Page 67 of Until Then

I hold his gaze for a breath, then draw my lips against his ear, voice low. “Because I don’t want anyone to see what I plan to do with you.”

I don’t offer a warning before I kiss him again.

Noah’s breath catches. There’s something a little intoxicating the way my voice and touch can overpower him the way his do to me.

He let out a soft groan and lies back, drawing me over him. This is how we always should’ve been. For nine months, this could’ve been mine.

Maybe now . . . it can be again.

By the time we finally leave the bubble of the hillside, the lights around the ranch are ablaze, and the moon blankets the pastures in cold light.

Noah helps me put the horses into their stalls, then walks with his hand in mine toward his car.

“Thank you,” I say. “For coming today, I mean. It . . . I had a good time.”

Noah smirks and kisses me slowly. His thumb runs along my cheek when he pulls back. “You need to know by now I have ulterior motives with our little arrangement, right?”

I tilt my head. “Um, keep fame chasers and gold diggers away?”

“A good guess and a benefit I didn’t really think about, but no.” He steps closer, his tall, hard body making a sort of cage against me and his car door. Noah tilts my chin with one of his knuckles. “My big secret with all this is I have no plans of letting you go again.”

My heart skips. I force an easy grin to hide the rush of adrenaline in my veins. “Hmm. Be specific, Mr. Hayden. I could take that as romantic, or borderline stalkerish.”

His smile adds a bright gleam to his eyes.

“Hayley,” he begins slowly, tilting his mouth so it's aligned with mine again. “I’m fake-dating you because I want to real-date you. I want you.” Noah kisses my cheek. “I don’t want to pretend with you.” A kiss to the corner of my lips. “I want the boring days.” Kiss to my brow. “The messy days.” He pulls back enough to hold my stare. “Whatever you have to offer, I want. I have since we first met, and it hasn’t changed. It’s only grown.”

He's bearing his heart with sincerity, and deserves the same in return.

I swallow. “I’m not glamorous, Noah.”

“Who told you that?”

I chuckle and press a hand to his chest. “You know what I mean. I’m not the sort you see on the red carpets. I don’t even know how to pose for a picture.”

“It’s definitely a learned skill,” he goes on without a pause. “But I think I’ve failed if you thought I wanted you to be anyone other than who you are already. I didn’t fall for glitz and glamor, Hayley. I fell for a woman in a T-Shirt who has an unnerving passion for a blueberry scone.”

This man.

“I have insecurities about some things. Sometimes I allow them to get in the way.”

“Good, so do I.” He traces the bottom edge of my lip. “I’m not delivering a line when I tell you I want you, Hayley. All of you.” For a moment he hesitates. “Trust me, there are things about me that aren’t glamorous.”

There’s meaning behind the words. Perhaps, Noah Hayden has his own secrets.

My fingertips follow the curve of his shirt collar. “I’d like to see those sides of you.”

Noah’s jaw pulses. He kisses me, still sweet, but with a new claim than he had before.

I lose track of time until he finally releases me. “I won’t leave if I don’t go now. I do have a cast meeting tomorrow, stupidly early.”

I laugh and force myself to take a step back. “Better get your beauty rest, Pretty Boy.”

“Have dinner with me tomorrow?”

“You know, you’re the only guy who can demand me to go out with you instead of asking. For some reason, I don’t mind with you.”

“Is that a yes, Wildfire?”

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