses and the empty wine bottle. “Thanks for coming over to help me celebrate. And for agreeing to help me get the house ready to sell.” She raised a brow and added wryly, “Are you sure it won’t be too much temptation for you to work so closely with me on the house?”
“I’ll take my chances.” He pulled her back into his arms. She managed to drop the bottle and glasses onto one of the lumpy cushions without breaking them. “How about one more kiss for the road?”
She met his mouth halfway, lips parted, tongues twining. Heat rolled through her, making her limbs tremble and her heart thud. No, she’d never fall for one of her July guys, but she was going to enjoy the hell out of Noah Colburn while she was here. If he’d only give the okay.
…
Noah turned his phone back on after he climbed into his truck. He’d almost agreed to Anita’s proposal after that last kiss. It would have been so easy to carry her into the bedroom and fan that spark between them into a fire.
Who’d ever heard of someone traveling around having affairs with different men every year? And turning that question around, what would it have been like if he’d done something like that after Charlene left? He tried to imagine picking up strange women and offering to hook up with them. He supposed there were a lot of guys like that. He’d known several when he was younger. They’d pick up a new woman at a bar every week. Every night sometimes.
He never would have done that even if he hadn’t been dating Charlene.
A couple of text notifications chimed as the phone powered up. And three voicemails. What was going on? He wasn’t usually that popular.
The first voice message was from Ginny. He grimaced as he listened. “Noah! Have you seen Facebook? What were you doing getting all cozy with Aggie’s granddaughter at the ice cream shop? Licking her ice cream? We need to do something before Ethan blows the whole thing out of proportion. Call me!”
There was a message from Carter next. “Are you trying to screw your chance at being mayor? Don’t forget that everyone has a camera on their phones these days. Call me.”
Then he listened to the third. “Noah? It’s Mom. Call me.”
Shit.
Still in Anita’s driveway, he pulled up the Lakeside Village Facebook page. Usurping a post Ginny had written, about his respect for the village and its history, was a picture of him and Anita. They were staring at each other, their smiles clear even while licking each other’s melting ice cream. He couldn’t help but smile at the memory. Still, it didn’t set the best tone for his campaign. Especially when the text read, “Does our village want a playboy for mayor?”
Playboy? After the conversation he’d had with Anita, the irony made him laugh. He scanned the comments, which ran from “let the guy have his fun” to “disgraceful public display.”
He had a text from Beckett, too. “Hey, bro! Who’s that melting all over your hand? LOL”
Sam Hernandez, the village board member who’d asked him to consider opposing Ethan, repeated Carter’s warning in another text. “Remember everyone has a camera! Let’s get together on the 6th to plan our strategy. Be sure to be out and about on the 4th. No PDAs.”
Fourth of July. How could he have forgotten? The festival in the park. Vendors. Games. Fireworks. It was the day after tomorrow. How would he have time for all of this? It was a good thing he hadn’t agreed to Anita’s fling. He received another text when he was pulling into his garage.
“Dad? Who’s the woman you were eating ice cream with?” Sarah. He didn’t know his daughters paid any attention to the village Facebook page.
This one he had to reply to. “Remember Aggie Swanson? Anita’s her granddaughter. I was showing her around Lakeside.”
“She’s pretty.” This time it was Hannah texting. He could picture his girls curled up on the couch together, heads together, phones together. “You look happy, Dad.”
Keep it simple. “It was good ice cream.”
“Plain old strawberry?” Sarah again.
“Of course. Having fun?”
“Yeah! Going to the beach almost every day!”
He wondered how Char and her boyfriend were handling two busy teenagers. Charlene had made it clear she needed a break when they’d divorced three years ago, and that was why she hadn’t asked for custody. She’d only come up for a week here and there to visit with them. Would she be ready to send the twins back home soon?
“Miss you guys. Love you both!”
“Love you, too! Night!”
He fell into an uneasy sleep. Dreams of Anita, her dark eyes snapping, her mouth on his skin, had him throwing off the sheet and opening a window to get a breeze. He didn’t sleep much after that.
The next morning, Ginny jumped on him as soon as he walked into the shop. Her tablet was grasped in her hands. “Did you read all the comments?”
When he sent her a blank look, she added, “To Bradford’s Facebook post last night.”
Noah was sick of Facebook already, and there was most of the month yet to go in the campaign. “A few of the early ones.”
“Well, the majority are weighted on our side, so that’s good, but there are a lot of people who didn’t like the picture.”
“Too bad I’m not more photogenic,” he said wryly.
“You know that’s not what I was talking about. What are you going to do about Anita? I think we need to make a statement. Are you going to be dating her?”
“No. I’m going to be renovating her house.”
“Yay!” Ginny threw her arms around him, jumping up and down at the same time. “Good job sweetening her up. I’ve got to get this on the page. Then people will understand why you looked so chummy.”
“Wait. First of all, I wasn’t sweetening her up.” At least, he didn’t think he had been. “And I don’t know if you should put Anita’s name in the post.”
“Why not? We can use this project as good publicity for your campaign. Everyone knows by now she’s Aggie’s granddaughter, so what’s the difference? I wonder if Anita has a Facebook page. I could tag her.”
This had gone way out of control. “I’m not doing this for the publicity.”
“Of course not. But that doesn’t mean you can’t take advantage of it. I’ll give it a good spin, don’t worry.” She clapped her hand to her chest like she was saying the pledge. “Noah Colburn respects our history. Noah Colburn will salvage our village from those who would tear it down. Noah Colburn will not only restore the historic lake house, he will restore our community.”
It sounded good, but at the moment, he didn’t have a clue if he could actually do it. “Leave Anita’s name out of it for right now.” He was exhausted just thinking about a Facebook campaign.
“But it’s okay, right? Using the house renovation for publicity?”
He could use all the help he could get. “Yeah, okay, run with it.”
Ginny shrieked with joy. “This is so much fun.”
“I’m glad you think so. Now I have a lot to do before we close for the holiday.” The first was to come up with a schedule for the work at Anita’s house.
“I can handle it.”
He squeezed her shoulder. “I know you can.”
And now that Ginny’s idea was going public, he was going to have to tell Anita about it. She was going to think he’d come up with the idea. He’d okayed it, so it was the same thing.
Noah headed for his office, but his mother caught him in the doorway. “You didn’t call me back last night.”
“Sorry. If it makes you feel any better, I didn’t call anyone else back, either.”
“But I’m your mother.”
“I know.” He kissed her cheek. “I love you.”
“I love you, too. Now what’s going on with Anita Delgado?”
“I’m going to be helping her renovate the house.”
“First you’re running for mayor, then you’re licking ice cream off a strange woman’s cone, and now you’re going to fix her house?”
“You know I enjoy renovating. And Ginny’s using it as publicity for my campaign.”
“And what about the business?” It always came down to the business.
“I told you I’d keep up my end. Haven’t I always? I’ve already decided I’ll need to get a crew together to do most of the renovation work. She needs it done before she leaves at the end of the month.” He nodded pointedly to his office. “I was on my way to call her.”
His mother’s brows crinkled in that same frown he remembered from high school. “You’re old enough to know you shouldn’t burn your candle at both ends.”
Immediately, he was drawn back to the previous night on Anita’s deck. The candlelight flickering over her face. Their bodies pressed together in the heat of the night. The taste of wine on her lips. His body reacting to the hottest kiss he could remember.
He wanted more of those kisses. He wanted more of Anita.
“Noah? Are you listening to me?”
He blinked. “Sorry, Mom. I was thinking about something.”
She shook her head. “What’s happened to you? You were always my sensible boy.”
“I’m not a boy,” he snapped. He’d never snapped at his mother before, but he’d had it with the way she always compared him to his brothers.
She waved away his objection. “I could always depend on you to do the right thing. Don’t disappoint me now. There are too many people depending on you, on this salvage company. You know that. The business has to come first.”
When would he come first?
“You don’t need to heap a bunch of guilt on my shoulders. I know what my responsibilities are.”
“Oh, sweetheart, I didn’t mean to make you feel guilty.”
“I have a lot to do today.” He stepped through the doorway of his office and softly closed the door on his mother. He scrubbed his face with his hand and dropped into the chair behind his desk. He should be returning the calls he got last night; instead, he called Anita. Her voice sounded a little rough when she answered.
“I’m sorry. Did I wake you?”
“I’m awake. But I haven’t gotten out of bed and had my coffee yet.”
He groaned. “Now I’m picturing you with your hair all messed up on your pillow and the sheets twisted around your bare thighs.”
“My, my, salvage man. You know you could have been with me this morning twisting around my bare thighs yourself.”
One thing. Would it be so bad if he wanted this one thing for himself? “Let’s talk about that later.”
Her voice perked up. “Really?”
It was a boost to his ego to hear the eagerness in her voice. “Yeah, but right now, I have a couple of other things I want to talk to you about.”
“Okay. I’m putting you on speaker because suddenly I need to get that coffee brewing. I want to be awake for this conversation. Keep talking.”
“Are your thighs still bare?”
“Noah Colburn, are you actually saying you want to know what I’m wearing?” There was a hint of seduction in the amused tone of her voice.
He laughed. “I’ll go first. I’m wearing newly washed blue jeans and a short-sleeve black tee with a Colburn and Sons Salvage logo on the pocket. Sexy, huh?”
“I’ve seen you in jeans and T-shirt before. In fact, I think that’s all I’ve ever seen you in. But I’m not complaining, because, yes, it’s very sexy. Because you are.”
She was filling the coffee pot. He could hear the water running. “So…” Would the reality be even better than his imagination?
“I think I’ll keep you guessing.” She laughed at his moan. “If you want to know what I wear to bed, you’ll have to be here.”
He wanted to complain, but he knew it wouldn’t do any good. Besides, he did want to be there with Anita. Wanted to be twisting the sheets with her.
“Okay, then. I got everything down on paper, and the only way we can get all the work done on your house by the end of the month is to bring in crews. Painters. Landscapers. Carpenters. It’s going to cost more than if I did it. I’ll call around and see who’s available and get some estimates. I can go over them with you tonight. Sound good?”
“Yeah. I knew I’d have to come up with money upfront. And I love the excuse to see you tonight.”
“How about an excuse to see me this afternoon?”
“Sure. What’s up?”
“Want to come in and pick out a new mantel for the living room?”
“Love to. I’ll want a break after cleaning out the bedroom, anyway.”
“I’ll get that phone number for the donation center when you come in.”
“Thanks.”
A sudden moan of pleasure from Anita sent a shiver through his body.
“How’s the coffee?”
She chuckled. “Did I slurp that loudly?”
“Let’s say I could tell you were enjoying it.”
“I’m hanging up now. Gotta get some clothes on and start cleaning out that bedroom.”
He cleared his throat. It was getting hot in here. “Get some clothes on? Does that mean you sleep in the nude?”
She chuckled. “See you later, salvage man.” She hung up, leaving him staring at his phone.