Noble Love (The Nobles of Sweet Rapids #1) (8 page)

T
essa pulled up to her parents’ large house and shut off the car. She hummed with a smile on her face all the way from her car up to the porch as she took her key out of her pocket. It had been a good week so far, starting with that impromptu little session at the hot yoga studio. Isaiah had worked her body into such a frenzied state after bringing her to an insane orgasm with just his hand that by the time they got into her house after he'd followed her home, they didn't even make it to the bedroom.

She shivered uncontrollably remembering how he'd taken her right there in the living room against her front door.

And the weekend was fast approaching, which meant her first weekend away with him at his place on South Lake Tahoe.

The timing couldn't be more perfect. Their father agreed to let the girls hire a few more employees; so they chose a few culinary students with a focus on pastries, from over at the local community college. Though Janet initially griped about the idea, she'd gone along with it. Tessa felt like it was a tiny stepping stone in getting their mother to agree to the idea of not only expanding their menu, but also their business as a whole.

She'd told her parents earlier in the week that she'd be coming by to discuss how things were going with the new hires.

Just as she put her key in the lock, she heard a loud scream.

"Mama!" she gasped and quickly unlocked the door in a panic. Her mother's cries continued to ring out as Tessa hurried inside.

And then she froze.

"
Emmeeeeett
!"

Tessa stood mortified after she came around the corner of the foyer and found her mother's leg hanging over the back of the couch, bobbing bonelessly as her toes curled. Her fingers were also clutching the couch.

Tessa covered her mouth with one hand and her eyes with the other until she backed out of sight. They hadn't even heard her come into the house. She tiptoed quickly out of the house, her ears now covered to mute the sounds of her parents and their morning romp on the couch.

She quietly closed the door and locked it before rushing to the car. Once she was in, she looked back at the house.

"Ew!"



Dana stood over the bakery island staring at Tessa dumbfounded.

"Dad...and...
Mom
?!" she said, her face cringing.

"Uh huh," Tessa said, opening the wine they kept for desserts. It wasn't even noon yet, but after what she'd seen...

She poured herself a large glass and began gulping it.

"So, he was just blowing her back out, right there on the living room couch."

The wine Tessa was drinking flew from her mouth.

"Oh my God, Dana!" she said, grabbing a towel. She wiped her mouth, then grabbed a bottle of disinfect spray and cleaned the area covered in wine.

"What?!" Dana said, laughing. "I think it's great. Dad's obviously still got it. Maybe he can fuck a yes out of her so we can start selling the new desserts and work on our plan of opening a second location."

"Judging by the yeses she was screaming when I ran the hell out of there," Tessa murmured. "He just might."

While Tessa was completely grossed out about walking in on her parents, she was curious about what had spurred their late morning loving. They were supposed to be expecting her, but it seemed Emmett and Janet had totally forgotten about their meeting with their oldest daughter. She'd definitely remember to call next time, she thought as she picked up her wine glass again.

"I'm heading to the office," she said to Dana. "Are you good to run things for a while?"

"Of course," Dana said. "Go, ahead and try to clear out your memory bank for the day."

"If only I truly could," Tessa groaned as she disappeared.

Dana was still quietly giggling when she came out to the front of the bakery to check on the new hires. Poor Tessa seemed traumatized, and Dana wouldn't ever want to see her parents going at it like rabbits either.

The door swung open and her eyes narrowed.

"What are
you
doing here?" she spewed. She folded her arms across her chest in a show of defiance, but truthfully it was to hide her embarrassingly hard nipples that came to life the moment he was in her presence.

"Is that how you treat a paying customer?" Aiden asked, his upper lip twitching. "If so..." He shook his head, with a tut-tutting of his lips.

Dana's glare deepened as Aiden's smile grew wider. He knew she couldn't verbally attack him like she wanted to because customers were around.

"Excuse me, Becky," she said to one of the new employees who'd been staring at the two of them warring with their eyes.

Dana shoved her hand in a glove, yanked open the display case from her side and pulled out several brownies and chocolate chip cookies. After placing them in one of their dessert bags, she held it out to Aiden.

"You remembered my favorites," he goaded, as he placed the exact amount of money on the counter. He lowered his voice to where she could only hear, as he took the bag from her. "I knew you wanted me."

"You wish," she spat out as she reached down to pick up the money. Her stupid body nearly betrayed her when his hand snaked around her wrist.

"Oh I
know
, sweetheart. Your body is screaming right now. I can smell it," he whispered, rubbing his thumb across her jumping pulse and Dana tightened her legs together. He knew he caught her and he licked his teeth from one canine to the other. "You smell sweeter than any dessert in here. And I bet those lips..." His eyes dipped low for a moment. "...Taste just as good as the ones on your face."

Dana snatched her hand away. "Too bad you'll never find out." She tacked on a smile as she added, "Thanks for stopping by and have a nice day."

Aiden turned and walked off, his devious chuckle following him out of the bakery and making Dana throb in places she'd have to satisfy on her own later after work.

She turned and headed toward the office to join her sister.

She needed a drink now too.



"Tessa! How are you, dear?"

Tessa looked up as Mrs. Noble entered the bakery. She gave the older woman a genuine smile.

"I'm doing great, how are you?"

"I'm wonderful."

"Do you want your usual?"

"Of course."

As Tessa began to put together Irene's order, she asked, "How is the filming going?"

"It's coming along," she said. "I actually tagged along with Isaiah as he did something called 'B-roll filming'. I've never seen that side of his career. I was amazed by it. He even let me hold the camera for a little bit."

"That sounds like a lot of fun," Tessa said as she finished up Irene's order.

"It was. Of course, I knew he had talent after we watched his short film. I'm sure after he finishes up this documentary, he'll be itching to head back to L.A."

Tessa's fingers froze over the cash register and she got a strange feeling in her chest.

"He's been talking about going back to L.A.?" she asked.

Irene looked up and her eyes grew wide. "Oh, no! Not right now, but I'm sure he wants to. I mean he wouldn't have come home in the first place if his father hadn't basically tricked him in to it."

Tessa remembered him mentioning that the night he brought her dinner.

"I'm still not happy about that," Irene went on. "I've told Isaac over and over that these kids will come back to Sweet Rapids if and when they're ready..."

Irene kept chatting, but Tessa seemed to check out at some point. She'd been enjoying her time with Isaiah so much that the fact that his stay in Sweet Rapids was most likely only temporary seemed to slip her mind.

"If they're meant to come back, they'll come back when it's time," Irene said on a sigh, bringing Tessa back into the present.

She smiled tightly, and gave Irene her order. After she paid for it, Irene said, "I understand you've been spending a lot of time with Isaiah lately."

The wide grin on her face made Tessa believe that his mother approved of their spending time together.

"Yes ma'am," Tessa said.

Irene nodded her head. "He needs someone like you in his life."

Tessa thought about Irene's words long after she'd left the bakery. They hadn't defined what was growing between them; but the point was, something
was
growing. It was more than just sexual chemistry, though that was off the charts. When she was with Isaiah, she felt amazing. But after Irene's mention of Isaiah inevitably going back to L.A., Tessa began to wonder; what if she was beginning to fall for him, only to have her heartbroken when he decided his time in Sweet Rapids was over?

"
I
f you would just
try
it!"

Tessa walked into the kitchen of the bakery to find Dana and Janet in a stare down.

On the island was a cupcake, one of their new creations they'd been working on.

"For what?" Janet asked, haughtily. "It's not going to change my mind about adding it to the menu."

Dana let out an exasperated sigh. "This is stupid."

"You watch your mouth, girl," Janet said, standing. "Last time I checked, I was still the mother in this relationship."

Dana shook her head, eyes filling with tears. Then she yanked off her apron, tossing it on the island as she left out the back door.

Tessa looked over at Janet, who lifted her chin stubbornly.

"What happened in here?" she asked.

It was Friday afternoon and Tessa had spent most of the day in the back office.

"I came over to check on these...new employees," she said. "I come in here and find Dana baking these."

"They're good," Tessa offered.

"They're not on the menu," Janet threw back. "Soon, you two are going to start telling me our old recipes aren't good enough anymore."

"Mama, the old recipes are fine. We just...we want to give the customers more options."

"We haven't stayed in this business for this long by changing things all the time," Janet said. "People enjoy coming here because they know what to expect. We've always been tried and true."

"No one wants to change the classics. But what's wrong with trying a few new things?"

"That's all of you young people's problem. You're too busy trying to do something new, do whatever's 'in the now', that you don't know what consistency is. You don't know how to maintain something that will last."

"And you don't know when it's time to let go."

Janet balked at Tessa's words.

"Excuse me, young lady?"

"Daddy's ready to retire. He's been ready. And he wants to retire with you, Mama. But for some reason, you just can't let go of this place. What is it? Do you think we're going to run the place into the ground?"

"With all your fancy new ideas...you just might."

Tessa turned away from Janet and ran her hands through her hair, feeling the pressure of a headache rising up her neck.

"You can't be serious," she murmured. "Mama, you've been raising Dana and me to take over this place since we were barely walking. But now you think we're going to be its demise, just
because we have some new and
good
ideas, and because we think Everetts’ Bakery is worth expanding."

"Everetts’ Bakery is about family!" Janet yelled. "Not making a commercial dollar by turning it into some impersonal chain."

Janet snatched her purse and stormed toward the door Dana had vacated earlier.

"Everetts’ Bakery is fine just the way it is. I don't want to hear another word about changing it."

Tessa was left alone in the middle of the kitchen, confused and upset.



Isaiah knocked on Tessa's door, and when she opened the door, his eyebrows bunched together in concern.

"Isaiah," she said, rubbing her forehead. "What are you doing here?"

"May I come in?" he asked.

Tessa sighed and moved to allow him into her house.

"I got your text saying you didn't think this weekend was good to go to my place because you weren't feeling well, and I wanted to come by and check on you."

"There's just a lot of stuff…family stuff going on and I didn't think I'd be good company," she murmured.

"Do you want to talk about it?" he asked. "My ears are still available, as well as my shoulder."

He took her hand in his and led her to the couch. Once they were sitting, he wrapped his arm around her and kissed her temple as he squeezed her tightly. It was obvious she was upset about something.

"Talk to me, sweetheart."

Tessa was silent for a moment before saying, "Dana and I have been experimenting with some new dessert ideas for the bakery."

"That sounds promising."

"It would be, if my mother wasn't so adamant about not letting us change or add to the menu at all."

She went on to tell him about walking in on Dana and her mother's argument, followed by the argument of her own with Janet.

"I'm sorry you're having a rough time with her," Isaiah said. "Maybe once she cools off, you can talk to her about it again."

Tessa shook her head. "There's no point," she said, defeatedly. "She doesn't even trust us to run the place ourselves. She's always looking over our shoulders. And she made it abundantly clear she doesn't want to discuss it anymore. There's no point."

"Don't say that," Isaiah said. "You've just...you've just got to try a little harder."

Tessa stood. "Just 'try a little harder'. You think it's just that easy? You don't think we've been doing that? You don't know what it's been like. She won't back down."

"If this is what you want, then you can't back down either," he said, standing up as well.

"We've been at this battle a long time now, Isaiah. If she doesn't trust us or our judgment by now, then what's the point?"

"The point is that this is your legacy too, and you're entitled to it."

"Legacy?" she laughed. "You want to stand here and talk about legacies? I'm fighting tooth and nail with my mother over our legacy, and your father is practically
throwing
yours at you and you've been dodging it every chance you get."

Isaiah looked at Tessa as if she'd grown a second head. "When did this become about me and my family's business?" he asked, confused.

"When you started talking about I needed to try harder, as if you knew what it was like."

"You can't compare our situations," he said. "My siblings and I have been expected to work for Noble Naturals since we earned our degrees at eighteen years old. We barely had a normal childhood. We wanted to, at least, experience adulthood without having to be tied down to Sweet Rapids for the rest of our lives, before we were truly ready."

"And there it is!"

"There what is?"

Isaiah was beyond baffled with Tessa's tirade; it was jumping from one tirade to the next.

"You're leaving. You don't want to be tied down to Sweet Rapids. So you'll leave and I'll..."

"You'll what?"

"Nothing...nevermind."

"Tess," he said, rubbing a hand down his face. "Who said
anything
about me leaving Sweet Rapids?"

"Your mother came by the bakery earlier this week and said–"

"
My
mother?" Isaiah cut her off. "So I see
both
of our mothers have gotten in your head, making you crazy."

"I am not crazy, Isaiah," Tessa said through clenched teeth.

Isaiah sighed. "That's not what I meant, Tess."

"But that's what you
said
. I've got all this stuff going on with my family. And then you drop into my life, but for how long? How long will you be here before you decide you're ready to move on?" The quiver in her voice made him want to reach out to her.

"Tess–"

"The more time we spend together, I feel like it's going to make it that much harder when you finally leave. So maybe..."

Don't
, he thought, dread crawling up his neck.

"Maybe we should just cool things down."

"Are you serious right now?"

"I just...I need a break. There's too much going on in my life right now." She walked over to the door and opened it. "You should go, Isaiah."

He stood there staring at her for a moment, with his mouth hanging open. Finally he closed it, and then headed for the door. Before he could turn back around to say something, she quietly closed the door. The sound of the lock was like a stab in the heart.