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He met her gaze as directly as Lyda did, but there was a different tone to it. Whereas Lyda's gaze could hold her like a restraint, his drew her to him like the offer of a young satyr to dance with him on a moonlit night. She'd don
e a collage of a fairy ring recently, a birthday gift for a friend in her book club who loved fairies. That was the only reason she could think why such an impractical idea had jumped into her mind.
She decided to take it back to safer footing. "Favorite Edgar Allan Poe quote?"
"'Deep into that darkness peering, long I stood there, wondering, fearing, doubting, dreaming dreams no mortal ever dared to dream before.'" His lips quirked. "My favorite partly because I liked the quote, partly because it taught me the dangers of academic pretentiousness."
A college grad. Of course. Usually she had an aversion to that type, knowing how little she'd have in common with them and not really wanting to be reminded of her comparative lack of education, but the comment made her curious. "How so?"
He sighed. "I wrote it up on the board for a class, a visual aid for a presentation on Poe. Couldn't figure out what all the snickering was about until the end. I had left the 'r' out of peering."
"'Deep into that darkness, peeing...'" She chuckled. "Well, conceivably, one could pee into the darkness and experience fear, doubt and wonder at the same time."
It was stupid to get uptight about it. Lots of people hadn't attended college. She hadn't done well in school, too busy living up to low expectations while her single mother worked. Gen had become a hairdresser to make ends meet and found she did that well enough, but she didn't have any real flair or passion for it. Her life was littered with mediocre attempts at a lot of things. She'd liked writing poetry in middle school, until she read one to her mother and Momma made it clear girls from trailer parks didn't write poetry. They found a guy who, if they were lucky, didn't drink to excess and beat them, and settled down to have babies.
It had probably been very bad poetry. She'd thrown it away, but in the past few years she'd thought about going back to school to get an English degree, just for the pleasure of learning. Which was ridiculous. Not only because she didn't have the money to waste on "fun" classes, but because she'd made so many mistakes early on in her life, with education and men, learning a practical skill like accounting had made more sense. She channeled her creative side into her crafts. Collages required only access to discarded magazines, newspapers and other recycled paper sources, and a healthy supply of glue. She loved her monthly book club, though.
"Oh." She realized she was shirking another responsibility. She really was off her game today. "This is a private area. The main entrance to Tea Leaves is on the front porch. Did you get lost?" She asked it kindly but firmly.
He didn't seem offended. "Mrs. Winterman said I could check out her new garden additions, to get ideas for the nursery. I think she was trying to get rid of me while she and my...Ms. Coltrane talked.
"Oh. Okay."
"I...work for Lyda," he supplied. "When not doing the sailing."
She noted the pause, as if the answer wasn't as straightforward as that, but he'd moved on to introductions. "I'm Noah. Can I help you carry that?"
"Gen. Pleasure to meet you. No, I sealed it this time. We could dropkick it back to the kitchen if needed. In my own defense, I wasn't expecting a tree to spring up right in front of the door."
When she earned another easygoing grin, she couldn't help but note he was really handsome. It wasn't exactly his looks, which were a ten on any scale, but what lay beneath them, a compelling quality that kept drawing the eye back to his face, those distracting lips. "Do you know Brendan? He teaches drama at the college."
"He helped me get the sailing gig when I moved down here for my grandmother a few months ago. I came from New Orleans."
"From New Orleans to Tampa. I can't imagine. New Orleans seems so exotic."
"You guys have Miami and the Keys. Disney World."
"The first two are a bit of a drive from here. But I'll give you Disney World." As she came out of the storeroom, he reached past her, closed the door so she didn't have to do it while balancing the tea. "Did you meet Brendan in college?"
"No. He was visiting New Orleans a few years back and he and I met in one of the clubs there. We hit it off, had a lot of common interests."
A club. And he worked for Lyda. Should she just ask outright if it was a BDSM club? Chloe would. But she wasn't Chloe, no matter how she was trying to channel her. It had been her problem all her life. Always feeling out of sync, no matter where she ended up. Except Tea Leaves. She fit here. She didn't have to prove anything here, be anything she wasn't.
Noah followed her to the side entrance, apparently comfortable not saying anything further, which was good, because she wasn't sure where to go from there. He held the screen door for her, reaching out to steady her on the steps. Her nerve endings reacted with tingling pleasure to the long, strong fingers that briefly gripped her side, brushed her lower back. As she glanced back at him, she noticed his lips were red, shaped nicely. She wanted to run a fingertip over them, see what they felt like.
He was on the step right below her, which put them at eye level, his one arm stretched out to hold the door behind her, the other on the rail, making their bodies form an intimate circle, one of those inadvertent things that could happen between two strangers with chemistry. A dark brow lifted at her pause, and in that moment she reached out and touched his mouth.
It was soft and giving, a potential for wet heat that firmed under her touch as he parted his lips, let her stroke over them. His sinfully sweet gaze remained on her the whole time. Unlike Lyda's, his wasn't penetrating. It felt more like he was...waiting.
"I'm sorry," she said, drawing back. "I'm not sure why I did that."
"Because you wanted to," he said simply. "The best reason to do anything."
Chapter Two
The only answer to that was retreat. She moved back into Tea Leaves, cognizant of him following behind her. It really was turning into a peculiar day.
She put the Ceylon in its proper spot and finished up the order for six. Marguerite was at Lyda's table, keeping an eye on the customers as they spoke. Noah moved into the room, nodding deferentially to Marguerite and Lyda before he took a seat by the door. The several chairs lined against the wall there were intended for waiting to-go customers, or for those who needed an extra seat at their table. When the nearest table of customers, a group of three women dressed for the office, looked toward Noah, he gave them a pleasant, guileless smile they seemed to appreciate.
