CHAPTER 47
NOAH
Growing up on a ranch with two older brothers is certainly a humbling experience. There are many stages in life that a male goes through, but going through them years behind your brothers and getting tortured by the both of them definitely plays a huge hand in character building.
I remember the day Hunter woke up with a deep voice and thinking I couldn’t wait until mine done the same. I remember the day I walked into Grayson’s bedroom and heard him telling Rueben all about his girlfriend and I had run to Hunter and asked him what a girlfriend was.
I remember the day the both of them left to attend the same party and crying because I couldn’t hang out with them.
But I also remember the day my brothers threw their arms around me and let me tag along with them. The day they took me to my first rodeo and let me have my first beer. The day they sat me down and told me what sex was.
My favourite memories, however, are the ones where I got to watch my brothers individually fall in love, settle down with their women and start their families.
And today, I get to watch my oldest brother marry one of those women.
“You ready?” I ask Hunter as me, Grayson and Killian enter the room. He’s standing in the mirror, adjusting his tie and his eyes find mine in the reflection.
“Been ready, man,” he says, his voice void of any nerves.
I nod, my smile wide as I clap him on the back. “Let’s go then.”
All four of us climb into Grayson’s truck and head over to the barn we’ve been working on for weeks in the build up to this very moment.
Killian and I are in the back and other than that conversation we had at his house last week and the few words we exchanged when I offered him my condolences at the hospital, this is the first time we’ve been in each other’s space.
It’s too early to tell if our friendship will ever be the same as it once was, but I figured time heals all wounds and eventually, I hope to earn his trust back again.
I’ve been so preoccupied with fixing things with Bella, that mending my lifelong friendship has taken a back seat and it dawns on me, that while I’ve been worried for her, he also lost his mother.
Christ, I’m a shitty friend.
I turn to look at him, finding his stormy eyes already fixed on me and swallow thickly. “How are you holding up?”
Killian scrubs a hand over the scruff on his jaw. “I’m okay. I was just about to ask you how Bella’s doing?”
“She’s doing okay. Getting better with every day,” I tell him.
He nods his head thoughtfully, his shoulders relaxing in a way that tells me he’s been worried about her too.
“She forgiven you yet?” He asks, and the humour in his tone takes me by surprise.
I chuckle. “Not yet, but I’m working on it.”
“Hmm,” he hums. His gaze drifts away from me for a beat before moving back again. “You gonna marry her?”
My eyebrows almost hit my hairline and I blink at him. “Uh… that depends.”
“On what?”
“If she forgives me,” I say honestly.
Killian shakes his head, his chest rumbling with a laugh. “That was the wrong answer.”
I swear, by the end of this conversation I’m going to need botox with the way my facial muscles are working. I frown at him and tilt my head. “What was the right answer?”
“If you had my blessing,” he replies.
The front of the truck is completely silent and it’s now that I realise Hunter and Gray are listening intently.
Fuckers.
“And do I?” I ask Killian, shifting uncomfortably in my seat.
He’s quiet for a minute, and I glance out of the window in hopes of seeing the barn coming into view. I’ve known this man all my life and for the first time ever, I’m afraid of what he might say next.
I hold my breath, watching as he thinks his answer over. I have no doubt that he’s taking his time just to fuck with my emotions, but it’s the least I deserve, so I say nothing.
“Yes,” he finally says and I sigh in relief.
It wouldn’t have mattered either way. I’d marry her with or without his blessing and I tell him just that. “You know I didn’t need it, right? I’m gonna marry her anyway. If she’ll have me, that is.”
“Good,” Killian says, taking me by surprise once again. “But if you ever pull shit like that again, you’ll get more than a punch to your jaw next time.”
I dip my chin. “Duly noted.”
“Well, I’m so glad we got that cleared up. Can I go get married now?” Hunter says, turning to look at us over his shoulder and we both laugh, nodding our heads before climbing out of the truck and following him into the barn.
***
The dance floor is busy with couples as they sway along to the slow song playing over the speakers. Hunter and Savannah are in the very centre, while my parents, Mr and Mrs Wilde, Killian, Gray, Liv and Daisy surround them, all holding each other close.
I scan the crowd for the blonde wearing a pale pink dress and come up empty.
The first person I had looked for when the DJ invited all of the couples up to join the newlyweds was Bella, but it seems she’s scurried off somewhere to avoid this very moment.
I remove my cowboy hat and place it on the table, my eyes doing another sweep of the room, this time finding her leaning against the bar, her back to me as she places her order with the member of staff my parents hired for this evening.
With a new sense of determination, I stride across the room and slide in next to her, my hand finding her hip. “Are you avoiding me, babybell?” I ask, my voice low against her ear.
To my absolute delight, a shiver wracks the entire length of her body, and I smirk against her skin.
“No,” she breathes, pulling her bottom lip between her teeth.
“Are you sure?” I move a piece of hair off her neck and let my fingers brush the skin there.
She spins, her face lining up with mine, and by the way her eyes widen slightly and her breath catches, she didn’t realise how close I was standing. “Positive.”
“Hmm,” I hum, amused. “Dance with me, Bells.”
“Why?” she asks, blinking up at me in a way that tells me she wants me to work for it.
“Why not?” I counter.
I don’t think she realises that she does it, but she moves closer, her nose almost touching mine. “I don’t like dancing.”
“Liar.” I smirk, my hands finding the dips in her hips.
“Maybe I just don’t want to dance with you.” She lies again.
“If that were true, you wouldn’t be doing it already,” I say and it’s then that she looks down and realises that she is in fact swaying to the music in my hold.
Her brows furrow slightly, cheeks tinting pink and I lift her chin, my thumb swiping over her bottom lip. “One dance.”
I watch as she goes to war with herself in her mind. I can see her internal argument playing out behind the grey in her eyes. She wants to dance with me, but in doing so she thinks she’s giving in.
But she gave in the moment she let me kiss her in the forest. I felt it in the way she sighed against my lips and the way her mouth chased mine when I pulled away. She just hasn’t admitted it to herself yet.
“One dance.” She agrees and I can’t stop myself from smiling widely down at her.
With her hand in mine, I lead us toward the dance floor as we join the rest of our friends and family. Bella’s arms come around my neck, her head resting on my chest and I pull her body flush against mine as we sway to the rest of the song.
It comes to an end quickly before another one begins to play but we don’t part.
Even when everyone else moves away from the dance floor, some gravitating to the bar, others returning to their tables, we keep our arms wrapped around each other us two songs become three and only when the third one comes to an end, do I gain the courage to finally speak.
“I miss you, Bella.”
She lifts her head to look at me. “I moved back in a week ago.”
I shake my head. “I don’t mean like that. I mean I miss you. This. I miss touching you. I miss having you in my bed at night. I miss us.”
Her eyes close and she drops her head, but I lift it once again, forcing her to look at me. “Give me another chance, baby. Please?”
“Noah-”
“I love you, Bella.” I drop my forehead against hers. “So fucking much it hurts.”
“Noah,” she says again, this time forcing me to look at her.
I open my eyes, scanning her beautiful face as my heart thumps wildly in my chest with the need to lean in and kiss her. To drag her home and lock her in my room and just keep kissing her until she forgives me.
I’ve been in hell for weeks and the desperation I feel when I’m around her is becoming too much to bear.
She’s right there, but she’s so far out of reach.
A soft hand cradles the side of my face, and I lean into the touch, relishing the way her skin feels against mine after so long without it.
And then she leans forward, brings her lips so close to mine I can smell her fruity drink on her breath and whispers three words that have the power to change everything.
“Take me home.”