Naked (5 page)

When he approached the kitchen, he was shocked to see his entire family crowded around the table in absolute awe of a strange man fluttering his fingers over a laptop.

“Noah, sweetheart.” His mother lifted her head from whatever held their attention and greeted him. “I’m so happy you’re here.”

She floated toward him. And there was something different, something in the way she smiled. The way her brown hair was curled at the ends. In the way she dressed. Her usual jeans had been replaced with a skirt and frilly blouse. This wasn’t his mother. This was June Cleaver reincarnate.

His older sister, Paige, sat at the head of the table, one pint-sized kid on her lap, another clinging to her arm, all intently watching the computer. His nephew, Trevor, was glued to the man with glasses in front of the laptop. His younger sister, Charlotte, was the only one who really looked his way. She made a subtle gesture with her finger mimicking a gag, which confirmed why she was his favorite.

Finally, normalcy set in. Samantha yelled, “Uncle Noah!”

His two nieces barreled across the kitchen, each one clinging to a leg. “Hey, munchkins.” He laid a palm on each head, the contrasting blond and dark brown hair practically slipping through his fingers.

“Uncle Noah!” Trevor, his nephew, screeched but didn’t leave his spot at the table. “Henry made a videogame.”

Henry. Right, that was his name.

The boyfriend looked up from the laptop. He wore wire-rimmed glasses and had the smallest facial features he’d ever seen on a man. A tiny nose and less than prominent chin. He was nothing like the men his mother usually dated. He looked like a damn professor.

Which he was.

Henry got up from his seat and walked toward him, extending his hand. “It’s wonderful to finally meet you, Noah.” He smiled, pushing up his glasses with his opposite hand. “Your mother has told me so much about all of you.”

He had a strong handshake for a man who wore brown pants and a sweater vest. Maybe his hand was exercised and strong because he was always on the keyboard.

“Even me!” Trevor asked, his finger tapping on the laptop keyboard.

“Especially you.” Henry returned to the table. “Why do you think I made this videogame?” He sat in his seat and leaned in toward his nephew. “Because your gram told me how much you and your sisters like playing.”

Noah moved closer to the table, and could now see the game was some kind of frog jumping up and collecting flies.

A wide smile spread across Trevor’s face. “Mom!” he yelled. “Henry will make all our videogames.”

The group laughed.

“I don’t think that’s the case.” Paige bent and hovered face-to-face with Trevor. “But maybe if you’re good, Henry might surprise you every once in a while.”

With the kids focused on Henry and his game, Noah and his sisters left their mother to put the finishing touches on dinner. No one was allowed in the kitchen until it was time to eat. Apparently, they messed with her mojo, but they were front and center for cleanup.

Noah still hadn’t gotten used to the new furniture in the family room. For twenty years, the same blue plastic-covered sofas had been the focal point of the room and were now replaced with brown microfiber.

“So how are we coming with the party planning?” Paige asked as she sat beside Charlotte on the sectional.

Over the last five years, Noah had been flipping houses, saving money for his tentative plans to start an independent contracting business. But the current house in Stillbride was different. It was the home his family had lived in until his father’s passing, the home he’d grown up in. He had split the cost with his sisters to purchase it as a retirement gift for their mother. She’d done so much for them and it was the least they could do to repay her for lifelong support and unconditional love. They were going to present her with the gift at a retirement party they were planning in less than two months.

“Excellent.” Charlotte slid her legs under her body and settled against the arm. “Now that you’ve approved the menu, I’ve placed the food order. The tables and chairs will be delivered at noon.” She looked over at Noah. “So I should probably stay over the night before to make sure everything gets done.”

“You don’t trust me?” He grinned.

“No.” Her expression was stone cold. “This is my first major party that includes non–family members. I need to prove I can do this.”

Charlotte was going to start her own event planning business when her contract at Arch Media Corporation was up in a few months. She was following, just as Paige had, the philosophy of their father. Be your own boss. Unfortunately, their father had died before he’d gotten the chance to do it for himself.

Noah and Charlotte were similar in so many ways, but there was one glaring difference between them. Noah was scared shitless to go into business for himself. Unlike Charlotte who was blazing full steam ahead on her dream.

“Looks like she doesn’t need us.” Noah looked over at Paige with a knowing grin.

“I’m the money.” Paige gestured in his direction, flipping her blond hair over her shoulder.

“Here we go.” Charlotte rolled her eyes. “We all know you and Philip have money. We get it.”

Both Noah and Charlotte had to work hard and long for their cash. Paige was a casual real-estate agent and her husband, Philip, worked on Bay Street as a stockbroker.

“I’m not saying that to be conceited, but I
was
the one who fronted the largest chunk of the down payment.” Paige was always checking the foreclosure lists. She’d been the one to find him cheap houses to buy and renovate, but when she’d come across their childhood home, it was an opportunity they couldn’t pass up.

“Are you forgetting that I’m fronting the party?” Charlotte asked, her blue eyes staring down his older sister. “And that Noah is fronting the renovations?”

Noah just watched as the two of them went back and forth about the financing. They’d all contributed what they could. Charlotte had even set herself back with the amount she’d donated and had to extend her contract to replenish her savings.

“You guys are so touchy.” Paige held up her hands in defense. “What are we going to do with Henry?”

They all looked up toward the doorway as if the mention of his name would bring him to the room.

“He looks like he’s sticking around,” Charlotte said with a subtle look that was only a fraction of a lip curl from dirty.

“We should probably fill him in on the party.” Paige had been the one to push their mother into dating now that they were all grown up and out of the house. It had been a conversation Noah wanted no part of. But he knew it was long overdue. Not once had she had a man in her life during their childhood.

“I say we keep the house under wraps,” Noah suggested. “There’s no reason for anyone but the four of us to know.”

Both Paige and Charlotte nodded in agreement.

“You on time with the renovations?” Charlotte played with the ends of her blond hair, as she always did when something was on her mind.

He nodded, looking out the window into the backyard. Although if he kept obsessing over his neighbor, he wasn’t sure if he’d keep up with the schedule. It was grueling enough without her as a distraction. Which was why he’d given her a week to make a move. Although he had no idea if she’d take the bait. She’d spent months keeping to herself, and one almost-kiss couldn’t have been a game changer.

Could it?

“You’re quiet today,” Paige said sipping her coffee. When Noah looked up, he realized the comment was directed at him.

He shrugged.

Silence hung in the air for a few moments while his sisters eyed each other with serious smirks and raised eyebrows.

“What?” He knew those looks. He knew that within minutes he was going to disclose the something that had been plaguing his mind for the last two days. Or someone. Violet. She was a mystery. And would remain a mystery as long as she kept him at a distance.

And why shouldn’t she keep you at a distance? You’re a stranger.

“Something on your mind?” Charlotte had the uncanny ability to know what was troubling him, even when he didn’t know it himself. He loved and hated that about her. Mostly because he didn’t like her in his head. “He has a chick problem,” she said matter-of-factly.

“I don’t have a chick problem.” When she stared him down, one eyebrow raised in question. “All right.” He threw a pillow at her from the opposite end of the sectional. She caught it with a wide grin. “I might have met a woman. She’s my neighbor.”

“In Stillbride?” Paige looked sufficiently horrified that he’d met someone in their hometown.

“Where else do I live, genius?”

This time it was Paige’s turn to throw a pillow. It missed him by a mile and bounced off the arm of the couch, narrowly missing the lamp. Mom was going to kill them if they broke something.

“Do we know her?” Charlotte asked. “Did she go to school with you or Paige?”

There were only two elementary schools and two high schools in town. You either went to public school or Catholic school.

Charlotte was too young to remember living there, but Noah and Paige had made good friends they’d had to leave behind.

“She’s new to town. She didn’t grow up there.” He knew it even before they’d gone out on that date. There was something about her that screamed city girl. From the way she held her head with the slightest angle upward to the car she drove and the clothes she wore. She was always dressed to perfection, her hair and makeup always in place. Although he knew she spent time on her appearance, it wasn’t over the top. She still looked natural, still absolutely stunning.

Fuck, he needed to stop thinking about her.

“Have you gone on a date?” Charlotte asked.

He nodded.

Both Paige and Charlotte stared at him from their seats, waiting for something more.

“And…” Paige was never the patient one of the bunch.

“It was all right.”

It was more than all right, although he suspected that was only because he was lonely.

“What’s going on?” Charlotte stared him down. “You never withhold.”

If there was one thing he’d learned by growing up with two sisters, dishing about dating and sex was inherent in their DNA. So he’d often get blackmailed into giving the info. Although after a while, they didn’t have to blackmail him. He volunteered the information because they gave the best advice. Having two sisters, unlike his friends, meant he could get a glimpse into the mind of a woman and he used that to his advantage many times in order to get women into his bed. In exchange, there were many times when he’d flexed his muscles with some douche who’d jerked Paige around. Fortunately for him, Charlotte was never into dating. Although he highly suspected not being into it wasn’t the case. She was just too shy to get involved.

But now that they were adults, he wanted to keep some things private, but they just didn’t get it. He loved these women dearly, but they had no boundaries.

“Are you going to see her again?” Charlotte asked.

“I invited her over Saturday night.”

“I get to meet her.” Charlotte smiled and clapped her hands together. She loved meeting the women he’d dated. She could pick the unstable ones out of a lineup. At first he never believed her, but when she’d been right five times in a row, he had to start.

“On second thought, maybe you shouldn’t come on Saturday. I don’t need you in my head while I’m trying to—”

Two terrors entered the room and climbed onto the couches. One between Paige and Charlotte, one beside Noah. Tiny arms covered in pink fabric wrapped themselves around his waist and a head burrowed against his chest.

“I want to meet her.” Paige slammed her fist on the arm of the couch. “But I have kids. I can’t be gallivanting around to house parties.” She frowned.

Saturday evening was anything but. He had invited his best friend Luke and his business partner, Harper Jones, who over the last five years had become a great friend. “It’s hardly a house party. Luke and I will be ripping up carpet. Harper will be drinking. And Charlotte will—”

“Supervise the evening.” His little sister grinned. She had always been bossy and demanding. At least with them. People outside of the family were a different story.

“You’re right.” Paige turned to Noah. “That doesn’t sound like a party at all.”

They both laughed as Charlotte punched Paige in the arm.

“Ouch!” Paige rubbed her biceps. “Tell me about her, since I don’t get to meet her.”

He didn’t know much, but what he did know…

“She only comes out two or three times a week. She doesn’t talk to anyone. She’s practically a recluse. It’s like she’s hiding from something.”

“That’s exciting.” Charlotte’s conspiracy-theory look took over her face. “Maybe she’s in the witness protection program.”

“She wants to stay on a first-name basis and not talk about our lives. Just superficial stuff.”

“Totally hiding from something.” Paige laughed. “It’s always the quiet, wholesome ones who cause the most trouble.”

Noah laughed. “I knew Charlotte was going to end up a serial killer.”

“Shut up!” She punched Paige again. Charlotte always resorted to physical retaliation. Probably from being the youngest and always having to defend herself.

When she was done pouting, Charlotte said, “Sounds to me that she’s exactly what you’re looking for.” She leaned forward and picked up the Strawberry Shortcake doll that had fallen under the coffee table and gave it to Ariel.

“What does that mean?” He wasn’t looking for trouble. He just wanted someone to pass the time with so he didn’t start answering when he talked to himself.

“With the exception of Bitchface, you weren’t exactly monogamous,” Paige answered. “You and Luke could have written your own playbook.”

Bitchface was the nickname Paige had given his ex, Megan Rhodes. The one who’d ripped his heart out and stomped all over it. The heart he still wasn’t sure was back to full capacity. After two years together, and after Noah had opened up his heart as wide as he’d ever thought possible, she’d decided she didn’t want to spend the rest of her life with a construction worker. She’d gone back to the guy she’d dated at university, who now had a fancy finance job at one of the top banking firms. He later found out that she’d already initiated a relationship with him while they were still dating. She’d wanted lavish parties, fancy houses, and cars. All he would have been able to give her was a small house in a small town, with an even smaller paycheck. Which was why Noah was having trouble committing to his own business. It would solidify his status as blue collar. He was battling some severe post-traumatic stress where that was concerned.