Page 23 of Noah
“What the fuck was that?” I asked, spinning on him. “You think you can just grab me and pull me around after you? I’m not a little kid anymore, Noah!”
He snorted at that. “Still littler than me.”
Okay, that was a fair point, but he was enormous. And I was normal-sized. “That doesn’t mean anything and you know it. It’s not my fault you were born a giant.”
To my disgust–and amusement–he took the opportunity to actuallypreen. “You think I’m a giant? In what way?”
I put a hand on his chest and shoved him back. “In the way that pertains to how big your ego is. Obviously.”
Instead of stepping back like I’d expected him to, he grabbed my hand and spun us so that I was the one closest to the building and he had his back to the parking lot. Then he stepped close enough to pin me there, leaning toward me until I was pressed against the building and propping one hand on the wall above me. “I’ve heard girls like big egos.”
Oh my God, was he actually hitting on me? The glint in his eyes, the smirk on his lips, and the way his gaze kept darting down to my mouth told me yes.
And I was totally falling for it.
“Girls do not like big egos,” I told him quietly. “In fact, we hate them. Guys with big egos are nothing but trouble. We run away from them.”
His voice was soft when he answered. Husky like smoke. “And yet according to you, I have a huge ego. And you’ve never run from me.”
I had. I’d run to LA to try to get myself back in order, because I’d realized I was falling for him and couldn’t stop myself. I’d run as fast as I could for a whole new life.
And look at me now. My body was vibrating with need for him and his face was all I could see. All I could feel. All the work I’d done to get myself out of this situation had vanished like dust in the wind. Hell, I couldn’t even remember what that work hadbeen. It had seemed like such a good idea at the time, but faced with this man, who’d always held my heart in his hands, none of it meant anything.
“I ran to LA, didn’t I?” I asked hoarsely.
What the fuck was wrong with my voice? What was wrong with mybrain? I was the smartest person I knew, and yet my brain had somehow become a bowl full of green Jell O.
His face went from flirty to serious, and then crafty. “You came back, though.”
I felt the sarcasm in my expression. “Only because the magazine sent me.”
I didn’t tell him how excited I’d been at the prospect of getting back on the road, or how I’d nearly lost my head when I found out I’d be following the Authors. I sure as hell didn’t tell him I’d stayed up all night before I left, trying to figure out what I was going to say to Noah when I saw him again.
Hey, his ego was already enormous. I wasn’t going to make it any bigger.
“What do you want, Noah?” I whispered, terrified of the answer. Because I’d known this guy nearly my whole life and he was the closest thing I had to family. My parents deserted me the moment they had me, and I’d spent much of my childhood trying to understand that... and every second after I turned twelve trying to forget they’d existed. They hadn’t loved me enough to keep me, and that had colored my view of the world. People didn’t stick around when you needed them. You could really only count on yourself.
But Noah had broken that rule, and once he was under my skin, I’d never been able to let him go. He was the one personI thought I could count on. And I’d never asked him what he thought of me because I’d been scared to hear that he didn’t share that same belief.
But now...
God, now I wanted to know what he wanted. I was desperate for him to want me as badly as I wanted him.
“I need your help,” he said.
All the romance melted out of the night, and I nearly hit him. Of course he’d been staring at me all night, waiting to ask for my help. Because it was always about him. I didn’t know why I was surprised.
But I was.
“My help?” I asked, fighting to keep my voice calm.
“The thing is, I have a meeting with the record execs tomorrow,” he said in a rush. “And I think I know what I’m going to say but I’m not sure. We’ll be in a meeting and it’s just me, and I don’t want to… I mean, I don’t want to…”
“You don’t want to go by yourself,” I guessed.
The look he gave me was one of a little boy who didn’t know what to do, and the rush of anger I’d had a moment earlier started to melt away. I knew that look. He only wore it when he’d gotten himself in too deep and didn’t know how to get back out again. It didn’t happen often. When it did, he hated admitting it.
As far as I knew, I was the only one he’d ever asked for a hand.
