Love by Design (Crystal Falls Book 1) (13 page)

His heart thumped wildly. If she liked this one, he couldn’t wait to show her the shower he’d put in the master bathroom at his new place. It was almost twice the size, even more luxurious than the one here. If only that was enough to convince her to come back to him. He pictured her naked in the shower, streams of water hitting her body from every angle. He cleared his throat and had to turn away from her. There was no sense in getting so worked up if she was going to push him away again. It would only make it harder once they were apart again.

“Look, I know you probably don’t want to,” he began. She turned to him and he leaned back against the granite countertop. “But we need to talk about last night.”

She folded her arms and leaned against the opposite counter. “I don’t know, Noah. I haven’t even had time to think about last night. I don’t have much to say.”

“Hear me out, then.” He crossed the room and took her hand, pulling her through the doorway and into the master bedroom where he angled them toward the perfectly modern but slightly rustic white couches sitting in front of the fireplace.

She was so close he could smell her skin, like warm sunshine with just a hint of perfume.

“I want you back, Lily. I think that’s pretty obvious.”

“How could I possibly take you back after everything you’ve put me through?”

He held back his anger. She’d put him through plenty.

“I know. You have every right to be angry still. But like I told you last night, it was all just a big misunderstanding. I love you Lily. I always have. And I don’t know what I have to do to win back your heart,” he said, taking her hand again and moving closer to her so their legs touched. “But I’ll do it. Even if it kills me.”

She looked into his eyes then and before he knew what was happening, she was on him. Her hands pressed into his thighs and her lips met his, sending waves of excitement through his body. He brought his hand up to her cheek and then moved it to her neck, pulling her into him even more deeply. The bulge in his jeans grew as she ran her hands up his chest, clawing at his shirt until she’d gotten her hands beneath it and onto his bare skin. Her hands were cold against his warm body and he flinched but loved the way it made every inch of his skin feel alive.

She was practically lying on top of him now, her hands beneath his shirt, his hands sliding up her thighs and up under her t-shirt. Her tongue pushed into his mouth and tangled with his. He knew he couldn’t wait much longer to have her.

A noise in the front of the house startled them both and Lily sat up quickly. Noah straightened his shirt and Lily raised an eyebrow.

“Tilers,” he said with a growl. She stood up quickly and before he could grab her hand to stop her she headed to the bathroom.
Damn
. It almost felt like the universe had it against him. Every time he got anywhere near her, someone interrupted.

He stood and followed her to the bathroom. She was leaning over the sink, replacing the lipstick she’d smeared all over his mouth.

“You’ve got a little something,” she said, holding back a laugh as she ran her finger over his bottom lip, pulling it away to show him the red stain of her lipstick. He laughed too and she handed him a tissue from her pocket.

“That was some talk, huh?” he said, leaning next to her over the sink and wiping her lipstick from his mouth.

She laughed and met his eye in the mirror. “Seems like we just can’t keep our hands off one another.”

She bumped his hip with hers and gave his hand a squeeze, grinning as she turned and walked out the door.

At least she seemed to be in a better mood than when she’d arrived. It wasn’t much, but it was something he could work with. What he needed now was a way to get her to his place. He threw the tissue in the toilet and gave himself one last look in the mirror, straightening his glasses and running a hand through his hair before going out to talk to the tilers.

Lily was outside chatting with a couple of the men when he came out. One of them turned to him with a smile.

“Hey boss! Paul said you had some work for us?” Noah glanced at Lily who raised her eyebrow at him.

“Yeah, remember, the tile? Lily says it’s the right one.”

The man gave him an odd look but then shrugged. “Whatever you say, boss.” Noah breathed a sigh of relief. Lily probably wondered at the inconsistency, but at least the man hadn’t contradicted him outright. He moved down the steps and to the side as the tilers began to grab handfuls of the tile and move it inside.

“So we didn’t get to finish talking back there,” Noah said to Lily as she turned toward her car to leave.

“No, I guess we didn’t.”

His heart pounded. He wondered if she’d figured out that he lied about the tiles and was mad at him again.

“You think we could finish now?”

She looked at her watch. “I’ve really got to go, I’ve got things I need to finish.”

He grabbed her hand. “Please, Lily. I can’t keep doing this. We need to talk.” He rubbed her knuckles with his thumb. “Let me at least make you dinner.”

She pulled her hand away but gave him a sideways smile. She looked unsure and she fiddled with her keys until he reached over to nudge her with a smile.

“Come on, you know I can cook.”

She shrugged. “Tonight isn’t good for me.”

“Tomorrow night, then.”

Sliding her sunglasses back on, she gazed at the sun beginning to set over the tops of the pines.

“Okay,” she said, shrugging.

“Yeah?”

She laughed at the eagerness in his voice. “Yeah.”

“I’ve got a new place though,” he told her, his heart beating uncontrollably. He couldn’t believe she was agreeing to come to his place.

“Oh? Where at?”

He tried to keep his excitement in check as he gave her the address to his new house. He would finally get to spend some real, uninterrupted time with her.
And
show her the house he’d built for her.

“Eight o’clock okay with you?” he asked.

She smiled. “Sure.”

“Great, I’ll see you there.” Squeezing her hand gently before letting her go, he watched as she got in her car and turned down the drive.

Now he needed to high-tail it back to his place and make sure he had enough furniture and food. The last thing he wanted for his perfect evening was for them to have to sit on the floor. Or worse, sleep on it. The thought of her sleeping beside him made his flesh tingle and he felt himself begin to harden. He was finally going to have her again and he wanted the night to be perfect. Which meant he needed a bed. With sheets.

Chapter Eight

After spending an entire morning between the phone and internet Lily still hadn’t tracked the stone artist down and she was beginning to worry. She was ready to abandon the specific artist and take any she could find, but her searches didn’t uncover
anyone
doing the kind of work she’d seen at the craft fair a few months before. She began to wonder if she’d imagined the artist and his stone sculptures. The thought terrified her; she had no idea what she would do if the stone headboard couldn’t be made. She certainly wasn’t going to buy another fabric headboard, but the project deadline was getting close and Lily definitely felt the pressure.

She worked through lunch, guzzling down an iced coffee to keep her going, sifting through dozens of websites and images of stone art, leaving notes on art message boards and sending emails to a handful of people she knew in Denver and Boulder, hoping someone else had seen the man with the stone wall hangings.

Finally, with her stomach growling and her head aching from staring at her computer for so long, she decided to call it a day. She still had a few hours before she would need to leave for Noah’s but she wanted to have plenty of time to prepare for their evening together. She’d been saving a cute white cocktail dress for something special and tonight seemed like just the occasion. She didn’t want to look like she was trying too hard, but she wanted to wow him, make him really remember what he was missing.

It would have been easy enough to come up with an excuse not to go to his place for dinner. But the truth was, Lily wanted to give Noah another chance. Maybe not a chance at a relationship. But,
damn
, the chemistry they had was too hard to resist. A girl needed to have some fun every now and then, after all. She would worry about what it all meant later.

She grabbed a quick bite before stopping in at the hair salon. With all the work she’d done since Mrs. Upton first contacted her, she hadn’t had time to do much for herself, and she knew her hair could use a trim and some serious highlights. While she sat in the chair, the chemicals bleaching strands of hair, she tried to sort through her complicated feelings about Noah. The last thing she wanted to do was go to his place and let him sway her before she’d had time to make up her own mind how she felt about him and if she was ready to give him another chance. She knew how persuasive he could be, how easily she would give into those big hands, those beautiful green eyes.

She thought about calling Rachel for a second opinion but still didn’t feel like the time was right. What was the use of discussing it before she knew if she wanted him back? It would only confuse her more.

His explanation had made a kind of sense. Forgiving him didn’t seem like a Herculean effort any longer. And the few times they’d made out in the last few days reminded her of just how much she had missed him. But a part of her felt that if she gave in and took him back she would be caving, something she wasn’t really comfortable with.

And there was still the matter of the things he’d said the night of the breakup, the things that still stung. Drunk or not, he’d known how much those words would hurt her and he’d used them anyway. Calling her a coward, telling her she was hiding. True or not, could she forgive such harshness? And would there be a time when he could hurt her that much again? She wasn’t sure she was willing to take the risk.

The fact was, it was those harsh words that had pushed her to quit her job and start out on her own. No matter how much he had hurt her, in the end what he’d said had helped her immeasurably. Although she’d only had one client, she knew there was no way she’d ever go back to working for someone else. Her dream was becoming a reality. Would she be able to say the same if Noah hadn’t pushed her?

As the stylist blew out and curled her freshly highlighted hair, Lily decided that for the time being she would start seeing Noah again. But she also decided that she wasn’t ready to lose herself in their relationship again. She wanted to keep part of herself back, hidden from the possibility of being hurt again. She would sleep with him, and oh, the thought of that sent delicious chills down her spine. But she would keep her heart to herself, at least until she felt that she could trust him not to break it again.

It didn’t take long for her to change into her dress and reapply makeup. She stopped at the mini-mart to buy a bottle of wine, although if she knew Noah, he would have something with a much higher price tag chilled and waiting.

It was almost dark as she went out to her car again and programmed his address into her phone. She was surprised that he’d moved - when they had dated he’d had a penthouse condo downtown that took up an entire floor. The place had been classy, if not very personal, and she’d loved the many nights she’d spent with him there, looking out over their small town, making love in his big bed. She wondered when exactly he’d moved and what his new place would be like.

Lily followed the directions from her phone up the same winding road she took to go to the cabin, but instead of going all the way, she turned onto a side road halfway up. The forest was dark and the road was narrow. She turned her headlights on bright and slowed down. Hitting a deer was the last thing she needed.

After three more turns onto increasingly tiny roads she finally found the mailbox and a dirt road heading into the trees. There was a sharp curve left and then she saw it, the most gorgeous house she had ever seen.

Interior lights blazed through the glass house and she could see high ceilings and slate floors. Despite the lights, the place looked empty and she double-checked her GPS to make sure she was in the right place. The driveway wrapped around the side of the house and she followed it until she saw Noah’s truck and she breathed a little easier.

One last minute lipstick check and a fluff of her hair and she was out of the car and walking up a granite slab walkway glowing dimly with solar lights. Noah opened the door before she got to it and stood leaning against the frame as she picked her way gingerly over the steps in her very high heels.

“You have any trouble finding it?”

“It’s pretty dark out here. But I found it. You need some lights out by the road. Or at least put a bigger address sign up. I almost passed it.”

“Sorry about that. I just moved in. Haven’t had time for all the little touches.”

“Oh, but it’s the little touches that really matter,” she said as she slid past him into the house, her body brushing against his seductively.

His heart fluttered. Quite a change from the way she’d greeted him only a few weeks ago.

“You want the grand tour?” he asked as he followed her into the main living area. She had set a bottle of wine down on the counter and was shrugging out of her coat.