46. Dani
I study his chest all the way to the deep V shape that goes down into his shorts, running my fingers over his chest, down to his abs.
V shapes are so fucking underrated and hot as hell.
He’s smiling hard to hide his flushed cheeks, his pearly white teeth blinding the shit out of me. I can feel his eyes blaze their way inside of me, melting my core down to nothing. “I need to tell you this now because if I don’t tell you now, I never will.” He grabs me by my waist, pulling me onto his lap with his hands settling there. He clears his throat, and the muscles in his jaw are flexing. “I’ve been consumed by you for years, Dani. I want you. All the time. I think about you. All. The. Fucking. Time. I’m surprised I can get any work done on my book because I know you’re always there, lingering in my mind. I can’t escape you. I don’t want to escape you.” He leans into me, cupping his hands on my face.
“Noah. I-I don’t know…” My chest heaves, causing every part of my body to vibrate.
I. Can’t. Breathe.
“I’m not done.”
Of course, he’s not done. When is he ever done?
“Do you want to know how I’ve been for the past five years?”
My eyes flutter like butterfly wings flying in open air.
“Shitty.” He pauses. “It took every fiber of my being to not message you on Instagram when I found your author account. Do you know why I didn’t? Because I knew you’d block me. And I couldn’t bear to lose you. I wanted to know what you’ve been up to since I last saw you. To feel close to you again.”
I move my hand behind my neck. I can’t believe what I’m hearing.
He smiles at me like he’s seeing me for the very first time.
The butterflies are back, swarming my stomach so much it’s almost painful. A pain that I don’t mind suffering through if it’s because of Noah.
“I haven’t seen the guys because I’d rather spend time with you. They’re tired of me talking about you all the time.”
He’s been talking to Grayson and Xander about me. Oh my God.
He stares into my eyes. “Those romance books I have in my room, they remind me of you. I thought you hated me, but I’d buy them and read them anyway. It felt like I was there with you.”
I stare at him.
I’ve never been so hypnotized by this man until this very moment.
“I felt closer to you through the books you read,” he breathes.
Oh, fuck.
“You’ve been talking to the guys about me?” I hiccup.
My eyes are glassy. I can feel the tears that are begging to be released.
“That’s what you got out of this whole thing? Me talking about you to my friends?” He grins, turning into a smile.
I lean my head into his chest for a brief moment as air comes out of my nose.
“Remember how much of an asshole I was to you in sophomore year? When I said all those horrible things to you on the day of the one-year anniversary of your dad’s passing?”
I nod. “Uh-huh.”
“After you stormed away from me, I felt so fucking bad. I knew I had to do something to make it up to you.”
“What did you have to do?”
“My dad wasn’t the one to send you the box.”
“What box?”
“The box.”
What box is he even talking about? The box. Wait…Oh. My. God.
I remember coming home from school the day after Noah blew up at me. There was a cardboard box sitting on my bed with a note taped onto it.
Hey Dani,
Noah’s really sorry for what he said to you at school today. It was completely inappropriate and heartless. Don’t worry, he’s in trouble. Big trouble. I hope the items in here make you feel something. I’m always here for you. Always.
Love, Ben.
“It was you.”
He nods. “It was me.”
“I don’t understand.”
“I told my dad to write out the note and plaster his name on it because I knew you would’ve thrown the box out. Set it on fire. Stomp on it. I knew you wouldn’t have opened if my name was on the note.”
I chuckle. “I still use that journal to write down book ideas. Well, pretty much anything that has to do with my books. The mini Kit Kats were a nice touch by the way.” I wink at him. “You know, my addiction to Kit Kats started because of my dad. He used to buy the regular-sized ones all the time. Mom hated having that shit in the house, but Dad didn’t care because they made me happy.”
You make me happy.
He laughs, sitting there and studying my face. “Do you know women like you are hard to come by?”
I blink my eyes repeatedly to register the random subject change.
My lips pucker out, flattening into a semi-curved line, and my eyebrows lower themselves. “Women. Like. Me.”
“Yes, women like you. It’s hard to find a woman who’s not afraid to be brutally honest with you even if it might hurt. You already know how attractive I find that quality about you. So, that’s enough of that.” He moves on to something else. “You have one of the biggest hearts I’ve ever seen. You knew how inevitable it was that you were going to run into me at the hospital. You knew you’d have to deal with my bullshit antics. For who knows how long. And yet…you still came.”
I can’t get one word in because my brain doesn’t want to connect with my mouth.
Letting Noah ramble on is the best solution.
I’m slowly melting into a pile of mush, hearing him talk about me. He’s talking about his feelings. For me. Tears are pouring out of my eyes. I can’t control it, so I let them fall.
“You didn’t think I’d end this without mentioning your talent for words, did you?”
I laugh through my tears.
“You have a gift for writing, Dani. A lot of people wish they had your talent. I don’t know anybody who writes like you. You have this incredible ability to immerse readers into a story. Many of them can see themselves through the characters you write and your book isn’t even out yet. It’s fucking magic what you do.” He takes a moment to catch his breath, his eyes working up to my face. “God, you’re distracting.”
“And you don’t think that you are?”
He tugs on my shirt, his hands gripping tightly on my waist. “We’re talking about you. Not me.” He smiles, the fire in his eyes dissipating as his pupils dilate. “When I’m around you, I have this indescribable out-of-body experience. I’m floating in the sky. Dani, you’re right there with me. My sunshine. The light that scares away the darkness inside of me. I need you in my life. I need my sunshine.”
Fuck me, that was the most romantic shit I’ve ever heard.
His hands return back on my face, cupping it like a gentle giant.
I put my hands on top of his. Breathing in and out, I do my best to slow down my rapid heartbeat. Once I calm down, I know I have to say something. This is my chance to tell him how I really feel about him. “Before we go any further, I need to tell you something.”
“Okay, Sunshine.”
He removes his hands from my face, giving me the space to move around if I need to.
“I’m sorry to tell you this but…” I pause out of curiosity to see how he’d react.
His facial expressions are unreadable. He looks around the room, trying to figure out what he did wrong.
God, this is all real.
Bella did tell me to go live out my own version of a romance novel.
This is it.
“You’ve been reading too many romance books, my friend.”
A sad expression appears on his face as he looks away from me. He’s avoiding every possibility of looking at me right now. “That’s not even remotely funny,” he says through a breath, looking down at the floor next to him.
“Hey, Lover Boy.”
He doesn’t reply, so I resort to returning my hands to his cheeks.
Sitting in front of him, I tilt his head up so I can see his handsome face. “You know what you are?”
He shakes his head, grinning ear to ear.
“The best thing that’s ever happened to me. Yes, I knew I’d run into you. It was inevitable. But, you know what? If I didn’t come back home, I would’ve missed out on all this. All these feelings. Being there for your family. Being there for you. You drive me absolutely insane but in the best possible way. My body always craves to be in close proximity to yours. I want to be around you. All. The. Damn. Time.”
He looks at me, listening intently.
“You’re my moonlight. The moon is just a mere shadow of the sun and for years, I thought I hated you for always being around. But even then, you were always there in the back of my mind. So goddamn persistent, too.”
He’s breathless and wholeheartedly mesmerized by me.
“I’ve never met a man who cares so deeply about his family and his loved ones. You’re the only man who makes me blush just by looking at me. I’ve never laughed or smiled so much in a long time.” I smile which turns into a breathy laugh. “You can’t have two halves without a whole. I need you in my life, Noah. I need my moonlight.”
I reach over and grab the glass of water sitting on my bedside table, gulping the entire thing down my throat.
After several minutes of me spilling my guts out, Noah finally says something to me. “Are you done?”
“Yup.”
“Okay, before we do this, you need to promise me this can’t be a one-time thing. If we do this, that’s it. You’re it for me. There’s no going back.”
I used to despise the word ‘promise.’ Noah is giving it an entirely new meaning now.
His hands grab onto my hips, tugging me closer to him.
Tilting my head, my hands wrap around his neck as I smile. “I promise.”
He aggressively grabs me by my waist, our lips come into collision so hard I might wake up with a nice bruise on my lips tomorrow.
“Lie down flat on your back for me,” Noah tells me.
He slithers down to the lower half of my body like a snake with his hypnotizing eyes on me the entire time.
My pulse staggers, latching onto every imperfect heave coming out of my chest.
He tickles the skin on my stomach with the string from my shorts. “I’m taking these off. Is that okay?”
Fuck, yes.
“Yes.”
I let out a smooth breath, staring at the ceiling.
He slides them down my legs, throwing my shorts off the bed. His eyes land back on me. “Lift your arms for me.”
“Hey, I thought I was in charge.” I frown, my voice going up several octaves like I’ve been sucking on a helium balloon for several hours.
“You’re on a brief intermission.”
I open my mouth, letting out a gasp.
He takes off my shirt without any issues, proceeding to examine my chest area and smiling up a storm.
“What?”
His eyes relocate to my face. “You’re wearing a bra this time.”
I cross my legs, raising my right eyebrow and tilting my head with my eyes firmly planted on his. “I couldn’t make it too easy for you. You’re going to have to work for it.”
“You should know it turns me on when you challenge me.” He bites down on his bottom lip as he checks me out.
His dreamy ocean eyes wander to my chest and down to my stomach.
“Are you okay over there?” I smirk.
“No, I’m just overwhelmed that a woman like you exists. Dani, you’re a fucking masterpiece.”
I place my hands on my flushed cheeks.
Noah is the only guy who knows how to make me instantaneously blush, and I can’t seem to get enough of it.
“Oh, shut up, Heart Eyes.”
“I mean, look at you. Get up and turn all the way around for me.” He gestures to me, moving his index finger in a circular motion.
“Are you kidding me?”
“Does it look like I’m kidding?” His face is expressionless.
Okay, I’m getting up.
I get off the bed as fast as I possibly can, moving my body so my backside faces him. I turn around as slowly as possible to make him sweat.
“Fuck, how are you even real?”
I’m staring at him in disbelief because I never thought I’d hear those words come out of Noah Kaplan’s mouth.
“Come here,” he urges.
I meander over to him, running my fingers through his hair.
He grabs me by my ass with his hands, pulling me closer to him.
My body jolts from the sudden movement change.
Wow, that feels so damn good.
He kneels before me.
My head shifts backward, chest heaving. “What the hell are you doing?”
“I’m worshiping you, Princess.”
I swallow hard and deep, feeling a lump go down my throat.
He looks up at me, wrapping his hands around the back of my legs and feathering searing kisses on every inch of exposed skin.
Shit, shit, shit.
“You’re torturing me,” I whine.
He looks up at me. “Baby, you’ve been torturing me for years. I’m going to torture you for a little while longer. Let’s see how you like it.”
He plants rough kisses all over me before he stands up in front of me, smiling.
There’s a fire in his eyes that’s burning so bright. It transfers over to my body, mixing with the chills going down my spine.
He goes in for the kill, taking my lips with him. “Dani.”
God, I love how easily my name rolls off his tongue.
His lips move to my neck, collarbone, and back up my lips again.
I’ve waited so fucking long for this.
“If I do anything you don’t like. Tell me, and I will stop,” he says as he meets my gaze.
“Okay, I can do that.”
“That’s my girl.” He gets up and slams his lips into mine.
Pressing his body hard against mine, he thrusts into me gently which allows me to feel how hard he is.
A whimper escapes my lips.
Fuck, I don’t think I’m getting any sleep tonight.