Noah stopped right in front of me. My body shook as I attempted to push away every memory of him. Every touch. Every kiss. Every romantic word he whispered in my ear as he made love to me.
My skin exploded when his finger touched my chin. Turning my face to him, his eyes locked with mine. “I’ve missed you so much, and I thought I’d lost you forever, Grace.”
My mouth parted open as a single tear fell from my eye. “Noah, you’re married and I can’t . . .”
Leaning in closer to me, I sucked in a breath of air as his eyes landed on my lips. “Grace, my sweet Grace. I’m not married.”
Alex’s words flooded my mind. “ . . . he seemed so desperate to talk to you. He was practically begging me.”
Widening my eyes, a sob escaped my lips. “You’re . . . you’re not? Are you sure?”
Noah laughed softly and nodded his head. “I’m positive, baby.”
Baby.
Jesus, Mary, and Joseph.
He called me baby.
My mind drifted back to the girl. Who was the girl he was with at the mall and hospital? “But, I saw you with her. You were registering for your wedding.”Placing his hand on the side of my face, Noah looked into my eyes as he gently moved his thumb across my skin. “That’s Emily, my sister, Grace. She’s the one who got married. When I lost my phone, I lost your number; I didn’t know what to do. There were so many times I wanted to get in my
car and come here. The last thing I wanted to do was show up on your doorstep and find you were with a guy. Looking back, I could kick my own ass for not just coming to you.”
I slowly shook my head and whispered, “There’s no one but you, Noah.”
Smiling, Noah spoke softly. “Please don’t push me away again, Grace. I need you. I need you so much.”
My whole world stopped as I stared at Noah.
I need you so much.
Holy shit. Closing my eyes, I dropped my head back against the door and let out a sigh. His sister. All those texts I ignored. The phone calls I sent to voicemail because I thought he was with another woman. If I had just given him the opportunity to explain to me what I saw, I could have saved myself so much heartache.
My body jumped when I felt his lips against my neck. “Grace, I had to come find you. I needed you to know the truth.”
Oh God. He came for me.
Noah came for me.
Noah
Grace whimpered as I brushed my lips across her neck. I’d never really known why Grace had decided to stop seeing me. I figured it had to have been because of what happened with her high school boyfriend. She had shared with me how deeply she had been hurt. She even shared her fear of falling in love with me. But I was sure we’d be able to withstand anything as long as we were together. The second I figured out why she had stopped communicating with me altogether, I fought like hell to get to her. She had mistakenly thought I was married. Everything made sense; the short conversations when I ran into her, the ignored phone calls and text messages. Alex had finally broken down and given me Grace’s phone number at the hospital, but my sister Emily said I needed to talk to Grace in person.
Placing my hands on the sides of Grace’s face, I looked into her eyes. “Grace, I’ve been going insane since we broke up. It’s been pure hell for me in more than one way. I’ve never in my life felt the way I do for anyone like I do for you.”
Placing her hands on my arms, Grace whispered, “I’m scared, Noah. You have no idea how scared I am.”
Grace had put up walls the very first time we were together, but I saw the same look in her eyes that was in mine. I never believed in love at first sight until Grace Johnson ran into me one rainy afternoon.
Leaning my head against hers, I spoke softly. “Me too, Grace. Me too. But I can’t forget what we’ve shared. Grace, I think about you all the time. Do you remember the guitar?”
Grace giggled as she whispered, “I’d never forget that day. I told myself all I would ever need is you with a guitar and a sunflower and my life would be complete.”
My mind drifted back as I remembered that day we spent together months after we first started dating.
Walking up to Grace, I held the teal guitar in my hand as she covered her mouth and laughed. “Man oh man. I didn’t realize you were in a girl band, Noah.”
Winking, I sat down in front of the little bench Grace was sitting on and I handed her a giant sunflower. Smiling, Grace took it and brought it up to her nose as she inhaled deeply. I positioned the guitar I had just bought from a street vendor on my lap.