VAIN - Part Three (The VAIN Series Book 3) (7 page)

"Who was that guy?" Noah looks down at me. "That looked intense."

I shrug my shoulders. "That was Nathan."

"The Nathan." He pulls air quotes around the two words. "The best sex you've ever had Nathan."

"Apparently," I say quietly. "I didn’t recognize him at all." I'm still reeling from that. What does it say about me? Have I fucked so many men that I've lost track of what they look like?

"You didn't?" He can't hide the grin that's pulling at the corner of his mouth.

"Forget him," I say flippantly.

"I will," he tosses back. "You already have."

I smile softly. "I have. What are you doing here?"

"I wanted to see you." He fidgets from one foot to the next. The worn sneakers he's wearing gliding across the pavement of the crowded sidewalk. "I just wanted to see your face."

I smile at the confession. I reach for his hand. "I have to work a few more hours."

"I can't come inside, Alexa." He motions towards the crowded restaurant. "I can sit out here on that bench for a while."

I glance down at the wooden bench a few feet from the entrance to Axel. "Will you wait for me?"

"Forever." He reaches down to kiss me gently on my lips. "I like that you forgot him."

"Who?"

His lips curve into a wide smile. "Everyone but me."

***

"Will you stay with me tonight?" He loops my arm around his before resting his hand over mine.

I snuggle my palm into the soft fabric of the hoodie he's wearing. Paired with dark colored sweat pants he looks imposing and dangerous. People passing us don't gaze at him and I know it only adds to his apprehension about the scar. It's the reason he has the hood pulled up around his head.

"I can have a driver take you to school in the morning."

I glance down at my white blouse and black skirt. "I can't go to school dressed like this. I'll leave a little early to go to my place so I can shower and dress."

"You'll stay then?"

"Yes." I nod. "Are we walking all the way there?" My feet are killing me. I've been on them the entire day and normally I'd go home and soak in a long, hot bath.

"I can call a driver." He reaches into the pocket of the hoodie pulling out his smart phone.

"I'll just hail a taxi." I dart from his side and head for the curb. His arms are around me in an instant.

"No." He almost shouts the word into the darkened air. "I don't like taxis. I'll get a driver."

I stand in stunned silence, watching taxi after taxi whiz past us as he punches at the screen of his smartphone calling a driver to come get us.

***

"I'm getting in with you, move over."

I push my ass along the bottom of the large bathtub hoping that I've made enough room for Noah to climb in. He bends each of his long legs, elegantly lowering himself into the warm water behind me.

"This is heaven." He pulls my back into his muscular chest, his hands lazily running over my exposed breasts. We haven't been intimate since that first night when I discovered him here, in New York.

"It feels so nice, Noah." I reach to cradle his hands in mine. "I love being close to you."

"I could stay here with you forever, Alexa," he says naturally and smoothly.

It opens a door to me that I know he wants kept closed.  When I saw him on the street tonight, hiding himself beneath the heavy clothing he was wearing it hit me how vulnerable he really is. That, combined with my awkward encounter with Nathan, had convinced me that I was going to overcome every obstacle that Noah and I have. I need to. I can't let him go.

"Do you want me to wash your back?" He reaches for a bar of scented soap sitting on the edge of the porcelain tub. "Scoot forward a bit."

I do as I'm told and a soft moan leaves my body as his hands glide smoothly over my back. "That feels amazing, Noah."

"You feel amazing." His hands move along my back before sliding across my chest. He cups both my breasts in his hands, his fingers pinching my now hardening nipples.

I reach back to try and circle his cock with my hand but he pushes against me. "Please, Noah."

"Let me have this," he growls in my ear. "Let me make you come."

I slide back until I'm leaning into his chest. His hands dart down. His fingers slide across my wetness, opening my folds.

"You're so perfect." His words are barely audible.

"I want to come," I say breathlessly. It's felt like years since his hands were on my body. I'm wet. Even in the stillness of the water I can feel how wet I am just by the slightest touch of his fingers on my flesh.

He rubs his index finger in slow circles over my clit, building everything into a fevered pitch within me. His other hand traces a path back to my breasts, twisting my nipple. "Come for me, Alexa. Come for me."

I race to the edge. My body naturally falling back into him as his lips glide over my neck before his teeth bite down into my shoulder. I call out his name from within a moan just as I feel him buck his hips. His warm desire hits the bottom of my back as he finds his own release.

"I'm so good in bed…or in the bath," I correct myself. "I'm so good that I didn't even have to touch you and you came."

He blushes slightly at the words. "The sounds you were making were so fucking hot."

I raise my hips so he can pull the blanket down. "It feels incredible when you touch me there."

"There?" He cocks a brow. "On your pussy, you mean?'

I scratch the side of my nose. "Yes, there."

"When the hell did you get so shy?" He pulls back the sheet to reveal my naked body. "Are you the same girl who stripped naked for me right after we met?"

"I didn't love you then." I stop. My eyes fill with tears. I said it. Not the way I wanted to. It's not the romantic scenario that I envisioned but the words are out there now. He knows it.

"You love me, Alexa." There's no hint of a question there. He's not asking me anything. He's simply stating the obvious.

I pat the bed next to me, wanting him beside me. He quickly acquiesces. "When did you know?"

I can't say the words again right now. I need for them to settle in the air between us before I do that.

"When you came to get me to take me to New York."

"You knew then?"

"When we were in my office." He pulls his hand around my waist, his cock settling next to my thigh. "I knew then that you were in love with me."

I was. I hadn't been able to admit it to him or myself, but he's right. I did love him then. "How did you know?"

"You wanted to fight for me." His voice cracks slightly before he regains complete control. "You wanted to give me a life outside of my apartment."

I pull my head down to the sheet, hoping to ward off all the conflicting emotions that are rushing through me. "I still want that."

"It's hard for me."

"I know." I do know. I know that he's scared of what people will think when they see the scar. I know venturing out to Axel NY tonight was a huge step for him. I know that if I push this too much, he's going to pull back so hard that I'll feel alone and miserable again.

"Alexa." His hand cups my jaw. "I need to tell you something."

"What?" I study his expression trying to find anything that might indicate what he's about to confess. "Is it about Ari?'

"Ari?" Her name sounds as distasteful coming from his lips as it does in my own mind. I haven't thought about her since he's been in New York. He hasn't mentioned her at all, which seems misplaced given the fact that he's confessed in the past that they're close friends.

"It's stupid, but there's something…" I stall. "I wanted to ask you about the woman that Bernie saw at your apartment."

"When?" His eyes scan my face. "When did Bernie see a woman there?"

"You called the restaurant there a few weeks ago and asked for me to bring you a sandwich and then Bernie did and he told Hunter there was a woman there." Christ, that sounds as stupid coming out of me as it has when it's been bouncing through my random thoughts for weeks.

"That was Ari." Again with the no-holds-barred answers. "She was there picking up some shit she left there."

"What kind of shit?"

"Magazines, some picture she gave me that she took of herself. I kept it in a drawer because her selfies shouldn't see the light of day." He cocks a brow along with a grin. "She was leaving town and wanted her stuff so I told her to come get it."

"She left town?"

"Weeks ago." He shrugs his shoulders. "She hooked up with some guy and they took off for California. I haven't heard from her since."

I don't know where the wash of relief that flows over me comes from, but it's welcomed. "I'm glad."

"You're glad?" He jokes. "I'm fucking over the moon ecstatic."

I laugh gently. "That’s not what you wanted to tell me, is it?"

"No." His expression immediately shifts from carefree to stoic. "It's not about Ari."

"It's not about Brighton, is it?"

"Brighton went back to Paris days ago." Noah brushes his fingers through my hair. "He's giving it another shot with Liz. He was here visiting his newborn nephew."

I feel even more relieved now knowing that Brighton isn't going to pop up without warning to derail everything. "Good."

"Can I talk now?" he asks. "I want you to understand something. It's something I've never told anyone."

I can feel the seriousness of his words bore into me. "Tell me, Noah. Tell me." I roll to my side so I'm facing him directly.

"Alexa." He reaches for my hand, pulling it into his. My lips skirt over my palm. "I hate my scar."

I nod. "I know." I pull my hand from his to cradle his cheek. I run my index finger over the jagged edge of the scar.

"You don't know why." He pulls his brows together before his lip quivers. "I've never told anyone the reason why."

"You said because it changed how you looked," I offer. That was what he told me. It's been the reason why he hasn't wanted to face the world.

"No." He shakes his head softly. My hand follows the movement, never losing contact with his face. "It's more."

"What?"

"It reminds me of what I did." He bites his bottom lip, pulling strength from the pain. "I should have gone to prison for what I did."

"No." I lean forward quickly brushing my lips against his. "No, Noah. You did it to protect yourself and Camilla."

"I took a man's life." His body jerks forward with a sob. "I stole his life from him."

I can't hold back the tears. Watching this beautiful, strong, resilient man break down is tearing at my own heart. "You had to."

"I could have handled it differently." His voice changes pitch as he struggles to hold in his emotions. "I should have done something else."

"Noah." I bolt to my knees now before I pull my body over his. "You couldn't have done anything differently."

"Alexa." He looks into my eyes. His brown eyes clouded with a mask of tears. "I shouldn't have a life either. I took his, I don't deserve a life."

I stare at his face. I can't take my eyes off the scar that has come to define the person he is. I suddenly see the mask of darkness fade away. The light that has been missing beneath his gaze is trickling through. "You deserve a beautiful, happy life with me."

"I want that, Alexa." He nods through his tears. "I want to let go and live with you."

"He would have killed you both, Noah," I say it with true conviction. "He would have taken your life and hers. Don't let him steal the rest of your life now."

"I'm scared." He clings to my waist. "I'm scared of being happy."

"Let me show you how, Noah." I rest my lips against his. "Please let me show you how."

"I will." He pulls me into his arms. "I promise I will. Never let me go, Alexa."

"Never, Noah." I wrap myself tightly around him. "Never in a million years."

"I would have given you that ring months ago if I would have known you'd stare at it endlessly," he growls into my ear. "I love seeing you smile like that."

I don't think I've stopped smiling since Noah proposed last night. I've hoped for months that he would ask me to be his wife. Now that it's happening I can't focus on anything, let alone the lesson plan I'm supposed to be preparing for tomorrow.

"Do you want me to come by after school again?" He kneels down next to where I'm sitting by the desk in our office. "I picked up some photography books today that I want to share with the kids."

"They'll love that, Noah." I graze my lips softly over his. "They love everything you bring to them."

"I love everything they give to me." He taps his hand across his naked chest. "It's good practice for when we have a baby."

"Noah." I pat my hand against his cheek. "I told you that I wanted to wait until after the wedding." I lift my hand in the air, allowing the light on the desk to catch the diamond's glare. "It's huge though. Why did you get me such a big ring?"

"It's as big as my love for you." He pulls his hands together in front of his chest. "You like when I'm romantic."

"I like when you're happy," I correct him. "Do you have any shoots tomorrow?"

He pulls his smartphone from the pocket of his jeans. "I have a newborn baby at ten in the morning in Chelsea but that's negotiable. It's all about his schedule. Then I have four-year-old twins in Soho at one. They should have had lunch by then so hopefully they'll cooperate."

"They'll be thrilled when you show up with that suitcase of toys you cart around with you." I nod towards the camera equipment that Noah has stored in the corner of his office. It's a constant reminder of his new business, photographing children. Settling into his father's place together had worked out beautifully after Kayla decided to leave New York to go back to Boston. Her old high school boyfriend had suddenly declared his undying love for her and her heart took her right back to his doorstep and his arms. When I talked to her yesterday, she sounded giddy.

"It's a bag of tricks, Alexa." He playfully teases me. "What time are Sadie and her kids coming on Saturday?"

I love the effortless ease that floats in the air between us now. He's an integral part of my life and I've woven myself into his in much the same way. We share everything now and his love of Sadie's stepson Cory and her new baby daughter, Olivia, is unmistakable. He cares for Sadie just as much as I do. The time we've spent with her in Boston after the arrival of baby Olivia has transformed our bond. We both know, without question, that we'll have a family together. We know that our destiny is each other.

"They're flying here." I run my thumb over my smart phone. "Their flight arrives at ten in the morning at JFK. I'd really like…"

"You'd really like if we could go to pick them up at the airport?" He finishes my sentence.

"I'd really like if you fucked me right now." I slam the cover over my tablet. "I'd like if you showed me just how badly you want to marry me."

"You want me as badly right now as you did that day you brought me a sandwich back in Boston." He scoops me up in his arms in one easy movement.

"No. You wanted me then. I just wanted my tip." I slide my arms around his neck. "I couldn't believe that I'd landed in the apartment of the Noah Foster."

"Christ, I was an arrogant son-of-a-bitch then." He lays me softly down on the blanket on our bed. "I remember you couldn't take your eyes off my dick."

I pull myself up so I'm resting on my elbows. "That's because you had it on display. You knew I'd fall for you when you opened the door."

He pushes his jeans down releasing his beautiful cock. "I fell for you, Alexa. So hard, so fast and so completely." His hands work quickly to undo the belt on my dress.

"I'm still falling for you." I reach to help him, ridding myself of the dress, panties and bra. "I'll never stop. I love you so much."

He crawls over me, pushing my hands above my head and into the soft fabric. "You're my everything, Alexa. My everything."