3
Noel’s phone buzzed in her pocket for the fifth time in five minutes, making her regret her life choices. If Henry, the manager of Woodlines, texted her one more time about the menu for Drew’s surprise birthday party, she was going to lose her mind. What was so hard about a buffet that had both seafood and vegan options? She’d already told him that the only requirement was crab legs, since those were Drew’s favorite.
“Is that Bianca again?” Drew asked as he dipped his spoon into his lobster bisque. They were at an upscale restaurant in the quaint town of Trinidad, California, enjoying their appetizers. Drew had booked them a gorgeous short-term rental that had a view of the ocean from nearly every window.
“Yeah, problem with a double booking.” Noel jumped up, clutching her phone. “I’ll just give her a call and be right back. I’m sorry. I know it’s not quite the romantic dinner you’d planned.”
“It’s all right,” he said, but Noel couldn’t help but notice the tick of his jaw, indicating that he was irritated.
Join the club, buddy. If his party wasn’t next week, she’d completely ignore Henry until she could go see him in person and give him a piece of her mind. Texting and calling multiple times on a Friday night, especially after she’d said she was out of town, was just unacceptable. Once she was outside, she returned his call.
“Thank goodness,” Henry said, sounding stressed. “I need to know If anyone is allergic to garlic.”
“What?” Noel kicked a rock, sending it skittering right toward a couple who was headed her way. “Sorry,” she whispered and gave them an embarrassed grimace.
“Watch it, lady,” the woman said, careful to step over the rock.
They hurried down the sidewalk, their heads bent together, and the entire exchange only made her angrier at Henry. “Seriously? That’s why you’re blowing up my phone?” she said, trying and failing to keep her voice down. “I already told you that the only issue is that we have a couple of vegans coming. No allergies. Garlic is fine.”
“Oh, good,” he said, letting out a sigh of relief. “My cousin has an aversion to garlic, and if she gets even a tiny bit of it, she spends all night on the toilet. I wanted to make sure that doesn’t happen at Drew’s party.”
Noel was so incredulous she was speechless. After a long moment, she sucked in a deep breath and said, “Henry, I am out of town, enjoying a nice dinner with Drew. Do not call or text me again for at least twenty-four hours, understand?”
“But what if I have more questions? If I don’t get this menu done tonight, I fear things won’t be ready for his party next weekend. There’s planning and ordering and test dishes. It doesn’t just happen in one day, Noel.”
Noel wondered why she hadn’t just planned to have the party at her dad’s house. They could have had a low-key potluck. No doubt her sisters would have helped her. But it wouldn’t have been the fancy celebration she’d had in mind.
“Make some executive decisions, Henry. As long as there are crab legs and something for the vegans, I’m good. Okay?”
“What about dessert? Do you need a cake?” he asked, sounding panicked.
“No!” Noel pressed a hand to her forehead and debated canceling altogether.
“Oh, right. I see here that you have that covered,” Henry said. “Okay, I’ll email you the final menu.”
“Fine. I’m turning my phone off for the rest of the weekend, so don’t bother calling until Monday.”
Henry let out a bark of laughter. “You’re so funny, Noel. Good one.”
“I’m not?—”
“I’ll talk to you tomorrow,” he said and then the line went dead.
Noel let out a growl of frustration and nearly threw her phone when it buzzed again. But when she saw Abby’s name flash on the screen, she rushed to answer it. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing,” Abby said with a soft chuckle. “Good goddess, Noel, you’re acting like a new mom with how nervous you are.”
“It’s not that. Henry keeps calling and texting while we’re trying to have dinner. I keep throwing Bianca under the bus as an excuse. By the time the night’s over, Drew is probably going to think that my inn manager is the most incompetent person in Keating Hollow.”
“Oh, honey,” Abby said with a soft chuckle. “I’m sure he’ll just think she’s having one of those nights. But if you want, I’ll call Henry and tell him to call me if he has any more questions.”
“No, don’t do that. You’ll spend the rest of the night fielding his inane inquiries,” Noel said. “You don’t want to invite that. Trust me.”
“But if it keeps him from ruining your date night, then I’m more than willing. Olive and Daisy are busy making playlists, and Poppy has passed out in the blanket fort. It’s just me and the pups, hanging out while I watch Practical Magic for the eighty-seventh time,” Abby said.
Noel sighed. “That actually sounds like heaven.”
“Noel!” Abby admonished. “You’re out with your husband… alone for the first time in months. You do not want to be here watching movies with the dogs.”
“No, no,” Noel said with a bark of laughter. “You’re absolutely right. I wouldn’t trade my time with Drew for anything. But your evening does sound like a nice break. Don’t listen to me. Henry is just stressing me out. I hate having to make up stuff so I don’t ruin the surprise.”
“Give me his number. I’ll make sure he doesn’t call or text you again for the rest of the weekend,” Abby insisted.
“He shouldn’t, but… Yeah, okay. I’ll text it to you as soon as we get off the phone.” Noel wrapped her arm across her body, rubbing her arm as a gust of wind chilled her. “Now, is everything okay there? The girls aren’t giving you a hard time, are they?”
“Of course not,” Abby scoffed. “They love their Aunt Abby.”
Noel snorted. “Sure they do. But if they think they can get away with something, there’s no telling what they’ll get up to.”
Abby laughed. “I have three kids, remember? I’m well aware. I only called to tell you that there’s no sign of the ghost and to find out where you keep the good ice cream.”
It was Noel’s turn to laugh. “You really just called for the ice cream, didn’t you? You never could pass up chocolate caramel swirl.”
“Absolutely. Now that Poppy’s passed out, I figured I deserved a treat, but I didn’t find it in the back of your freezer.” There was no mistaking the pout in Abby’s tone.
“You’re a piece of work,” Noel teased. “Calling me to find the expensive ice cream while I’m on my date. You should be ashamed.”
“And yet, I’m not at all. Where is it, Noel? I know it’s here somewhere.”
After cackling at her sister, Noel barely composed herself before she said, “It’s in the freezer in the container labeled Chili . The girls are never gonna look there.”
“You. Are. Brilliant. Gotta go. The ice cream is calling my name. See you in the morning.”
After Noel ended the call, she quickly texted Henry’s number to Abby and then silenced her phone. With Abby on the case, Noel felt better about ignoring the man for the rest of the night.
“Okay, crisis averted,” Noel said when she rejoined Drew back at their table.
“Do I even want to know?” he asked, picking up his wine glass and taking a sip.
“No. Just a reservation crisis. All fixed. She promises she won’t call again unless the place is burning down.”
“I hope you told her that if such an unfortunate event occurs, she should just call Yvette.”
Noel smirked. Her sister, Yvette, was a powerful fire witch. She was, in fact, the one to call in case of a fire emergency. “She knows. Now, where were we?”
Her husband pointed at her tuna tartare. “Appetizers, remember?”
“Of course I do. I meant, where were we in our conversation? You said something about heading over to the farm supply place tomorrow when we get back into town. Whatcha need? More fencing supplies?”
“Oh, that. Well…” he said slowly. “It’s spring, and I heard they have chickens in stock. And I thought?—”
“Chickens?” Noel exclaimed, excitement filling her soul. For as long as she could remember, she’d wanted a mini farm. That had all been put on hold when she’d purchased the inn, but now that they had the farmhouse and the surrounding land, she’d made some noise about chickens, but Drew hadn’t shown much interest. “You want to get chickens?”
He laughed. “ You want to get chickens. I figured we’d pick up the supplies to build that chicken coop and check out the chicks to see which type you want.”
Noel reached across the table and squeezed both of his hands. “You’re going to build me a chicken coop?”
“Your dad said he’d help. The farm supply has some kits that we can just pick up and assemble in a day or so. If you’re still interested, then I thought we’d work on that on Sunday.”
Squealing with excitement, Noel jumped up and ran over to the other side of the table and hugged her husband, pressing her cheek to the top of his head. “You, Mr. Baker, are the best husband in the world.”
“I know,” he said with a wink and then pulled her down so that she was sitting in his lap.
“Drew,” she said, grinning. “I don’t think this is the appropriate place for this.” But instead of sliding off his lap, she leaned in and gave him a slow, lingering kiss.
Her husband tightened his grip on her, deepening the kiss, making her feel as if she were the most desirable woman in the world.
“Ah-hem,” a man said, hovering over them.
Noel pulled back and felt her face flush with heat when she looked up at the gentleman who was wearing a suit and looked like he might be the manager. He was staring down at them, judgment written all over his face. “I’m going to have to ask you to take your seat, ma’am.”
Ma’am? Noel thought as she watched a waiter appear from behind the man and place their dinners on the table. She wasn’t a ma’am yet, was she? Just because she’d be forty in a few short years, that didn’t make her a ma’am. At least not in her book.
Drew squeezed her one last time before she took her own seat, and then he cleared his throat as he met the manager’s piercing gaze. “My apologies.” He gave the man a knowing smile. “It’s our first night out alone without the kids in months. I’m sure you understand.”
The judgment disappeared from the manager’s face, and he relented with a smirk. “Sure do.” He glanced at Noel and then back at Drew. Nodding his approval, he said, “It looks like you have a good night ahead of you. Just do me a favor and keep it PG until you’re behind closed doors.”
“You got it, Chief,” Drew said, giving the man a little salute.
After the manager left, Drew leaned across the table and whispered, “I’m headed to the restroom.” He raised one suggestive eyebrow. “Care to meet me in there in two minutes?”
Noel let out a bark of laughter. “Are you trying to get us arrested, Sheriff Baker? I can’t imagine that would be a good look for your career.”
He shrugged. “The guy said to keep it behind closed doors. I wasn’t suggesting a public spectacle.”
“You’re crazy,” Noel said, unable to stop her giggling. “As much as I’d love a quickie in the restroom, I was hoping to take my time tonight.” She let her gaze drop to his lips and then lower as she imagined an entire night with him, with zero interruptions. “I wouldn’t want to ruin the anticipation.”
Heat flared in Drew’s eyes, and his voice was husky when he said, “Then we better eat fast because I’m not sure I can wait that much longer.”
Noel grabbed her fork and dug in.
They ate in record time and then rushed back to their rental. The moment they were through the door, Drew pressed Noel against the wall and attacked her neck as if he were a starving man.
The thrill of knowing they had the entire place to themselves, that no kids would walk in on them, had her yanking on his clothes, desperate to feel every inch of him right there in the entry.
“It’s been too long, Noel,” he said between kisses, his hands roaming down her sides until they settled on her backside.
Noel moaned her agreement as she started unbuttoning his shirt. When she went to push it off his shoulders, Drew spun her and started walking her backward toward the bedroom. Articles of his clothing were left in a trail down the short hallway and into the bedroom. By the time they reached the bed, all that was left was his jeans. Noel stripped him naked first, and then Drew took his turn. Her dress landed with a soft rustle of fabric on the hardwood, causing her phone that was in one of her pockets to skitter toward Drew’s feet.
The phone lit up with a text, just as they both went for it. Drew got to it first and frowned when he saw the text. “Who’s HW, and what’s happening on Friday?”
Noel glanced at the screen of her phone and sure enough, there was a text from Henry. Everything’s set. See you Friday at seven.
Son of a… crap! Noel took the phone from her husband, turned the screen off, and set it on the nightstand. “Just a guest at the inn. They’re planning a family event.”
It was a normal statement. Something she’d said to Drew dozens of times since she’d taken over the event planning at the inn. But she must have sounded off, because Drew gave her an assessing look. The one he gave the girls when he was sure they weren’t telling the whole truth.
“Forget the inn stuff,” Noel said, running her hands over his chest. “We have more important things to think about.”
His light green eyes darkened with heat as he stared down at her naked body.
“Drew?” she whispered softly.
“Yes, love?”
“Make love to me.”
All thoughts fled as her husband swiftly lifted her into his arms and laid her on the bed. And as he climbed over the top of her, he said, “I thought you’d never ask.”