A scowl covered his face. “You need to move.”
“My lease isn’t up for another six months.”
“Move anyway.”
She sighed. “You know I can’t afford it.” She paused. “And I’m not doing the roommate thing again.” Her last one had stolen her credit card. Libby was still cleaning up that mess.
“Then come to Seattle and move in with me.”
She gasped. “What?” Was Noah interested in something more with her? Not just sex, but something serious. Moving in was so many levels above a hookup.
He looked surprised by his own statement, but he must have decided to go for it because he shrugged and said, “Why not? Seattle has a better artistic atmosphere than Kansas City.”
Her mind whirled with excitement and her heart beat furiously, catching her by surprise. Did she want more with him? “But my business . . . my clients . . .”
“You’ll find new ones.”
She sat there speechless for a few moments, her barely used practical side vying for attention. Knowing Noah, if he were interested in a romantic entanglement with her, he would already have put on the moves. Last night they’d shared a bed and he’d acted like a eunuch. Still, something unfamiliar glowed in her chest—a spark of hope—and she decided to dig deeper.
“Noah, how’s this gonna work? Am I supposed to hide in my room when you bring a girl home? Not to mention the fact that you have a one-bedroom apartment.”
He scowled. “I don’t like the idea of you being in that condo alone, Libby. Especially since Mitch isn’t around now.”
So he hadn’t contradicted her. She gave herself half a second to get over it before moving on to her next shocker. While she knew he cared about her, he’d never been this protective before. What was going on with him?
“If it’s money, I can help,” he said. “I don’t have much, but I can help you get out of your lease so you can move.”
“Noah, I can’t let you do that.”
“At least think about it, okay?” he asked quietly.
“Okay,” she agreed, if no other reason than because he sounded so worried.
They rode in silence for several minutes before she asked, “Where are we going?”
A big grin spread across his face. “Crazy.”
Chapter Nine
The hour and a half drive to Wilson, Kansas, was awkward for the first thirty minutes and it was entirely his own fault. He had no idea why he’d burst out with his suggestion that she move to Seattle, but there was no reeling it back in now. Even more alarming, he’d meant every word. He wanted her to move to Seattle with him. He wanted to try a real relationship.
What the hell did he do with that?
Libby was right, of course. There was no way she could move into his one-bedroom apartment with him as a friend. Would she be willing to try it if he moved to a bigger place? Maybe living together would help convince her they had what it took for a long-term relationship. He just needed to show her how compatible they were. Besides, now wasn’t the time for her to think about a new relationship. She was still devastated over her non-wedding to Mitch. She might not have gone through with it, but she was the one who’d proposed in the first place. Her heart had to be hurting. But if he was patient, if he showed her that he didn’t want to date other women, surely she’d be willing to give them a try.
What was he thinking? He’d quit his job less than forty-eight hours ago. He might be inexperienced with relationships, but he did know he needed to be gainfully employed to prove to her that he was a grown-up. Why had he gone off and quit?
Part of it was that he felt he could never be taken seriously at the firm after all the goofing off he’d done over the years. Up until a few months ago, the job had never been more than an obligation to him, and his own father had made it clear to him how poorly he would fulfill the family legacy. But the crazy thing was, he’d recently learned he liked responsibility and took pride in a job well done. The problem was that he needed to convince other people of that . . . and now he’d left the company on a whim and he had no idea what to do with his life.
He wallowed in his thoughts until the atmosphere in the car mellowed, and soon he and Libby were chatting easily, as if nothing had happened. As if he’d never mentioned Seattle.
Libby was looking down at the radio, trying to find a station in the middle of nowhere, when Noah spotted a billboard advertising the place he was taking her.
“Could you check my phone?” he asked. It had been charging for over an hour, and while he’d felt it vibrate on the seat next to him, he hadn’t bothered to check it. He was sure it was full of texts and voice mails from his brother, admonishing him for his irresponsible behavior. And while he didn’t exactly care to deal with that right now, if Libby was busy reading over the list, she wouldn’t look up and see the sign.
“Okay.” She left the radio on a Latino station and checked the phone. “A text from Donna, three from Josh, two from Megan and one from Blair. Ten missed calls. Five voice messages. Oh, and a Facebook notification that Tiffany Brown has accepted your friend request.” She glanced up at him. “I didn’t think you used Facebook.” She sounded irritated.
“I don’t.”
“Yet you friend requested her.” Her mouth pursed. “You haven’t even friend requested me.”
“Because I’m never on there, Lib. You know that. It’s a work thing.”
“On Facebook?” She sounded skeptical.
“It doesn’t matter now anyway. I don’t need it anymore,” he said, not wanting to share the whole sorry story of how he’d lost the account and promptly quit. “This is our exit.” He turned off, thankful he had an excuse to dodge the conversation.
She looked around. “Where are we?”
“Wilson, Kansas.”
“Why are we here?”
“It’s your first surprise.” He was suddenly nervous. This had seemed like such a good idea last night. Now it seemed incredibly stupid and lame. “Close your eyes.”
“What?”
“Just do it.”
She covered her eyes with her hands.
He glanced over at her. “No peeking.”
She grinned. “You’re not planning to slow down and dump me on the side of the road, are you? I’ll pretend I prefer Iron Man to Thor if it means that much to you.”
He laughed. “I already told you, I can’t go back to Kansas City without you. It would be a death sentence.”
“What you fail to mention is that you don’t have to go back to Kansas City at all.”
Her words sobered him. She was right. His only excuse for his frequent trips to K.C. was the work he’d been doing on the merger of his and Josh’s firm with Megan’s father’s firm. If he didn’t work there anymore, he would have no reason to come. No reason to see her.
Libby continued grinning, unaware of his emotional turmoil, and he planned to keep it that way. “I promise you won’t come to any harm on this stop. No guarantee for the next one.” He found what he was looking for and flipped on his turn signal. “We’re almost there. No peeking.”