Page 65 of Won’t Let You Get Away

Suddenly, it all clicks into place.

The conversation I overheard a while ago between her and her mother comes rushing back causing my breath to hitch.

“Not that I’ve even had a second to pick up the book I’ve been reading since Christmas.”

Staring at Sabrina now, everything falls into place. Like the final piece of a jigsaw puzzle, I can now see the whole picture.

The walls she’s erected, her reluctance to let me in. Her not having my number saved in her phone. It all only makes sense if…

“You never opened the book,” I whisper. Yet in the silence of the cabin, with only the heavy rain beating against the roof, it feels as though I’ve shouted.

Sabrina’s brows furrow in confusion, and she throws up her hands in a gesture of exasperation as she looks at me as though I’ve lost my mind.

“What the hell are you talking about, Noah?”

Looking past her, I quickly check the cabin. Spotting the bookcase, I cross the room in an instant.

She doesn’t know I tried.

“What are you doing? We were in the middle of something!” she protests. Frustration resonates clearly in her tone, but for now, I ignore it.

I can’t continue arguing with her when she doesn’t have the full picture.

She’s hurt. Worse still is that, unintentionally or not, I’m the cause of her pain.

Sabrina believes that I abandoned her.

Then she discovered she was pregnant and believed she was facing that alone too. I recall her panic after we discovered the baby is a boy, how she hadn’t allowed herself time to process anything because she felt alone.

My chest tightens further, and it takes all my effort to concentrate on searching through the bookcase.

Wander Whitlock, Willow Winslet, Whitney…

Shifting my focus to the Whitney West shelf, I read all the titles once. Then twice, and a third time. My teeth gnash in frustration as I look through the shelf one last time, still failing to find the book.

“Noah!” Sabrina calls out. I finally turn to answer her, but my attention is caught by her bedroom door down the hall.

Without a moment’s hesitation, I cross the room, with Sabrina following closely and demanding an explanation. I open her door, immediately launching into a search. She catches up to me, grabs my wrist and tries to lead me back to the living room.

However, my gaze is already locked on what I’ve been looking for.

“This is my room! You can’t just…”

“You didn’t open the book!” I interrupt more loudly than intended, causing her to release my wrist with a startled gasp. Sighing, I don’t look back at her as I cross her room to the nightstand. My heart pounds in my chest as I stop beside her bed and stare at the book.

Picking up her copy ofAlways, Madlyby Whitney West, I glance at the top of the pages where the note remains tucked in with her bookmark.

I turn to face her then, the tightness in my chest transforming into a stabbing pain as I take in her tear-streaked eyes.

Her heavy breathing causes her chest to rise and fall rapidly. It’s a struggle to keep my gaze from dropping from her eyes to her perfect form; those tantalizing dips and curves serve as a reminder of how she feels in my hands. The fact that she is carrying our child with such strength…

Holding her gaze, I extend the book towards her.

“I haven’t had time to read, Noah. Life’s been kicking my ass and throwing curve balls at me ever since…” she trails off, crossing her arms and scowling at me.

I understand what she means, though. Since our Christmas vacation, her life has been a constant whirlwind of changes.

“Besides, my reading habits have nothing to do with the conversation we were in the middle of,” she grumbles.

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