by Joss Wood
Paris narrowed her eyes at that statement and Noah ignored her, along with Ethan’s growls of disapproval. Noah forced himself to articulate the words. “Ethan doesn’t date woman your age, in fact he rarely dates anyone over the age of twenty-five.” Dammit, just spit it out! “The only reason he’s dating you is because you are rich and he’s broke.”
“I am not! This is slander! How dare you?”
“Noah—”
Noah ignored Jules’s quiet warning and flicked a quick glance at Ethan, looking apoplectic with rage. He pulled out another stack of papers and put them in front of Paris. “Photos of his last ten girlfriends, copies of his credit report—he owes money all around town.”
Paris looked down, flicked through the papers and when she lifted her head again, her eyes were flint hard. Gotcha, you bastard.
“Those are bogus—you can’t prove anything. Paris, it’s not true. He’s been lying to you, too... He and Jules aren’t romantically involved, he just said it to appeal to your softer side,” Ethan shouted.
Noah cursed when doubt flew into Paris’s eyes. Deliberately not looking at Jules, he held Paris’s gaze and waited for the question. If she didn’t believe him, he was sunk. He’d lose the house, his time and the money.
He could live with losing all three but, God, if he lost Jules...
“Are you and Jules not romantically involved?”
Noah had to answer her honestly, knowing that nothing else but the truth would get him through this quagmire. “There’s nothing romantic about Jules and I,” he replied, sighing when he heard the harsh note in his own voice and Jules’s gasp.
Okay, not off to a good start. He rubbed his hand over his head, ordering his tongue to cooperate. “Romance implies something ephemeral, wishy-washy, fleeting. Jules and I have known each other too long and too well to settle for such a weak description of our relationship.”
Paris tipped her head to the side. “So how would you characterize it?”
Well, hell, he was going to have to say it after all. And with an audience. Okay, then. Noah shifted his gaze from Paris’s face to Jules’s, her light eyes surprised and, yes, terrified.
Join the freakin’ club.
“She’s been my best friend all my life, my rock, my true north. She’s the reason the moon pulls the tide, why the earth spins, the reason my sun sets and falls.
“Yes, we started off by faking something that we thought wasn’t there, not knowing that it was, that it has always been a part of me, of us.”
Jules clasped her hands together, her face devoid of color, her eyes begging for more. Something to banish the last of her fear, something that would restore her trust. Noah kept his eyes on her face but directed his words at Paris. “Sign off on the yacht or don’t, Paris. Yeah, a part of me will be sad at missing out on reclaiming the house and land that’s been in my family for generations, but I’ll live with it. What I can’t live without, what I refuse to live without, is Jules. I’d live in a freakin’ cardboard box if it meant being with her. She’s my...” His voice broke when he saw the tears in Jules’s eyes. He swallowed and bit the flesh on the inside of his cheek to keep it together. Were her tears a good sign? Bad? He couldn’t tell.
He forced himself to speak again, this time speaking to Jules directly. “You’re...everything, Jules. You always will be, I promise.”
Jules lifted her fist to her mouth, the tears now running down her face. What did they mean? Did he still have a chance? God, he hoped so. When they were alone he’d drag more out of her. Things like “Yes, let’s give us a chance” or “Okay, we can go out on a date.” He was intelligent enough to know that he’d hurt her—again—and that she’d take her time forgiving him, that she’d have to learn to trust him all over again.
He could live with that. After all, he wasn’t going anywhere for a while and when he did he was coming straight back to Boston.
Paris cleared her throat, pushed the stack of papers incriminating Ethan away from her. “Out.”
Noah thought she was talking to him but then realized that she was looking at Ethan. “You have a minute to leave my home. If you do not do so in that time, I will not only have you ostracized from polite society, I will tell every rich young lady I come across that you have impotence issues.”
Noah turned to smile at Jules and his breath hitched at the flicker of hope he saw in her eyes. He pushed his chair back, intending to go to her, to pull her into his arms, when Paris gripped his wrist. Her fingernails pushed into his skin. “Oh, no, you don’t. You are going to keep your hands off her until we’ve gone through your design in detail. Then I’ll sign off on the design and write you a check.”
Noah groaned, Jules whimpered and Paris looked from him to Jules and back to him, resignation in her eyes. “Oh, all right, then! Contract signing and check but I’ll expect you both back here tomorrow to talk about my beautiful, beautiful yacht. Will you two have sorted yourselves out by then?”
Noah, still unsure, darted a glance at Jules, who had yet to speak. “Hopefully.”
Jules pulled a tissue out of her bag, wiped her eyes and hauled in a breath. Then her eyes focused and she nodded at the folder in front of him. “Let’s get this done, Noah.”
So, what did that mean? And where the hell did he stand?
Jules...
Noah decided that the closest place they could find privacy was on the Resilience, and unlike what happened in movies, they didn’t run down the sidewalks of Boston, pushing past people to get to the marina. Silently, they took the elevator to the ground floor, where they caught a taxi to the marina. At the access gate, Noah plugged in his code, escorted Jules through the turnstile and to the far quay where his magnificent J-class yacht was berthed, her tall mast making her easily recognizable.
It felt like she was having an out-of-body experience—had Noah really told her, in front of people, that he loved her? It was so surreal, like it was the best dream ever. God, she really hoped she never woke up. Jules slipped off her shoes, sighing when her bare feet hit the teak deck. She headed to the bow, where she sank down and dangled her feet off the edge of the yacht.
Jules lifted her head and saw Noah looming over her, looking unsure. She patted the space next to her and Noah shrugged out of his jacket, pulled off his tie and dropped them to the warm deck, immediately lifting his face to the sun.
“Did you mean it?” Jules asked quietly, searching his eyes for the truth.
Because he knew her so well, he didn’t need clarification on exactly what she was asking. He nodded. “Absolutely.” Noah flipped open the cuffs on his shirt and started to roll them up. “You were right, you know. About me loving you, that I always have.”
She could barely hear his precious words over the sound of her own heartbeat... Dare she believe this was really happening?
Noah managed a smile, his eyes intense as he tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. Immediately the wind blew it across her mouth again.
“Do you...love me? Back at Lockwood House, you told me you did but that could’ve changed in the last three weeks.”
She saw his fear of being rejected and her heart lurched. This was Noah as she’d never seen him before: humbled, vulnerable, uncertain. This mattered, she mattered.
Jules touched his cheek, ran her hands over his thin lips. “My first memory was you picking me up when I fell. I think Darby pushed me off the swing. You helped me up and I looked at you and I felt...whole. My three-year-old heart recognized you... I’m not putting this well.” Jules stumbled over her words. “I’ve spent the last ten years looking for something I always had, something that I only feel when I’m with you. You are what I need in my life, No, the only thing I need. It’s more than love. It’s...”
Noah finally smiled at her. “Right.”
Yeah, it was. Being with Noah was where she was supposed to be, being his was what she was mea
nt to do. They had their careers and their interests and their friends, but they were destined to be a unit. She and Darby might’ve shared a womb but she was convinced she and Noah shared a heart.
Noah’s mouth skimmed hers but he pulled back when desire flared. “Can we do this? Be together?”
“We can do anything, No. Yeah, your work is mostly overseas but we can work around that.” It would be hard but he was worth it. He was worth everything.
“My client consults are overseas. My work doesn’t have to be. Technology pretty much allows me to work anywhere, and most of my correspondence with my freelance staff is done online. I’d still have to travel but I could easily make my base here in Boston.”
“Is this where you want to be?” Jules asked him, unable to disguise the tremor and hope in her voice.
“Jules, you are where I want to be,” Noah replied, sounding confident again. “Your business is here, your clients are here. If I want to be with you, and I do, then Boston is where I’ll be.” He held up his hand when she opened her mouth to speak. “And, yeah, of course I’m moving here to be with you but, as you pointed out, my brothers are here, Levi, my businesses. Added bonuses.”
The sun was shining, the air was fresh but her lungs felt constricted; she couldn’t breathe. This was her fantasy, the best news she could get and she was on the verge of passing out. The cliché about being careful what you wish for drifted through her head.
Jules sucked in some air, waited for her head to clear, before using both hands to hold back her hair. She wanted to look at Noah, see his eyes when she asked him her next question, the one she had to have an answer for.
“Can I trust you? Will you promise not to wander off with my heart again?”
Noah scooted closer to her, his hand covering the side of her face. “My heart is yours, babe. It always has been. You know that.”
“As mine is yours,” Jules said.
Noah pushed a curl behind her ear. “I need to go to Costa Smeralda to meet with an oil sheikh who wants me to design a state-of-the-art yacht. No longer content to have oil wells and hotels and race horses, he now wants to sail competitively. I thought you could come with me and we could have a preengagement honeymoon.”
Jules’s mouth curved. “So, we are getting married?”
Noah’s mouth slid across hers in a kiss that promised her forever. “Damn right we are. But right now you need to kiss me.”
So Jules did. In fact, they kissed for so long and with so much abandon that numerous complaints were laid at the receptionist’s desk against the couple who were, as one elderly sailor stated, “oblivious to the world.”
It took a minute of Levi calling their names and one shrill whistle to pull them apart.
“Get a room!” Levi told them, looking up at them when they peered over the hull of the boat. Their dopey, radiant faces told him everything he needed to know.
“Lee, we’ve decided to get married!” Jules shouted, incandescently happy.
Levi placed his hands on his hips and smiled. “Honey, that decision was made for you twenty-plus years ago by Mom and Bethann. You’ve just taken your time to get with the program.”
Jules and Noah exchanged broad smiles. It was probably true but neither of them minded.
“Congrats, guys. But enough public displays of affection, okay?” Levi asked. “Please?”
Jules laughed, shook her head and looked at Noah as Levi turned away. “Love you, Noah.” She couldn’t say it enough, she had ten years of lost time to make up for.
“I love you more, babe. So, do you want to go belowdecks?” Noah said as he stood up, holding out his hand.
Jules placed her hand in his and allowed him to pull her up and into his chest. Yes, of course she did. On land or sea, being with him was the only place she wanted to be.
Epilogue
Callie...
One down, four to go, Callie thought, thinking of the call she’d received from Jules an hour earlier. She stood in front of the front door to Mason’s coffee shop, frowning at the closed sign. It was after five; Mason closed at four thirty and he’d already be on his way home.
It was better that he was gone, she wasn’t even sure why she was there. Callie rested her hand on the cool glass and remembered feeling and sounding as giddy as Jules did when she and Ray announced that they were in love, that they were getting married. It was all so new; she’d been a virgin, he’d only had one other lover. They were each other’s first loves, their only loves. She didn’t know how to love anyone but Ray and didn’t think she could.
He’d been a wonderful husband, a considerate lover, an excellent father. They’d traveled, raised their kids, socialized. And she still loved him with every breath she took. He’d been her world, still was. Oh, she’d been to grief counseling and knew she could be idealizing Ray and their relationship, it was what everyone did. But they’d had fun, dammit, and it was as good as she remembered.
Her attraction to Mason, the crazy, heat-filled dreams, her fantasies of his broad hands on her skin, touching her in the places that only Ray knew, filled her with guilt and she felt like she was cheating on her husband. Her lust for this younger, hotter guy was tearing her in two.
And the affection she was feeling, the connection that arced between them, burned a hole in her stomach. She had no right to feel this way, to be both terrified and excited at seeing Mason...as well as annoyed and irritated and turned on. Even in those early days with Ray their attraction hadn’t burned so brightly. It had been a steady flame instead of a bonfire.
She loved her husband, she did. So why, when she was supposed to be so happy for her daughter, so excited for her future, couldn’t she stop thinking about this denim-blue-eyed man? Why could she still taste him in her mouth, feel his hand on her breast? Why did she ache between her legs?
And, this made her blood run cold, what compelled her to run to him, oh, so desperately wanting to share her wonderful news? Why was he the first person she wanted to tell?
It couldn’t work, it would never work. She was Callie Brogan, still in love with her husband and Mason was the coffee shop guy.
The door under her hand moved and Callie lifted up her tear-soaked face, her eyes colliding with his. His hand encircled her wrist and he gently pulled her into the empty shop, chairs on tables, a mop and bucket in the center of the floor. He wiped away her tears with his thumb before gently pulling her into his arms, his hand holding the back of her head.
“Hey, honey, what’s the matter, huh? What can I do?”
“Nothing. Uh...my daughter is in love and getting married.” Callie managed to hiccup through her tears and, burying her nose in his flannel shirt, she sank into him. “I’m so happy, and I just wanted to tell you.”
Stroking her back, Mason buried his face in her hair and, somehow, knew what she needed him to do.
He just held her.
* * * * *
Find out if Callie can really stay away from Mason, or if hot kisses and phone sex mean that friendship will be the last thing on their minds...
And for DJ, her on-again, off-again hookup is back in Boston for good. When her fantasy man becomes part of her everyday life, will it lead to love...or heartbreak?
Don’t miss the next LOVE IN BOSTON story, available October 2018!
Keep reading for an excerpt from UNTAMED COWBOY by Maisey Yates.
Join Harlequin My Rewards today and earn a FREE ebook!
Click here to Join Harlequin My Rewards
http://www.harlequin.com/myrewards.html?mt=loyalty&cmpid=EBOOBPBPA201602010003
We hope you enjoyed this Harlequin Desire story.
You want to leave behind the everyday! Harlequin Desire stories feature sexy, romantic heroes who have it all: wealth, status, incredible good looks...everything but the right woman. Add some secrets, maybe a scandal, and start turning pages!
<
br /> Enjoy six new stories from Harlequin Desire every month!
Connect with us on Harlequin.com for info on our new releases, access to exclusive offers, free online reads and much more!
Other ways to keep in touch:
Harlequin.com/newsletters
Facebook.com/HarlequinBooks
Twitter.com/HarlequinBooks
HarlequinBlog.com
Join Harlequin My Rewards and reward the book lover in you!
Earn points for every Harlequin print and ebook you buy, wherever and whenever you shop.
Turn your points into FREE BOOKS of your choice
OR
EXCLUSIVE GIFTS from your favorite authors or series.
Click here to join for FREE
Or visit us online to register at
www.HarlequinMyRewards.com
Harlequin My Rewards is a free program (no fees) without any commitments or obligations.
From New York Times bestselling author
Maisey Yates comes the sizzling second book in her new GOLD VALLEY Western romance
series. Shy tomboy Kaylee Capshaw never thought she’d have a chance of winning the heart of her longtime friend Bennett Dodge, even if he is the cowboy of her dreams.
But when she learns he’s suddenly single, can she finally prove to him that the woman he’s been waiting for has been right here all along?
Read on for a sneak peek at
UNTAMED COWBOY,
the latest in New York Times
bestselling author Maisey Yates’s
GOLD VALLEY series!
Untamed Cowboy
by Maisey Yates
CHAPTER ONE
KAYLEE CAPSHAW NEEDED a new life. Which was why she was steadfastly avoiding the sound of her phone vibrating in her purse while the man across from her at the beautifully appointed dinner table continued to talk, oblivious to the internal war raging inside of her.
Do not look at your phone.
The stern internal admonishment didn’t help. Everything in her was still seized up with adrenaline and anxiety over the fact that she had texts she wasn’t looking at.
