Page 31 of One Last Time
I take two deep breaths and open the door. Noah’s face is right there as he leans against the frame. His emerald eyes are deeper than before thanks to the green shirt he’s wearing. His dark brown hair is pushed back from his face, and I can’tbreathe.
He flashes one of his luminous smiles, and I think I actually hit the bottom of thatbarrel.
“Hi.” His voice washes overme.
I stare, and my legs go all mushy. I lean my head on the edge and smile back. “Hi.”
“I brought these foryou.”
Noah hands me a large bouquet of calla lilies. “They’rebeautiful.”
And I want to make sweet, sweet love toyou.
I need atherapist.
I look at the flowers, which are an array of pink and white, and am grateful for something to distract myselfwith.
“Not half as beautiful as you are,” Noah says, bringing my attention slowly back tohim.
My cheeks burn, and I swoon. I’ve never swooned before, but I rise up on my toes, sigh, and drop back down. Like a freaking teenage girl with her firstcrush.
If I could slap myself right now, I would. Instead, I straighten my back and vow to get a handle on my shit. “Thank you again. I’ll just put these in water if you want to comein.”
“Soundsgood.”
Noah enters the house, and I head to the kitchen, realizing too late that Danni organized the place and I have no bloody idea where my vases ended up. I end up grabbing the first cup I find and put the flowers in my ghetto version of avase.
“So this is Heather’s old home?” he asks from the otherroom.
“Yup. I spent countless nights here as a kid so it kind of feels like home to me,” I reply as I look around the cabinets for anything better than Aubrey’s pink Barbie cup. I search high and low, but there is nothing to befound.
Anxious, I close the drawer quickly, catching my finger. “Shit!”
“You all right inthere?”
No, I’m the walking definition of a hot mess.“Yeah, everything’s great!” I call out and roll my eyes. I should assume this is how the rest of my evening willgo.
Not wanting to keep him waiting or show my ass, even more, I grab the cup and place it in the center of thetable.
Classy is my middle name. My mother would have a coronary if she sawthis.
“Sorry,” I say as I turn to find him watching me. “Ready?”
Maybe I can distract him and he won’t notice? I move over a smidge to block his view and lean against the edge of thetable.
“You in a rush? I figured we could talk a little, get to know each other.” Noah’s voice is deep andsmooth.
Couldn’t he sound like a girl? Anything to make him a little less appealing. I don’t feel like that’s asking too much. I need to find anything to keep me from embarrassingmyself.
He moves toward me as I study him. Looking for that thing . . . he has to have one. I search his face, finding nothing but beautiful green eyes and a come-fuck-me smile. My gaze roams lower, already knowing this is a bad idea but unable to stop myself. His shoulders are broad and the angle tapers into a triangle. I remember how my legs fit perfectly around his waist and wish I could forget the way my hands moved against the muscles on hisarms.
“Kristin?” Noah breaks me out of mytrance.
“Oh! Umm,” I stammer. “Yeah, no. We should . . . you know . . .go.”
Real freaking smooth,Kristin.
Noah chuckles. “Did you hearme?”
