Page 212 of The Havenport Collection

Nora

I threw myself into house projects with gusto. Today I was painting the guest room and definitely not thinking about last night. I brewed a pot of coffee and cranked up Taylor Swift, hoping to drown out any thoughts of Luke Kim.

That bastard. Did he have to be so good in bed? I wanted him to be a selfish, boring lay. Not the most intuitive, generous lover I’d ever had. I knew he was intense, but when that intensity was focused on me? So. Fucking. Hot.

I’d had to leave. I wasn’t going to stay the night with him.

Granted, his bed was pretty awesome, and I had a sense those strong arms would feel really good wrapped around me, but I was a woman with pride, dammit.

He had been clear from the beginning he wasn’t a relationship guy.

We were just two people who gave in to the intense chemistry between us. And that was all it could be.

I dipped the roller in the tray, desperate to think about anything else.

I envisioned how great this room would look.

A great place for friends to stay. I envisioned Emily sleeping here after too many margaritas on my roof deck.

Granted, the roof deck was rotted and totally unsafe, but I would get it fixed eventually and throw some killer parties.

Since the guest room was so tiny, it didn’t take much time or mental energy to paint, so I found my mind wandering again to Luke Kim. Did I like him?

Of course not. He was a cocky billionaire who thought his shit didn’t stink. I hated people like him.

But that wasn’t completely true, was it?

He was surprisingly decent. I always knew he was generous, but he was also pretty down to earth. He preferred living in the brownstone instead of his mansion and drove a jeep. He was genuinely helpful.

He had great taste in food, and he smelled good. And he had a pretty great dick. Ooh, and an amazing tongue.

So maybe not a soul-destroying demon. Or maybe he was just a sociopath and excellent actor? Or maybe, there’s a lot more to Luke Kim than I expected?

I groaned while packing up my supplies. I needed clarity; I needed help. I needed Cece. I was in over my head. I needed to swallow my pride and get my bestie’s advice.

“Why did you invoke the code word?” Cece asked, suspiciously looking around as she let me in the front door of her house.

I kissed my sweet friend on the head. Her signature wild curls were pulled back, and she was wearing a threadbare Gourd Fest 2002 sweatshirt. She looked paler than usual. Was she sick?

“Are you okay?” I asked.

“Of course,” she said brightly.

“Are you getting a cold? If you head over to the Thompson Farm Store, Loraine makes homemade fire cider with honey from the farm.”

“No. I’m really good,” she insisted.

I eyed her suspiciously while I put down the shopping tote filled with wine and snacks on the kitchen island and busied myself looking for coffee mugs.

Cece and I had a long tradition of drinking wine out of coffee mugs—we were classy like that.

I spent a lot of time here, so I knew where everything was.

Cece and Liam lived on the top floor of an old brick house near the harbor. It had gorgeous views and was walking distance to the brewery. Given how much time we spent drinking wine here, I found the corkscrew immediately and got to work.

“None for me,” Cece mumbled, her mouth full of Red Vines.

I picked my head up. “What?” I had known Cecelia Leary-Quinn since kindergarten and she rarely turned down alcohol. Actually never, now that I thought about it.

I put the bottle down and walked around to where she was standing, a Red Vine hanging out of her mouth. I shot her a look. I knew this woman better than anyone. Not drinking? Looking pale and queasy?

Her eyes grew wide. “Don’t say anything.”

I threw my arms around her. “I can’t believe this.”

She hugged me back. “Trust me, neither can I. This was not part of the plan right now.”

“But it’s still awesome,” I said.

“We’re not telling anyone. At least not yet.”

“I will keep your secret, my love.” I hugged her again, breathing in her happiness and excitement.

“How’s Liam?”

“Terrified. We had decided to wait a few years.”

“What happened?”

“Have you seen my husband?”

I giggled. “Good point. So you were never going to make it a few years.”

“Probably not. The man makes my ovaries throb.” She shrugged.

“No shame, sister. If I was married to a bearded hottie like Liam, I’d do the same thing.”

“But it’s so early, we only just found out. So I’ll tell everyone in a few weeks once we know everything is okay so far.”

I put my arm around her. “I get it. I’m just so happy for you, babe.” I went to put the wine away.

“Don’t not drink on my account. You told me this was a level 5 friendship emergency. So clearly you need it.”

I was so overcome with love for my friend. “I do actually,” I said. “I am in crisis.”

“Then get a mug of wine and tell me.”

We curled up on the couch with our snacks and I told her everything. I started with my house and then moved on to my string of disastrous investor meetings, before finishing up with the fact I had hooked up with Luke.

“Oh, babe.” She rubbed my back in circles. “First of all, I’m a little sad you felt the need to hide these things from me.”

“It’s not that I wanted to. You know how hard it is for me with stuff like this.

I’m tough and get shit done. I don’t call my friend and cry into my candy because my house nearly burned down, my business is floundering, and I am weirdly attracted to my neighbor who I had previously sworn to hate for all eternity. ”

“Okay, okay. We will get to Mr. Kim in due time. First. How can I help you? Do you want me to call the rest of the coven?”

“No, I don’t want the world knowing what a failure I am.”

“You are not a failure. Yes, you tend to take a lot on and have no concept of your own limitations. But that’s a good thing. Most days you are an absolute superhuman, so it’s okay that you’ve hit a few bumps in the road.”

“I just feel like nothing I do is good enough.”

“Stop that right now. You are amazing. Of course things are hard; you are building an empire for fuck’s sake. It’s okay to be sad. It’s okay to be frustrated. But it is not okay to give up.”

I curled up on the couch and let the tears fall. I was just feeling so much, and Cece, like the beautiful unicorn friend she was, stroked my hair and fed me candy.

“I know you do not want to talk about this, but I need to understand. Luke is your neighbor?”

“Yes. He bought the brownstone for his mom. He renovated it and made it special for her and then she passed away from cancer.”

Cece started to tear up. “Oh, that is so sad. What a wonderful son.”

“I know the preggo hormones are messing with your brain, but stay focused.”

She wiped away a tear. “You’re right. I need to be focused on the fact that he rushed into your house to rescue you from a fire.

” She grabbed a magazine off the coffee table and started to fan herself.

“I’m sorry. But preggo or not that is hot.

If Liam did that I would still be thanking him with sexual favors until the end of time. ”

“Stop,” I whined. “It wasn’t like that.”

“It was exactly like that. He ran into a burning building for you.”

“It was one wall in the kitchen.”

“There were flames, Nora. Fucking fire.”

I sighed. She wasn’t wrong.

“So he’s hot, rich, and brave,” she continued, reaching for the bag of Red Vines. “But we hate him?” She smirked and I groaned.

Cece was my best friend, but she was also a fairly sensible person.

Deep down I knew she would call me out on this, and maybe that’s what I wanted.

I had certainly done the same for her when she first started seeing Liam.

She had been an angsty mess, and I had to kick her ass a bit. It’s what friends did.

But right now I didn’t want to confront my feelings for Luke. I wanted to just wallow for a bit. And she was not allowing it.

“And we had sex and it was incredible,” I said, covering my face with a throw pillow.

Cece rubbed her hands together maniacally. “I have been waiting for this moment.” She jumped off the couch and started pacing around. “I need more details. Orgasm count? Dick size? Number of rounds?”

“Stop,” I shouted into the pillow.

“I told you I’d get you back for how you interrogated me about Liam.” She laughed. “Your reticence to share the details tells me that you actually like him.”

“We share a very”—I coughed—“intense connection. Okay?”

She nodded, grinning widely. “So it wasn’t just once then? You didn’t just scratch the itch and go home, eh?”

I shook my head.

“Twice?”

I shook my head again.

“Three times! You had sex with him three times in one night but you don’t like him at all? Bitch, please. You are obsessed with him. I know you, Nora. You have no problem leaving. You stayed and things got spicier, huh?”

I nodded, feeling mortified.

“Did he go down on you?”

“Yes, and it was epic. He basically has an Olympian tongue, and I am now ruined for other men. Are you happy now?”

Cece clapped her hands and jumped up and down. “No. Not yet. So he gives thorough and enthusiastic head—that’s critical. More details, please.”

I rolled my eyes. “He’s a little bit rough and bossy and demanding. Dirty mouth, but still tender and respectful. Made sure I came several times.”

Cece punched the air a few times. “YESSSSS. I want this for you, Nora. This is a good thing. He’s smart enough to keep up with you, he’s kind and generous, and he’s amazing in bed? Don’t overthink it. You deserve this.”

And then it all just became too much. I burst into tears, hiccupping and sobbing. Cece sat down and put her arms around me, letting me drench her sweatshirt with my tears.

“Everything is crazy right now.” I hiccupped. “My entire world has been turned upside down. My business is in flux, and I live in a renovation nightmare and only got the water turned back on last week.”

She hugged me tighter, letting me get it all out.

“My carefully cultivated control is crumbling.”

“Maybe it’s about time. Those ridiculous walls you’ve built since Chip are in need of a tear down.”

I looked up at her beautiful face. “Oh my God. Stop with the wall metaphor. It’s tired.”

“It works, kid. We both know you built a fortress around your heart. No shame in it. Survival makes us all do crazy things. But it sounds like Lucas is ready to scale those walls.” She wiggled her eyebrows at me suggestively.

“Stop,” I groaned.

“He could easily scale a wall. He could—have you see his shoulders?”

I blushed. “Yes. They are quite nice. But he’s been clear he doesn’t do relationships and he’s not interested in more. And it probably wouldn’t work out anyway; we do not get along.

“How did you leave things?”

“So awkwardly. I was freaking out and so was he. So I did the responsible thing and said good night and went home.”

“If you want to explore this, you need to talk to him.”

“But I just don’t know if I do or not. I need to think things through. And I want to see how he reacts. If he reaches out and wants to spent time with me, I will. But if he needs space, that’s okay too.”

“I think you’re chickening out and making him do the work.”

I put my finger to my lips. “Shhhhh. Let me lie to myself, please? Just for a minute?”

“Wow. So this is an actual something between you then?”

I shook my head. “No fucking clue. He’s just so infuriating. He’s cocky and annoying one minute and then incredibly kind and generous the next. The more time I spend with him the more I am totally confused. Do I hate him? Or do I…you know…not hate him?” I looked away, not wanting to meet her eyes.

“You clearly don’t hate him.”

“But it would be easier if I did.”

“Of course it would, but when has Nora ever liked things easy?”

She got me there. I had a unique way of always making things far more complicated and difficult than they had to be. Easy was boring. I always took the biggest risks and faced the biggest challenges head-on. But it felt like I had lost a lot of my fight lately.

“Is this really about Luke or about your business?” she asked softly.

Leave it to my best friend to cut right to the heart of the matter.

“It’s everything,” I said. “I have been working so hard, and things are just not working out.

“Yet,” she corrected. “Not yet. But please don’t keep things from me. I will never think less of you. I will never judge you. This friendship, it transcends all that shit. The bond we share is at another level and this stuff will weaken if we’re not honest.”

“You’re right,” I grumbled. “I’m just worn out and frustrated.” I started to cry again.

“You can’t let these private equity assholes get to you,” she said. “You are going to show them. You will drink their blood someday.”

I laughed through my tears. “I love you.”

“I love you too. You are a brilliant, complicated badass, Nora Rossi. And I am honored to be your best friend. Whatever happens, you have me and the coven. We’ve got your back always. And I think with a little break and a recharge, you will be back out there kicking ass in no time.”

“Thank you.” I hiccupped, still crying into the pillow.

“I’m here for you. As long as you need.” And she was. I lay on the couch crying for another hour, while Cece stroked my hair and told me I was the baddest bitch to ever walk the earth.