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Sophie’s face lit up. Her green eyes flashed. “Yes!” she cried out. “Exactly. What a great idea, Noah.”
Noah couldn’t take his eyes off Sophie. Everything about her was animated. He could almost see the wheels turning in her head regarding Dwight’s situation. Something told him she wouldn’t rest until her friend had his happily-ever-after. She cared about people—truly and deeply. It radiated from within her.
He felt his stomach doing somersaults. What was it about Sophie that made him feel like a teenager with his first crush? The town of Love was filled with attractive women, most of whom had come to town due to the Operation Love campaign. They were all looking for love and companionship. Some of them had even come into the Moose Café to flirt with him. Yet all he could see was Sophie. It was more than her good looks. He supposed it boiled down to simple chemistry. The laws of attraction. Something you couldn’t really put your finger on.
He felt a slight pang in the region of his heart. If he was smart, he would pack his bags and head home on the next thing smoking. But he knew it would only complicate his life back in Seattle if he bailed on the assignment and lost much-needed salary. Noah was in the middle of a tug-of-war—his budding feelings for Sophie versus his obligation to save his company and his employees from financial ruin.
Noah had known before he ever stepped foot in Love that Sophie was capable of twisting men around her finger. Perhaps he was just another man who’d fallen for her charms. The past had him in its grip, reminding him of the way he’d been taken in by a woman once before. Kara had shown him in no uncertain terms that he wasn’t always the best judge of a woman’s character.
He needed to stay focused on the reason he had traveled to this small fishing village in Alaska in the first place. Getting caught up in Sophie’s web could prove to be disastrous, not only for the future of Catalano Security, but for his heart.
Chapter Seven
Sophie felt a surge of triumph flow through her veins at the sight of Noah helping himself to another one of her coffee drinks. She felt a huge grin tugging at her lips. She vividly remembered him telling her how he didn’t drink coffee. Score! Sophie had the feeling her mochaccino had made a believer out of him. It was the yummiest drink she created at the Moose Café. Customers ordered it in droves.
Her father would get a big kick out of this story, Sophie realized with a sinking feeling. He loved hearing tales of people who had been converted to drinking coffee. It was moments such as this one when she missed him like nobody’s business. Roger Mattson was far from perfect. He tended to focus too much on Java Giant and business meetings and his vast empire. But he always said he loved her more than anything else in his world, including his corporation. Sophie wished she could believe it. Maybe then it would be easier to forgive him and bridge the gap between them.
She wrapped her arms across her chest. “I’m f-freezing,” she said. Cameron had placed little heaters inside the tent so they wouldn’t turn into Popsicles, but it was still bone-chillingly cold.
“Just keep moving around,” Noah advised her. “Then you won’t feel it as much. The crowd is starting to thin out. Only a half hour more to go.”
Sophie began walking back and forth in front of their stand. Then she began doing jumping jacks. She felt the intensity of Noah’s gaze. Truthfully, she wasn’t sure if he was checking her out or marveling at her silliness.
As the clock ticked down, they serviced the last of the crowd, then began packing up the leftover items. Despite the frigid temperature, the time had flown by.
“By the way, Sophie, I hope that I didn’t make you uncomfortable the other day at work,” Noah said, his voice full of apology. “I only meant to tease you about Hazel’s comment. Sorry if my sense of humor made you cringe.”
“No. Not at all,” she said, right before correcting herself. “Well, actually, maybe just a little, but I’m a bit on the
shy side, so it doesn’t take much to make me blush.”
Noah began to chuckle, creating little creases at the sides of his mouth. His blue eyes twinkled.
“What’s so funny?” Sophie asked.
“You don’t really seem all that shy. I mean, sometimes you do, but for the most part you’re bubbly and personable. There doesn’t seem to be a single customer you don’t chat with as if they’re your best friend. Honestly, you seem like a classic extrovert.”
Sophie felt flattered that he had noticed all these things about her. It made her feel ten feet tall. “I think that’s the Southern gal in me, if I’m being honest. Back in Saskell, I used to be a quiet little mouse until my mama taught me a big lesson. She told me that I was her ray of sunshine and it would make her the happiest mama in the world if I could spread that sunshine wherever I went. It was her way of helping me come out my shell, but she made me believe I was doing something for her. And I would have done anything to make Mama smile.”
“You must miss her a lot.”
Emotion clogged Sophie’s throat. It was never easy to let people know her mother was no longer with her. “More than you know, Noah. She passed away when I was small. She was everything a girl could ever want or need in a mom. I think a mother is really the heart of the home. And when she died nothing was ever quite the same. The sparkle was gone. I think a lot of the miscommunication between my father and me stems from that loss...that void. We never managed to fill it up. My parents were divorced, but they never stopped loving each other. My daddy and I both grieved her loss, but as time went by, we did it independent of each other. We didn’t lean on one another.” Sophie’s eyes pooled with tears. “But I do believe that I carry her around with me every single day. We don’t ever lose the person’s essence. It’s ingrained in us.”
“I agree with you. My gram passed away two years ago. I think about her all the time. She taught me how to make my famous meatballs and gravy.”
“Well, she did a great job. It’s already spread all over town that your meatballs are scrumptious.” Sophie rubbed her hand across her stomach. “One of these days I’m going to sit down at a table at the Moose and order a huge serving of them. No pasta. No bread. Just meatballs.”
“I’d love to see that.” Noah threw his head back and laughed. “This town is something else. Word of mouth sure travels fast here.”
“Like the speed of sound,” Sophie said in a playful tone. “That has its drawbacks, of course, when the news isn’t so favorable. Or when it’s of a gossipy nature.”
Noah scrunched up his nose as if he smelled something bad. “I imagine so. There are gossips in every town. Sadly, bad news tends to travel faster than good news.”
“Is Love different from where you grew up in Alaska?” Sophie couldn’t contain her curiosity about Noah’s origins. There was a little hint of mystery that surrounded him.
“Very different,” he said with a nod. “I grew up in Homer. The population is much larger, and it has a different vibe. This town has an old-fashioned charm. I almost feel like I’ve stepped back in time here in Love. What they share is a great sense of community. Back home people chip in and help each other when we need it the most.”
“It must have been amazing to grow up in Alaska,” Sophie said, as images of a pint-size Noah flashed before her eyes.
