Chapter 39
Chapter Thirty-Nine
“Ihate this,” Danica said. “But I don’t see any other way.”
It had been awful to overhear what Soren had said about her. Never before had Danica been ashamed to be like her father. People made the comparison between them all the time, and usually, she’d considered it a compliment. Her father had his flaws, but he was tenacious and driven. Smart. Relentless.
But she’d also believed that he’d loved her mom. That had all been a fiction.
William had to have known that this day would come eventually. The truth about Tori being his daughter would come out. But he’d chosen to lie because it had been easier. Danica refused to live that way.
And Noah was looking at her like he didn’t even know her anymore. It was the same thing she’d felt when she’d looked into that mirror hanging on the wall.
Who was Danica Foster-Grant? She didn’t know anymore.
“I don’t want to be like my father,” she said. “I don’t want to hurt you.”
“So don’t.”
“You deserve so much better than my messed-up family.”
She was sitting on the couch. Noah kneeled in front of her on the floor. “I’ll take my chances. You’re worth it. Don’t do something rash just because of what Soren said.”
“But I don’t see how I can make this work.” Every minute, she was more sure. The only way forward was to cut ties. Let go.
“I was never just pretending.” Noah reached for her hands.
His green eyes were pleading, but when he spoke, his voice was smooth and strong.
“If you don’t want me in your life, then say so.
But I’m not giving you up for anything less.
I lost you before because I didn’t fight for you. I am not letting that happen again.”
Danica was impressed by the passion in his words. But his argument didn’t make much sense. Unless…
“Wait. Do you think I’m breaking up with you?”
“Isn’t that what you’ve been saying?”
“No. God, no.” That was the opposite of what she’d been saying. Though, granted, she hadn’t been explaining herself very well.
Noah pushed out an exhale. “I really thought you were. Jeez, you scared me.”
“But why would I break up with you? I’m crazy about you.”
He smiled and laughed, still on his knees.
“Noah, I said I’d choose you every time, and I meant it. I choose you.” Danica cupped his face, drawing him closer until their noses touched. “I choose us.”
She kissed him, taking a second to revel in the softness of his lips, the scratch of his stubble on her chin.
Her heart was so gone for this man. His kindness and honor, his humor and strength.
The ways he was the same boy she’d fallen for all those years ago, and the ways he’d grown into the best man she’d ever met.
“Then what is it you have to do?” he asked. “Whatever it is, you’re dreading it.”
She sighed. This part truly did hurt. It was a terrible choice to have to make. “I need to cut ties with my family. I hope it’s not forever, but I have to get some space. And…I need to tell you my dad’s secret. Because I can’t keep this hidden. Not from you. I just can’t.”
Danica needed to share the truth about her family.
If she didn’t, this secret would keep tearing her up inside.
She wasn’t going to spill her parents’ dirty laundry to the media.
But Noah was the man she cared about. She intended to share every part of her life with him.
She trusted him. Her father knew nothing about real trust.
“Tori is my sister. My father’s daughter.”
Noah’s eyebrows shot up.
“I’ll tell you the rest of it later. But right now, I want you to take me to your place. I can’t stay here.”
Danica didn’t recognize her family anymore. Whatever they’d become, she didn’t want to be a part of it.
She needed Noah. The man she trusted. The man she’d fallen for all over again.
“Are you going to tell them you’re leaving?”
“No. I’ll explain it to them later.” She’d have to figure out what to say.
“Soren really seemed to want to talk to you.”
Danica was wondering about that, too. Maybe it was about Tori. Their sister. “I can’t deal with him at the moment.”
She was pissed at Soren for the things he’d said to Noah. As for her father, he wouldn’t be surprised she’d taken off. William had seen how angry she was.
Noah took her hands and stood up with her. “We can go to my family’s house. My grandpa and Ginger are still away, so we’ll have it to ourselves. And if you want, tomorrow I can take you to my condo in town.”
“I want to see it.” She gave him another kiss. “I want to see everything that’s important in your life.”
She wasn’t sure she’d ever come back here. Danica still felt her mom in this house, and she regretted losing that connection. Her mom wasn’t around to defend herself, and Danica wasn’t going to judge her mother’s motivations. But she also had to do what was best for her.
She was choosing love over her family name—exactly what her parents should have done long ago.
Danica went to her room to pack, leaving Noah in the front sitting room to arrange a ride for them.
She’d been hoping to avoid her brother. But Soren found her.
“Dani? Are you leaving already? You just got back.”
She kept pulling items from her dresser and tucking them into the suitcase she’d brought from New York. “I don’t see the point of staying just so we can pretend to be a family. There are no cameras here. If Dad needs a family photo op, his people can call my people.”
“So he told you? About Tori?”
Danica stilled, a pair of jeans in her hand. “Yeah, he did. You knew? Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because you’d act exactly like you are right now. Freaking out over nothing.”
“Nothing? Our parents living a lie is not nothing. Having a sister I didn’t know about is not nothing.
” Under better circumstances, Danica would’ve wanted the chance to welcome Tori into her life.
Maybe it would still happen. But Tori had tried to blackmail her, and had lied to her for the last several months. It was a lot to get over.
Soren leaned his shoulder into the door frame. “I’m sorry you’re upset. But why are you taking it out on me? Because of Vandermeer?”
Danica bit the inside of her cheek. Was her brother truly that self-centered?
You’re the one who’s like Dad, she thought. Not me.
“You can’t blame everything in the world on Noah,” she said.
“But that’s where you’re going right now. To be with him?”
“Yep. And nothing you say will stop me.”
She expected another argument on that subject, but then her brother surprised her.
“Shit, I’m really not trying to fight with you.” Soren ran his hands through his wavy hair. “Look, this isn’t how I wanted to ask. But I need a favor.”
“What favor?”
A pained look crossed his face. “It’s my company. Things…aren’t going as well as they should. We’re having a cash flow problem.”
“Are you serious? You’re asking me for money?”
He glanced away. “Some recent projects haven’t panned out the way we’d hoped.”
Her brother’s appearance in West Oaks suddenly made a lot more sense. “You came here to ask Dad to bail you out, didn’t you? And he said no.”
“He’s never believed in me.”
“Then why should I?” She walked over to Soren, lowering her voice. “Because Dad and I are so much alike, right? We’re cutthroat. We use people.”
“You heard that? I was just…”
“Even if I hadn’t? I still would’ve said no.
” She dropped the last stack of clothes into her bag and zipped it up.
“I can forgive you, Soren, because you’re my brother.
But only if you grow up and start thinking of other people, not just yourself.
Noah is a far better man than you’ve ever been. Why don’t you try being more like him?”
Soren’s expression shut down. Her brother had never looked at her this way before—with undisguised hatred. It was like a mask had been pulled away.
“So that’s how it is?” he asked. “You’re really going to choose sides against me?”
“I already did.”
“You’re making a mistake, Dani.”
Without another word, she wheeled her suitcase past him and down the hall.
Noah carried Danica’s suitcase into the house. She followed, switching on lights in the entryway. She wanted to spend more time with his grandfather and Ginger, but at the moment, Danica was glad to be here alone.
It was past lunch time, but she wasn’t hungry. She planned to get Noah upstairs to his bedroom and not leave for the rest of the day. Maybe even the rest of the week. Her schedule was shot anyway.
Noah closed and locked the front door. She gripped his shirt in her fist and pulled him down to kiss her. More than anything, she needed his arms around her, and her arms around him.
“Make me forget,” she murmured against his lips. “I only want to think about you.”
This trip to West Oaks had put her in danger and revealed truths about Danica’s family that she’d never wanted to face.
Everything she’d believed had turned upside down.
But the past week had brought Noah back into her life, too. So it was impossible to regret anything that had happened, no matter how frightening it had been or how much her family had hurt her.
Noah could make it better. To be here with him, she’d go through it all again.
“We’re back in civilization,” he said. “We’ve got hot water now.”
“Oh, thank god. No more cold showers.”
“Should I clean you up?”
He scooped her into his arms and carried her upstairs to his bedroom.
While the water heated in his shower, they undressed each other. She put a kiss on the love bite at his neck. The past few hours fell to the floor with their clothes.
Danica pushed back to look at the wound in his side. “How’s it feeling?”
Noah shrugged. “Forgot it was there.” He stuck a hand in the shower to check the water. “Nice and hot. Come on.”
His shower had plenty of room for two people and then some.
They stepped under the spray. It pounded into Danica’s back, massaging her tense shoulders.
Noah’s mouth slanted into hers, his hands on her hips, drawing her close.
She grabbed his ass and squeezed the firm glute muscles.
His erection was hot and thick against her stomach.
Danica broke their kiss to watch rivulets of water run over his pecs and down the ridges of his abs. Desire throbbed between her legs.
She was still kind of amazed that her little brother’s friend had turned into the blazingly sexy man in front of her.
And he’s mine.
She closed her hand around his hard-on. Noah hummed and smiled. “You want me to fuck you?” he asked.
Danica shook her head. “I want to watch you come and know it’s because of me.”
She stroked him slowly at first. Noah curved his hands at her neck and kissed her, their lips wet from the water of the shower. His tongue darted into her mouth and over her lips.
She could tell when he needed more. The rhythm of his breathy moans increased. This was so hot, being able to give him pleasure this way. Making this muscular, dominant Navy SEAL pant with need for her.
“Here.” Noah grabbed a small bottle of lotion and squeezed some into her hand.
“Lotion in the shower? I can guess what that’s for.”
“You even need to guess? I’m a guy.”
Her slicked fist moved faster on his shaft. Soft skin over steel. The head of his cock was a deeper shade of purple. So pretty. She had to bend down and kiss it. Noah breathed out a moan.
Danica stood up again. Her free hand went to his balls and tugged, her fingertips pressing into the sensitive skin behind his sac.
“Oh, fuck.” Noah leaned back against the shower wall. “Dani, that’s so good. I…I can’t…”
He gasped, and his cock spurted in her hand, painting his stomach with his cum. She loved seeing the evidence of how good she’d made him feel.
Noah dug his fingers into her hair, pulling her into a searing kiss. Her fist pumped over him a few more times until she was sure he was spent. Then she moved slightly to let the water rinse off his stomach.
He looked down at her, chest heaving, eyelids heavy. His dimple appeared as he gave her a crooked smile.
“You’re looking smug,” he said.
She giggled. “I think I did pretty well.”
“You did. But don’t go thinking you’re in charge.”
“If I’m not in charge, who is?”
Noah spun her and pushed her against the tile. “Let’s just see.”