How to Love Your Neighbour(91)

Rosie groaned. “Sleep here? There’s literally guest rooms.”

“I’m positive Noah wouldn’t mind,” Grace said.

“I was teasing. We’ve got our own bed,” Josh said, looking at Rosie with adoration.

Grace walked the three of them to the door, locking up behind them so she could head to her own house. She said goodbye on her porch, let herself into her home, and got ready for bed. The heaviness in her limbs felt well earned.

She’d been home only ten minutes when the knock came. Hurrying to the door, that addicted hitch in her chest, she told herself it wasn’t Noah. One of her friends likely forgot something at Noah’s.

When she swung open the door, her smile dropped along with her stomach.

Her mother stood on her doorstep, the moonlight casting a glow around her ragged appearance.

“There’s my girl,” Tammy Travis said, stepping into the house without invitation. “Exactly where I thought I’d find you.”

Grace’s shock swallowed her words. Her mother’s dark hair was brushed but thinning. There were traces of the beautiful woman she’d once been, but her eyes held the same callous cool that Grace remembered from her childhood. She had the look of someone who took too many hard knocks in life and expected nothing less. Nothing good.

“What are you doing here?”

Tammy’s smile was forced. “That answers my question of whether or not you read my letters. I told you I was coming. I’m here to see my darling daughter. And, because this house belongs to me.”





42


Noah let himself into his house, tossed his carry-on to the floor, and went straight for the stairs. He’d taken an earlier flight because he needed to get out of New York. Across the country didn’t seem like far enough away from his father.

He’d wanted to go straight to Grace’s, but it was three in the morning and she didn’t need the mood he was in no matter how much he wanted to see her face, touch her, kiss her, forget about anything else in the world.

As he wearily dragged himself from one stair to the next, he thought about everything his father had spewed at him. He bypassed the bed, heading straight for the shower. Under the hot spray of water, his muscles loosened even though his anger still simmered.

He turned off the shower, feeling cleaner inside and out. He’d cut ties. Screw the warehouses. Screw the financial losses. Noah wanted more than money in his life. He wanted happiness. He’d called both of his brothers on the way home. Things were going to be okay.

As he dragged himself to bed, he stopped short when he heard the gentle sounds of breathing. His own breath hitched. Was he dreaming?

“Grace?” he said into the darkness.

The sheets rustled and his heart soared. He no longer felt the urge to stop it.

“Noah?” Her voice was sleepy.

Noah crawled into the bed, pulling her close. “I feel like I conjured you out of pure hope.”

He felt her smile against his neck as he clutched her like a lifeline. She was real and warm and right there, ready for him to fall into.

“What are you doing home?” she whispered.

Home. Goose bumps trailed over his skin and not from cool air. “I came back early.” He kissed a trail down her neck. Just being near her shifted his mood.

She arched into him, so giving and sweet. “How was it?”

His hands snaked down over her soft skin. “Terrible. My father said if I want the warehouses, I’ll need to sue him.”

She stiffened under his touch. “Seriously? That lousy son of a—”

He smiled against her mouth. He loved when she got all fired up on his behalf. Loved. Holy shit. All these feelings . . . he loved Grace. As his fingers danced under her T-shirt, his mouth pressing kisses to hers, he went with complete honesty. “All I wanted was to see you tonight. I didn’t want to wake you, though, so I came home, but the truth is, it only feels like a home when you’re in it with me.”

His throat felt thick with the admission.

Grace’s arms wrapped around his neck. Her gaze found his in the darkness, her breath hitching.

“I feel the same about my place,” she whispered.

Energy coursed through him, and with those simple words, she pushed away all of the darkness. With Grace, he had perpetual sunshine in her touch, her gaze, her heart. It was, as he’d told her, all he could see. All he wanted.

Their foreheads touched, their uneven breaths echoing in the quiet. Her lips twitched, making his do the same. They stared at each other, which wasn’t easy given how close they were.

“What are you thinking?” Her whisper was accompanied by the brush of her fingertips over his cheeks.

“The same thing you are, Grace. Say it.”

“Gracie,” she whispered. “I decided I like when you call me that.”

He smiled, his heart pressing against his ribs. “Say it, Gracie.”

She bit her lip, her fingers stilling against his face. “You first.”

“Same time,” he said, his heart stuttering.

She gave the slightest of nods, which he felt more than saw; then they both spoke.

“I love you.” Their words overlapped. It was perfect. He couldn’t get close enough as he kissed her, yanking her onto his lap, burying his hands in her hair.