Page 10 of Bliss

Because I believed him.

His regret.

His reasons for coming back.

All of it.

Even if I tried to lie to myself and say I didn’t.

For several long moments, all I could do was stand there and stare up at the man who still held on to a part of my heart. Who the fuck was I kidding? I’d fallen in love with him on day one. He didn’t just hold a small piece of it—the whole damned thing belonged to him.

Noah lifted his hand. I held my breath as he tucked a lock of hair behind my ear, his thumb brushing lightly over my cheek. I leaned into the caress for only a second. His light eyes scanned my face, as if he were rememorizing each feature.

“I never stopped loving you, Bliss.”

“Don’t,” I whispered, my chin trembling. In the deepest, darkest parts of my soul, hope had lived. Hope that he would come back to me. Hope that he would love me again. Bigger, better. Publicly. Hearing him say those words hurt, yet they were like a balm to the angry scars on my heart.

“Just give me a chance to make it up to you,” he pleaded, trailing his fingers down my neck, to the base where my heartbeat fluttered rapidly, then lower. I couldn’t contain a shiver when his index finger dipped into my cleavage. Noah licked his lips, his eyes darkening as he watched my body respond to his touch like it always did.

A shuddery breath left me. “You can’t erase the last seven years, Noah. We’re completely different people now. I don’t even know who you are after so long apart. And you sure as hell don’t know me.”

With effort, I took one step back from him, and then another.

“Okay, then let’s start over. A new beginning. One where I swear to you I won’t get it wrong this time. Please, meleğim.”

I didn’t get the chance to tell him no or even to consider it. Truly began to fuss and squirmed in my arms, her chubby hands grabbing fistfuls of my hair and yanking hard. Wincing at the unexpected ripping of strands from my scalp, I mumbled, “I have to go.”

As I left the family bathroom, I was shaking. Somehow I made it back to my table and carefully passed Truly to her mother. All three of my sisters were watching me closer than ever, and I didn’t have the strength to pretend I wasn’t internally crashing out.

“You know we have a direct view of the bathrooms from here,” Arella commented dryly. “He wasn’t exactly discreet following you in there. If you hadn’t had the baby, I would be asking you very in-depth questions right now, baby sister.”

She had a lot of room to talk. In the years she’d been married to Jordan, I’d lost count of how many times the two of them had disappeared into some random bathroom. At restaurants, clubs, even family functions. If I had to point a finger at which of my sisters was the least likely to tell their husbands no, it would be Arella. Jordan couldn’t keep his hands off her and vice versa. They took PDA to an entirely new level that was hot and a tiny bit cringy at moments.

“Did Coach Kavanaugh assist with diaper duty?” Heavenleigh asked with a smirk, turning her daughter around and bouncing her when she began to complain.

“I had a favorite sister until about two seconds ago, Heavenleigh. You’re at the bottom of the list now.” I grabbed my things, not even bothering to drop cash on the table for my portion of the meal. Arella always paid, no matter how much any of us protested, and I was all out of energy for anything that wasn’t a life-or-death situation.

“Who took the number one spot?” she asked with a teasing pout, confident that no one could ever take her place as my number one.

“It’s currently vacant. None of you brats deserves it. I’m leaving. Do not gossip about me.” I pointed my finger straight at Nevaeh and wagged it in her face just to annoy her. “And if Mom and Daddy ask me anything about Noah, I will be holding you directly responsible.”

“Why me?” she complained, her eyes looking huge and beautiful as she blinked behind her glasses.

“Come on, Nev, we all know you’re the snitch in this group,” Arella said with a snort. “You can’t really help it when that whole word vomit thing comes into play. Daddy knows you’re the weak link and uses it against you.”

“One hundred percent,” Heavenleigh agreed. “We never know what is going to come out of your mouth to make room for something more important. At this point, you should be at full capacity with everything else going on in that scary-smart brain of yours.”

“Love you. See you later.” I turned to go, hearing their echoes of “love you too” as I walked away. On Sunday, we’d all be at our parents’ house for dinner. Family time was sacred to our mom and dad, and none of us wanted to disappoint them. Even when Arella was working on location, she would do a video call, with Jordan and the kids joining in while they ate, from wherever they happened to be in the world.

Without conscious thought, I glanced at the table full of basketball players. Xaden and Evan seemed deep in an animated conversation, with the older man throwing his head back and full-belly laughing at whatever my cousin had said. The other two players were nodding along, but they kept sneaking peeks at Noah, who had returned to his seat. His jaw was clenched hard enough to crack a tooth, his brows pulled low, eyes locked on Xaden.

As if he could feel my gaze, Noah turned his head, and the frown smoothed out. Remorse filled his face, an open apology staring back at me.

Something inside me shifted, one of the walls I’d built around my heart cracking low on the foundation. That kind of damage was dangerous. Without a secure base, the entire wall could crumble with minimum effort.

Given how fragile my heart was where that man was concerned, it wouldn’t take much force from a wrecking ball for him to decimate the fortress I had in place.

Noah