“I don’t know. He’s the first Casanova-type character I could think of.”
“Besides Casanova, you mean?”
I rolled my eyes. “Oh jeesh. That kiss wasn’t that good.”
He glanced at me again with a cocked brow.
“Okay, okay. It was that good. But, wow, you are confident.”
All teasing left his expression as he looked at me. “No. It’s not that. But you’ll think I’m crazy. Or get totally freaked out.”
The way I was feeling, he probably wasn’t wrong. “Well, you can’t leave it like that. Just say whatever it is, if you’re not normally all ‘Oh, you have a boyfriend. That’s okay. You won’t after I kiss your brains out.’”
He chuckled softly and looked unsure for the first time since he’d shown up by the lake. “It’s just that it’s you, you know?” He shrugged, and I thought he was going to look away, but he didn’t. “I’ve always known you were the one. I wasn’t sure if you’d ever come back into my life or not, but that didn’t change anything. And then you did. Out of the blue. With no forcing the situation on either of our parts.”
Okay, he was right. That did freak me out. Or at least I knew it should have. And it did make my heart rate act like I was on speed. But not out of fear. At least not out of terrifying fear. A fear I knew exactly what he was saying. Which was terrifying. “Noah, we haven’t seen each other since I was thirteen.”
Another teasing grin. “I was fourteen.”
Another eye roll. “Dear Lord. Good thing you’re the best kiss I’ve ever had. You’re exhausting.”
“It really was the best kiss ever, huh?”
I let out my breath and shook my head in surrender. “Yeah.”
“Like the best kiss of all kisses.” He must have noticed my expression because he bumped his shoulder into mine, though he still didn’t release our hands. “Sorry, I’ll cut it out. I’m just nervous and really happy. Did I mention nervous?”
“Why are you nervous if you’re so sure about everything?”
“We’re human. We can fuck up what’s meant to be.”
The words made my heart hurt, which seemed ridiculous. “And we’re meant to be?”
He simply nodded. No other assurance or clever quip.
“It’s been over two decades, Noah. A lot has changed. I’m nothing like the boy I was when we knew each other.”
“I’d hope not. I don’t expect you to be. I’m not the same either.”
“There’re things about me you won’t like.”
“Yeah. For me too.”
The absurdity of it all washed over me. I might as well have dunked my head beneath the frigid water. Man, that kiss really did things to my brain. “We’re being idiots, sitting here talking like this. Like we’re lost lovers whose destiny is written in the stars.”
Noah hesitated for a moment, and then I saw something shift in his expression. With a final squeeze of my hand, he let go and stood up.
Panic flared through me. As stupid as the way we were speaking was, I wanted it. I wanted it to be true. Wanted to be meant for him. And him for me. My brain scrambled for something to say. Anything to keep him from leaving.
I came up with nothing.
He took a step back and then extended his hand. “Will you stand for a moment, please? Then I’ll go back and leave you alone.”
I took his hand and stood. Once I looked up into his face, he let go of my hand. Still I searched for something to say.
He didn’t give me the chance. “All right. No more talk of destiny or love written in the stars. Okay? I got it. Probably smart. So let’s try this….” He cleared his throat and made a show of smoothing out his shirt under his jacket. “Randall Morgan, I can’t believe it’s been so long. I always hoped I’d see you again. I’d be a fool to let this chance pass us by. I’d love to take you to dinner next weekend. Would you be willing to go on a date with me? We’ve got a lot of catching up to do, and it might be fun to discover the men we’ve become.”
I huffed out a breath, trying to make sense of his words and come to terms with the fact that he wasn’t walking away.
