Chapter 30 Noah
Chapter Thirty
NOAH
Aiden didn't tell her I'm not dead.
Fucking bastard.
I don't know how the hell I'm going to convince Summer that I'm alive and standing right here in front of her. That I only pretended to die to be with her.
That I think she is the love of my life, and I'm willing to give up everything for her.
The bastard set me up to make this as difficult as possible, and kidnapping her certainly isn't going to help matters. If anything, it's only going to convince her more that this is just something her mind made up to cope with the grief.
I want to reach for her, but I think I need to get out everything I have to say. "Summer, look, I'm not dead, and I don't know how to prove that to you, but I'm standing in front of you, and I need you to realize that."
She shakes her head, a kind of dazed look in her eyes. "I saw your dead body. I saw the picture. You were shot in the chest."
I reach for the buttons of my shirt, slowly working them open before holding it wide.
She steps closer to me, her eyes narrowing, searching for a mark I know she's not going to find.
"I thought if I was going to have nightmares about you, you'd be bloody." Summer reaches out, running her fingers over my chest, her touch barely more than a whisper on my skin. "Are people in dreams supposed to feel warm?"
"Knew I shouldn't have sedated you, but I wanted to surprise you and, well, fuck."
Her eyes narrow, a pink flush in her cheeks as the anger boils to the surface. "You sedated me?"
"Yeah, well, Aiden was supposed to tell you I was still alive."
"He sent a message to what I can only assume are all his contacts with a picture of you dead." Summer rolls her bottom lip into her mouth before blowing out a deep breath. "I don't believe this. I don't know what the hell is going on, but this can't be real."
I cup her face in my hands, forcing her to look me in the eyes when she tries to look away.
"I faked my death with your brother's help.
It was part of our deal. He was going to let me live and try to win you over, and all I had to do was pretend to die so he could save face with everyone.
Please, Summer, you have to listen to me.
I need you to believe me because I don't know what else to do to prove to you that I'm alive. "
"Tell me something I don't know. Something I'd never even think of you saying to me." She's pleading, begging for any reason to think I'm alive.
Her eyes are glassy, and there's a slight quiver to her bottom lip.
My thumbs drift beneath her eyes, catching her tears. "I love you, and I bought this house for us."
Her jaw drops before snapping shut again, and she pulls back.
Her steps are stumbling, her heel nearly catching a stray root sticking out of the ground.
She pauses, more tears welling in her eyes. "No. You really wouldn't say that to me."
"Well, I am now." I press my forehead against hers, hands slipping down to her waist as I close my eyes. "I love you, and this house is for us, and if you'll have me, I'm going to spend time turning it into everything you've ever dreamed of."
"You love me," she whispers against my lips.
"I do."
"I think I love you too."
I chuckle, pulling back enough to look down at her. "You think?"
She laughs, the tears drying up. "Well, I didn't really know. Not until I saw your dead body."
"So, that means..."
"I love you too." She presses her lips against mine.
It takes me no time at all to give in to her, my lips moving against hers as I grab onto her waist, pulling her closer.
I need her to feel what I feel. To know that this is what forever is going to look like because I'm not going to let her go.
I've given up everything for her, and I think it might be the best thing I've ever done.
She's breathless when we finally break apart. "How? I saw the picture. You looked dead. There's not a single mark on your chest even though there should be."
"I didn't ask where Aiden got the blood, but if I had to guess, I'd say he went to a butcher shop and got some." I don't want to spend too much time thinking about how almost giddy he was to be making me look like a gunshot victim.
She pushes away from me, stalking back and forth. "And if he knew you were alive, why the hell didn't he say anything to me? And why the fuck would you kidnap me instead of just telling me to come see you? Or, I don't know, when you fucking sedated me, you could—"
"That was Hector."
The look she gives me could turn bone to ash. It's withering and fueled by rage. "Hector got to know you were alive, but not a single fucking person thought to tell me? You and Aiden cooked up this fucking scheme, and then the pair of you decided to just—"
"Aiden wanted me to go to Chicago in his scheme. I came up with Washington while he was putting the blood on me. Remembered seeing the picture in your room."
Her lips press into a flat line as she rakes her fingers through her hair, pushing the messy strands back from her face. "What the hell goes on in your mind?"
"I thought Aiden told you I was alive! He was supposed to tell you that I was alive and that I was going to reach out to you as soon as I was safe." I stare at her, scrambling for the right words to say to calm her down.
Is this going to be the moment she decides she's done with me?
I thought she was done with me, thought she had turned her back on me entirely when she shot me and left me bleeding there. Even after she told me what she was doing, I still thought she was going to turn on me the way so many others had.
And then I took the time to think about it, and she was willing to make the choice to save my life.
She was the one who knew what I needed most. She was willing to leave me if it gave me another shot at life.
The sacrifice she made, the way she slighted her brother, can't be for nothing.
Summer has a slow smile creeping across her face, even though there's still annoyance in her eyes.
"Neither of you is ever going to be allowed to make a plan with each other again.
This has to be the stupidest thing anyone has ever done.
Have you even thought about what happens when people recognize you? "
"Gonna grow out a beard. Wear my hair a little longer." I cross the distance between us, pulling her close to me. "Want to take a tour?"
"Can I still tell you how horrible this plan was later?"
"Yes." I grin, my hands drifting up and down her waist.
In a way, it's still hard to believe she's here. That she's standing right here in front of me and that she's agreeing to look at the house. To look at the dream I want to build with her.
She turns toward the house, reaching back for my hand. "Then let's go see the house. And for what it's worth, I was already thinking about following you wherever you went when I thought you were alive."
"I'm sorry. I won't pretend to be dead without telling you myself again." I hold her hand a little tighter.
We climb the white steps to the wraparound porch, passing the swing that's just barely rocking back and forth in the breeze.
Summer lets out a soft gasp as we walk into the foyer, a huge staircase winding to the second floor. She drops my hand and starts moving through the rooms, taking in the polished wood floors and the massive windows that look out at the lake and the forest surrounding us.
I'm going to have my work cut out for me with this house, but turning the inside into the house of her dreams should dull the voices in the back of my mind that want me to go back to the man I was.
"It's only a twenty-minute drive into town, but out here, it's like we're in our own world." I follow her into the kitchen, grabbing her hips and pulling her back to me.
The second her ass presses against my cock, I start getting hard.
She tilts her head back to look at me.
I lean in, capturing her lips in another kiss, taking my time to sweep my tongue along her bottom lip before diving in.
She moans into the kiss, her tongue tangling with mine.
The kiss is broken for only a second as she turns to face me, and then she's sliding off my still-open shirt, letting it fall to the floor.
I pull her shirt over her head, tossing it somewhere else in the room.
She moans into the kiss as I bite down on her bottom lip, fingers sliding into the waistband of her little spandex shorts.
As she kicks them off, I'm already looking for the perfect counter to begin our fun.
My fingers sink into the flesh at her hips as I lift her up.
She's looking up at me with lust burning bright in her eyes as her legs spread to the sides of my hips, her breasts rising and falling rapidly with each breath she takes.
I slip my fingers along the thin silky material covering her pussy.
"Fuck, Summer. You have been missing me, haven't you? Your pussy is already soaked, and all I've done is kiss you."
She sucks in a sharp breath as I push the fabric to the side, still barely brushing against her slick folds with each pass of my finger. "You're not going to keep teasing me when I thought you were dead, are you?"
The corner of my mouth twitches as I swirl my finger around her clit, my other hand coming up to massage her breast, her nipple peaking and straining against the fabric.
"No." I thrust my fingers deep into her, feeling her inner walls clench down tight around me.
My thumb presses against her clit as her hips start to rock.
She arches her back, hands on the counter to brace herself.
There's a flush to her skin that makes her look all the more mouthwatering.
"We're going to have to fuck in every room in the house to break it in properly. You'd like that, wouldn't you? To be fucked up against every wall. To have your sweet pussy dripping on all the floors." I press my thumb harder and harder against her clit with each thrust of my fingers.
Her legs start to shake, her entire body tensing. "Yes. Yes, please. Please."
"Oh, and now we're begging? Are you going to come for me?" I lean down, trailing my tongue along her pulse, getting harder at the way it jumps.
"Yes." Her legs shake harder as I drive deeper into her.
I crook two fingers against the spot that always sends her over the edge, pressing against it while nipping at her skin.
"Then you better soak me. I want you to show me how wet you get when you're fucking the man you love.
I want to see how hard you're going to come when you know you're never going to have another cock inside that tight little pussy of yours. "
She comes hard, her body tensing up, her cum gushing over my fingers, the noises filling the room. As I keep fingering her pussy, it only makes me want to come in my pants.
Not going to happen.
I hold my fingers to her lips. "We have a lot of lost time to make up for. If you lick me clean like the good little slut we both know you are, I might just give you more orgasms."
As her tongue wraps around my fingers, I know it's going to be a long night.