How to Love Your Neighbour(63)

Grace’s stomach flip-flopped with his words, the intensity of his stare.

“What’s the theme?” John asked, tapping the clipboard.

“Serenity,” Noah said.

“Productive serenity,” Rosie amended.

“Open it up,” Chris said, his arm around Everly.

John pushed the door open. Grace moved into the doorway, taking in the changes. Folding her hands together, she clasped them in front of her chest, her gaze moving over every nuance of the space they’d created for her to work in.

Soft yellow adorned one wall, while the others were a light gray. She’d so hoped they’d use the gray. Instead of standing the shelving units against the wall, they’d mounted them above the worktable she’d purchased, which gave her more room than she’d expected. A corner desk sat to the left of the window. The shelving cubes above the one side of the desk were decorated with treasures: a squat gorgeous blue ceramic vase filled with her favorite contour sketch pencils, a framed abstract color wheel, and a cool wooden clock.

On the wall opposite, next to the closet, were the photographs she’d had framed years back. They were black-and-whites of some of her favorite architectural pieces.

“You took off the closet door,” she said, her voice scratchy as she walked toward the shelving they’d installed. Most of the shelves were empty, ready for her to fill up, but several copies of Home and Heart magazine sat on one of them.

Grace’s throat tightened uncomfortably. She stared at the shelves, overcome with the fact that they’d put so much effort and thought into every little detail. It was meant to be fun. A way to show Noah how regular people got their homes painted. With a twist. He didn’t have to jump in with both feet. The man was paying her to design his house, not come up with games. He’d not only jumped in with enthusiasm, he’d helped create a dream office space. She breathed in and out slowly.

Noah placed his hands on her shoulders, squeezing gently. She felt his body at her back. Everything else seemed to disappear, though she was sure the others were all still standing there.

“You like it?” he whispered.

Pressing a hand to her mouth, not trusting herself to speak, she nodded.

Noah dipped his head, his breath fanning over her cheek as he spoke into her ear. “You sure?”

A strange sound left her throat as she turned, launched herself at him, wrapping her arms around his neck. The emotions and feelings she tried to keep in check when he was near burst free. She couldn’t stop them. “I love it. I love it so much.”

Her voice broke but she didn’t even care because his arms came around her, locking around her waist.

“Maybe we should check on that pizza,” Rosie said.

Grace didn’t look up from where her nose was buried in Noah’s neck, but she heard the others mumble agreement. Cool air washed through the room from the open window. Noah pulled back, looking down at her with a mixture of concern and amusement.

“What’s going on in that beautiful head of yours, Grace?”

She blinked, unsure if she could speak without spilling the contents of her heart all over him.

Noah’s hand stroked her hair back from her face. The last vestiges of the day’s sunshine flickered along the walls like diamonds sparkling. Grace’s breath caught in her throat. She felt so much for this man despite her denial. The cage around her heart, the one she kept locked while she waited for the perfect moment and the perfect man, squeaked open.

“Is it what you imagined, Gracie?”

Swallowing past the lump in her throat, she nodded slowly. “I love it. I feel so selfish because we’re supposed to be transforming your house. I just thought this would be a fun way to introduce you to having friends over to help out because you wanted to do things differently and I knew they would do a good job, I mean, Rosie was here. But this is so much more than I expected. I love it. While I was trying to show you how much people care about you, how they have your back and will show up when you need them to—without you having to hire them—I showed myself the same thing.” All the words tumbled over one another, coming out in an ultrasonic stream of emotion.

Noah’s expression was unreadable. She was such an idiot. Why had she thrown all of that at him? Why couldn’t she just say thank you? She started to apologize but he beat her to it.

“Grace.” His voice was rough. Reverent. “This friend thing might be harder than I thought.”

The tip of his nose touched hers and before she could ask him what that meant, he kissed her, his arms tightening around her as he lifted her up against his body. One hand tunneled into her hair, holding the back of her head while the other arm gripped her around the waist. Grace got lost, and possibly found, in the seconds that followed.

Everything that followed was a blur; like a dream she could picture vividly but wasn’t entirely sure actually happened. The laughter and voices of their friends were the soundtrack to a day and night she wouldn’t ever forget.

With an unspoken understanding, Grace and Noah rejoined the others, standing apart but sneaking glances at each other. She didn’t have to be touching or even standing next to him to feel like he was at her side. She wasn’t sure she participated in the conversations, the debates over who won. She no longer cared. Nerves hovered along her skin with the acknowledgment of how consumed she felt with him. But beyond the worry, surpassing it, was a bone-deep desire to see where it could go. You’re not your mom. She was in charge.