Now a Major Motion Picture (41 page)

He caught the quizzical glance she shot in Reese’s direction as he turned back toward the door.

On his way out, he stopped to hug Reese good-bye, too. “Thank you,” he whispered in her ear.

He’d nodded at the two of them before walking out the door and into the balmy night air. Then he’d practically sprinted down the front walk toward his car.

And now he was here, parked in front of the house he’d dreamed about a hundred times since he’d seen it in those damned Internet photos so many months ago. He flipped off the car’s headlights and stared up at the house,
Amelia’s house
. He breathed in deeply, closing his eyes as he exhaled, working up his nerve.

Don’t be a coward, you idiot. You’ve come this far.
What did he have to lose?
Nothing.
Absolutely nothing. He’d lost everything when he’d lost Amelia, even himself.

He inhaled sharply, flung open the car door, and walked swiftly up the walk to her front door.

Sweet Release

Amelia and Noah, May (two hours later)

Amelia jumped at the sound of Reese’s knock.

Finally!
She dabbed at her red eyes with the tissue in her hand and stood up so quickly from where she’d been curled into her chair that her head spun. What a crazy, confusing, awful, amazing night this had been. She didn’t even know where to start.

She padded to the front door in her bare feet, still wearing the black silk dress she’d worn to the screening, the words churning through her head ready to spill out as soon as she could get the door out of her way.
It’s over. I broke up with him. He asked me to marry him, but I just…I can’t. It doesn’t matter if he’s a nice guy or if he’s talented or if he’s famous. I don’t love him. Not enough, anyway, and I just can’t marry him.
She sucked in a deep breath, wondering if Reese would drive her to the psych ward right away or try to talk her out of her decision first.

But she couldn’t dwell on that question, because a much more important one was gnawing at her taut nerves.
What was Noah doing at her premiere?

And more importantly, where was he now?

She fumbled with the locks on her door and then flung it wide, not bothering to check the peephole since she’d been expecting the knock. When she found herself suddenly face to face with Noah, her breath came out in a sharp gasp, the words meant for Reese melting on her tongue.

She stared at him, wide-eyed, unable to speak. After a moment that felt like a lifetime, she found her voice.

“Noah.” The word was barely more than a whisper, and it took every ounce of strength she had not to throw her arms around his neck. A lone tear escaped the corner of her right eye and traveled down her cheek.

His eyes followed it, his face reflecting such a wide range of emotions she couldn’t pinpoint his expression.

“Lia,” he said, his voice as low and rough as hers. He reached a hand toward her and then lowered it again.

They both stood frozen in place for several long seconds.

“Why are you—” She licked her lips and started over. “What are you doing here?”

Her eyes searched his, and then she suddenly snapped out of her daze enough to realize he was still standing on the other side of the open doorway. She took a step backward into the narrow foyer.

“Come in.”

Noah nodded and then stepped over the threshold and into her house, his eyes never leaving her face as she swung shut the heavy oak door. She studied him just as intently. God, he hadn’t changed. If anything, he was more than she remembered. Before she could stop herself, she was crying—big, fat tears leaking onto both cheeks.

He reached his arms out to her again and pulled her into his chest. She leaned into him, her arms reaching automatically around his neck and her fingers lacing into his hair, just the way they used to. After all these years, they fit together in exactly the same way. Her silent tears turned into sobs she couldn’t control—her whole body shook with the effort.

Noah held her tighter, rubbing one hand slowly up and down her back as she struggled to get a handle on her emotions. When she finally pulled back to look at him, his cheeks were wet, too. He studied her for a long time, his breathing shallow.

“I don’t know how I’ve survived without you,” he finally said. “I barely have survived. I’ve missed you…” His voice cracked and then lowered to a near whisper. “So much.” He pulled her to him again, so she couldn’t see his face.

“I’ve missed you, too,” she mumbled into his chest. This didn’t feel real. Her words felt shallow, automatic—the way they’d feel in a dream.
Get a grip, Mel. This isn’t really happening.

At once she disentangled herself from his arms and pulled away to look at him again. She squeezed her eyes shut, and when she opened them, he was still there.
I’m not dreaming this.

Noah’s eyes widened as she leaned away from him, and suddenly his face wore a tormented expression.

“I’m sorry.” He dropped his arms and took a quick step back. “I…I couldn’t help it. But I know you’re…I know you’re getting married.”

She stared at him in confusion. In the intensity of the past few minutes, she’d forgotten about the other significant events that had happened tonight. She shook her head slowly.

“No, Noah. No. I’m not getting married.”

His brow furrowed. “But I thought—”

“I’m not engaged,” she interrupted him. “I never was. He hadn’t asked me until…” She paused, looking down at the floor. “Until tonight.” She squeezed her eyes shut as her conversation with Colin came flooding back to her in all its tortured detail.

After a long moment she raised her head and looked straight into Noah’s eyes. “I didn’t say yes.”

He stared back at her, confusion clouding his features. “You…didn’t…say…yes.” He turned each word slowly over on his tongue.

Her breathing sped up, and she shook her head.

“How could I?” she asked, “When I’m in love with someone else?”

Her heart thudded hopefully against her rib cage. She watched him as he studied her, watched as the storm in his eyes began to clear.

“You’re in love with someone else?” His words were barely more than a whisper.

She gave a tiny nod as a new tear spilled over and traced slowly down her cheek. He stepped forward and pulled her to him again, leaning down to kiss the tear away.

The instant his lips pressed into her skin, Amelia moaned. Her hands snaked up and around his neck again, and she moved her mouth to meet his. This kiss was like nothing she’d ever experienced, not with Colin—not even with him. Ten years of pent-up emotion exploded to the surface, and she couldn’t get enough of it, of him. Her hands moved over his back. His traveled through her hair, over her arms, down her spine, pressing her into him.

She melded her body against his, and before she could process what was happening the two of them were moving backward through the entry hall into her living room.

When his heel hit the edge of her sofa, she pushed him down onto it without a pause, moving with him. Their breaths came quick and shallow, and she frantically worked her fingers over the buttons on his shirt, reaching her hands in to trace the familiar planes of his chest. His entire body shuddered as his fingers skimmed the hem of her dress.

“Lia,” he murmured.

When she opened her eyes, he was staring so deeply into them she was sure she could see inside him. She saw herself there. She saw the past and present. She saw her future.

“I love you,” he said. His voice broke on the second word, his breathing ragged. “I’ve loved you my whole life.”

She felt tears well up again, and she reached one hand up to wipe her eyes. Oddly, she felt almost…shy. Her whole body trembled with the emotions she’d been holding back—relief and love and desire mingled inside her until she was sure she couldn’t take any more. She buried her face in his chest.

“I’ve thought about you every day,” she said. “Every single day of the last ten years. I don’t know how I ever thought I could get through life without you.”

She turned her head slightly and pressed her lips against his chest. A low moan issued from his throat, and his fingers clutched at the black silk of her skirt. He tugged at the fabric, shifting it upward, his hand tracing along her thigh and over her hip as his lips sought hers.

Amelia finished with the buttons of his shirt and slid it from his shoulders. A tremor rocked his body as her fingers traced a line down his chest. Meanwhile he’d worked her dress up above her hips, and her breath caught in her throat as she felt him hard, insistent beneath her.

And then suddenly, he froze. “Wait.”

Startled, she looked up at him. “What?” Her voice was breathless.

Inexplicably, he pulled away from her, twisting his body into a half-sitting position. His eyes, when she looked up at him, were serious, and her stomach lurched with panic. “What is it, Noah?” Had he not come here expecting this? Had he changed his mind?

She pulled herself up and swung her legs underneath her, facing him on the sofa. Her body was practically humming with desire and tension.

Noah had an odd expression on his face, sort of embarrassed and longing and hopeful. “Can we—” He paused, seeming uncomfortable. “I mean…do you still want to wait?”

Her brow furrowed with her lack of understanding, and she pulled herself close to him again, close enough to trace her lips along the line of his jaw. “Wait for what?” Her breath came in jagged spurts. “Haven’t we waited long enough?”

She ran a hand across his bare shoulder, down his arm. In his ear she whispered, “I want you. I love you, and I’ve missed you. God, I’ve missed you. And I want you so much.”

He groaned, pulled her onto his lap, and moved his mouth against hers with a new intensity. He didn’t protest as she ran her hands again down his stomach and fumbled with the clasp of his belt. His fingers found the zipper on her dress, and he pushed it down, his hands sliding under the thin silk and working it down her body.

She let out a soft moan and wrapped her arms more tightly around him, pressing her bare skin into his. He murmured something into her hair she couldn’t understand.

“What?” she breathed, her lips moving down his neck.

He turned his head so his breath tickled her ear, sending quivers through her entire body. “I want to marry you,” he said. “Soon. Right this second if I could.”

She jerked her head back with a start, not sure she’d heard him correctly.

“Marry me?” she repeated incredulously. Was it possible she’d just been proposed to twice in one night? Her head swam as she struggled to make sense of the thought.

His eyes blazed into hers, and there wasn’t a trace of discomfort on his face this time. “Marry me,” he said in a clear voice.

Amelia felt her eyes, unbelievably, brim over once again. She placed her hands on either side of his face. “Yes,” she said, no trace of doubt in her voice, either. “Yes, I’ll marry you. I am never letting go of you again.”

Suddenly she realized the significance of what he’d asked a few minutes before. She pulled back from him.

“You want to wait—” She paused for a long moment, understanding dawning on her face. “Like…like we planned.”

His eyes were pleading. “I’m so sorry, Lia. I’ve never forgiven myself for…for what happened.”

Her mouth dropped open.
Oh, God
, she thought. He still didn’t know. He really didn’t know what Ashley had told her months ago. She opened her mouth to correct him, but then decided this wasn’t the right time. They had all night. They had their whole lives.

Her thoughts whirling, she fought every instinct in her body and tugged up on the straps of her dress.

“Noah, you don’t have to—” She closed her eyes, trying to figure out the right words to say. She vowed silently to tell him what Ashley had said before the night was through, knowing it wouldn’t be easy. They’d wasted so many years because of her stubbornness, her lack of faith in him. “I promise you,
you
have nothing to forgive.”

She leaned forward and kissed him lightly on the mouth, reveling in the feel of his lips on hers. A second later, she slipped her body away from him, off the sofa. He reached his arm out to grab her as she stood.

“Please don’t…Where are you going?” His eyes were desperate, almost panicked.

She smiled, and her heart seemed to leap within her chest. “I’ll be right back. Don’t worry.” Before he could protest further, she spun on her heel and left the room.

When she returned less than a minute later, she had in her hands the worn shoebox she’d retrieved from the shelf in her office closet. She placed it between them as she settled back onto the couch and slowly lifted the lid. He looked mystified, and she watched as his eyes grazed over the items inside.

Once he realized what the box held, his expression softened in a way that made Amelia’s heart flutter again. She sifted through the contents, finally uncovering the small black satin case in one corner, and he reached his hand around hers to pull it out of the box. He gazed down at it, tears now wetting both his cheeks. He glanced up at her, his eyes questioning, and she nodded.

He opened the case’s lid, something she hadn’t done in nearly ten years. It made a barely audible creaking sound and then a pop as it sprang open and they both stared at the ring nestled into its black velvet interior. Slowly, carefully, Noah pulled the ring from the tiny compartment and slid it onto the fourth finger of Amelia’s outstretched hand.

He lifted her fingers to his lips and kissed them slowly, and then he leaned in and pressed his lips to hers.

After a long, sweet moment, she pulled back from him and stared again into his eyes, her head suddenly filled with a thousand questions about his life, his last ten years. She wondered briefly where they’d live, and then almost laughed out loud when she realized it didn’t matter to her. She’d move for him, though he probably wouldn’t ask her to. She knew he’d move for her, too.

She didn’t even care that the media was about to have her head on a platter.