Page 70 of Can't Fight the Moonlight

"This is crazy, isn't it?" she murmured, as the two locked eyes.

Justin didn't think they were even aware of anyone but each other. He could not believe Alice had come back to find Noah, that the old man hadn't been as crazy as he'd thought.

"I've thought about you many times over the years," Alice said. "But I wasn't free."

"Are you now?" Noah asked.

"Yes. At last."

"At last," Noah echoed.

As they went into each other's arms, Patty cleared her throat. "I'm going back to my room, not that anyone cares."

He could see the pain in her eyes before she walked away.

Lizzie gave him a helpless look. "I need to go after her. I know she's just my guest, but—"

"She's in pain," he finished. "Go."

"I'm sorry, Justin."

"Don't be."

As Lizzie hurried down the hall, he saw Noah and Alice exchange a kiss. Noah had waited over a decade for Alice. He could wait a little while longer for Lizzie.

On his way back to his room, he was stopped by several guests, who wanted to know what was going on. He reassured them all, including his grandparents, who had come up from their room on the second floor after having heard a loud thud. Most were excited for Noah, having heard his story or at least parts of it. The incredibly romantic reunion got everyone talking.

It took him almost an hour to extricate himself from the other guests, plenty of time for his blood to cool and his pulse to slow down. But when he got back to his room and flopped down on the bed, thoughts of what had almost happened with Lizzie brought his temperature right back up. She was clearly taking her time with Patty, and he doubted she'd come back to him when she was done.

For better or worse, the moment between them had passed, and he doubted he was going to get another such moment.

Unless he went to her.There was nothing stopping him from doing that. But he felt a little like Noah now, like it was up to Lizzie to come back to him.

That was crazy. He didn't wait for what he wanted.

Maybe he was waiting, because he wasn't sure that what he wanted was what he should have. There was incredible chemistry between him and Lizzie. And he wanted to take her to bed more than he wanted to do anything else.But what about after?

Damn!He never thought about after, not when it came to sex.What was happening to him?

An odd creaking sound brought him into a sitting position. The rocking chair in the corner moved back and forth, a gentle rocking motion. He frowned. The window was closed. He didn't feel a breeze. But there it went again, rocking back and forth. It had to be a vibration from the floor or the wall or the heating system—something.

He got up and walked around the room, searching for some breezy spot that would make the chair move, but he couldn't feel a thing. The chair was no longer rocking, but he couldn't stop staring at it. He looked at it so long that his eyes began to blur. He felt like he was seeing the shadow of someone.

He was losing his mind. There was no ghost in his room. He didn't believe in ghosts. Not anymore.

That caveat reminded him that a long time ago, he'd desperately wanted to believe. He'd wanted a sign. He'd wanted to know there was more out there, that there was a life beyond this one. But he'd never ever gotten a sign. And he'd stopped looking for one.

He walked into the bathroom and brushed his teeth, then took off his clothes and got into bed. He snapped off the bedside lamp and slid under the covers. The sheets felt cold. He closed his eyes and tried to sleep, but fifteen minutes later, he knew that wasn't going to happen. The rocking chair had started rocking again, and the creak was making him crazy.

Turning on the light, he grabbed his computer off the nightstand. He wouldn't sleep; he'd work. That was the one constant in his life. And he almost immediately felt better when he started digging into the latest testing report on their newest robotics device. Numbers and charts always helped him focus on what mattered. He concentrated on that instead of the rocking chair, instead of the woman he'd almost taken to bed, instead of the reunion going on downstairs.

* * *

"You must think I'm crazy to be so upset," Patty told Lizzie as they sat at a small table in Patty's room.

"Not at all," Lizzie said, as Patty blew her nose again. The tears had finally stopped, but now Patty just looked miserable.

"I barely know Noah. And I've been aware from the first minute we met that he was in love with someone else. It's not like this was a surprise. I knew he was waiting for Alice, desperate to have her show up. I just didn't think it would happen."

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