Page 12 of Forever and Ever

“Mercedes,” he says with a smile, propping himself way too close to me.

“Noah.” I groan, trying to avoid his gaze.

He might look all right in his simple gray T-shirt and black jeans, but I’m not going to let him catch me staring.

Noah strikes me as the kind of guy who enjoys the chase, because that’s all he’s done for the past three weeks, no matter how often I shut him down. But I know what happens when the thrill fades and he realizes I’m not the girl he thinks I am.

Noah is better off sticking to the sweet, pretty-girl type—blonde hair, blue eyes, looks like she’d make a nice Stepford wife. A cookie-cutter copy of one of the many groupies he attracts.

And he attracts a lot of them.

“Looking beautiful as always.” He leans closer, and I get an inhale of the wintergreen gum he’s chewing.

“Do those cheesy pick-up lines actually work on women?” I swipe closed the apps on my phone and turn to face him.

“You tell me.” He grins.

His hair is tucked behind his ears, showing off his chiseled jaw and those piercing blue eyes he uses to try and spear straight through me.

“No.” I narrow my gaze, which only seems to amuse him.

“Good thing in my profession pickup lines aren’t really a necessity then,” he says with a shrug, looking straight ahead.

I roll my eyes and tuck my phone back into my purse, crossing my arms over my chest.

“Where are you headed?” Noah turns his head to the side and once more scans me over. My stomach defies me by twisting, which I don’t appreciate.

There’s this energy Noah puts off that I wish I was better at ignoring. Something about the sunshine that radiates out of him makes you feel like you’re orbiting whether you want to or not. And I’m not blind to it.

“Out.”

Noah chuckles. “Funny, that’s where I was headed.”

“You aren’t following me.”

“Maybe I was already headed wherever you’re going.” He gives me a one-shoulder shrug.

“You weren’t.”

“Wasn’t I?”

We’re in the same standoff I’ve found myself in with him almost every time we’ve come face to face. Him pushing to get closer. Me kicking him away. The guy is intent on breaching whatever he has identified as a wall within me.

Good luck. Not happening.

Just because I’m different from the girls he’s used to surrounding himself with, doesn’t mean I’m dumb enough to fall for him being temporarily interested.

I get it. I was the strange girl in school, always wearing dark clothes and drawing on myself with Sharpies. I never quite fit into the same mold as everyone else, which my classmates were happy to remind me of.

Half the time, I was being made fun of. The other half, I was being chased by guys who wanted to work out their strange fetishes. Either way, it always resulted in them leaving when they were done and had their fill.

But that was then, and this is now. I’m smarter—stronger—and I know better than to think it’s a good idea to let anyone in.

“I get what you’re doing, Noah.” I stand up taller, even if there’s no way I’ll match his height, especially in my boots.

Noah turns to face me in the elevator, leaning against the back of it and crossing one ankle over the other with an amused look on his face.

“Oh, you do?” He quirks an eyebrow. “Well then, enlighten me.”

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