12
Noah opens the front door for me and I go in after him. This is the first time I”ve been in his house. The lower level of the apartment is dominated by a large kitchen. A huge black leather couch sits in the middle of the room, facing a giant flat-screen TV.
“Make yourself at home,” Noah says, setting his gym bag down by the stairs. “Wine?”
“Sure,” I reply, smiling at him. “My usual wine buddy is unavailable at the moment.” He raises his eyebrows, which makes me grin. “Marina,” I explain to him. “She”s not allowed to drink wine right now.”
“Oh, right!” he says. “Is she excited about the baby? How much longer will it be?”
“She”s very excited,” I answer, following him into the kitchen. “She is due to give birth in February.”
I put my purse on the counter and sit down on one of the stools.
“Marina can hardly wait and is counting down the days.”
“It”s still more than half a year away,” Noah replies amusedly, taking two glasses from the cupboard. Then he walks past me into the living room to get a bottle from the huge wine rack on the wall.
“Red or white?” he asks, looking at me over his shoulder.
“White, please,” I reply. “That”s what I tell Marina, but she doesn”t want to hear it. Is this a sweet wine?”
“Like you?” he replies mischievously.
“Sweet?” I ask.
I laugh and Noah sets the bottle down in front of me.
“Of course I”m sweet,” I claim. “You have no idea how sweet I am.”
“No?” he asks, resting his forearms on the kitchen island and leaning toward me. “Could you show me?”
I lean over the counter to him. Noah looks at me expectantly. His gaze dances between my lips and my eyes. We”re so close again, I can feel his breath on me. My heart beats faster and my skin tingles at the thought of his lips on mine. Fuck, we”re friends. I hastily pull away, ending the magical moment between us.
“The wine,” I clear my throat. Noah stays in his position for a moment and stands up as well.
“Wine,” he mumbles. “Of course.”
He takes the glasses and pours a glass for each of us. As he pushes the glass toward me over the kitchen island, he makes sure we don”t touch. My refusal has offended him. Or so it seems. But we”re friends, and friends don”t give each other longing looks, do they?
“We were talking about Marina,” Noah picks up the conversation again. “How long have you been friends?”
“Ever since we sat next to each other in middle school,” I say. “She”s basically been my best friend my whole life.”
“That”s nice,” he replies. “Is she also... uh... rich?”
He looks away sheepishly, as if it”s an inappropriate question, but it”s not. My parents are rich. So, it”s not out of the question that I have rich friends.
“No,” I say. “Her mother worked as a secretary at our school. So, Marina and her brothers could go to school for free.”
“Oh, wow,” Noah says. “Didn”t she feel...uh, awkward among all the rich kids?”
“Sometimes,” I answer with a shrug. “She didn”t really mind. In fact, it spurred Marina on because she wanted to make something of herself. How was school for you?”
“The richest student in our school was the mayor”s son. And he was an idiot.”
“Did he play football?” I ask with a grin, batting my eyelashes.
“No!” Noah replies indignantly, sipping his wine. “He was on the swim team and always showed off his body.”
I can”t help but laugh.
“He showed off his body?” I ask. “And what did you do?”
“This masterpiece...” He points to his body. I follow his hand and realize once again how unspeakably handsome he is. Oh yes, he is. The gray t-shirt he”s wearing today hugs his chest perfectly. “It”s hard work. That idiot didn”t work hard enough.”
“Well,” I say, sipping my wine. “I think swimming is a hard sport. Maybe you could try it?”
“Are you kidding me?” he asks and I laugh.
“Maybe,” I reply with a grin. “Is Alex your best friend?” Somehow, I guess he is.
They”ve been together their whole lives and, if Alex is to be believed, they have this magical relationship.
“Kind of, yeah. My best friend Jamie still lives in Nashville. He took over his dad”s company after college.”
“You went to school together?”
“Yes,” he says. “Our teachers separated Alex and me in high school, and I was put next to Jamie.”
“Right,” I say. “And how was that for you?”
“I think it was easier for me than it was for Alex. However, at that time he was seated next to Daisy. Shortly after that she was his first girlfriend.”
“Oh, how sweet,” I squeak.
“Of course you think it”s cute,” he says. “Daisy and Alex were together for nearly three years.”
“Why did they break up?” I ask with interest, sipping at my wine.
It”s nice to talk to him about his past and his friends from school. It helps us get to know each other better.
Noah is not someone who brags, I”ve noticed that by now. He doesn”t need to brag about his dad”s accomplishments or how many yachts his family owns. Probably none, from the sound of it. He”s terribly normal. So is Marina, and that only makes her more interesting to me.
“Daisy didn”t want to live the life of a football player”s wife,” Noah says, twirling his glass in his hand. “Alex was devastated and useless for months. Meanwhile, we thought he wouldn”t make it to college, drop his scholarship, and go back to her.”
“Oh God!” I clap my hand over my mouth. Still, I find it hard to believe that Alex was seriously heartbroken. On the contrary. He”s a total player and philanderer. I bet he”d hit on me, too, if he had the chance. “I can’t quite picture Alex heartbroken. Sorry.”
A little ashamed of how I feel about his brother, I smile at him.
“Not anymore,” Noah says. “Daisy destroyed him completely. He hasn”t had a relationship since and doesn”t want more than one night, or maybe two if it went really well. He really loved her.”
Noah looks at me, and if I didn”t know better, I”d say you can still see the pain in his eyes. He seems to care about what happened to his brother.
“It”s so beautiful and so sad at the same time,” I whisper. “And ... and you? Did you have a ... Daisy?”
Noah looks up and meets my eyes. Goose bumps spread over my body, and my heart starts to beat faster.
“No,” he says and I let out a gasp of air. “I didn”t, and did you? Did you have an Alex?”
“I don”t date football players,” I answer and Noah sighs.
“That”s not what I meant,” he says. “I meant did you have a high school sweetheart?”
“Who hasn”t?” I ask him in return.
“Me?”
“Really?” I look at him, confused. “That”s not possible.”
“Cara,” he says emphatically. “Don”t change the subject. Did you have one?”
I look at him and sigh.
“Yes,” I answer. “I did.”
“And?”
“I had a high school sweetheart. That’s it.”
“Name, age, address,” he says. “And what the hell did he do to screw things up with you?”
“Well.” Avoiding Noah”s gaze, I laugh mirthlessly. I twirl my wine glass in my hand, sloshing the contents back and forth. “He was more interested in my father than me. Like everyone else.”
Noah looks at me in surprise, and I raise my eyebrows.
“What?” I ask. “Did you think I was making this up?”
“No?” he replies. “I didn”t. But not everyone is like that.”
“At least everyone I”ve met so far,” I say, sighing softly. “Not everyone, of course, just like not all women are only interested in your money.”
“You, for example,” he says.
“Yes, because I have more than enough of it and it”s not important to me. I know that”s easy to say when you inherit fifty million dollars. As the sole heir, mind you. But I really don”t care. I would rather have grown up like you did. My father was never around. He never saw any of my school plays and didn”t really know much about my life. Instead of coming to my high school graduation, he had to go to a prep camp in California. Sports always came first, and I don”t want that.”
Noah can”t get a word in as I monologue about my life and my father”s role in it.
“I”m sorry,” he replies sincerely. “I”m afraid I can”t say otherwise.”
“No,” I say with a sigh, “I”m sorry, we”ve gotten completely off topic. I had this boyfriend, like I said, and he was fascinated by my dad. At the time I thought it was cool, but eventually I realized it wasn”t.”
“And that went on and on?” Noah speculates.
“Unfortunately,” I answer. “It was always the same. First, they wooed me, I fell for it, and then they told me they wanted to meet my dad.”
Noah purses his lips and sighs.
“Is that why you didn”t want to go out with me? Because you were afraid I would use your dad to cement my position with the Boston Foxes?”
“No,” I say honestly. “I just don”t date football players.”
“Not at all?” he asks in horror.
“No, not at all, and stop asking me about it. I”ve already told you several times.”
“And what do you do when there”s this incredibly handsome, unique and insanely charismatic guy who”s also a fantastic kisser?” he asks, taking big steps towards me. “And then he tells you he”s a football player?”
Noah keeps looking at me and stands close to me. I have to tilt my head back to meet his gaze.
“Then I tell him I”m not interested.”
“Even if you”re already in love with him?” he whispers and leans down to me.
My heart is in my throat and I swallow. When exactly did the conversation about Marina”s pregnancy, wine and Alex”s first girlfriend escalate like this?
I look at Noah and know where he”s going with this. Damn it. What am I going to say? He”s never going to give up.
“Is this the male hunting instinct?” I blurt out, making him jump.
“Wha... what?” he stammers, and I take advantage of the situation to pull away from him and put some distance between us. He is way too close to me and I can”t help but think about kissing him.
“Is it because of some male hunting instinct, that you”ll try anything to get me?”
“Male...” Noah laughs and stops. Suddenly he jumps towards me so I can”t react quickly. He grabs me and wraps his arm around my waist, pulling me against him. My body bounces against his and I feel his hard muscles. Noah looks down at me and his breathing accelerates.
“Don”t do it!” I warn him in a husky voice.
“What?” he asks and leans down to me. My heart is beating faster again and everything in me is resisting to snuggle up to him and let him do what he”s about to do. But damn it ... I”m just a woman. And he”s an extremely hot guy.
“Don”t kiss me,” I beg him, looking up at him. “Please.”
“Why not?” he whispers. “My god, Cara.”
Noah blows air so it brushes my cheek. Goose bumps spread across my body, and I run my hands down his broad chest.
“I should have kissed you earlier,” he whispers.
“It would complicate things unnecessarily,” I say, looking at him. “And you know that.”
Noah meets my gaze and closes his eyelids. I think he already sees it and knows it”s not a good idea, but then he cups my face with his big hands. I want to protest again. But I just stand there and stare at him.
“Damn it, Cara,” he growls. “This isn”t going to work, you know that. We can”t just be friends.”
His statement echoes in my head and I want to answer him when his lips are already on mine.