Chapter 27
The second my cab pulls to a stop, I already know this hotel is too much. The drop-off area is decorated with crystal chandeliers. The entry is lined by four-foot-tall vases filled to the brim with fresh flowers. And a bellhop even comes over to open my car door.
Freaking Nova!
When she and Willa said they wanted to meet up in Sydney for a trip during their summer break, I agreed immediately.
One last adventure in Australia with my best friends before I fly home?
Sign me up! But the cost of the flight alone was almost too much for Willa to handle.
And I’m not exactly made of money either.
We were about to scrap the entire trip when Nova offered to pay for the hotel room.
Willa and I of course said no, but she insisted.
I think her exact words were, Come on, guys.
Just let me pay. My mom never checks my credit card statement anyway.
She won’t even notice. Which like, damn, to live that life.
After much haranguing, Nova agreed to a few guidelines. Keep it simple. Nothing over the top. We share one room. And she doesn’t pay for any food during the trip.
Well, hopefully she’ll stick to points three and four, because one and two are definitely out the window.
I’m gaping as I step into the three-story open lobby.
Everything is polished and gleaming in a way that just oozes luxury.
My cutoff jean shorts and beat-up knapsack clearly don’t belong, but even if she’s thinking it, the woman behind the concierge desk doesn’t let her pleasant smile slip.
I stutter my way through check-in, totally not used to this, then make my way to the twenty-fifth floor.
The elevator zips up so fast my ears pop.
When I finally find the room and open the door, I just shake my head and laugh.
The king-sized bed is so fluffy it looks like a cloud.
A giant soaking tub takes up half the bathroom.
There’s a bottle of champagne on ice on the breakfast table.
But the real kicker is the view. I march across the room, letting my knapsack slip off my shoulder as I press my nose to the glass.
It’s unreal. I can see the entire harbor—the expansive arching bridge, the white cones of the famous opera house, the glistening water leading all the way down to the open ocean.
I take out my phone and furiously start typing.
Nova! This place is INSANE!
I thought we said simple!
Has your plane landed yet? I’d love to know how much longer I have to wait to WRING YOUR NECK IN PERSON!
Did you know about this, Willa?
We had an agreement!!!
I check the flight number they gave me. It landed an hour ago. They should be en route, which means she’s ignoring me on purpose, which is just…so Nova.
With a sigh, I plop onto the window seat and pull my knees into my chest, making myself comfortable.
I’ve been in Sydney for the past two weeks—a final farewell lap for my exchange program.
We got to meet with local researchers, go behind the scenes at the city’s aquarium and zoo, help gather samples from the harbor and local beaches for the university lab, plus attend some phenomenal guest lectures.
But even with all that, I never got to see Sydney like this.
There’s only one other person I’d want to share it with.
I glance back at my phone and reread Nox’s last email.
The trials just finished. He placed first in all of his races, so even though there was no doubt before, there really isn’t any now.
He’s headed to LA to officially represent Team USA.
The games don’t start for about a month, but his old club offered to host him again until the arena is ready, and then all the American athletes will get early access to the facilities.
A bit of a home team advantage. We’re in the final stretch now. My eyes snag on his closing words.
42 days, then forever.
It’s nothing compared to when we first started this countdown, but, god, it feels like a millennium. As the end draws near, time is somehow stretching, slowing, making every second we’re apart more painful than the last. My heart actually hurts from wanting to see him.
Which is why I need Nova and Willa to get here now.
I’m desperate for a familiar face, for a distraction.
Unfortunately, writing an email will have to do.
I settle in the window seat and let my fingers fly across the keyboard.
When Nox and I first started these, I was so nervous.
It took me an hour to write two paragraphs—constantly typing, and erasing, and second-guessing, and wondering what he would find interesting.
Now, the words come easily. I’m nearly done when the slide of a lock draws my attention.
They’re here!
I leap to my feet.
“Nova,” I yell out as I cross the room. “This place is totally—” The door swings open and I stop dead in my tracks, finishing in a hollowed-out whisper. “Insane.”
Nox fills the frame, so tall and broad. His presence is a vacuum sucking all thought, all reason from my brain.
He’s got one hand in his pocket and the other around the strap of his backpack.
Even in dark gray sweats and a black hoodie, he’s so devastatingly handsome I’m afraid I’m hallucinating.
The deep cleft beneath those pouted lips.
The sharp cut of his jaw. The hard muscles visible even beneath the cotton.
He’s got to be a dream, right? No one can be so all-consuming, so commanding, so perfect in real life.
But then I look into his hooded green eyes, bright and sparkling yet so hesitant I can’t have imagined them myself, and I know he’s real.
He’s here.
“Nox!” I gasp, clutching at my heart as it threatens to break free of my skin.
“I know you hate surprises,” he says quickly, launching into a speech it sounds as though he’s been working on for at least as long as it took to fly here.
“And I know I was supposed to wait forty-one more days, but I just couldn’t, Clara.
And before you ask, I okayed it with Coach.
Nova and Willa are at a less expensive hotel down the street, where you’ll join them in two days, or sooner than that, I guess, if you’re totally pissed off.
But in forty-eight hours, I’m heading back to LA.
I’ll have a month to prepare for the games.
And there’s a pool here, so I won’t miss any training. This was just a little detour, and—”
Before he speaks another word, I launch myself across the room and into his arms, shutting him up with a kiss. Nox grins against my lips.
“I was hoping you’d say that,” he murmurs, the cocky edge returned to his voice as he hooks my legs around his waist and steps into the room.
Kicking the door shut behind us, he slides his hands under the hem of my cutoffs to palm my ass.
I drag my fingers through his hair, scraping my nails over his scalp.
I forgot how strong he is, how light he makes me feel.
As if I’m floating. Flying. He presses my back into the nearest wall, grounding me to the earth, to him.
One of his hands cups my throat. His thumb pushes into my chin, tilting my head right where he wants me, and I’m helpless to do anything but oblige.
Heat pools in my belly, blazes down my limbs.
His free hand moves up my hip, over my ribs, slowly exploring every inch of me.
I reach for his clothes, but he stops me and threads our fingers together.
Lifting my arms up over my head, he holds them against the wall as his mouth shifts down along my throat.
My panting fills the silence. I’m drowning in him, in this feeling, and we haven’t even taken off our clothes.
Nox groans and drops his forehead to my shoulder, pressing even closer before finally pulling back.
“This isn’t why I came,” he says breathily.
“No?” I ask, practically heaving, unable to form more than a single word.
“Okay,” he amends, a quick grin flitting over his lips as he meets my gaze. “This isn’t the only reason why I came.”
I arch a dubious brow. He suddenly closes the distance between us, snagging my lips for a kiss as if he just can’t help himself, as if he’s desperate to taste the sass on my tongue.
It’s over before it begins. He pulls back and lowers my arms to his shoulders, then settles his hands on my hips. An earnestness gathers in his eyes.
“I just mean—” He pauses to lick his lips.
My heart swells, ballooning with an emotion I hardly know how to place.
“I didn’t plan all of this with any expectations in mind.
If you want that big bed behind me all to yourself, I’ll sleep on the floor.
I’m not going to pressure you into doing anything you don’t want to do.
That’s not why I’m here. I just wanted to touch you, to hold you, to feel you in my arms and know this is real.
I don’t need anything else. I know you’re not as experienced as I am, and that’s okay. I can wait however long you need.”
He swallows thickly, his Adam’s apple bobbing in his throat.
I lift my fingertips to his face and skim them across the bow of his lips, over his cheekbone, down that adorable little divot in his chin, unable to believe someone who looks this beautiful on the outside is somehow even more stunning within.