Page 45 of Until Then

“Um. This is just . . . weird. They were totally okay with it?”

“Because they went through something similar, you heard them. My stepmom arranged for a woman to be Rees’s wedding date, but he was paranoid to spend a weekend with a stranger—for good reason. He’d sort of met Vienna before?—”

“Sort of?”

Noah fights a smile. “They, uh, they got stuck in an elevator, and let’s just say they made the most of their forced proximity.”

What is it with these Hayden men? “Sounds saucy.”

“Wasn’t there.” Noah holds up his hands. “Don’t want to know details. Anyway, he told me there was a spark, so he lied about Vi being his new girlfriend. Then, of course he had to actually go get her on board. The rest is history.”

There’s a delightful swoop to my stomach. Is that what’s about to happen? My own romance lined in fated meetings and second chances?

One step at a time.

For now, I needed to find a way to make this believable for Noah’s side, and keep it out of the knowledge of my side. I had no plans to bring a guy around my family only to tear him away like a bandage and admit it was all a big farce.

Mom wants nothing but happiness for me, so she falls first every time.

And Nan is the biggest flirt of all.

“Come on.” Noah’s palm rests on the small of my back. “You look like you need to get out of here, and if the bride and groom are gone, I say we’re off duty.”

I didn’t know if that was true, but I allow him to guide me out of the hall toward the exit doors.

“You need sorbet.”

I chuckle. “That got me into trouble last time.”

“Fine, I need it. Want to join me, or are you heading home?”

“Did you drive?”

Noah shakes his head. “I usually call a car to events like this. Don’t like people seeing my license plate if I can avoid it.”

Probably wise. I wring my fingers for half a breath, then say, “I could go for sorbet.”

The slight grin that curls in the corner of Noah’s mouth is undoubtedly worth the risk of spending more time with a man who could certainly shatter my heart if he wanted.

“Let me try it again.” With a brazen scoop of his plastic spoon, Noah leans across my car console and takes a heap of my vanilla custard.

“Double dipping.” I jab my own spoon at his hand like a claw until he snaps it back.

He licks off the vanilla with a satisfied grin, like he won some grand battle.

We pulled off the road next to a public park after stopping at the nearest ice cream shop. Somewhere between our orders to this moment we came to a mute agreement the night didn’t need to end yet.

For now, it almost feels like the day of the blueberry scone.

For now, we can ignore the bite of reality waiting outside these car doors.

“Hmm.” Noah swirls my custard in his mouth. “I still like mine better.”

“You’re going to clog everything with the amount of chocolate in that thing.” I look down at his triple chocolate fudge brownie ice cream cup.

Noah pops a little chunk of brownie onto his tongue. “I’ll work it off when shooting starts up again in a couple months.”

“I’d like to see you in all your barbarian, warrior, whatever getup.”

---