by Daphne Slade
That is definitely not the response I was expecting.
“Why in the world would you think that?” It comes out much harsher than I intended, mostly because I’m so stunned that’s what she’s been thinking of me this whole time.
“Why?” She echoes, as though I’m being deliberately dense. “You know exactly why!”
“Maybe you could clue me in, Grace, because I’m searching my brain and coming up empty. From the first moment I saw you, I thought you were fucking gorgeous.”
She seems momentarily stunned, her eyelashes batting in a way that inadvertently has my blood rushing to my groin.
“A four out of ten?”
I stare at her, feeling like a barely functional idiot at a MENSA convention. “Four out of ten what?”
Her expression maintains the exasperation for just a moment before she sighs, realizing she is indeed going to have to spell it out for me.
“When I met Matt that first day of class he told me what you said about me. That my mouth made me look like the donkey from Shrek. That if it wasn’t for that—” She does that thing where she brushes her hand across her lips. “—I’d maybe be a seven, but I was nothing more than a four out of ten at best. That I’d never be your type since perfect tens were all you ever dated. That he, on the other hand, thought I was kind of cute.”
Matt Parks. I’ve never had the urge to kill a man, but this moment comes dangerously close.
“Matt told you this,” I seethe in a slow measured tone. It’s the only thing that’s seemingly calm about me since every other part of my body rages. “At the very least you had to know he was full of shit when he said four out of ten. There are very few women in the world I’d rate that low, and even then it would have to be mostly due to personality.”
“Why would I have doubted him? I mean, who makes up something like that?”
“Matt fucking Parks, that’s who.”
She stares at me a moment as though she doesn’t quite believe me.
“Think about it, Grace. I’m a lot of things, but I’m not that much of an asshole.”
She maintains her skepticism for a few more seconds, then relents with a sigh and gives me a rueful smile. “As they say, hindsight is twenty-twenty. But If you knew my state of mind at the time, you’d understand.”
“I’ve got nothing but time now, Grace. Tell me.”
Grace nibbles the inside of her lip as she looks away with resentment in her eyes. “It isn’t just the fact that I’ve been teased since grade school about how much of my teeth I show when I smile, or how big that smile is. It’s that I already felt like a failure in life by that first day of class. What you said, and right when school started, it just added salt to the wound. To my family, Harvard is the pinnacle of success. And I ended up at Devington, a safety school.”
“Devington is a safety school?” I ask in surprise.
She twists her lips into a cynical smile. “It is for the Arlington family. So the summer was bad enough as it was, especially since my older sister, Vanessa, had been accepted to Harvard Medical School. It was impossible not to compare myself to her success, even if no one came out and said it in so many words. Mostly it was just a lot of asides and off-hand comments or afterthoughts about ‘Devington being perfectly acceptable as well, Grace’. I felt like the ugly duckling of the family, only without the whole developing into a swan part.”
“Then I get to one of my first classes,” she lifts her head to me with a soft smile. “And this really cute boy in the back of the class makes a funny retort in Latin after the professor asked him what he thought his chances were come the end of the semester if he couldn’t be bothered to pay attention to a simple question on the first day.”
“Vini, vidi, vici,” I say, echoing the words of Julius Cesar.
“I came, I saw, I conquered,” Grace translates, breathing out a laugh.
“In all fairness, he was a pretentious ass.”
“Yeah, he was,” Grace says, now laughing a little more enthusiastically, just like the rest of the class did that day.
“Also, I was pretty distracted by the girl at the front with the gorgeous brown eyes who finally turned to notice me…and I saw that she had the most stunning smile.”
I continue to watch Grace as she drops her eyes to the ground again, her smile fading. “Funny, when I saw that boy, and he smiled at me, my heart nearly beat double-time. That was the first moment I thought maybe, just maybe it wouldn’t be so bad here at Devington, despite my parents’ thoughts on the matter.”
My own heart begins to beat a bit faster.
“But then his friend was the first to ask me out, which wasn’t half bad. It was nice to be sought after, especially so early in the semester—until he burst that bubble by telling me what you’d said about me. Especially since I thought maybe you liked me too,” she finishes, cautiously peering up at me again.
Now my heart is practically beating out of my chest.
“Because I fucking did!” I say fiercely enough for her to flinch. I take a moment to calm myself. “Everything Matt told you was a lie, at best twisting the truth.”
Grace stares at me with a considering look.
I take a few breaths until my body is calm enough to at least explain. “When I first saw you, I was the one to point you out to Matt. I just stared at you that whole first day of class. In fact, Matt was the one to—” I stop myself, realizing I’m about to reveal enough to crack her ego, which is already more than bruised.
“Tell me,” she says in a soft voice.
“He was the one to say something about your mouth. My response? That no, you weren’t a perfect ten”—She inhales sharply—”but I wasn’t interested in a perfect ten. I’d been with them before and they were boring. You were…unique, fascinating. Still gorgeous as anything. Certainly not a damn four, Grace.”
She seems slightly placated by that.
“If I’d known I’d have to reveal every bit of that conversation word for word to you years after the fact, yes, I probably would have chosen my words a bit better. But the fact remains, you were right, I did like you. And then Matt, fucking Matt…”
“Swooped in to make a move,” she finishes, one side of her mouth hitched up into a sardonic smile. “What about the braying noises I kept hearing from the back of the class? Every time Dana Whatsherface giggled I’d cringe. I can still hear it to this day.”
“Dana giggled every time I so much as dropped my pen. She was constantly trying to get my attention. As for those idiotic nosies, Matt was the one doing that. He said it was some cute joke between the two of you.” My brow is furrowed with anger as I continue. “Let me guess, he put that one on me as well.”
She nods, her mouth twisted in anger.
I run my hand through my hair, wanting to rip it out. “I knew he was envious of me, but I didn’t realize he was this much of an asshole.”
Grace exhales with disbelief as though something in her head is suddenly falling into place. “Well, at least now I know why he was always so attentive when you were around.”
“He played both of us like a fiddle. You with negging, and me with jealousy. The irony of it doesn’t seem all that amusing.”
“Negging?”
“Straight out of a pick up artist handbook. Tear down a woman’s ego until she thinks you’re worthy.”
“Funny how that works,” she says, tilting her head and giving me a slightly amused smile.
“Okay yeah,” I say with a guilty grin. “I acted like an ass last week at the bar. In all fairness, I wasn’t aware of the backstory to all of this.”
“No, you made a good point,” she says, giving me a conceding smile. It fades as she looks away. “At least I no longer care that he wasn’t with another woman during our break.”
I cough out a bitter laugh. “Is that what he told you?”
Her eyes snap back to me and I see the sudden anger blazing in them.
“The night that I…rescued you”—Grace’s mouth twit
ches ever so slightly, but not enough to overpower the anger radiating from her—“he was with another girl.”
Much to my surprise, rather than get angrier, the fire in her eyes dies, as though snuffing out any tiny last candle she may have held for him.
She coughs out a laugh. “I can’t believe I spent three years with a guy who only started dating me to, what, show you up? Why is he so competitive when it comes to you?”
“We were in junior league hockey together in Milwaukee. Even back then, I had agents talking to my parents before I decided to go to college. Matt was never quite as good, but I never knew his resentment ran this deep. If only I hadn’t elbowed him that first day to point you out. I basically handed him an opening to ruin both our lives.”
A sad smile touches her lips as she looks ahead past my shoulder. “I actually thought I was going to marry him.”
Something about that angers me more than anything.
“Hey,” I say, reaching out a hand to take her chin and turn her head to face me. “Forget about Matt. Forget about what happened that first semester of school. Forget about the past three years.” I lean in closer so she can see the truth in my eyes. “You’re not a four, Grace. And you’re not an ugly duckling. Right now, you’re a damn swan. My swan.”
Chapter Nineteen
Grace
I stare up at Noah’s eyes, realizing that they’ve been telling me the truth this whole time. While the rest of him made up for what he’d missed by losing himself in flirting and flings with other girls, those eyes always looked at me with unadulterated honesty.
And what about me?
Hasn’t there always been a tiny thread of something that stubbornly clung to the way our eyes met that first day? With every teasing jab or cocky grin, I knew it was more than just irritation or resentment that had my heart rate pulsing just a little bit faster.
For three long years.
“Noah, I...”
As though sensing that I’m at a loss for the right words, he cuts me off with his lips. If that first kiss of ours was sinfully pleasurable, this one is pure heaven. I close my eyes to drown in it. The hand holding up my chin once again comes around to fit in that perfect spot between my cheek and neck.
This. This is how a kiss should be.
I happily follow the way his lips guide mine, now without any hint of pretense or ulterior motive. No third party, who’s rapidly becoming a stranger to me, interfering in the background.
Just…Noah.
When he finally pulls away, I’m left with a smile.
“That’s almost enough to have me wanting to skip dinner.”
The idea should appall me. Even with Matt, I waited until—
“Why don’t we?”
His brow rises in surprise. “Really?”
“Yeah.”
A knowing grin quirks Noah’s mouth, that damnably amazing mouth, and his thumb brushes across my still tender lips before he lets go.
I instinctively press them together self-consciously. By now, it’s just second nature.
“Stop,” Noah says, his hand taking my chin again. “Don’t do that. Your mouth, your lips, teeth, everything is perfect. Your smile is what I live for, don’t try to hide it. You may think it’s problematic, but I just consider it the Hope Diamond in a world full of cubic zirconias.”
That’s enough to ease my mouth loose, if only out of sheer awe. How the hell did I misread this guy for so long?
Noah draws in close enough for his large body to be flush against mine. My breath catches as I imagine it even closer, far more urgently pressed into me. He lowers his mouth until it’s a whisper’s breath away from my ear.
“It’s kind of hard to open the door for you when you’re leaning against it.”
I release a laugh and pull myself away, which has me pressed even closer into him. “And it’s kind of hard for me to move when you’re leaning into me.”
Noah chuckles and pivots his body so that he’s out of the way. I step forward and around him as he opens the passenger side door.
Once inside, with the door closed, I stare ahead at the well-lit windows of the restaurant we never made it to. Talk about a change in plans.
I swallow hard when Noah opens the driver’s side and enters. So we’re really doing this. There’s a tiny lingering nag in my head and I realize what it is.
When I pull out my phone, Noah pauses in turning the ignition.
“I have to end it with him. Officially,” I say in response to his questioning look. “I refuse to be a cheater, even during a break.”
Although his jaw visibly hardens, he nods with understanding.
I can’t bear to hear Matt’s voice, to listen as he spins another web of deceit making me think that right is wrong and good is evil—or just spits lies.
Either way, he doesn’t deserve more than a text message. I begin typing.
Me: We’re over…for good.
I wait long enough to make sure it’s delivered, then turn the damn thing off. No interruptions tonight, thank you very much.
Noah turns the ignition, a satisfied smile on his face. I feel an even bigger one come to mine, completely unrestrained for once. The car starts and when he pulls out, I instinctively reach out to turn on the radio.
It’s tuned to an oldies station and “My Girl” by The Temptations is playing. It’s one of my favorites songs. Something about that soothing, mellow tune is strangely comforting in a nostalgic sort of way. As though me sitting here with Noah is not only how it was always meant to be, but how it always was, it just took us a while to realize it.
“So you like it old school too,” I muse.
“Please tell me you don’t have a problem with that. Otherwise, I might have to turn this car around.”
“I’m on that vibe,” I say with a laugh. “You can’t beat the sixties. I mean really, The Beatles, Rolling Stones—”
“Motown.” We both say it at the same time. Noah turns to stare at me and we both laugh. I sit back, feeling even more certain about how right this is.
Three years wasted….
All the more reason to make up for lost time.
Once again, the way he handles that stick shift taps into a part of my body that leaves me restless with pleasure in my seat. Pretty soon that hand will be on parts of me that I would have never imagined.
“Drive,” I urge. We can’t get to his place fast enough.
His teeth peek through a wicked grin as he shifts gears and steps on the gas. We arrive at Hockey Row and my heart beats a little bit faster. I forgot how close Matt lives to Noah, literally the next building over.
As though sensing my discomfort, Noah makes quick work of turning the ignition off and opening his door. I follow him, opening my door and exiting. He’s already around to my side, reaching out a hand to me. I take it and follow him up to his apartment.
Only once we’re inside do I let go of my breath and relax. I lean back against the closed door, following Noah with hungry eyes as he turns on the lights. When he’s done, he turns his attention to me. He must see the look on my face because his morphs into that devilish grin that I realize I always secretly loved.
“So, how are you going to make up for lost time?” I ask as he slowly approaches.
“Do you trust me?” His eyes hold mine so fiercely, I should be at least a bit apprehensive. Instead, I’m filled with so much excitement I might burst.
“Hmm, I don’t know. As it turns out, it seems I don’t know you as well as I thought I did,” I say with a coy smile.
Noah tugs at the scarf holding my dress together. “Then I guess you’ll have to just take a leap of faith.”
Chapter Twenty
Grace
Noah holds onto the scarf he just released from around my waist with one hand and takes my hand with the other. He leads me to his bedroom. It’s the one room I haven’t seen in his place and I take a moment to look around. His bed is placed so that the headboard faces the window facing east, maybe to
catch the morning sun.
“Where were we?” Noah comes in closer, placing his hands on my hips. He begins curling his hands, scrunching the fabric of my dress up higher.
“I think you’re already getting there.”
“Just you wait,” he says, now tugging my shirtdress up until it’s well past my hips. I ease the way for him, lifting my arms until he can drag the whole thing off.
When I’m free of the dress and finally see the expression on his face as he takes in the Agent Provocateur lingerie, I grin. I left the stockings off before getting dressed. No need to be that provocative. “Surprise.”
His mouth twists to the side as he comes in closer to place his hands on my nearly bare hips again. “Not such a surprise. I knew curiosity would get the best of you eventually, kitty cat.”
I laugh, then squint one eye at him. “Be honest, did you buy this hoping you’d see me in it?”
“Yes.” He says it without hesitation or apology.
I bite back a smile of pleasure and anticipation. “So, how would you feel seeing me out of it?”
He leans down closer to me and grins. “I thought you’d never ask.”
My chest rises and falls as though inviting his eyes to indulge as I reach around to unhook the back of my bra. With one quick inhale, I release it and let the whole thing slide down my arms, freeing my breasts.
Noah stares at me as though I’m the first and only woman he’s ever seen naked. Those three years must have really done a number on him. I know they have for me since I also feel like this is the first time I’ve ever been naked before a man. Just the way he drinks up every inch of me, those eyes losing their heavenly touch as they grow hungrier with desire.
Noah reaches out one hand, cupping one breast. It’s almost dwarfed in his large palm, but he handles it like it’s the most precious thing in the world—until his rough fingers begin to torture the very tip, causing the nipple to harden in protest.
