Getting Lucky (The Portland Pioneers Book 2) (12 page)

“I’m sure it’ll be amazing,” he said. “Now eat some more of these. You leave me alone with them tonight and they’ll be gone by morning and there won’t be enough miles on earth to work it off.” In an eerie duplication of her earlier fantasy, he scooped up a bite on his fork and playfully pushed it towards her mouth.

Maggie hesitated. He
was
flirting with her, wasn’t he? But then why would he flirt and then not kiss her earlier? Maybe she’d been right the first time and he just flirted with everyone. There wasn’t anything special about her after all. He treated every woman he met the exact same way, she’d just wanted so much to be different to him that she’d imagined the whole thing.

“I’ve had too much sugar already,” she stammered, turning her head away. Noah nodded and stuck the fork in his mouth.

Maggie felt but tried to ignore the pulse of sensation in her mouth and beneath her red polka dotted panties as she watched him lick the utensil clean. She took a mental deep breath and told herself to get to the second reason behind her visit.

“I haven’t heard from Tabitha yet,” she said softly. “I’m sorry, Noah.”

She wasn’t sure how she’d expected him to react, but she certainly hadn’t anticipated the half-hearted shrug and the ambivalence in his expression.

“It’s alright,” he finally said after a long pause. “This whole trip was a shot in the dark, anyway. As it turns out, I found what I should have been looking for.” Maggie could practically taste the words he didn’t say at the end of that sentence, the flavor as strong as the lingering sugar on her tongue.

Of course, he’d probably meant the house and this land, but Maggie couldn’t seem to help the sandcastle in the sky she was constructing. It seemed to grow even as she attempted to tear it down.

“What are you going to do without Cal?” she asked. “There aren’t any other decent general contractors in town. Are you going to hire someone from San Francisco?”

“I was sitting here thinking about that when you showed up. And I think I’m going to do it myself.”

Maggie did a double take. “I know you said you were handy. . .”

“I thought the same thing myself,” Noah admitted wryly. “I’m handy, but hardly
that
handy. And then I decided, why the hell not? I’ve got the time and the resources to do it. Why do I need Cal?”

She knew just enough about what Cal did to not want to answer that particular question. Noah seemed excited about the prospect of doing it himself, the fire lighting up his dark eyes. He’d definitely need Cal eventually but better not to burst his bubble just yet. Besides, they both needed time to calm down and maybe in a few weeks, Cal would stop being such an ass.

Of course, they were kind of in uncharted territory here. As far back as Maggie could remember, Cal had never acted like an ass.

“I heard you ordered him off your property,” Maggie said. “That was a nice touch.”

“It felt good,” Noah said, with so much satisfaction that Maggie couldn’t help wishing she’d been a fly on the wall during that particular conversation.

“What happened?” she finally asked, curiosity overriding any good manners she had about not prying into his personal business.

“He was rude and unprofessional. A bad combination.”

Damn it, she’d definitely been hoping for more details than that. After her argument with Cal that morning, she could have figured that part out herself. She just wanted to know if her particular name had come up in during the conversation, but it seemed like Noah wasn’t going to tell her. Maybe that was a good thing.

“Well, you were right not to hire him then,” Maggie said baldly.

Noah did a double take. “You’re his best friend. Every single time I talk to someone in this town, you two are practically the foundation of every single one of their stories.”

Maggie inwardly burned at the thought of the stories he must have heard about her. Silly, stupid, childish behaviors that she should have grown out of way earlier than she had.
He dated Tabby
, that annoying inner voice reminded her
, he’s hardly going to judge you for being a kid.

“Just because we’re friends doesn’t mean he’s allowed to act like an ass and get away with it,” she insisted. “I’m glad you told him off. He needs some perspective sometimes.”

Grinning, Noah let the fork clatter to the nearly empty pie plate and propped his elbows on his knees, looking out to the darkening sky. “Happy to help you out there.”

“Oh, I gave him some of my own,” Maggie added. “But he could always use some more.”

As the sun finished setting, an awkward silence grew between them, and Maggie got to her feet, gathering her purse. “I’d better be going,” she said hurriedly. “Will I see you at the Café tomorrow?”

Noah shrugged absently. “At some point, probably. I need to figure out what exactly needs done here and get some supplies. Is the Home Depot in Santa Rosa the best place to go?” Noah named the biggest town between Sand Point and San Francisco.

“That would be my best guess,” Maggie said. Normally she would have deferred to Cal on this, but well, that wasn’t going to work out.

They ducked through the partially deconstructed gate and in another few steps were at Maggie’s car. “It was good to see you,” Noah said softly, as she reached into her bag for her keys. “And thank you for the gift.”

“You’re welcome,” she said as he sidled closer to her. Was he going to kiss her
now
? Her knees were practically trembling at the thought.

“Don’t be a stranger,” he said. “I know too many of those.” And then he wrapped his arms around her, pulling her in for a tight hug that Maggie would have almost believed was practically platonic, except that as soon as his body curled around hers, they both paused. It felt so good, so
right
, to have his arms around her. His head just rested on the crown of her head and she could have sworn she felt him brush his cheek against her hair.

He released her slowly and for the first time, Maggie thought she saw him look truly unmanned. Whatever he’d planned when it came to her, he hadn’t expected that.

“Goodnight, Noah,” she said, and with trembling fingers, opened her car door and slipped inside before he could hug her again and finish taking her apart piece by piece.

Three days before Thanksgiving, Noah walked down Sand Point’s main thoroughfare, glancing in the darkened windows of stores as he passed them by. He’d known that everything tended to close up early, but he’d needed to stretch his legs and get out of the yard of his new house, where he’d been clearing debris and brush all day. Realistically he should have been exhausted, but he still felt restless and even the slightest bit anxious.

Today, he’d been in Sand Point two weeks. When he’d arrived fourteen days ago, a week was the maximum amount of time he’d ever considered staying. The first night he’d walked through town much this same way, marveling at how dark and shuttered the stores were, even though it was still early in the evening. Two weeks ago, he’d never have wanted to stay, but he knew he was changing, maybe even growing.

His phone vibrated in his pocket as he reached the block of Maggie’s Café. Glancing at the screen, he saw that Jack had finally gotten sick of the cold shoulder he’d been giving him since finding out Noah had come to Sand Point and was going to be missing his and Izzy’s first Thanksgiving.

Noah imagined that the last two weeks had been full of Izzy attempting to persuade Jack that he was being petty, and Jack ranting at a fairly loud volume at how he was sure Noah would fall right back into Tabitha’s arms.

“Hey Jack,” Noah answered. “How’s it going?”

“You crazy bastard, you bought a house.” Noah could practically hear Jack’s smirk through the phone.

“I guess Bryce must have spilled the beans.” Bryce was the agent they happened to share. Noah should have remembered that particular fact and known that Jack would find out about the house sooner rather than later.

“He called me right away. Unlike some people I know.”

“It’s a great piece of property. A really solid investment.”

“Oh, cut the bullshit,” Jack retorted. “What the hell is going on down there?”

Trust Jack to get to the point quickly. Noah couldn’t help a smile as his best friend gave an impatient huff on his end of the phone. He could see him pacing in the restored farmhouse he shared with Izzy, wearing a line in the reclaimed wood floors he was so damn proud of.

“Nothing really. It’s pretty quiet here.”

Jack practically growled, and Noah couldn’t help the laugh that bubbled out of him. He didn’t really miss Portland, but he did miss Jack. Jack had always made him laugh, even during the worst of times, and for that he’d forever be in his debt.

“Tell me,” he insisted.

“The house is on a cliff,” Noah said, settling on a brick stoop across from the Café. For a split second, he thought he saw a light on in the back, maybe in the kitchen, but then Jack distracted him again.

“Are you planning jumping off it?” he asked.

“No,” Noah retorted. “Not even close. It’s got this amazing view, all this fresh ocean air. It’s going to be really great.”

“
Going
to be really great?”

Trust Jack to pick out the one word in that sentence that Noah wasn’t too keen on explaining.

“The house needs a bit of work,” he hedged.

“A bit?”

“Okay,” Noah admitted, “it’s been abandoned for fifteen years.”

“I was right. You
are
a crazy bastard.”

“Guilty, I guess.” Noah said, laughing.

Jack hesitated, and Noah knew what he wanted to ask, so he spared his best friend the indignity of asking. “No, Tabitha’s not here. And she’s not going to be. That’s not why I bought the house.”

“So is there even anything to do there?” Jack wondered, and Noah thought this was rich coming from Jack Bennett, whose idea of a great Saturday night was crashing on the couch with a few action flicks, a gigantic bowl of popcorn and lately, his girlfriend.

“There are a few things.” He considered stopping himself, but for some reason he couldn’t pinpoint, he found himself continuing. “Actually, there’s this great café that serves the most amazing food. You’d be in heaven.”

“Like what?” Jack asked absently, and even though Noah was hundreds of miles away, he knew that voice. Jack was distracted by Izzy, who’d probably just appeared in his field of vision. His best friend was well and truly whipped.

“Oh, just the best breakfast. The best lunch. The best muffins. The best pastries. Maggie’s a genius in the kitchen.”

“Maggie?” Jack’s attention was back in spades. “Who’s Maggie?”

Noah cringed. “She owns the Café.”

“And she’s what? 60-something, blue-haired, a battle axe of a little old lady?”

Noah sighed and gave into the inevitable. Maybe he’d gone and slipped up accidentally on purpose. It was hard to say, considering his unruly subconscious these days. “Not even close. Maybe five four, curves for days, beautiful smile, short cute blond haircut. Blue eyes.”

Jack whistled. “Not exactly the battle axe type, then. So what’s up with you and this Maggie?”

“Actually, she’s Tabitha’s younger sister.” Noah paused, waiting for the inevitable explosion.

“Foxy, seriously? Are you trying to become a fucking soap opera?”

Noah laughed, unable to contain his relief that Jack hadn’t told him in that serious voice that he almost never used that he was being an idiot,
again
.

“She’s nothing like her sister,” Noah said. “Picture Tabitha, then turn a hundred and eighty degrees and run, no,
sprint
, the other direction.”

“I like her already,” Jack said. “The real question is would Iz like her?”

“Izzy would love her.”

“So you bought the house because it was a great investment, and had a killer view, etc, etc, and most importantly, to be close to Maggie,” Jack suggested. “And you should have seen Izzy’s eyes when I just said that. They practically bugged out of her head. It was
awesome
.”

Noah could hear Izzy yelling in the background that Jack was going to pay for that later and smirked at the thought of Izzy paying Jack back. That woman was going to be the making of him. “Nothing’s happened. We’re just friends.”

“That’s not going to work. Not at all. You’re practically the King of Moves. I don’t think a woman has resisted you, pretty much ever.”

“It’s not that simple,” Noah insisted. He’d told himself that a week ago, when Maggie had delivered him the orange marmalade buns and for a single charged moment, he’d nearly forgotten that he was going to leave her alone. In the last week, it had become very clear that neither of them were going anywhere, and suddenly the motivation he had to leave her alone was dwindling fast.

“Bullshit. It wasn’t simple between Izzy and me, but you never let me use that as an excuse. And I’m grateful every day that you didn’t.” Jack paused. “Now, do you like this girl?”

He’d only known her a few weeks. He’d only spent a handful of hours in her company. Her sister had practically torn him to pieces, and he wasn’t sure he was even back together. But that didn’t matter, it seemed.