Chapter 42
CHAPTER FORTY-TWO
TEAGAN
Noah kept turning his head to look at her, as if he expected her to disappear at any moment. She understood. After months away with an ocean between them, sitting next to him in his truck felt both familiar and surreal.
“What?” she asked.
“I’m not dreaming, right?” he asked, shooting another glance her way. “You’re really here.”
Her smile came easy. “Yes, I’m really here.”
His response was a smile that had warmth blooming deep in her chest and spreading outward. She hadn’t known how her sudden surprise return would be received. If Noah had missed her as much as she had missed him, or if her extended absence had been a relief.
When she’d left, there had been that awkward tension between them.
The more she thought about it, the more she began to suspect Noah had developed feelings for her, but either wasn’t happy about that or didn’t know how to handle it.
That was one of the primary reasons she went with Donal.
She needed time to heal, and Noah needed time to figure things out.
After months of introspection, she knew that she couldn’t make the same mistake Donal had—namely, walking away from the one person who mattered most. She’d had to come back to see if there was a chance.
Noah’s fingers interlaced with hers and squeezed lightly. “Good,” he said simply. “Saves me a trip.”
She gawked, then laughed. “Planning on going to Ireland, were you?”
“Damn straight,” he said, his lips quirking at the corner.
“Why?”
“Don’t you know?”
She shook her head, refusing to let the fragile hope break free.
“Because that’s where you were,” Noah said, repeating her earlier sentiment at the ranch.
They continued driving in silence, holding hands. She didn’t ask where he was taking her. She didn’t care. She was just enjoying the time with him. A sense of peace settled into her, a rightness she hadn’t felt since leaving.
Once they arrived at his cabin, he held the door open for her, and she stepped inside. The place looked different than she remembered it. More lived in. More Noah.
A sudden frisson of nerves hit her. It wasn’t the first time she’d been alone with him, but this time felt different. She wasn’t the same scared, injured woman she had been, and Noah seemed stronger too. Calmer. Self-assured in a way that made her chest ache.
“I went to Hopewell first, you know,” she said as he removed her jacket. Even the light, incidental brush of his fingers over her arm was enough to send sparks ghosting along her skin. The air was charged, a sense of destiny heavy in the air. “I thought you were going back after the holidays.”
“I did, but only long enough to talk to Mona and pack my stuff.”
She was aware of him moving behind her, hanging up her jacket and tossing his keys onto the small table just inside the door.
“How’d she take your resignation?”
Noah laughed. “Pretty well actually. Her regular doc was ready to come back.” Noah paused. “She asked about you.”
“Oh?”
“She told me not to worry. That you’d come back when you were ready.”
Teagan felt him move closer, his warmth surrounding her, cedar and pine and soap filling her senses.
“You didn’t believe her,” Teagan said, remembering what he’d said earlier.
“Oh, I did. According to my mother, Mona is never wrong.”
“But you said you were planning to go to Ireland.”
“Mona said you’d come back.” His hands stroked her arms. His lips brushed her temple. “She never said it wouldn’t take some convincing.”
He turned her gently, and the look on his face stole her breath—want, need, hope … and uncertainty.
“If you don’t want me to kiss you,” he whispered, eyes locked on hers, “tell me now.”
“I want you to kiss me,” she whispered back.
He cupped her face, his rough palms welcome against her skin. Lowering his head, he paused a hairbreadth from her lips. “Last chance to say no.”
“I’m not saying no, Noah. I’m saying yes.”
“Yes to what?”
“Yes to all of it.”
His soft groan vibrated through her, and then his mouth was on hers.
Teagan had imagined kissing Noah more times than she could count, but the real thing surpassed her expectations. His lips were soft but firm. His breath, scented with peppermint. His tongue, gentle and insistent as he licked along the seam, asking for permission.
She granted it. Bringing her arms up, she tangled her fingers in his hair and pulled him closer. The rest of the world faded away until they were the only two people who existed.
Then the very floor vanished beneath her feet as Noah lifted her into his arms and carried her to the bed.
Laying her down, he broke the kiss only long enough to ask, “Still yes?”
Her body was burning in a way it never had before. She wanted Noah. Wanted to feel him everywhere. To have him erase every ugly thing that had been done to her and replace them with his loving touch.
“Absolutely,” she said breathlessly, “but …”
She didn’t have to say it. He knew.
“We’ll take it slow,” he said, smoothing her hair back away from her face, placing kisses on her forehead, her temples. Then he looked deeply into her eyes. “If anything makes you uncomfortable, say the word, and we stop. You are in control, Teagan. You have me, no matter what. In fact …”
He flipped them over so Teagan was on top. “I’m all yours.”
Something deep inside her unclenched. He meant it. That safety, that trust, was everything.
“I love you, Noah.”
His eyes widened, and then a big grin spread across his face. “Good. Because I love you too.”
Noah made good on his promise. He let Teagan set the pace, plying her with soft kisses and gentle touches, murmuring her name with reverence.
He looked deep into her eyes, letting her see everything in his heart.
True to his word, he let her decide when to move forward when his special brand of torturous pleasure became too much to handle.
He needn’t have worried. She knew exactly who was making love to her. No one else had ever touched her with such tenderness. No one had ever looked at her with such utter delight when another part of her was revealed.
He kissed. He touched. He licked and stroked every part of her body until she was shaking with need.
She had never felt so wanted. So loved.
And when she finally grasped him and guided him into her wet heat, it felt exactly like coming home.
Hours later, sweaty and sated, they lay tangled beneath the covers. Teagan was draped across his chest, his hand stroking her back.
“You okay?” he asked softly.
“I think I’m the most okay I’ve ever been,” she said honestly.
He chuckled at that.
She crossed her arms over his chest and propped her chin on them. “It felt so right.”
“Because it was.”
“You felt it too?”
“Definitely,” he assured her.
“When did you know?”
Noah slid his hands behind his head and met her gaze. “Honestly? The first night I held you in my arms and carried you back to my place at Hopewell. I had this overwhelming need to take care of you.”
“You’re a doctor. Taking care of people is what you do.”
“Not like that.” Noah’s smile was wry. “It went beyond medical care. But I refused to acknowledge it.”
“Why?”
“Because I knew, even back then, that the timing sucked. Neither one of us was in a good place to start anything. Too many unresolved issues. Not that my heart gave a shit about that, but he’s a sneaky fucker and pledged himself to you anyway.”
Her own heart clenched. The only thing better than loving another person was hearing they loved you back. “You’re right. Dark places and all that. Things are better for you now?”
His smile was masculine and smug. “You’re naked and sated in my bed. Things don’t get any better than that.”
She laughed. “You know what I mean.”
His hands returned to her back, as if he couldn’t stop touching her. She didn’t mind one bit.
“Yeah, I do. And, yeah, they are. I’ve been seeing a therapist at Sanctuary, spending time over there and at Happy Trails. They’re helping me figure things out. And being here with you? It feels like I’m finally where I’m supposed to be.”
She sighed in contentment, pressing her lips to his stubbled jaw. “I feel it too.”
“What about you? Did you find the answers you were looking for?”
“Some of them. Ireland was beautiful. I had space to breathe and time to heal. But it was empty without you. I realized running isn’t living. Home isn’t a place, Noah. It’s you.”
His hand stilled on her back. He met her gaze, eyes steady. “Then stay.”
“I was hoping you’d say that,” she whispered.