It was the best articulation of what he’d been through that Noah had heard since his life blew up in his face, and it was a huge relief to know that someone else got it. “You’re very wise.”
“No, I’m not wise at all, or I would’ve seen him for what he was long before I did. My dad saw it. He told me if someone seemed too good to be true, he probably was. I didn’t want to hear that. I was in love and determined to have it all with him. If only I’d listened to my dad, who’s the wisest person I know, I could’ve avoided a lot of hell and heartache, not to mention financial ruin.”
“He ruined you financially, too?”
She nodded. “I was a fool to allow him to oversee our finances. My credit was all tied up in his, and by the time I realized the full extent of what he’d been doing, we were nearly bankrupt. He’d wiped out our accounts, maxed out the credit cards and had stopped paying my student loans. I couldn’t even afford to hire a divorce attorney or get an apartment of my own after I left him. I had to borrow money from my parents that I’m still paying back, and my cousin’s husband is handling my divorce pro bono.”
“God, what an asshole.”
“He played me every which way and weaponized my love for him. He was shocked when I left him. He never expected that to happen because he thought I loved him so much, I’d never dare to leave him.”
“I’m so glad you got free of him.”
“I’m not completely free yet, but I’m working on it. He’s refusing to sign the divorce papers, but I have a court date in a couple of weeks that might force the issue without his consent. I’ve got proof of all the shit he did, which my lawyer says will matter to the judge. We got lucky with a female judge who has no patience for men who prey on women.”
“I hope she sticks it to him.”
“I hope so, too. I’m looking forward to being completely free of him, but it’s going to take me years to dig out of the financial hole he left me in.”
“You ought to sue him.”
“That’s what my lawyer says, too, but that would cost more money and just extend the nightmare.”
“And I get why that’s not something you want to do, but why should you be stuck paying his tab?”
“The thought of dragging it on is so nauseating to me.”
“I’d think the idea of paying off his debts would be even more sickening.”
“You sound like my dad. He’d like you.”
Before Noah could respond to that, the waitress returned with her sides and his ribs.
She took a bite of the beans and made a sound of pleasure that traveled like an arrow straight to his groin, making him thankful for the cover the table provided. For God’s sake, now he was getting turned on by her in a restaurant? Before he met her at the start of this job, he’d had reason to wonder whether he’d ever again be interested in another woman for anything more than the random physical release. She’d answered that question rather definitively on more than one occasion since she came to town.
With this massive job at the center of both their lives—and a lot riding on it for everyone involved—he needed to keep this relationship professional, no matter what. The last thing he needed with the biggest job of his career only half finished was any kind of romantic entanglement with the architect running the show.
Tell that to your dick, jackass.
My dick needs to stand the fuck down and stop paying attention to her.
And now he was having conversations with himself about his dick.
He devoured the delicious ribs and tried to ignore that everything she did was sexy.
The waitress returned to refill their water glasses from a pitcher. “How is it?”
“Delicious as always,” Noah said.
“Fantastic,” Brianna replied.
“You folks from Butler?”
“We are,” Noah said.
“We hear there was a big accident about four miles south of here. A car off the road. They expect the road to be closed most of the night. Since the snow is coming down hard, and you’d have to drive around the mountain to get home, we’re offering free rooms upstairs for the night to anyone who can’t get home. One per party. Let me know if you want me to grab one for you.”
Noah’s mind went completely blank as he stared across the table at Brianna.
She looked up at the waitress. “We’ll take one. Thank you so much.”
“No problem. I’ll get you a key. Be right back.”
Noah wanted to say no way in hell to spending a night upstairs with her. That was the worst thing they could do with his little brain running roughshod over his better judgment where she was concerned. But driving more than an hour around the mountain in a raging snowstorm wasn’t something he was eager to do either.
Fuck.
“I know it’s not ideal, but I was already afraid of driving back in the snow before I heard a car was off the road. And by ‘off the road,’ does that mean ‘off a cliff’?”
“Probably an embankment.”
“Which isn’t quite as terrifying as a cliff, but enough to make me want to stay put.”
“My cousins are firefighters. They’re probably on the scene.”
“I hope everyone involved is all right.”
“Me, too. I’m sorry about this.”
“Don’t be,” she said. “It’ll make for a funny story to tell Mrs. H.”
“She’ll be thrilled we had to spend the night. This whole thing was a fix-up anyway.”
“You think so?”
“Oh, hell yes. My grandfather and uncle probably gave her the idea to send us off on an outing together. This entire evening is right out of their playbook. I wouldn’t have put it past them to arrange the accident to keep us here, too.”
“For real?”
“Well, not that part about the accident, but it wouldn’t surprise me to learn they were behind the idea for us to come here in the first place. They’ve made it their mission in life to get all my cousins and siblings happily settled down, and their track record has been shockingly good so far.”
“How so?”
“I could give a ton of examples, but my favorite one so far has to be what they did with my cousin Hannah. Her first husband was killed years ago in Iraq.”
“That’s so sad.”
“It was awful. We grew up with Caleb, and his loss hit us all hard. He was a great guy, and they’d been together since they were kids.”
“I’m so sorry for her.”
“It was rough for a long time. In the last few years, we started to realize that another of our childhood friends, Nolan Roberts, had a thing for Hannah. He was a close friend of Caleb’s, so it was messy, you know?”
“I can imagine. What did your uncle and grandfather do?”
“Nolan is the mechanic in town. That’s his shop down the street from the diner.”
“I know him. I took my car there for oil a couple of weeks ago. He and his coworker, Skeeter, took excellent care of me.”
“Skeeter is a whole other story. Anyway, Hannah had a standing date with some friends once a week that she looked forward to. My grandfather and uncle waited for a week when everyone else was unavailable and then messed with Hannah’s car so it wouldn’t start when she was ready to leave. She had no choice but to call Nolan, and while he was there, he finally worked up the nerve to ask her out. They’re married now with an adorable little girl named Caleb, but they call her Callie, and another baby on the way.”