Page 49 of Legal Trouble

A memory tugged at her. Moments before Noah had arrived, she’d heard a sound coming from the back of her house. Had that been Bishop? She’d dismissed it as the girls playing, but this new information painted the experience in a black hue.

“Bishop was in my house? Why didn’t Noah tell me?”

“That’s the working theory, and Noah only found out this morning, just before you, uh, saw that news piece and left to see Preston. But don’t worry about it, Bishop is behind bars, and Noah’s beefed-up security around his place. The thought of losing you spooked him, Ems. I’ve never heard him sound so panicked.”

Emma turned to the door.All you have to do is say ‘yes,’ Bomboncita,he’d said before leaving.

“Andi, how many women has Noah asked to move in with him?”

“Since I’ve worked for Whitlow Tower, that would be a negative on all cohabitations. From what I know, he never brings women back to his place. Well, not before you. Why? Wait! Holy shenanigans, Ems, did Noah ask you to move in with him?”

Holy shenanigans? PJ must still be within earshot.

“Yeah, he did,” Emma answered, “and that stupid little voice in the back of my head keeps trying to convince me he doesn’t really mean it, that he’s just caught up in the newness of our relationship, or that guilt’s driving him because I’m suddenly homeless because of work I was doing for Whitlow Group. But mostly, that everything between us is an illusion.”

“And do you believe this stupid little voice?”

“That’s the thing, Andi. I don’t think I do anymore.”

What wouldhis life be like if he’d have met Emma sooner?

Noah took a sip of the hibiscus waterMamáhad made before heading home. Would he and Emma already be living together? Married?Mamáobviously thought so. Why else would she have given Emmathenecklace?

Movement out of the corner of his eye had him pushing to his feet. Emma glided into the parlor. A peaceful calm had replaced the anger that had painted harsh lines on her face earlier.

“Did you get done what you needed?” he asked.

“I believe so. At the very least, I talked over something important with a friend.” She twined her arms around his neck. “What about you? You look more settled, too.”

“I am. Just spent some time thinking about you, and it cheered me right up.” He kissed the tip of her nose. “Would you like to know the first moment I knew that I wanted you?”

Grinning, she pushed onto her toes so that their lips nearly touched. “More than anything.”

“I was dancing.”

Her eyebrows drew together. “What? We met in your office. I think I would have remembered if you’d been dancing with your cousin.”

“We officiallymetin my office, yes, but it wasn’t the first time I’d seen you. That happened at the last fundraising gala I hosted. I was on the dance floor with Bridget when I saw you across the room and—”

“Hold up, hold up, holdup.” She closed her eyes and her face scrunched up as if she were looking deep for a memory. “You said the first time you saw me, it felt like you’d been sucker-punched, and you’d literally hadherin your arms.”

Sí.” He pressed a kiss to her forehead. “My reaction to you terrified me, Emma, so I ran, I’m ashamed to say. I’d never had that kind of reaction before, and it scared me. I had to get out of there, or I knew I’d have gone to you. And if I’d have gone to you, I knew my life would never be the same, and it hasn’t been.”

Her lower lips quivered ever-so-slightly, as if she were fighting back an overwhelming onslaught of emotion. Or maybe he was projectinghisemotions onto her.

“Do you want to know the moment I started falling for you?” she asked.

He nodded.

“It was that moment in your office when you looked at me and said, ‘Uh, Reynolds, Clark & Morgan?’ as if all the words had just fallen out of your head.”

“It was less that they’d fallen out of my head and more like evaporated. I thought you’d walked out of my dreams to torment me in the waking world.”

“And do I still, Noah, torment you?”

“Only every second of every day.” He tapped his lips to hers. “But I’m done fighting it. I want all of you, Emma. I want toknowall of you. Like what’s your favorite color? Where’s the one place in the world you want to visit most? Why do you have two pet rats when most women would run screaming from them? I want to know where you see your life in one month, one year, a decade. And most importantly, do you see me there with you?”

A single tear had leaked free when he’d mentioned wanting to know her favorite color, but she didn’t wipe it away.

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