RUSH (City Lights, #3)(83)

His expression hardened and I knew he’d never spend time with his family if I didn’t convince him.

I kissed him lightly on the lips. “I’m okay, Noah. Truly. A scalding hot bath will do the trick.”

“I’m tired too,” he said. “I’ll make sure my mother’s not having a conniption, and I’ll be back.”

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to spill it about last night.”

“Will you stop apologizing?” Noah scolded gently. “They’d have to know eventually, and I don’t care about that anyway. I’m worried about you.”

“You should be worried that this bath is going to overflow if I stand here another minute,” I said lightly. “Go. I’m going to soak in this mini pool and then lie down in that barge of a bed and sleep.”

He nodded reluctantly and kissed me again. “I’ll be back soon.”

I eased a sigh as I shut the bathroom door, grateful, for the first and only time, that Noah was blind and couldn’t see how my hands trembled or he never would have left me.





Chapter Twenty-Six


Noah

Lucien had guided me up to the suite and was waiting for me when I came out.

“Everything all right?” he asked. “How is our girl?”

“She’s fine. Tired, I guess. We didn’t get much sleep last night.”

“I’d imagine not,” Lucien said. “Mon Dieu, how frightening.”

I nodded agreement, but honestly, the sheer joy of making love to Charlotte for the first time was far more powerful than any leftover fear from the mugging. But then, she’d lost something precious to her, and she had been able to see the knife-wielding junkie. To me, he was only a voice in the dark.

Lucien led me back downstairs, and I tried to mentally map the way, but the house was too big, too full of furniture and hallways and doors. I could feel the size of it around me, and thought it would take months to learn the layout.

Lucien helped me back to my seat at the dinner table, and I could practically see the pained expressions on my parents’ faces.

“She’s okay,” I said evenly. “It’s been a long day and even longer night, but she’s fine. She insisted I come back down and spend some time with you, so here I am.”

“She’s a generous little soul, isn’t she?” my mother said.

“Yes, she is,” Ava replied from across from me, and I could tell by the tone of her voice she had something on her mind. But apparently she was saving the lecture for later, as she said nothing more but listened as our mother demanded I recount the mugging again, with heavy emphasis on the fact that neither of us was hurt.

“But she lost her violin, the poor dear,” my mother said. “No wonder the Juilliard talk upset her.”

“But now tell us about Charlotte,” my father said. “She left the table before we could…how did you put it? Heap praise on her?”

I couldn’t possibly explain to my parents everything Charlotte was, and everything she had done for me, or how much she meant to me. It would have taken me all night. I shrugged. “She’s extraordinary, and I care for her,” I said, those words sounding silly and inadequate in my own ears. “What else can I say?”

This answer sent my parents into apoplexy of joy, but I felt a cold front from Ava that only grew stronger as the conversation progressed.

“So what are your plans now?” my father asked. “Given any thought to a new career?”

“As a matter of fact, I have. A new career out of the ashes of the old, I suppose. Planet X is having its big party next week in the city and I’m going to go.”

“Really?” my mother asked, and I could hear the dread, barely disguised, in her voice. “I thought you cut ties with the magazine after the accident?”

“You thought I’d burned all my bridges, you mean,” I said with a small smile. “It’s okay, I thought I did too. But Deacon—Deacon McCormick, remember him? He tells me Yuri would love to have a sit-down so…” I held up my hands. “We’ll see what happens, but Deacon made it sound like the door’s open there.”

“Please don’t tell me you’re going to resume all those daredevil stunts,” my mother said. “It was bad enough when you…It was bad enough before the accident. Honestly, Noah, I don’t think I can take it.”

“I don’t know what I’m going to do,” I said, the old irritation flaring with a vengeance, surprising even me. I reached carefully for a sip of cold water. “Obviously, I can’t do what I used to do. Not everything anyway, but who knows what will happen? I’m going to talk to Yuri…I wasn’t a half bad writer, you know,” I added, hating how petulant I sounded.

“Quite so,” my father said, “and I think it would behoove you to put your energies there, and not jumping out of planes. There’s no reason to put your mother through another catastrophe. You’re limited now. You have…limitations. Don’t be stupid enough to think you don’t.”

The anger sparked and caught, and I waited to feel Charlotte’s comforting hand in mine. But she wasn’t there, and I clenched my empty hand into a fist.

“Believe me, I’m well aware of my limitations,” I said evenly. “I’ve done nothing but sit around, being aware of my limitations for the last four months. Now I’m finally doing something and you’re giving me hell for it.”