Page 108 of Forever and Ever

He smirks but doesn’t look the least bit guilty.

“Thank you.” I lift so I can kiss him. My fingers tangle in his hair, and I want to devour the devotion that he pours out for me. I want to drink the love straight from his lips. I want him to tear down the life I’ve seen myself building and replace it with dreams I’ve never imagined.

I want to make this work, to meet each other halfway. I want to believe in things I never thought existed.

Pulling away, I look up at him. Those pale blue eyes bright and piercing straight through me.

“I love you, Noah Hayes,” I say—finally—out of breath and tired of fighting what I’ve been feeling inside. “I love you so damn much.”

Noah smiles, and it makes my heart constrict harder in my chest. He leans in, a breath away from my lips.

“Fucking finally,” he says, kissing me so deeply I forget why I ever fought this.

33

Noah

Merryglaresatme,but her smile is all I’m paying attention to.

“You promised you guys wouldn’t put recording on hold for my surgery.” She’s trying really hard to be stern right now, and it’s adorable.

“We didn’t.” I wrap my arms around her waist. “We just happen to be taking today and tomorrow off, and then we’ll be back in the studio.”

“Mm-hmm,” she hums.

But I dip my face down to hers to capture her lips before her pretty little mouth can argue with me anymore. Sinking my teeth into her bottom lip and making her wiggle in my arms.

“Noah Hayes.” She swats at me playfully.

“You two gonna go somewhere and fuck all day or are you gonna come hang out and have a beer?” Rome stops in front of us with his arms crossed over his chest.

“Neither?” I say to him and Merry starts laughing.

Fucking Rome. I swear the guy is in his own world half the time.

“I can’t drink the day before surgery,” Merry reminds him.

Not to mention that I don’t drinkat all. Lately he acts as if he has no idea what’s going on with anyone other than himself.

“More for the rest of us.” Rome shrugs and he turns to head back to where the group has settled on the beach.

It’s a nice day for late August. Cooler in Seattle than summers in California, and there’s a breeze coming off the bay. The salty air feels good.

“Guess we should join the party,” Merry says, but she nuzzles against my chest instead of pulling away. “I can’t believe everyone is here.”

Dipping my nose to the top of her head, I breathe in her berry scent. “Believe it,” I tell her.

Finally, she pulls away and grabs my hand, dragging me down the beach when I’d rather just stand there ignoring everyone and holding her. But this is her party, so I don’t grumble… too much.

Merry splits off from me when we get to the group to go chat with Cassie and Eloise, and I make my way over to where the guys are sitting and set myself down in the middle of them.

“How you holding up, man,” Sebastian asks, handing me a water bottle.

“On the outside? Great.” I laugh, but I can’t help that it comes out nervous.

All I can think about is Merry going in for surgery tomorrow. The thought alone eating away at me.

It’s been a whirlwind since we got to town a week ago with the doctors’ appointments, one after the other. Luckily, they were a lot more optimistic about it than Merry seemed to think they would be. Her doctor is going to do a myomectomy like she’s had done before, but with any luck, it will go better and there won’t be as much scarring.

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