Page 19 of A Lonely Road (Spruce Hill #2)

Chapter Sixteen

Jake

W hen I awoke the next morning, Nora was gone. The loss of her soft body beside me kicked off an ache inside my chest. It lingered even when I reminded myself she had spent the night.

And what a glorious night it had been.

Baby steps. She would need time to get used to things, get comfortable with this level of intimacy—something beyond the physical. Every time she opened up to me, she showed more and more of her true self, the one she’d hidden behind those thorns, like the blossoms on the hawthorn tree out back.

Eventually, with patience and kindness and trust, I was almost certain she’d show me the rest.

I swallowed my disappointment, then glanced at the clock and swore under my breath. It was almost eleven—I hadn’t slept past eight in years. Of course, I hadn’t had such a fascinating companion to keep me up half the night, either.

The thought had me grinning up at the ceiling as memories of Nora, naked and glorious and bold, danced before my eyes.

Even though I'd joked about my sister being a force of nature, coming together with Nora was like being caught in a hurricane. She was wonderfully intense, with every new height drawing me higher right alongside her. Everything about her made me want to learn more, experience more.

Had she really run away this morning?

It hit me like a bucket of frigid water.

Disappointment wasn’t the right word for what I was feeling—it was more a crushing sense of loss.

Even though she'd warned me, made it sound like it wasn’t personal, I still felt like I’d done something wrong.

I wracked my brain, trying to think of a moment when I might have pushed too hard, rushed her too fast, but there was nothing. Everything felt so perfect, so natural.

Things seemed to be going so well between us, and she’d given every indication of enjoying the night as much as I did. Her admission about being the first to leave echoed in my head and made my chest ache again, because I recognized that she was speaking from experience.

How could I make it clear that I had no intention of walking away from her without scaring her off with the force of that admission?

I rubbed a hand over my face as I sat up. It was a moment before I noticed that the cake box was gone from the bedside table, replaced by a scrap of paper she’d pulled off the notepad from the kitchen. Leaning over, I grabbed it and reread the words several times before they sunk in.

You’re cute when you sleep. Just couldn’t bear to wake you. Cake’s in the fridge. Leftovers make an excellent breakfast, FYI. ~N

I couldn’t hold back the idiotic smile that spread across my face.

This didn’t feel like a “first one to leave” type of situation.

This felt . . . good. It felt like a beginning, a promise of more to come, not like she considered things between us over and done with.

I thought about texting her but forced myself to wait.

Even if she'd warmed up to me—and fuck, had she warmed up—I still had the unsettling feeling that it wouldn’t take much to scare her off.

Patience and continued reassurance seemed to be just the thing to coax Nora from behind her walls. I could provide both of those things, not just until she recognized I wasn’t going anywhere, but for as long as she wanted me around.

If there was one thing I’d learned from being a twin, it was that I was the steady one in the face of Sam’s animated exuberance.

I was the one happy to wait for my pleasure, to work for my reward, no matter how long it took.

Sam loved a challenge, yes, but she thrived on a continually changing routine that accommodated her flashes of interest and fits of whimsy.

Steadfast and steady, my father had always called me, usually after my sister went whirling through a room and left me blinking in her wake.

Though I knew he’d meant it as a compliment, it hadn’t felt like one back then, not when our classmates flocked to my sister from the first day we started at a new high school and referred to me only as “Sam’s brother. ”

Now, though? Now it was clear that those traits weren’t second best, they were just me. And they were exactly what seemed to draw Nora to me in the first place, to ease my path beyond that prickly defense system she’d managed to keep in place for so long.

She hadn’t run away.

The warmth twining through my chest was neither as simple as relief nor as basic as pleasure. It was . . . contentment. Joy. Nora hadn’t replaced the barricade around her heart after last night. She’d let me in, and I’d be damned if I didn’t fight to keep my place there.

With that in mind, I set about getting ready for work, still grinning from ear to ear. Just before I walked out the door, my phone rang with my twin’s ringtone.

“Can’t you ever use your psychic twin powers for good, instead of evil?” I demanded as I answered the call.

“Nope,” Sam replied. “How’s our girl?”

I held the phone away from my ear to glare at my sister’s photo on the screen. “ Our girl? I kind of hate that, Samantha. Why are you asking, anyway?”

A low whistle sounded from the other end of the line before Sam said, “Well, that was an answer in itself. Did you sleep with her yet? ”

“For Christ’s sake, that’s none of your business,” I muttered, but the words were without heat. I was more annoyed at her uncanny ability to sense when my love life took a turn than with the question.

“Someone is touchy this morning. I just need to assess whether she’s loosened up a bit. Eased into the small town life, you know? Do you think she’s in a good mood today?”

I tripped over my thoughts of Nora loosening up and heaved a sigh. “As far as I’m aware, yes, she’s in a good mood.”

“Good, then I’ll strike while the iron’s hot. Enjoy your day, brother!”

Before I could even ask what the hell that meant, she’d hung up. One thing was certain about my twin—nothing stayed under wraps for long. I’d give Nora a bit more time before checking in with her, and hopefully by that point I would know what Samantha Lincoln had up her sleeve.

“Strike while the iron’s hot,” I repeated, shaking my head.

Nora could certainly take care of herself, but I’d never let Sam hear the end of it if she pushed Nora into joining in on one of her crazy schemes.

I shoved the phone in my back pocket, grabbed my keys from the kitchen counter, and headed out to the truck. Though I didn’t see any movement from those frilly curtains in Nora’s door at the top of the stairs, I gave a little salute, just in case she was watching.

My sister might be a whirlwind, but thanks to my beautiful new neighbor, I was on cloud nine.