After the Storm (9 page)

“Thanks.” She took a brief moment to gain strength from his embrace before she walked back to the couch. “Since he had money he was able to hire the best defense attorney in the state. He tried every trick in the book to discredit me and elevate himself. But nothing was worse than having to see him, watching me as I answered questions on the stand. I could see the look in his eyes. He was so angry. He still wanted to kill me. He would do whatever it took in order to get the chance to do it. He was convicted, but was only given seven to ten years. When you consider time served, he’ll be getting out as early as the summer of next year.” She shivered at the thought.

Noah started pacing, “What the hell? He pretty much left you for dead and he gets out? What kind of system is that?”

“He had the best defense attorney in the state, he knew all the tricks. Without DNA or video evidence, I was lucky he got as much time as he did. Plus, I was unlucky enough not to die.” She shrugged and sat down.

Before she knew it she was up off of the couch and wrapped in Noah’s arms. He held her so tight. She breathed a sigh of relief. She worried that after she told him, he’d treat her like spun glass, scared she would break at the littlest touch. She’d worked hard so that she could be touched again. But up until this moment, in his arms, no other touch had mattered so much, or felt so good.

“Alexia, I knew you were strong and stubborn, but I didn’t realize how much until today.” Lexi had her head on his shoulder and Noah kissed the top of her head.

“I’ll take that as a compliment.” She slightly pulled away. “I want to show you something.”

“Anything.”

She backed out of his arms and turned around. She took the neck of her shirt and pulled it down so that he could see her shoulder. There she had a tattoo, a Phoenix rising from the ashes. She shivered as he came closer and ran his fingers over it.

“Lexi, it’s beautiful. Just like you.” He gently kissed it.

“I had this done the day that he was convicted. He beat and raped me, but I rose from the ashes. I’m whole again. He cannot take that away from me. I put her on my back as a symbol that I have my own back. He cannot break me.
He cannot break me
.” She didn’t even try to stop the tears now.

Noah sat down on the couch with her on his lap. She quietly cried while he rubbed her back. They stayed that way for a while just enjoying being with each other.

~*~

Lexi fell asleep wrapped in Noah’s arms on the couch. He sat with her, watching the storm blow outside his windows. It matched the turmoil that was going on inside of him. He managed to keep it light the rest of the afternoon but every time he looked at her and saw the haunted look in her eyes, it stabbed him in the gut.

After he walked her home, he went to work out. He had to do something with the rage that had built inside of him all day. He wanted to track down the bastard and kill him. No one should do that to another person. He put boxing gloves on and proceeded to hit the bag over and over again. With every hit, he thought about what had happened to Lexi. No one should do that to another person. He didn’t notice the sweat falling into his eyes, all he could see was what this fucker had done to her.

He sat down hard on the ground and put his head in his hands. He wanted to scream and rage for what had been done to her, but that was all in the past. There was nothing that he could do about it. All he could think about was now, and the future. He wanted to protect and take care of her.

He lay down and stared up at the ceiling fan that circled around. She was so strong and he understood her better now. Some people may think that her moving across country was running away. He could see now that the house her grandmother had given her at the ocean was a huge part of her healing process. Finding herself. Rebuilding. The old ladies that were her grandmother’s friends were a way to stay connected to people. She loved to help people. Even Sam and Martha. She chose who her friends were. Who she spent time with. She had taken back control of her life.

Looking back, he was surprised she hadn’t run away from him with how strong he’d come on.
Always the cocky rock star
. Shaking his head he thanked his lucky stars she’d seen through him. Rubbing his hand over his heart he didn’t want to think about his life without her.

Lexi smiled to herself as she stretched in bed. She felt as if a huge weight had been lifted off of her shoulders after having told Noah what had happened to her. And his reaction, it was perfect. He didn’t make her feel damaged.

They’d spent the rest of the day, while the storm raged outside, playing board games and pool. She laughed to herself at how he had thought he’d run the table on her, but she had shown him by winning three games in a row. After a dinner, when he’d walked her home, he’d held her so tight and kissed her forehead.

She gave herself another minute or two, thinking how wonderful it was to spend time with him, before jumping out of bed to get ready to go to the senior center. The storm had ended a little before ten the night before and there was sure to be damage at home and the senior center. Noah had offered to help clean up at the center since there was so much damage. She was a little worried about the ladies meeting him. No telling what would come out of their mouths or what they would do. But if he was going to be a
friend
, then he’d have to get used to them.

Downstairs, she looked out over the ocean. It was so calm, such a change from the day before. That’s what she loved so much about living by the ocean, it could change at any minute.

She was enjoying her third cup of coffee, sitting on the porch swing, when Noah walked up the stairs and sat down next to her. It seemed that the storm and her opening up to Noah had cleared the air between them.

“Good morning, beautiful lady. You ready?” He reached over and took a sip of her coffee.

There was nothing like his smile to perk her up. “Yep, I’ve got my work clothes on and a couple pairs of gloves.” She got up and walked into the house with Noah behind her. “Are you sure you’re ready? This isn’t like prancing around on a stage.” She turned her back to him so that he couldn’t see the twinkle in her eyes.

Suddenly she was grabbed from behind and pulled tightly against Noah’s front. He growled in her ear, “Prancing? Did you just say I prance around the stage? How do you even know what I look like on stage?” He started to flex his fingers on her waist, tickling her.

Laughing, she said, “Noah, stop. Hello, videos? Okay, okay, you don’t prance. Much.”

“Oh, now you’re going to get it.” He growled deep in his throat. Lexi closed her eyes, enjoying the maleness of the sound. He lifted her up and allowed the whickers on his chin to graze the side of her neck. She started squirming more, laughing harder.

Pepper started barking at them, obviously wanting in on the fun. Trying to catch her breath and stop laughing, Lexi said, “Pepper, it’s… okay… stop… barking.” Pepper jumped up on them knocking them to the ground. When Noah landed partially on top of Lexi, they went from laughing to serious in a heartbeat.

Noah brought his hand up and caressed the side of Lexi’s face. She closed her eyes and tipped her head into the palm of his hand. “Your beauty takes my breath away.”

She slowly opened her eyes to look at him. “Noah, everything seems to be happening so fast. On one hand, we’ve only known each other for a short time, but on the other it feels like I’ve known you for years. I don’t know where this is going, but you should know I’m not going to rush into anything, no matter how much my body is screaming to take you right here.” She smiled and ran her hands over his chest.

He closed his eyes. “Did you say that just to torture me?”

“No, that wasn’t the plan, just a nice side effect.” When he growled again, she smiled. “Noah, you said yourself that I’m not like any of the women you’ve been around for the past fifteen years.” She held up a finger when he started to speak, “If this is as important to you as it is to me, we’ll wait.” She looked away from his eyes, “Besides, I haven’t been with anyone since…well, for a good seven years. There hasn’t been anyone I’ve wanted. I want to make sure we don’t make a mistake. This should be important and not something we do on a whim. I’m not looking for a fling. If you are, I’m not the right woman for you.”

“Have I told you I hate it when you make sense?”

She shook her head.

“Somehow, I think I’ll be saying it a lot.” He kissed her lightly on the nose. “I will try to be a gentleman.” He kissed her again. “For you Lexi, I will do this. I guess that means more dating?”

She nodded.

“Damn, I was afraid of that. But we can still kiss right?”

She nodded again.

“Okay, then let me know as soon as you change your mind. Even if it’s in the middle of the night, you know I can be here faster than you could hang up the phone.” They both laughed.

“Thank you, Noah. Now let me up, we’ve got to get to the senior center. Are you ready to meet the ladies or are you scared?” Smiling wickedly at Noah hoping to make him nervous.

“I should be fine. I’ve had millions of women screaming my name and trying to pull the clothes off of my body, so this should be a cakewalk.” He smiled, but as Lexi laughed it wavered. “Should I be scared?”

~*~

“Well, hello, what have we here?” one of the ladies said as she moved closer to Noah. “I’m Marie. Are you a friend of Lexi’s?” She didn’t try to hide the fact that she was checking him out in his sleeveless white shirt and tan cargo pants.

He smiled as he kissed her hand. “You could say that, Marie. Lexi told me all about you, ladies. I couldn’t wait to see for myself how wonderful you are.”

“Ahh, isn’t that sweet?” another of the ladies said as she gently pushed Marie out of the way. “I’m Leigh and I can tell you, the pleasure is all mine. I’ve seen all your videos. I love the way you shake that ass.” She batted her eyes at him.

“Leigh, really. Leave the poor boy alone.” The third pushed Leigh out of the way. “I’m Evelyne, and I will save you from these two.” She gave Leigh a look when she snorted. “Why don’t you come over here and sit down, tell us all about how you keep in such great shape.” She grabbed his arm and started squeezing to feel his muscles.

“Thank you for the invitation, but while I would love nothing better than to sit and talk with you ladies all afternoon, Lexi has informed me that I need to find Rodney and help him. Maybe we can have something cold to drink when I’m done.” He gave them all a huge smile, flashing his dimples and waving as he strode away. He stopped by Lexi who was trying not to laugh and gave her a kiss on the cheek.

~*~

The ladies stood still watching him walk away. As soon as they were sure he was out of ear shot, all three spun around and started talking at once, asking Lexi question after question. Lexi had no chance to keep up.

Marie whistled loudly to get the others to stop talking. “Alexia Anne Hanson. Why does it look like you’ve had someone rubbing their stubbled chin all over your neck?” She then looked pointedly over her shoulder to where she could see Noah was walking away.

“I have no idea what you mean.” She rubbed her neck. “Besides, the three of you never own up to anything, why should I?” Lexi raised her eyebrow at them, daring them to continue.

“What do you want to know? I’ll spill the beans if you will.” Leigh smiled and rubbed her hands together.

“Leigh!” exclaimed both Evelyne and Marie.

“Fine, never mind. Since no one is going to spill the beans, we might as well get some work done. I vote we work back here.” Leigh gestured over her shoulder to where Noah had gone.

“Shocking, since that is where all the men are,” Lexi said sarcastically.

“I have no idea what you mean.” She laughed and started walking in the direction she’d gestured to. “There are a lot of things to pick up out here and I’m not just talking about the men.”

~*~

“Are they always like that?” Noah looked at the ladies picking up garbage around the yard as he continued to put the broken branches in a pile.

“Actually, this is their good behavior.” Rodney shook his head and laughed. “Lexi actually gives the guys ‘danger pay’ for having to listen to their comments. Doesn’t bother me.” He shrugged. “I’ve been working here since they opened the place fifteen years ago. The Troublesome Trio was worse when Lexi’s grandmother, Patsy, was still here. They were the Fearsome Foursome then. Put fear into the hearts of many men. Patsy especially loved pinching butts, no man dared bend over in front of her, and man, for her age she could move wicked fast when she wanted to.”

Noah looked up to see Lexi and the ladies watching them. He turned to Rodney “So, should we have some fun?”

“It’s your funeral. I’m sure you can give them a thrill, just be warned there’s no telling what they’ll do.” He nodded his head toward them.

“I think I can handle them.” Noah made sure his back was to the ladies and slowly started to pull his shirt up. With the shirt over his head, still in his hands, he stretched to one side and then the other making sure his muscles were tight and taut. He twisted from the waist so they could get a look at this abdomen. When he was finally done showing off he looked up at the ladies. The three older ladies had their mouths open and were fanning themselves while Lexi just stood there looking at him with one raised eyebrow, her arms crossed over her chest and slowly shaking her head. She knew what he was doing. He just smiled and shrugged, throwing a kiss to the ladies before going back to work.

~*~

“Oh Lexi, girl, you are in trouble with that one,” Evelyne said as she waved her hand in front of her face.

“I’d like to be in that kind of trouble,” Leigh replied as she let out a dramatic sigh.

“Tell me about it.” Even though Lexi has seen him without a shirt many times, it never got old. Her fingers itched to discover every inch of his body. She was getting worked up watching his muscles move as he flung the huge branches around like they were nothing.

“How much trouble
are
you in, dear?” Marie asked kindly.

Not as much trouble as he is going to be in
. “Ladies, after the wonderful display Noah gave us, I think you should go have some fun with him. I won’t give you a hard time about what you do or say. Nothing is off limits.” Lexi was laughing to herself as she went to find more garbage bags. She turned around to see the ladies had their heads together and could only imagine what they were planning.

Noah won’t know what hit him
.

These three ladies were better at this than any one of his fans throwing their bodies at him. Served him right, whatever they did to him, for deliberately playing with them by taking his shirt off and flexing his muscles. She’d spent many a night trying to go to sleep with the image of her running her hands all over his naked chest.

~*~

Noah turned with a huge log slung over his shoulder and saw the three ladies walking toward him. No, not walking—stalking towards him. He put the log on the pile with the others and turned to meet them. “What can I do for you ladies?” He smiled as he ran the back of his hand over his forehead.

“Well,” started Leigh, “we thought you might be thirsty, so we brought you some water. Here.” As she reached her hand out to give him the glass of water it tipped and spilled all over the front of his pants. He gasped at the cold seeping through his shorts.

“Oh, dear me. I’m so sorry, I’m clumsy. Here, I can clean it up.” He was surprised at how quickly she got down on her knees in front of him and pulled a rag out of her back pocket and started to rub on the front of his pants, right where his dick was shivering from the cold.

“Ah, that’s okay, I’ve got it.” He grabbed the rag out of her hands and offered to help her up.

Once Leigh was on her feet looking disappointed, Evelyne came forward waving a bottle of sunscreen at him. “The sun is hotter than you think. We wouldn’t want you to get burned. Would you like for me to put some on your back?”

“Sure, thanks, that would be nice.” These women were old enough to his grandmother. There was no reason to think that they weren’t just being nice to him.
Right?

Evelyne started to rub it on his back, and he thought he heard her moan, but he couldn’t be sure. All of a sudden her hands sneaked around to this chest and started rubbing. He looked down and saw her fingers start to play with his nipples. “Umm, I think my nipples have enough sunscreen. Thanks”

“Oh, now, honey, you can’t be too sure. The nipples are very sensitive, you don’t want to get them burned. That happened to me once, it wasn’t fun.” With a quick pinch to them, she backed away.

He was glad his back was to them because he was blushing. He hadn’t blushed since he was in junior high and had asked a girl out for the first time.

Slowly turning around, he noticed Marie fanning herself and starting to sway from side to side. He rushed to her. “Are you okay? Do you need to sit down?” Noah put his arm around her waist.

“Why, yes, dear, that would be nice. But I don’t think I could make it to the chair in the shade on my own.” She started to sway and her eyelids fluttered.

Noah picked her up in his arms and started walking to the shade. Marie looked back over his shoulder at the other two ladies and winked at them. She wrapped her arms tighter around his neck and leaned her head on his shoulder. He jumped when she licked all the way up his neck. He increased his pace so that he was to the chair in no time and set her down.

“Why don’t you three ladies stay here and just watch, okay?” Noah rubbed the back of his neck in embarrassment.