How to Love Your Neighbour(92)

As he laid her back on the bed, she pulled away from their kiss. “I have a visitor.” Her tone was sad.

It took him a second. “Oh. That’s okay. We don’t have to have sex. I just want to hold you and be close to you.”

“What?” He saw her confusion in the slivers of light shining through the blinds.

“You have your period?”

She snickered. “No.”

He hoped she couldn’t see his cheeks heat up. “Oh. I thought that’s what you meant.”

“No. My visitor is worse than my period. It’s my mother. She just showed up.”

Noah couldn’t help but grin. “I thought I disliked my father more than you did your mother but we might be even.”

“Ahh. Nothing like two adults bonding through their mutual dysfunction caused by their parents.”

“Fortunately,” he said, shifting over her, “there’s more than that that connects us.”

She smiled, pressing up against him. “Very true. I have a surprise for you.”

“It can’t be better than finding you in my bed or telling me you love me,” he murmured against her skin. “You love me.”

“You love me back.”

“I really do,” he said, his heart full.

She pushed at his shoulders, her grin playful. “You need to get up.”

“Uh . . .”

She laughed, leaned back. “We have to go downstairs.”

He groaned dramatically, still a little shell-shocked that his night had gone from the worst to the best in very little time.

Following her down the stairs, doing his best not to fixate on the way her short shorts framed her ass, he almost ran into her back when she stopped abruptly outside of the one room they hadn’t decided how to decorate yet.

“I wanted to do something special for you. I think every room reflects you but this one is for you. Completely.”

He’d never had anyone do something for him just to make him happy. You’ve never let anyone in close enough so they could try. She pushed open the door, turned on the light.

Noah stepped into the space and was immediately overwhelmed. It was incredible. It was a media room, complete with games, books, a kick-ass couch, and an assortment of cool seating. He couldn’t stop staring at all the little features that showed how well Grace knew him. The basketball signed by Kobe Bryant—his heart pinched—on one of the shelves, a baseball signed by Mike Trout. Gaming consoles, some of his favorite books. He turned in a slow circle, stopping when he saw the incredible picture of the New York skyline. He stepped closer to it, seeing both of their reflections in the glass frame. She was watching him so closely. Words escaped him. He loved that skyline. He loved New York. But he realized, as he looked at it, that it was no longer home.

Turning to Grace, he pulled her into his arms. She was his home.





43


Grace crept out of Noah’s bed far too early, but she needed to get back to her place. She took one last glance at his sleeping body and finally understood what people meant when they said someone was their other half. She’d have stopped the fall if she’d been able, but now that she was here, she wasn’t sorry.

Her mom was already up when she let herself into her house.

“Ahh. More like me than you’d like to admit if you’re doing the walk of shame,” Tammy said, her hands around a mug of coffee.

Hurt and anger collided like bumper cars. Hard and jarring. “There’s no shame in what Noah and I share.”

Tammy’s expression was dismissive. “He seems like quite the catch from what I’ve read.”

The article. Grace’s mind flashed back to the design magazines she’d found lying around now and again in the different trailers. Was it possible her mom had started that journey for her with her own interests?

“You saw the Home and Heart article?”

She nodded. “Imagine my surprise. I was in a waiting room, flipping through, and there you were. With Noah. The son of one of Forbes’s most wealthy men.” She looked around the little kitchen with disdain, then focused on Grace again. “This place is even worse than I remembered.”

Another flash of anger ignited. Grace was proud of the kitchen. Proud of the house. Of herself. “Good thing it’s not yours then.”

Tammy’s lips turned up in an unpleasant smile. “I’ve spoken to a lawyer who says I have a solid case against you. This house is rightfully mine. Of course, we have plenty of time for that.”

Unease prickled below Grace’s skin. “We need to talk.” To steady her nerves, and her voice, she took her time pouring herself a cup of coffee.

“First, I want to meet the man who is going to stomp on my daughter’s heart,” Tammy said as Grace sat down across from her.

“You know nothing about Noah.”

Her mother’s laugh was hoarse, and Grace catalogued how much she’d aged. She’d had Grace so young, but she hadn’t carried the years well.

“I know men, sweetheart. Better than you do. They’ll give you all sorts of promises but they won’t follow through. He won’t stay. None of them do.”

Grace leaned forward, hating the coldness in her mom’s voice. “People stay if you give them reason to.”