Page 27 of How to Say I Do
I still felt Noël’s skin beneath my fingertips. It was like magic had touched me, pure electricity that kept singeing my veins. “I was right, you know. Everyonedoeslove you. I knew they would.”
He beamed. “So what are you guys doing for the rest of the night?”
This was the only dull spot in such a magnificent day. Funny how a week ago, I hadn’t imagined any part of this trip could be a bore, but now I looked at the next few hours like they were a specially-designed prison I had to endure. “Savannah’s parents are taking everyone to dinner. I’d bring you along, but they arranged this, and—”
“I get it. It’s family time.”
It was, but. “Can I swing by after?”
“I’ll wait up.”
Savannah’s parents were wonderful people. They’d taken Liam and me under their wings after Mom and Dad died, and they’d been as supportive as they could be when Savannah and Liam said they were having Jason while they were both still kids themselves. Three times a week, Savannah’s mom had come to the ranch to help me watch baby Jason after she’d worked all day. I’d texted her hundreds of times with questions about high temperatures and Pedialyte and the color of the mess in Jason’s diapers. I loved her like an aunt, and Savannah’s father like an uncle.
But, still… I wanted to escape that dinner as fast as I could. Why did everything seem to take forever? Appetizers and conversation, drinks and first courses. Thirteen-and-a-half minutes in, I was dying.
Everyone wanted to play twenty questions with me. Had Noël ever been to Texas? Did hereallyknow all those celebrities? What had we been up to these past few days? And how had we met, exactly?
“We just really hit it off. He’s… he’s incredible.” My cheeks were flaming. Heat burned from my toes to the tips of my ears. I could still feel the echo of Noël’s touch on my skin. I kept looking down, thinking I’d see his hand on top of my wrist or sliding up my forearm.
“Do they do two-for-one specials here?” Liam was still embracing his baby-brother duties. He winked at me. “Side-by-side weddings could be pretty cool, bro.”
Savannah and I rolled our eyes. I was center-of-the-sun hot.We can’t get married here. We’re already on our honeymoon.I focused on refolding my napkin into itty-bitty rows as I ignored Liam.
Jason was coloring his paper placemat into a solid yellow rectangle. “Is Mr. Noël going with us to the beach tomorrow?”
“I’m guessing that’s a yes.” Liam smoothed his hand down Jason’s hair and shot me a grin. “He’s invited, right?”
I coughed into my fist. “I’ll, uh. I’ll make sure he knows he’s invited when I see him later.”
Savannah and Trish hooted as Liam raised his beer in a toast.
It took hours to break free.
Savannah’s parents had booked a private lanai, and live music from the beachside band drifted in as the night ran long. Savannah danced with Jason while Liam spun Savannah’s mom around. Savannah’s father broke out cigars after dessert while Savannah and Trish helped Jason make a moonlit sand castle. I felt bad, wanting to escape my family and the people I loved more than life itself.
Liam made excuses for him and me to slip down to El Amanecer after a polite round of puffs. Something about grabbing more beer or picking up a bottle of champagne for him and Savannah.
He ordered hot tea for Savannah and decaf coffee for himself at the bar, and I ordered a carefully-picked-out bottle of wine and asked for two glasses. Liam gripped my shoulder. “You deserve this, bro,” he said. “Go be happy.”
I floated up the beach, my shoes in one hand and the wine bottle and glasses in the other. I barely felt the sand, or the breeze, or heard the waves. I hadn’t had a moment to breathe, or to let my mind churn over all that had happened. What did it mean that Noël had shown up that morning? Or that we’d been inseparable all day, again?
What did it mean that everyone around us thought we were already head over heels for each other? I thought this was a one-way love affair.Iwas the one falling.Iwas the one with my boots in the clear blue sky. Noël was…
I didn’t have a clue, and I didn’t want to jeopardize what was already so fantastic by misjudging what might just be old fashioned happiness and friendly compatibility, and Noël maybe needing a little bit of affection and flirtation after getting his heart ripped out.
Noël’s villa flickered, lit with candles inside and out. Those hurricanes on his deck were glowing, and a cluster of tealights floated in his pool. My heart bucked like a bronco.
Noël sat on his stretch of beach, showered clean of the day and dressed in a pair of shorts and a new t-shirt. He had a bottle of wine next to his bare feet and a red wine goblet cradled in one hand.
I held out my wine bottle as I plopped next to him. “Great minds think alike.”
“I asked room service to bring me a Texas wine. It’s not from the Gran Cielo Viñedo”—Don’t lose your mind because he remembers your vineyard’s name, Wyatt—“but I thought the same state was a decent start.”
“Lemme see.” I peered at the label while trying to settle down my heart, then frowned and blew out a huff. “That’s high plains junk. Might as well be grown in Oklahoma and fermented with dust.”
Noël tipped his glass upside down and poured the wine into the sand. “Wasn’t very good anyway. So what did you bring?”
“This”—I spun the bottle with a flourish—“is a winery in Southern California. They run a similar kind of hot-weather vineyard as mine, and I bought nursery plantings from them when I was starting my cabernet sauvignon blocks. You could say they’re a cousin to the Gran Cielo Viñedo.”
