Page 69 of Bound to Him
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The next daywe went to town together to run errands. Noah was ridiculously cute in his oversized, borrowed clothes—as it turned out, both of our carry-ons were full of art supplies. I was pretty sure every woman we ran across either wanted to scoop him up and hug him or undress him; there didn’t seem to be any in-between. The looks he got had me jealous, which was stupid because I’d never seen him eye up anyone with tits. Our town was pretty small and new blood was not overlooked. After we did all our other real errands and made it to the feedstore, he got out of the truck and held my hand the whole time, as if he was afraid someone would whisk him away from me. I didn’t mind him being clingy, it made me feel like I really was his husband. Making him comfortable and keeping him safe were my responsibilities.
We got all the sneaky, underhanded gifting of money to my parents out of the way and went on to the shopping portion of our trip. Noah had doubled down on the fact that presents Antoine bought didn’t count as actually coming from us. Unluckily for me I was horny and ready to fuck him on any flat surface I could find. Last night I’d helped him inside and directly into bed, and this morning he’d surprised me by being up and dressed before I even crawled out from between the blankets.
So, I stood too close to him in the little tea shop that had opened up on Main Street since the last time I’d been home. Christmas had exploded everywhere, and the effect was heightened by the fact that the walls were red and all the shelving was green. Every available surface was covered in tea or an accessory for tea, which I thought was a longshot for a moneymaker in South Texas, but I didn’t want to be a dream killer.
Instead of browsing I studied the way Noah moved and shifted, sometimes appearing uncomfortable in his own skin for no reason I could determine. I hated that. Was he always this way?
“Oh, my sister loves this kind of thing.” He snatched up a silver-and-green tin of tea and showed it to me. The label on the front said White Christmas.
“Athena?”
His smile dipped into something tiny and sad. “Yeah. I wonder how the rest of the kids are doing.” His brows furrowed. “The younger ones probably wonder what the hellhappenedto me. Mom barely spends time with them. She doesn’t have much to say to you until you’re too old for a nanny.”
Shockingly—or maybe it wasn’t too much of a surprise, given how I’d been feeling—guilt kicked up in my gut. I hugged him. “You and Athena are close?”
He shrugged. “We used to be. It’s difficult to keep in touch with the way Mom makes her so busy with dance. My life was the same till I moved out to go to art school. She was obsessed with molding us into what she thought we should be. I mean, it was how she showed she cared, I think. Maybe the only way she knew how. But it was worlds apart from your mama.” He tapped the top of the tea tin with his fingers, drumming out his discontent.
“That wasn’t always the sunshine and roses you see now.” I rested my chin on top of his head until he elbowed me. “It was rough going when I was a teenager. Can you believe I thought I knew everything?”
“I cannot imagine.”
I kissed the top of his head.
He sighed and put the tea back. “The holidays used to be the only real, uninterrupted time Athena and I spent together. The world shut down and Mom had no choice except to let us be kids for a while.”
My heart ached at the subdued slump to his shoulders, and I gave him a shake. “When we get home, have her over. Maybe we can make arrangements for the younger kids to visit, too.” I took a deep breath. Any “arrangements” would involve a lot of threats to Edison Divine on my part, but I would do it for Noah if he needed to see his family to be happy.
“Yeah, you don’t mind? My parents might not want them at our house.”
I leaned back to meet his gaze and his smile perked up. “You invite whoever you want to our home, darlin’. It’s yours, and I’ll make it happen.”
He blinked at me like I’d confused him but nodded. “Thank you. That means a lot.”
There was nothing in this world that should make him sound unhappy. I hugged him again and planted a small kiss on his lips.
Near the register someone cleared their throat, and when I glanced up, I recognized Gerhard Jackson. His father had taught me in the eleventh grade and he’d never liked me. Apparently the attitude had been passed on to his only son, who had been about ten when I left town. It was impossible not to recognize the square face and green eyes he shared with his daddy, though. I’d had to endure that class every day for an entire school year.
“Alton, we all heard you got married up north somewhere.” He casually rearranged a stack of canisters on a counter next to an old-fashioned punch-button register.
“And? This better not be something rude about my husband.”
He sniffed and I already knew what was coming, and it was half the reason I’d moved. I braced myself mentally, and Noah stiffened at my side. “Decent folks don’t want to see all that. This isn’t New York.”
Noah glanced at the floor, and I didn’t like that this was ruining our time together. I glared at Gerhard. “I don’t think I’ll spend money here. My husband doesn’t deserve this shoddy treatment.”
“I wouldn’t sell to you anyway.” Gerhard’s nose wrinkled, and I snorted. If I’d been in here alone, he’d have been falling all over himself to provide excellent customer service, I was sure of it.
“Come on, Alton. There’s another shop next door.” Noah tugged on my sleeve, and I nodded.
On our way out, I held the door for Noah. “What was that guy’s problem?”
I said loudly, “Clearly he’s jealous of my good luck in the marriage department.”
The clatter of tins falling over inside was satisfying as I slammed the door. Noah grinned at me.
I glanced up at the blue sky and had the itch to get back to the farm. “You sure we gotta buy stuff ourselves?”
