CHAPTER TWENTY
The moment Snow stepped out onto the deck, he knew something was terribly wrong.
He barely had time to register the tears streaking down Nova’s face before she threw herself into his arms, colliding against his chest so hard he was knocked backward.
His arms came around her, one wrapping securely around her waist while the other spread across her back, pulling her against him as he regained his footing.
He didn’t ask what was wrong. There would be time for that later. Right now, all Snow cared about was the woman trembling in his arms and the way her fingers twisted desperately into the front of his shirt as though she needed something solid to hold on to.
Her sobs hit him harder than her body had moments before. It wasn’t a quiet cry or a few tears she could quickly wipe away and pretend had never happened. It was a deep, broken sob that seemed to come from somewhere she had been keeping locked away for far too long.
“I’ve got you,” Snow murmured, his arms tightening around her.
He lowered his head until his cheek rested against the top of hers. He slowly rubbed her back with one hand, while the other kept her tucked firmly against him.
He had no fucking clue what had happened between that text message she got in the room and now, but whatever it was had hit her hard.
Harder than anything he had seen since meeting her, and that alone told him this wasn’t something small.
The Nova he had gotten to know over the past week could stare down an asshole twice her size without blinking, crack jokes, and find humor in situations that would've sent most people running in the opposite direction. She wasn’t someone Snow would ever describe as fragile, and she sure as hell didn’t strike him as someone who cried easily.
Yet she was falling apart in his arms. And if that were what she needed to do, then he would stand on this fucking deck all night and hold her while she did it.
He could feel her tears soaking through his shirt. She made another broken sound against his chest, and something inside him twisted painfully. He continued to rub her back.
“Don’t fight it, sweetheart. Let it out,” he whispered against her hair.
Her fingers tightened in his shirt. And for once, she didn’t argue with him or insist she was fine. She leaned against him with her face pressed against his chest and let him hold her while everything she had apparently been keeping bottled up came pouring out.
Snow closed his eyes for a moment, fighting the powerful urge to find out who or what had done this and fucking destroy it.
That could come later too. But for now, he needed to be whatever Nova needed him to be, and judging by the way she clung to him, she didn’t need someone to solve the problem.
She needed an anchor, and that was something Snow knew how to be.
He could stand firm while she fell apart, take whatever she needed to unload, and make damn sure she knew she didn’t have to face whatever came next alone.
They stood there for several minutes as the cool evening breeze blew around them.
Finally, the death grip she had on his shirt started to loosen, and her sobs became softer. Several long moments passed before she finally drew a shaky breath and leaned back.
“God, I’m so sorry,” she laughed weakly through another sniffle, refusing to meet his eyes.
Snow frowned. “What are you sorry for?”
“For this…and getting snot all over your shirt.”
He couldn’t help but smile. Fuck, she was cute.
“Nova, look at me.”
When she finally looked up, the embarrassment in her tear-filled eyes nearly did him in.
Her cheeks and nose were red, her mascara was smudged under her eyes, and there was absolutely nothing polished or put together about her at the moment.
Yet somehow, Snow thought she’d never looked more beautiful.
“It’s a shirt, sweetheart. I’ve had blood, mud, puke, and shit I’m not even sure I want identified on my clothes. A few tears and a little snot aren’t going to scare me.” He used his thumb and wiped the black from under one of her eyes. “Your mascara ran. You looked like a raccoon.”
Her watery eyes widened. “Wow. You really know how to make a woman feel better.”
“There she is,” he murmured with a grin.
A small laugh escaped her, and the sound eased some of the tightness that had settled around his chest.
He lifted his hand again and gently wiped the rest of the tears from her cheeks.
“Seriously, though, you have nothing to apologize for. Not the shirt, and definitely not this.”
Her smile faded as she glanced away. “I don’t usually do this.”
“I figured.”
Her gaze snapped back to his. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
Snow chuckled softly. “It means I’ve spent enough time with you to know you would probably rather wrestle a shark than let someone see you cry.”
The corner of her mouth twitched. “Well, that depends on the size of the shark.”
“Of course it does.”
Another small laugh slipped from her, but he could already see what she was doing. She was rebuilding the wall she had allowed to fall a few minutes ago.
Snow wasn’t going to let her hide behind it. Not with him.
He brushed another tear from her cheek, letting his hand linger there as his voice softened. “You don’t always have to be the strong one, Nova. Whatever happened, you don’t have to pretend you’re okay just because you’ve stopped crying.”
Something shifted in her expression, and for several seconds she stared at him.
Then she swallowed hard, and he noticed her bottom lip begin to quiver. “I’m really not okay. My family sucks.” She sniffled before quickly adding, “Well, my mom and dad do.”
Snow’s chest tightened at the admission. He slid his thumb gently along her cheek once more, wiping away another tear. “Want to talk about it?”
She wiped at her face and drew in a shaky breath. “Not particularly, but you’ve already survived the ugly crying and the snot, so I guess you’ve earned the rest of the story.”
Snow’s mouth twitched, and he took her hand. “Come on, let’s go sit down.”
He led her over to a makeshift bench that one of the crew members must have made.
“God, I don’t even know where to start,” she said.
“How about the beginning?”
She chuckled. “I don’t know if we have enough time.”
Snow studied her for a moment. Damn. Just how much had she been carrying around behind that smile of hers?
Once Nova started talking, Snow mostly kept his mouth shut and listened.
She began with her parents and what it had been like growing up in the Hart household, where appearances seemed to matter more than feelings, and her father’s expectations weren’t so much suggestions as carefully disguised orders.
She told him about joining the family law firm, the pressure that came with being Leonard Hart’s daughter, and how her father had always possessed an uncanny ability to make her feel as though disappointing him somehow equated to betraying the entire family.
The more she talked, the less Snow liked the man. Her mother wasn’t scoring many points with him either.
From what Nova described, the woman wasn’t necessarily cruel, but she had spent years standing quietly beside her husband while he manipulated their daughter, which Snow wasn’t sure was much better.
There were a few things he could forgive in life, but watching someone you loved get hurt when you had the power to stand beside them wasn’t high on the list.
Then she told him about Rick. Snow had to work considerably harder to keep his opinions to himself after that.
Nova explained how her parents basically shoved Rick down her throat, and although the relationship hadn’t been perfect, she had believed they could build a future together. Until the day she walked in on him in bed with another woman.
Asshole.
What pissed Snow off even more was what happened afterward. Instead of her parents rallying around their daughter after she had been betrayed, her father had apparently treated the entire situation like an inconvenient business problem that needed to be managed.
Rick came from the right family, which led to important connections, and apparently all of that mattered more to Leonard Hart than the fact that the bastard had humiliated his daughter.
By the time Nova finished explaining the role both families had played in trying to push them together, Snow’s jaw hurt from clenching it.
He couldn’t imagine his own parents reacting that way.
Hell, he would be lying if he said that he wasn’t nervous about what his mother might do if Yvette ever showed up at the house again after knowing what she had done to her son.
His father sure as hell wouldn’t have sat around discussing how the relationship could still benefit the family.
But Nova's parents had. And somehow, the woman sitting beside him had survived all of it without becoming bitter.
At least, Snow thought that was where the story ended.
Nova grew quiet, staring out across the dark water as she rubbed her palms over her thighs. “Which brings us to today.”
“What happened today?”
She released a humorless laugh. “Apparently, I’m getting married.”
Snow stared at her. For several seconds, he honestly wondered if he had missed an entire section of the story.
“I’m sorry...what?”
She turned toward him, and despite the remnants of tears on her cheeks, there was an almost comical amount of disbelief in her expression. “You heard me. According to this morning’s news, Rick Montgomery and I are officially engaged.”
Snow just stared at her, completely speechless.
“Hold on, I’m confused. Are we talking about the same Rick who cheated on you?”
“Yup.”
“The guy you just spent the last ten minutes telling me you want nothing to do with?”
“Yup.”
“Okay.” Snow dragged a hand over his jaw. “I’m gonna need you to explain how the hell you got engaged without actually being in a relationship.”
For the first time since she had thrown herself into his arms, something resembling a genuine smile tugged at Nova’s lips.