Page 81 of One Last Time
She tilts her head and grins. “Are you going to lie to me? Me? Of allpeople?”
I should’ve known she’d see through my very bad acting. Tonight was absolute hell trying to stay away fromhim.
“We’re not saying anything right now. It’s new, and I didn’t want your wedding to be where you foundout.”
“Found out?” She laughs. “I’ve known since it started. Hell, I saw the writing on the wall the minute you two saw each other. It’s hard to hide that kind ofchemistry.”
I can almost feel Noah’s presence. Sure enough, I look over to see him talking to Eli but looking atme.
“I could love him, Heather. If I let myself, it would be soeasy.”
She takes my hand in hers. “I’m pretty sure he’s already in love withyou.”
“It’s toosoon.”
“It’s never too soon when it’s right. I know how hard it is to take chances after you’ve been hurt, but take them. If I didn’t have Nicole pushing me toward Eli, I would’ve missed out. Don’t miss out because of fear. If Eli and I had fallen apart, I wouldn’t have regretted one minute I spent with him. And the only thing you’ll regret is not following yourheart.”
Heather was strong enough to trust Eli, and that worked out for her. Who knows, maybe Noah is my second chance athappiness.
I pull Heather into a huge hug and pull back without letting go of her shoulders. “I love you so much. You give me hope, and as much as I’d like to tell you all the excuses I could come up with, I’m not sure they matter. I think we both know I’m falling in love withhim.”
She touches my cheek and offers a knowing smile. “Yeah, I knew you werescrewed.”
I’m counting on that tonight. “He’s really good at doing that,too.”
“Kristin!” She bursts outlaughing.
“What?”
Heather’s shock is slightly amusing. I was raised to never talk about what goes on in the bedroom. When all my friends were sharing their extremely intimate details, I would stay silent. One time, I got hammered and they somehow got me to spill all kinds of things, but other than that, I’m tight-lipped. I also never had anything worth sharing when it came to Scott. Our sex was lackluster atbest.
Then it becamenonexistent.
“I love this newyou.”
Truth be told, I do,too.
“You girls done yapping? I’d like to have sex with my wife,” Eli says while tapping hiswatch.
“Go screw your husband,” I tellher.
We say goodbye again, and I stand, watching as Noah walks toward me with purpose. The closer he gets, the faster my heart races. It’s been hours of being near him, but not close enough. Now, there’s nothing keeping usapart.
When I can’t take it another second, my feet start to move. Knowing how I’m feeling, I don’t want to be away fromhim.
Each step breaks another link in the invisible chain that was holding meback.
I’m not tethered to mypast.
My head and my heart start to yell the samething.
When we’re just a few feet apart, I move faster, and we collide. He catches me as I leap into his arms. Noah holds me as I clutch his face in my hands, bringing our lips together. In the middle of the parking lot, Noah solidifies himself in to my heart. I kiss him in short bursts as he keeps my feet off theground.
“I hated this,” I tell him before bringing my lips back to his. “I hated not being near you when you wereclose.”
He leans down so I can reach him easily, his hands travel up my spine and tangle in my hair. “All I wanted to do was take you in my arms. Kiss you. Rip you out of that man’s hands and claim you as mine in front of everyone,” he says, and then our lips are too busy totalk.
Noah fills my senses. The scruff on his cheek scratches my hands. The salt air mixed with his cologne makes my head dizzy. Each swipe of his tongue fills my mouth with the taste of the beer he wasdrinking.
