Chapter 38 Noah
THIRTY-EIGHT
NOAH
Ideally, going after what I want was a genius plan. In reality, I’m only one-half of the equation, and when the other half doesn’t answer the door, it puts a hitch in my plans.
So what now? Do I text her? Call?
Talk about taking the wind out of a guy’s sails.
I’ve been envisioning one of those big, dramatic moments like in Hannah’s books.
She’d open the door, and I’d spill my guts and confess all my feelings.
I’d ask her if she’s ready to stop playing games.
Then we’d kiss, because of course she’d be ready.
And the night would look a hell of a lot different from this.
I’ve been so sure that fate is on our side. Now I’m wondering if it’s been working against us all this time.
How the hell has it taken us this long to reach this point? I’m ready to start my life with her, yet she’s nowhere to be found.
I stalk back to my door. As I pass by Hannah and Daniel’s apartment, I pull up short. Should I talk to them? Am I ready to open up about this to my sister? Maybe not. But if I don’t talk to someone, I’m going to lose my mind.
I knock lightly, not wanting to wake Maverick if he’s sleeping.
“Forget your key, babe?” Hannah calls. “I’m not wearing any panties, and I’ve got—”
“Please don’t finish that sentence.” I squeeze my eyes shut as the knob turns and the door opens.
“Noah,” Hannah squeals. “What the hell? Why didn’t you say it was you?”
“Why wouldn’t you check the peephole before talking like that? I could have been anyone.”
She huffs an impatient breath. “Come inside and open your damn eyes so you don’t trip over the toys. I’m dressed.”
I ease one eye open to confirm before committing to it. When I notice the candles on almost every surface, I grimace and take a step back. “Sorry, I’ll get out of your hair.”
“Have a drink with me before you go.” She flicks on a light in the kitchen and nods toward the fridge. “I’m guessing Daniel got held up at the arena?”
I shrug. “Probably.” I raced out of there, singularly focused on getting to Sienna. Though clearly that was a pointless endeavor.
Hannah holds up an open bottle of red. “You just missed the girls. Everybody rushed out of here, in a hurry to see their husbands.”
I rough a hand over the back of my neck. “Oh yeah? Who was here?”
She opens a cabinet and pops up on her toes. While she struggles to reach the glasses, I bump her out of the way and pull two down. “The usual suspects. Plus Liv and Sienna.”
Excitement pulses through me, but I do my best to hide it. “Oh yeah? I didn’t see Sienna in the hall. When did she leave?”
My segue is ridiculous. Why would I see her in the hall? It’s not like she camps out there. But it’s the best I can come up with, and I fucking need to know where she is.
She breaks into a grin that makes my stomach sink. Shit. I’ve been caught. Though maybe this is a good thing. I came over because I needed to unload my feelings anyway.
“Oh,” she says, her eyes flashing. “Sienna has a hot date at a sex club tonight.”
What. The. Fuck?
I stagger back, my vision going blurry. “What do you mean she went to a sex club?”
She fills two glasses and slides one down the counter to me.
“Hannah,” I grit out through clenched teeth, taking a step closer. “Explain.”
She has to tip her head back to look me in the eye when we’re this close. “What is there to explain? She’s a hot single female and she was invited to play. Honestly you should check this place out. Maybe it’d help you relax.”
Ignoring the casual way my stepsister mentions my sex life, and beyond irritated that she won’t just answer my fucking question, I chug half my glass of wine. I doubt it’ll do me much good, but one can hope it’ll soothe my nerves a little.
Instead, it only further raises my body temperature. “Where is this place? And who was she going with? Did she specifically say it was a date?”
Hannah leans back against the counter, a smirk playing on her lips. “Oh my god, I thought I saw some interest there, but this is worse than I thought. You have it bad.”
I shake my head, teeth gritted. The moment she used the words sex club in relation to Sienna, all interest in discussing my feelings vanished.
“I haven’t seen you like this since you came back from the Bahamas all those years ago,” she says, practically vibrating with excitement. “It’s like your have a day girl all over again.”
I down the rest of my wine and wipe my mouth with the back of my hand. Fuck it. “She is my have a day girl.”
For the first time in the more than two decades I’ve known her, Hannah looks truly at a loss for words.
She blinks, her mouth dropping open. “What?”
“Sienna is the girl I met in the Bahamas,” I say. Fuck. I don’t have time for this. I need to know where she is. “Sienna is the girl.”
“Why didn’t you ever mention your have a day girl was Sienna Langfield?
” my sister grouses. “That’s a big part of the story to leave out.
And how come you didn’t just call her?” She straightens, her face lighting up.
“Oh my god, have you been secretly seeing one another for all these years? Is that why you both moved back to Boston?”
Fuck. If only that were true.
“No.” I deflate, sinking back against the counter. “We didn’t share our last names. It was just the two of us. No interference from the outside world. No real lives to think about. We both had a lot going on, though we steered clear of all of that too.”
Hannah nibbles on her lip. “So she didn’t know about Ollie?”
I hang my head. “And I didn’t know who her brothers were. If I had, I probably would have stayed away like she said I would.”
She hums sympathetically. “So you walked away from each other? You gave up a connection? Because clearly that’s what you had. That weekend has haunted you ever since. And she’s the only woman you’ve ever so much as smiled about.”
“Not exactly.” For a moment I consider not sharing the rest. Not all of it is my story to tell. But it’s been so damn long, and that weekend has haunted me. I rub a hand across my face, take a steadying breath, and put it all out there.
I tell her about meeting her on the plane, then bumping into her at the hotel.
And the side-by-side villas. I tell her how after I tried to escape by switching rooms—a detail she finds hysterical—we ended up on the same snorkeling excursion.
I explain how torn I was. How part of me wanted to go after her, because clearly we had more than a spark, while the other part knew it was unfair because of the baby carriage–size baggage waiting for me at home.
Though I keep it brief, I also touch on Sienna’s reasoning.
About the big opportunity and how it wouldn’t allow her time for more than a weekend distraction.
I admit that when I kissed her, I immediately knew I never wanted to kiss another person again. And I haven’t.
That made my sister swoon. And then she punched me.
“I can’t believe you’ve been hiding this from me for years.” Her eyes go glassy, and I swear her lip quivers. “Oh my god, how did you say goodbye? That must have been awful.”
A bittersweet sensation blooms in my chest when I think back on that day. Sienna was so hopeful. And she was certain that fate would bring us back together.
The dollar bill in my wallet proves just how right she was. She just doesn’t know it yet.
“Sienna watched Serendipity on the flight there—”
Hannah whacks me again, cutting me off mid-sentence. “That’s why you’re always looking at dollar bills. Oh my god.” She throws her head back. “It all makes so much sense now. I thought you had developed a compulsion or something.”
Hands stuffed in my pockets, I sigh. She’s so dramatic. “She put her name and number on a dollar bill, and I put mine in a copy of your first book.”
Hannah’s face lights up. “Oh my gosh, I’m part of your story. This is so romantic. So she found it and came back to find you?”
I cock a brow and wait for her to stop interrupting so I can finish.
She holds up a hand and takes a deep breath. “Okay, go on.”
“No. I saw her at Brooks and Sara’s wedding.”
She blinks and breaks into a look of recognition. “You said you’d seen a ghost.”
Lips pressed together, I dip my chin. “Something like that.”
“Aw, I’m so sorry.” She clutches my arm. “I was so focused on my own stuff that I didn’t even realize you were having, like, an emotional breakthrough.”
“Not exactly. At first I was ecstatic. Even after I realized she was a Langfield. Maybe I shouldn’t have been, but I was just so damn happy to see her again. Until I saw her with someone else.”
“Who?” She frowns. “I don’t remember her bringing a date to the wedding.”
I shrug. “He was older. English. It looked like they were keeping it a secret. We’ve never talked about it.”
Hannah taps her finger against her chin. “Intriguing.”
“Not exactly. But please keep that part to yourself. We haven’t talked about it.” I give her a pointed look. “So now that you know everything, please tell me where she went. And any details you have about her plans.”
Hannah pulls out her phone, and after a few swipes, she hands it to me. “It’s called Allure. It’s part of the Londoner hotel—” She gasps and slaps her hand over her mouth. “Oh my god. The club’s owner is an older British guy. Hayden Hanson.”
She plucks the phone out of my hand and taps the screen a few more times. When she hands it back with a picture pulled up, my stomach drops.
Fuck.
This guy doesn’t have a beard, and he’s got a hell of a lot more hair than he did that night, but he’s definitely the man Sienna was sneaking around with at the wedding.
Nausea rolls through me as I push the device back into my sister’s hands.
“It doesn’t make sense,” she muses. “She was invited by a girlfriend, and she was pretty apprehensive about going.”
“Wouldn’t you be apprehensive about showing up at a sex club your ex owns?”
Hannah winces. “Uh, yeah. Talk about awkward. Shit. What are you going to do?”
“What I didn’t do that night. I’m going to speak up. I’m going to make sure she knows that he’s not her only option. Hell, I’ll beg. I’ll get down on my knees if I have to—”
With a pump of her fist, Hannah hoots. “Yeah, you will.”
I pin her with a glare, but it does nothing to curb her excitement.
“What? I can’t let a good sex pun go unused.”
I rub at the back of my neck. “I’ll do whatever’s necessary. I can’t lose her again.”