“Now do you want to come in?”
Noah raised his head and nodded. I stepped aside, and when he walked by, I took a second to inhale his delicious cologne. God, he smelled amazing. So damn good that I would’ve been happy to curl up in his lap and sit there for the rest of the day.
But more than that, I just wanted to be with him. In the same room talking, listening, learning about him. With everything now out in the open, I felt a freedom I’d never had before, and I wanted to bask in it and enjoy it.
“Did you two have a good time?”
Noah walked into my living room and looked around the space, and seeing him there did funny things to my insides. Too many times I’d imagined him here, standing by one of the windows or sitting on the couch beside me, and to see him there now was almost surreal.
“Laurel?”
“Huh?” I blinked and refocused on Noah where he stood by my coffee table with my book in hand.
“I said I think it went well. I still have all my teeth. I’m sure you’ll get a more honest answer when you talk to him.”
“Well, he drove you home, so I’d say that’s a step in the right direction.”
“Home?”
My cheeks flamed when I realized what I’d just said. “I mean my home, Jake’s home.”
Noah smirked and held up my book. “A romance, huh?”
My blush intensified. “Hey, don’t make fun of me. Everyone loves a good romance.”
“That might be true,” he said, and tossed the book on the couch before crossing back to me. “But me, I want a great romance.”
My heart thumped as Noah ran his fingers down my cheek.
“You’re my great romance, Laurel.” He lowered his mouth to brush his lips over mine. “You always have been.”
Oh God. I closed my eyes as Noah took my lips, and I couldn’t stop my hands from trembling as I reached for him. He was here. Really here. After everything he’d learned, everything that had happened, Noah was standing in the house that I’d always pictured us in…kissing me.
I clutched at his shoulders and moved to my toes. When he raised his head and rubbed his nose against mine, I let out a soft laugh.
“What’s so funny?”
“Nothing. I’m just happy, that’s all. With you, me, and Jake. It’s more than I ever hoped for, and I just want to enjoy that for a few minutes.”
Noah nodded and rubbed a thumb over my lips. “So… He’s really ours?”
“He is.”
“I’m not gonna lie, that’s going to take me a minute to wrap my head around. But one thing I know for sure?”
“Yeah?”
“He’s pretty damn amazing.”
Oh, Jake would just love hearing that. “He is, but maybe don’t tell him.”
“You are too, you know.”
I shook my head and lowered my gaze, shying away from the emotions I still wasn’t sure I deserved. “No, I’m not.”
“Yes, you are. You raised a really great kid, Laurel. And from what everyone says, you did it all on your own.” He tipped my face back up so we were eye to eye. “Thank you for that.”
“Thank you?”
“Yes. Thank you for him. For loving him, raising him, having him when you must’ve been terrified.” Noah rested his forehead on mine. “I only wish I could’ve been here to help.”
38
Noah
“DON’T YOU DO that.” Laurel pulled back to look me in the eye. “I know you would’ve been here if you’d known. You didn’t have a choice. That was not your fault in any way.”
God, she was sweet. So damn sweet that even now she was taking the blame for something she’d had no control over herself.
“It wasn’t yours either.”
She let out a shaky breath and curled her hands around the material of my shirt as though she were afraid to let me go. But nothing in the world could’ve stopped me from tasting those sweet lips.
I lowered my head and brushed a teasing, tentative kiss against her mouth. I slid my hands into her soft hair to hold her still and took from her the kiss she was offering. It was tender, heartfelt, and stirred me to my very soul, and it made that missing piece inside me finally click into place.
It was her. It had always been her. I’d known it at seventeen, and I knew it right now. Laurel was my end game.
I closed my eyes and sank into to the feeling of finally having the one I’d always wanted. She was here, in my arms, and I’d do everything possible to keep it that way.
“Laurel, I—”
“Shh,” she whispered, and took my hand, then she turned and led me down the hall and into a room.
We stepped inside, and when it was clear we were now standing in her bedroom, I chuckled. “Did you just bring me to your bedroom, Miss Anderson?”
I leaned back against the door as she took a step away from me. When she reached for the buttons of her summer dress, I was thankful for the wood supporting me.
“I did. It’s something I never got to do with you in high school. I was too embarrassed to take you to my place.”
“Laurel—”
“What? It’s the truth.”
It might’ve been, but I hated finding out she felt that way. I’d been so enamored with her that I wouldn’t have cared where she lived. I just wanted to be with her.
“Well, I never brought you home because I was embarrassed of Harry.”
“If it’s all the same to you, I’d rather not talk about him right now.”
“Agreed. So how about we get back to things we never got to do together in high school?”
Her lips curved as she started on the buttons again. “That’s a pretty short list.”
“It is, isn’t it?”
“Mhmm.” When she reached the final button, she slipped the straps of her dress down her arms and then let it fall to the floor.
Damn, she was stunning. Barefoot in a white chemise and bra, she looked like my every fantasy come to life.
I crossed over to her, tipped her chin up with my index finger, then ghosted my lips over the top of hers. This woman was everything I’d ever wanted, and to have this second chance with her was more than I could ever have dreamed of.
“Is it my fault you were so hard to resist?”
Laurel wrapped her arms around my neck. “No. Just like it’s not my fault you were a charmer—then and now. How was I ever supposed to resist?”
I smiled against her mouth as I wound my arms around her waist. “You weren’t. That’s the whole point.”
My lips were on hers before she could say another word, and there was no stopping us after that. She pushed my shirt up as I slid my hand under her silky white chemise, and the soft whimper she made had my erection throbbing.
Her hard nipples pressed up against my chest as I nipped and sucked at her lips. Then she trailed her fingers down over my abs and looked up at me from beneath her thick lashes.
“You know something I’ve never done with you before?”
“What’s that?”
She took the hem of my shirt, drew the material up my body, and dropped it to the floor. Then she moved to her toes and placed her mouth by my ear. “I’ve never undressed you before.”