Noah (7 Brides for 7 Soldiers Book 6)(12)

     



 

"Teagan?"

The pepper clinked into the salt. Her cheeks pinked when she gripped  their tops to steady her hands. She coolly lifted her gaze as though he  wasn't working through her mind in ways that caused a hot flash. "Hmm?"

He stopped on the other side of the breakfast bar. Three feet of  polished wood countertop, her favorite part of the kitchen, separated  them.

"Nothing to say?" He smoothed his large hands across the well-cared-for  wood, following the grain. "Haven't known you that long, but you always  have something on the tip of that tongue."

A shiver slid down her spine, and he held her eyes. Teagan swallowed,  unsure why she was unnerved. "Nailing things. That's my concern."

Amused, he crossed his arms, doing nothing to bat away the images in her  head of how this man could nail any woman he wanted. His long-sleeve  Henley molded to the curves of his biceps, and the partially open  buttons at the top of his collar stretched, taunting her with what lay  beneath. "Why do you think I'm going to screw up?"

"I didn't say that."

He squinted, unbelieving. "Yeah, you did. Almost word for word."

She couldn't exactly tell him that she assumed bachelor Navy SEALs who  looked like him didn't have a good handle on the correct words and the  point of sex, at least from the perspective of a five-year-old.

He laughed. "I mean, I know why I think I screw up, but what about you?"

Well, ugh …  "I'm not sure."

He stepped around the breakfast bar, and her pulse quickened. It wasn't  as if they hadn't been alone, and of course, she'd had any number of  sex-related conversations with parents. Even attractive dads, but at the  time it never occurred to her that they were good-looking. Sometimes it  was just a fact. A person was attractive, and she went about her  business.

This was …  chemistry. They had it. Noah walked closer, and his skin  prickled with nerves and excitement. Their tension stacked, compounding  with the hours they had known each other and with every inch they drew  closer.

Teagan's insides fluttered. The dizzy race of blood at the base of her  neck made her breath stutter, then he stopped. Too close to be near her  and too damn far away.

Noah leaned his elbow on the counter. "I don't buy that for a second, Ms. Shaw."

Okay. Okay. That was flirting. Noah was flirting with her? But nothing  about the gravity of the situation drawing them together seemed strained  by her ridiculous bachelor-SEAL-on-the prowl assumptions.

Heat curled up her neck, and she didn't know what to say or think anymore.

"You don't trust me." He angled closer, but it was the devastating smile that closed the distance, almost curling around her.

Teagan licked her lips, concentrating on the even keel of her tone. "I didn't say that."

"You didn't have to."

She snorted at the smug confidence. That much she could do without  worry. Teasing him was easy. "Did the SEALs give you the power to read  minds?"

He inched back, and their moment broke. Teagan could almost picture a  heavy bubble bursting, the soap splashing and flying every which way in  the sun, and she was the one to pop it. He'd flirted. She'd assessed.  Rebuked. Thrown a bit of sarcasm on top of the wariness she'd burdened  him with earlier. After school, that had been about Bella. Now?

Teagan turned toward the wood counter, smoothing her hands as he had done from the other side.

"I'm sorry someone gave you a reason to be this defensive," Noah said quietly.

Her splayed hands froze, and the "I'm not" didn't make it past her lips  because he was correct. Noah had been flirting with her, and she'd  slammed him away. What started as a parenting discussion had turned into  a far more intimate conversation, and without crossing any lines, but  it was now …  nothing.

Teagan turned back to the empty sink rather than talk about her  ex-husband, and Noah quietly drummed his fingers on the counter. "I  wasn't trying to pry."

She turned on the water for no good reason. The dishes were mostly done.  Just a few left to load, and they could be finished tomorrow or after  company left.

"I know." She stared out the window into her dark backyard, past the  insulated shed and a fence line break to the pine trees that backed her  neighborhood.

The finger drumming stopped, and Noah moved to her side, arm to arm.  Silently, he grabbed a dish that she'd scraped and sprayed earlier and  loaded it into the dishwasher. Teagan glanced over at him, and he  dropped a quiet smile to her. They went to work without a word. She  scraped off the crumbs and sprayed away the cheese stuck to the plates  before handing them to him. He stacked them, grabbing the glasses and  lining them on the top row while she scratched baked-on cheese off a  pizza stone.         

     



 

When the dishwasher was full, she filled the soap cup and put the detergent back under the cabinet as Noah shut the door.

Teagan pressed the button for normal wash then dried her hands on the  towel Noah passed to her before she tossed it to the side. "My  ex-husband was a treasure-hunting con artist."

"Interesting profession."

She smiled. Not the normal response. "He was always busy, always promising riches even as he bolted at a moment's notice."

She lifted a shoulder to indicate that she didn't know what her ex had  done. Didn't care, either, but maybe that was too callous to share. "The  only trip I ever joined him on was to Alaska, and we didn't do much  treasure hunting."

Noah made a face.

Teagan blushed deeply. "No! I mean, he ran into friends he knew, and  they left me to enjoy the wilderness for a few days by myself. Just as  well."

"Weird to run into friends in Alaska."

"His friends were probably weird to begin with. They were the type to  spend months scouring the Bay of Bengal or the South China Sea for  riches."

"Is that even legal?" He scoffed.

"No idea. Didn't matter because there were never riches found."

His brown eyes softened. "You don't seem like someone to fall for the wanderlust type."

"I thought he was eccentric, and"-she rolled her eyes-"I'm sure half  this town still does. He blew in like a storm with tales of adventure,  but I think he used me to have a home base."

Noah's lips flattened. "Hate you were used for anything."

"I don't hate it. Or anything. Realizations like Spence-Spencer, that's  his name-when you figure out that someone doesn't love you and married  you for a mailing address …  It's one of those things you go through, so  you can grow through it. Something better is waiting for me on the other  side one day."

"I like that." Noah leaned back as though he were turning that over, then he nodded. "That's a good one."

"Helps when it's your job to figure out how to handle road bumps."

"An ex-husband is a road bump?"

"Maybe roadkill." She made a face. "Well, he's still alive, but at that same level, dirtbag. Pardon my language."

His mouth twitched. "I've heard worse."

"Spence wasn't into the idea of marriage. I'm not sure why I thought things would be different with a baby."

The gleam in Noah's eyes vanished. "Wasn't a good dad?"

"Was never a dad. One look at a pregnancy test, and he split." Teagan  sighed. "Will wasn't an accident, and I don't know what I expected.  But … "

Noah came closer, comforting her with a hand on her shoulder and a light squeeze. "Seems like you're being hard on yourself."

Her eyes slipped shut. In one simple moment, his palm copped her  shoulder and the weight of her body wanted to lean into him. Her family  wasn't close, and Teagan had moved to Eagle's Ridge for the great job  opportunity in the school system. She stayed for the tight-knit  community. But she didn't have the closeness of a casual hug whenever  she wanted, not that she had thought much about that need.

Sighing, she nodded, agreeing with him somewhat. "Maybe just annoyed.  Everyone who knows Spence still thinks back to our marriage as though I  married a fun guy who wasn't meant to be tied down. It's annoying, and  it's an excuse."

Noah's hand dropped, taking away its protective warmth. "It says something about society, honestly."

Caught off guard, she hesitated. "What do you mean?"

"If a mother ran off to go hunt for treasure?" He shook his head. "She'd  be roasted. I'm not sure how treasure pays in child support-"

"It doesn't. He has no legal or financial responsibility."

He leaned against the counter. "I can see why you're careful."

Careful …  Very. Except with Noah. She'd told him more about herself than  she'd told anyone. Teagan bit her lip. "About earlier, and every time  today that I've stuck my foot in my mouth. I didn't know you, but I know  Lainey wouldn't have put Bella in a bad situation."

"You can stop explaining any time, Teagan."

She dropped her head then looked back at him. "Okay, it was all for  Bella's best interest. More than mine, whatever defensive walls I may  have."