Chapter 27
CHAPTER 27
SAVANNAH HOLLINGSWORTH
M y heart jumps into my throat. “What happened?”
“Her boyfriend beat us. Mom never thought he’d hit me. She’s ready to leave.” Colton glances at the street. “She’s in the car, but she’s really scared. She doesn’t want me taking us to a shelter in my car. She’s afraid he’ll find us.”
Noah scrubs a hand over his jaw. “Did you go to the hospital? File a police report?”
Colton nods. “Yeah, we just came from the hospital. We filed, and she finally pressed charges. They arrested him, but I don’t know how long they can hold him. She’s ready to get out.”
Noah exhales. “Good. I can drive your mom to the shelter. It’s just…” He looks uncomfortable.
“What?” Colton asks.
“They won’t take you.” Noah steps back. “I’m sorry. They don’t accept teens your age. It’s to protect the women.”
Colton’s face drains of color. “They won’t take me? What am I supposed to do?”
Noah ducks his head. “Do you have any family you can stay with?”
“My aunt and uncle live here, but they travel a lot. I already called them, but they’re not answering their phone.” Colton grips the door jam.
The poor kid looks so terrified. “Why don’t you stay here until you get a hold of them?” I blurt out.
Colton jerks his gaze to me. “Here?”
“Sure. You can come inside, and we can figure things out.”
Noah gives a slight nod. “Get your things out of the car and say good-bye to your mother. Then you can stay with Savannah while I take her to the shelter. We can figure out where you can stay tonight if we can’t get a hold of your aunt. I have a guest bedroom if needed.”
Colton rushes to his car. I turn to Noah. “How far is the shelter?”
“About a thirty-minute drive. The closest one is on the mainland.”
“All right.” I breathe in, trying to calm my nerves. My father was verbally abusive, but he would never have hit me or my mother. I can’t even imagine what Colton and his mother are going through.
Noah steps toward me. “Are you okay?”
A swell of emotion for Noah tightens my throat. He’s willing to drop everything and help someone he barely knows. On impulse, I wrap my arms around him. “Yes. I’m fine. You go.”
I give him a quick kiss, and his eyebrows raise. “What was that for?”
“Because you’re you. Now go.” I gently shove him toward Colton’s car.
He hesitates for a second but then sprints down the steps and goes to help Colton’s mother out of the car and into his. I watch from my porch as Colton gives his mother a hug, then wipes at his eyes before picking up his duffle bag and heading up the walkway to my house.
I usher him inside. “Have a seat. Are you hungry?”
He plops down on the couch, setting his duffle bag on the floor. He’s got a black eye forming, and several cuts and bruises on his face. “No.”
“You already ate lunch?”
He shakes his head. “No, but I’m not hungry.”
I’m sure when all the adrenaline wears off, he will be. I notice he’s got a scrape on his arm. “You’re bleeding. Let me go get a band-aid.”
I rush into my bathroom and pull out the small first aid kit I keep in my medicine cabinet. When I return to the living room, I sit on the couch beside him.
I hand him the band-aid. “Noah told me you’re working for the pizza place.”
“Yeah. I don’t get a lot of hours, though.” He holds his arm at an awkward angle as he tries to see the scrape.
“Are you going to be a senior this fall?”
“Yes. I can’t wait until I graduate and get out of this town.” He presses the band-aid to his skin. “Thanks.”
“Sure.” I hand him the remote. “Watch whatever you want. Let me know when you’re hungry.”
I take the first aid kit back into the bathroom, then I go into my kitchen to clean up from my quick lunch after church. As I wash the dishes, Colton watches some sports game in the other room.
After I clean the kitchen, I put together a bowl of strawberries and go into the living room. “Do you want something to snack on?”
He eyes my bowl. “Sure.”
I set it down on the coffee table and sit next to him. I motion to the television. “You like baseball, huh?”
“Yeah.” He picks a strawberry and takes a bite.
“Do you play?”
“I did as a kid. I was on a little league, and my dad would toss me the ball and stuff to practice.” He eats another strawberry, his foot bouncing.
“Where is your father?”
“He died when I was twelve.” Colton’s foot stills. “My mom tried to handle things all on her own, but it’s been hard.” He turns to me. “She’s not a bad mother. She just got into a bad relationship.”
I nod, knowing all too well how that can happen. “Yeah, I get it.”
We make small talk until the strawberries are gone. Noah walks in and my heart jumps. How is it that he’s grown even more handsome in these last few days? He motions to Colton. “I got a hold of your aunt. They want you to stay with them until you can get things sorted out.”
Colton sits up. “Really?”
“They’re preparing the guest room now. Come on. I’ll go over there with you and get you situated.”
The relief flooding through Colton’s face makes my heart melt. The poor kid. He picks up his duffle bag. “Okay.”
Colton turns to me. “Thanks for the strawberries. You’re real nice.”
“You’re welcome.”
Noah juts his chin out at me. “I’ll be right back, then we can go to my family’s house for Sunday dinner.”
I nod. “Okay.”
Noah leaves with Colton, and I pick up the empty bowl, my emotions close to the surface. If I could have a real relationship with Noah, I’d jump at the chance. He’s exactly the kind of man I could live happily ever after with. I walk into the kitchen with the empty bowl and set it into the sink.
I spend the next forty-five minutes looking at infant photography and trying to ignore the growing feelings inside of me. Noah’s idea that I specialize in baby photos, like Anne Geddes, has me excited. I can’t have any of my own, but getting to work with babies would be a dream come true. I love that Noah took the time to ponder my situation and came up with such a great idea.
A knock comes on my door, and I rush to open it. Noah stands there in his police uniform. His gaze travels over me, his expression hooded. “Can I ask you something?”
“Sure.”
He pauses, and I wonder what he wants to ask about. When he doesn’t come out with it, I motion. “Come in.”
He steps inside and I close the door. He turns to face me. “When you kissed me, was that for show? Or was that a real kiss?”
My heart pounds as I look up at him. I have no idea what to tell him. It was a spur of the moment thing. How could he still be thinking about it?
His gaze is smoldering, and I can’t keep looking at him or I’ll melt into a puddle right there on my hardwood floor. “Uh,” I say, trying to come up with something intelligent that also isn’t a lie.
He takes a step toward me, and I back up, but I hit the door and can’t back away anymore. He places a hand on the door beside me and leans in. “Savannah?”
“What?” I squeak out.
“Did you kiss me for real?” He’s so close now his breath skims across my lips. All rational thought leaves my brain.
“Yes.”
He stares at me, as if he’s looking into my soul. “Does that mean I can kiss you , for real?”
His words send a shiver down my spine, but not in a creepy horror film way. In a pleasurable, I-want-his-kiss-so-badly kind of way. My head spins, and I have trouble thinking clearly. I just spent the last forty-five minutes trying to get my feelings for Noah under control, and how he’s standing right before me, and all I can think about is how much I want him.
“Okay,” I whisper, giving in to temptation.
I close my eyes as Noah brushes his lips over mine. It’s a velvet-soft kiss, and it makes me gasp as it sends tingles through me. He slides his hand to the back of my head and kisses me again, slowly, his lips exploring mine. I want to be closer to him. I need him. I run my hands up his chest, and he wraps his arms around me, tugging me close.
My fingers slide up his neck and into his hair. It’s as soft as I remember, and I thread my fingers through it. His lips are also soft, and I’m losing myself in him. Back in high school, everyone told me he was bad news. That I shouldn’t date him. But I ignored them. And right now, my brain is telling me I shouldn’t be kissing him, but I ignore it as well.
Noah’s hands slide up my sides, leaving fire everywhere he touches me. I deepen the kiss, and he responds by pressing me up against the door. The kiss started out as a gentle exploration, but it now turns frantic. I can’t get enough of Noah. I need him like cool water when I’m parched—bone dry and burning.
Noah breaks the kiss, and I gulp in air. He leans close to me, his warm breath on my neck, as if he’s going to place his lips there. “Savannah,” he whispers, and I about crumble to the floor.
I want to hear what he’s going to say, and yet I don’t. Deep in my soul I need this man so badly, I can feel it in every fiber of my being. I’m desperate to hear him say he needs me, too. And yet, if he does, that would mean we’re headed toward disaster. I cannot watch Noah turn bitter, like my father.
“We should get going.” The words pop out of my mouth uninvited. I don’t want to go to eat dinner at his family’s house. I just want to stay here, with Noah, kissing him. But I know, deep down inside, that’s not a good idea.
“Yeah,” Noah says, pulling away from me, and I instantly regret saying anything. I miss his arms around me, and the feeling of his lips on mine.
Why did I mess things up? For some future that might not even happen? Noah’s not asking me for forever. Why am I making this such a big deal?
So, what if I want to kiss Noah? It’s not like he’s asking me to marry him. We can have a relationship right now. I don’t even know what the future holds.
I slip my hand into his, needing to feel the warmth of his skin. Even if it’s not forever, I need him right now. “Let’s go.”