Getting Lucky (The Portland Pioneers Book 2) (32 page)

“Good one, little sis.” Tabitha laughed even harder, actually gasping for breath, but her smile was fond. For the first time in almost as long as Maggie could remember, she knew she was seeing the
real
Tabitha that hid behind layers of superficiality and cold, hard determination. Maggie hoped—really,
really
hoped—that Tabitha would be okay because someone with a warm smile like that didn’t deserve what she’d gotten, no matter what her sister believed about herself.

“You’re still working.”

Maggie raised her head from the apple she was peeling to see Noah standing in the doorway of the kitchen. It was early evening and she still had a few bread puddings to bake up for last minute deliveries before she could finally go home. It had been a long day, taking a toll physically and emotionally, and she knew Noah had to see the droop of her shoulders as she bent over the garbage can.

“Promised I would finish up these desserts for Christmas deliveries,” Maggie explained, gesturing to the supplies set out on one of the counters.

“Like the pies for Thanksgiving,” he said, walking in and frowning at her. Yeah, he definitely hadn’t missed the exhaustion in her eyes.

Maggie nodded, returning her attention to the apple in her hands. She wished she could take the time for a small break, to talk to Noah, but she needed to keep working so she could get home before she literally fell over.

“You look exhausted,” Noah observed.

“You really shouldn’t say that to a woman. I would’ve thought Tabitha would have taught you better than that,” Maggie retorted, aware of the edge exhaustion added to her voice.

She didn’t have to look up to see his frown deepening. She could feel the weight of it on her back as she finished peeling the apple. Before she could grab another from the box on the counter, he was right there, gently prying the peeler out of her tired hands.

“Let me do that,” he said quietly.

He’d already done so much for her, and all she’d been in return was be an insecure chicken shit. Maggie flushed. “I shouldn’t, but I
am
tired,” she finally said, surrendering mostly because it would take too much effort to argue.

“I know,” he said. “You work too hard.” He flashed her a shadow of his usual charismatic grin. “Besides, you know I can peel an apple.”

Maggie leaned back against the counter and closed her eyes briefly, trying to discover the energy to get the rest of the ingredients prepped. “You’ve put in some time,” she admitted.

He peeled in silence for a few minutes and she finally pushed off the counter and began cracking eggs into a massive bowl.

“So, all these pies and the desserts. Is it really worth it?” he asked.

She shrugged awkwardly as she mentally counted out the eggs.

“I just think there’s got to be a better solution. Maybe you should reconsider the dinner idea.” Noah sounded so careful, Maggie felt another wave of shame. She’d pushed him away and it had been
stupid of her. Tabitha and Noah had practically negative chemistry. In fact, they could hardly avoid each other more. Plus, she’d heard from Janice all about the little incident at lunch where Noah had stood up and had basically told Tabitha off for being rude. He might have come to town to confront her, but he seemed to have very little interest in actually doing any confronting. He just seemed to want to work on his house and stare at Maggie like some cute little puppy dog after a bone.

Oh, and peel her apples. Maggie was sure there was a dirty metaphor in there somewhere.

“I’ve been thinking about it,” Maggie admitted, because she had. In fact, having Tabitha in town had given her a good idea for something that was probably halfway to crazy, but then falling for Noah Fox had been pretty crazy and that had turned out decently. Or at least it
had
—whether it continued to work out remained up in the air, but Maggie still hoped they could fix this thing between them. At least their friendship because it did seem that he wanted to make Sand Point his permanent home. The house he was remodeling with Cal was a concrete testament to this, and every time she wanted to doubt, all she had to do was think of all the time and energy he’d poured into it.

“Tell me,” Noah asked gently.

Even though she was halfway to dead on her feet, it helped to talk as she added cream and vanilla to the eggs, whisking away briskly. “I think I’m going to hold a New Year’s dinner. Test the waters, so to speak. It’s a big thing, to add dinner, and I want to try to work out the kinks. If it’s successful, I can hire more staff and ultimately, work less.”

“I think it’s a great idea,” he said. “What can I do to help?”

Maggie shot him a grateful smile. “You’ve already helped plenty.”

He set down the peeler and the apple deliberately on the counter and slid next to her. “Maggie,” he said seriously. “I’ve given you the space you said you wanted. But it feels like crap. I miss you.”

She stared up into his dark eyes and wanted more than anything to smooth back the mussed up hair from his forehead. She wanted to lean against his solid chest and feel his arms around her, wanted to melt into him as he comforted her and protected her. As much as she wanted those things, they were still scary.

“I’ve missed you too,” she murmured because it was scarier to think about losing him completely.

“Then let me move back in,” he said, sliding his arms around her waist and pulling her in close. Maggie hesitated for a long moment, then let herself soften into his embrace. It felt just as good as she remembered.

“As it turns out,” he chuckled a little into her hair, “I’m apparently a huge dork and I sleep like shit without you. Headaches all over the place.”

Maggie pulled back and glanced up at him, the only thought in her head concern for the man she loved. “Headaches?”

“Not bad ones,” he corrected. “Not really migraines. But they make it a bitch to sleep.” She sank back into his arms and rubbed her cheek against his cotton-covered chest.

“Good.”

“Is that a yes?”

“You’re pretty persistent.” She couldn’t help smiling. He kind of
was
like
a puppy dog after a bone.

“Just sleeping I swear. Unless you want something . . . else,” he said and she could swear he was grinning like a fool. She could hear it in his voice.

“Promise it won’t be weird?” she asked, even though there was no way he could ever make good on that promise. The weirdness was something completely out of his control unless he could time travel and never become involved with Tabitha in the first place.

But
, Maggie’s brain insisted,
if he hadn’t hooked up with Tabby, he wouldn’t have come looking for her. He never would have found you. You never would have met him.
Weirdly, this suddenly seemed so much worse than him once dating her sister.

“Promise.”

“Okay,” she mumbled into his t-shirt. “Now let me go, I have to finish these before I pass out.”

He hugged her a little tighter, squeezing her sternum until she yelped in protest. “Tight,” she insisted, and he just laughed until he finally let her go.

“Do you need to go check out of the hotel?” she asked, returning to whisking her egg mixture.

Maggie swore that Noah deliberately angled his body towards the trash can so she couldn’t see his face. “Actually,” he paused, “I’ve kind of already checked out.”

Maybe if she hadn’t been quite so tired, it wouldn’t have been quite so funny. Sometimes Noah’s presumptuous tendencies were annoying, but today she apparently found them absolutely adorable.

She actually had to put down the whisk as the giggles overtook her.

“It’s not that funny,” he grumped.

“Wrong,” she gasped out. “It’s hilarious. You’re hilarious.”

“So much love from this corner,” Noah retorted, but she could see the smile peeping out from the corners of his mouth.

“Yes,” she said, and she saw his eyes comically widen and she just grinned over at him. It wasn’t everything, definitely wasn’t a confession of all she felt for him, but it was
something
and from the way his smile just broke over his face like the sun rising, he definitely wasn’t afraid of her feelings or his own.

It had been a crazy long, hard day, Maggie thought as she sprinkled cinnamon over the sourdough she’d cut into big chunks, but she had the best guy ever with her, helping her, and she had a sister who wanted to fix their relationship and she was smiling.

Plus, tomorrow was Christmas Eve.

She’d just have to chalk this day up in the win column.

When Maggie woke up the next morning, she thought she was just having a really great dream. A dream with a warm, snuggly man in her bed who, when she shifted around him, just groaned and tangled his hands further into her hair. It took her a moment to realize she wasn’t still sleeping and she wasn’t actually dreaming. Nuzzling deeper into her pillow, Maggie couldn’t help the smile that practically split her face in two when she realized she was most definitely awake and she’d made the particularly smart decision to invite Noah back to the house and to her bed.

He’d been so impossibly sweet last night, helping her with the Christmas desserts she’d promised to her clients, even though he was exhausted. She’d been even worse off, and as soon as he’d seen it, he’d basically insisted that he stay with her until everything was done. If she hadn’t had his loyal, cute ass to keep her upright and drag her to bed, Maggie wasn’t sure she would have made it.

She probably would have ended up sleeping at her desk at the Café. She’d done it before, but Maggie kind of hoped that Noah would make sure she wouldn’t ever do that again. She even liked how he wasn’t quite bossy like Cal, or patronizingly annoying about it either, just firm. Caring.
Loving,
she might even say.

“Why are you awake so damn early?” Noah grumbled as she moved again, jostling his no-doubt extremely comfortable position, curled around her.

“Habit,” she admitted.

“Go back to sleep,” Noah groaned.

“I can hear. . .rumbling . . .in the kitchen,” Maggie said, and that terrified her. Tabitha was still here and there was literally no single place she was more unsuited to than the kitchen. Tabitha, never content with mere mediocrity, didn’t just make terrible food. When she set foot in the kitchen, it usually meant a visit from the fire department was imminent, and Maggie liked her cute, little kitchen in this house. It was neat and tidy and she’d spent the last two years getting everything just how she wanted it. She did
not
want to see it on fire.

“I don’t care if Tabby’s in there. Leave it alone,” Noah mumbled into her t-shirt clad back.

“She’s probably trying to make coffee or something else equally horrible,” Maggie theorized, attempting to scoot towards the edge of the bed, but the arm that Noah had thrown around her middle suddenly tightened and she went exactly nowhere.

“Coffee’s not horrible.”

“It is when Tabitha makes it,” Maggie retorted. “I have to ask again. Don’t you know her
at all
?”

“It was the middle of the season, we were on the road a lot. She didn’t have a lot of opportunities to be domestic,” Noah admitted.

“That was probably better for everyone. You don’t ever want her in the kitchen.” Maggie finally quit struggling because she was making absolutely zero progress getting any closer to the edge of the bed and collapsed back on the pillow.

“Are you keeping me here permanently or something?” she finally asked.

She felt Noah lift his head, groan, and then fit right back behind her neck. “Darling, it’s not even eight. Ask me again when it’s noon.”

“Noon!” Maggie squeaked in protest and wiggled in his grip fruitlessly, though she’d be lying if she said she wasn’t enjoying his arms around her more than she was letting on. “But there’s so much to do for Christmas.”

“Of course,” Noah groaned.

Maggie huffed in pseudo-annoyance but settled right back into the curve of his arms like she’d never left. Despite her protests, she didn’t really want to. She just really,
really
enjoyed giving him crap.

“You keep wiggling like that,” he said, his voice a few shades gruffer, “you’re
definitely
not leaving this bed. Maybe for a week.”