Lane tilted her head. "Did you say that was up near Ramseys Cove??"
I nodded. "It’s a small community. It’s not family oriented though. Everybody pretty much keeps to themselves."
"I think Noel St. Martin got a place up there. Have you run into him?" Lane asked.
Anne's gaze shot to me with surprise in her eyes.
"He's my neighbor, but like I said, we'll keep to ourselves." I finished the last of my wine spritzer wishing I for more, so I could focus on my drink and not worry I’d giveaway that I’d fucked my neighbor.
Anne's eyes narrowed. "That’s a weird coincidence, isn’t it?"
That told me she didn't know that B & A LLC had owned the home. I wondered if she even knew there was a B & A LLC, although I found it hard to believe that Bran would keep that from her. Bran would cover himself in honey and walk through a swarm of bees for her. I would ask her about it another time.
Later that night, I lay in bed thinking about how happy and content my girlfriends were. While they sometimes complained about the men in their lives, there was no doubt that they loved them to the depths of their souls, and I knew their husbands well enough to know that the feeling was mutual.
I wondered what it would feel like to have a man love me and be as devoted to me as their husbands were to them. What would it be like to love somebody with all your heart and soul? I shuddered because it seemed scary to me.
Giving over one's heart was a huge risk.
As sleep eluded me, I thought of Noel. He definitely was struggling as a father, but there was no doubt that he cared for the kid even though I still questioned whether Mo was his or not.
I realized I shouldn't be thinking kindly about Noel if I believed he’d obtained a child to run some sort of scheme. I didn’t know what to think of the man, but I was sure that it was best not to think of Noel at all.
CHAPTERELEVEN
Noel
Just when I thought Mo and I had turned a corner, he reverted back to crying nearly every waking moment. I was a patient man, a requirement when it came to military, mercenary, and security work, but I was nearing my limit with Mo.
How did other parents do it without losing their minds?
It was nearly one in the morning when he finally fell asleep for the night. Exhausted, yet unable to sleep, I went out on the balcony of my bedroom hoping the warm night air and sound of the ocean would help me relax. Once again, I did a search on my phone for tips to help me better parent Mo. The poor little guy seemed so unhappy.
Movement out along the beach drew my attention. My muscles tightened as I went on alert.
Was someone lurking behind my home?
Harper had said she’d seen someone the other night. Someone she thought was me. Or so she said. I wouldn’t put it past her and Bran to come up with some plot to lure me into some scheme they had going on.
Scanning the beach, I was gut punched by the female form emerging from the ocean waves. She was like a siren and I was helpless against her allure. Or at least my dick was.
As Harper strode from the water to a towel she’d left on the beach, she slid her hands through her hair like she was wringing out the water. How did something so benign look so fucking sexy?
Like a pervert, I opened my camera app on my phone, not to take a picture, but to get a better look using the apps’ zoom-in feature. Jesus, fuck she was perfection. The epitome of the perfect woman in her white bikini that didn’t leave anything to imagination.
Of course, I didn’t need an imagination. I had my memory and it didn’t fail me now as I remembered how soft her skin was. The weight of her tits and the hardness of her nipples as I sucked them. The feel of her pussy as it massaged my cock until I couldn’t see straight.
Instinctively, I reached down and rubbed my dick that was straining in my lounge pants. I wanted to whip it out and jerk off as I watched her towel off. That seemed too perverted.
I turned off the camera, but continued to watch her as she finished drying off and then made her way back up to her house. The light in my room was off, so if she glanced up at my house, which she did, she shouldn’t be able to see me. I didn’t take my eyes off her until she entered her house, out of my view.
I enjoyed that. Too much.Get a grip, St. Martin. That woman was my kryptonite. My Achilles heel. It would serve me well to remember that.
I started to turn to go into my room, when a flash caught my eye. I narrowed my eyes, scanning for the source. I found it. The light had been a reflection off something in a tree just over the fence in Harper’s yard.
The annoyance effectively deflated my erection. I went inside, pulling on a pair of running shoes then heading downstairs. I grabbed a flashlight and went outside to investigate the object. Reaching the tree, I shone the flashlight beam up into the branches.
“What the hell?” I shoved the flashlight into my pocket. I jumped, my hands gripping the top of the fence. I hoisted myself up, glad that I kept up on my strength workouts. Once on the fence, I tested the branch of the tree I could most easily reach, and began to climb until I reached the small black item.