Page 73 of Because You Loved Me

A noise caught his attention, and he lifted his head to see Noa standing at the bedroom door with a small shopping bag in her hands.

“I don’t really have anything to pack.”

This was his chance. Asher stood straight and cleared his throat. All he needed to do was reach for her and pull her close. He could whisper in her ear and tell her that he was sorry and he didn’t mean any of it. He could tell her the truth.

That he was falling in love with her.

He took a step forward.

“I’ll call Ryan to come get me.”

Her words slammed into him. Whatever hope he’d had that she might have any feelings for him at all evaporated.

“Ryan?”

“My—”

“I know who he is.” He spat the words at her. He reached for his truck keys on the counter and tossed them at her. “Don’t wait for him. Just go.”

“I can’t?—”

“Take it. Leave it at the lodge.”

“But you?—”

“I don’t fucking care, Noa. Just get out of here.” He couldn’t look at her. Vibrating with emotions he couldn’t name, Asher didn’t wait around to see whether she took his advice—and his truck—or not. Without looking at her again, he moved to the front door, grabbed his boots and his jacket, and left.

He wasn’t going to wait around to see her leave.

He didn’t have it in him.

ChapterEighteen

She didn’t wantto cry. Noa never cried. And she definitely didn’t want to cry over a man she’d only known a few weeks.

A man who’d made her feel things she didn’t know were even possible.

Still.

She refused to cry.

Somehow she’d managed to drive the old, beat-up truck back down the mountain roads and into town. She left the keys in it outside the front door of the lodge and went straight up to the suite she was sharing with Ryan.

Thankfully he’d been out when she got back. Skiing, no doubt. That had been the whole point of choosing Trickle Creek Lodge for their festivities. Ryan thought it only made sense to turn their event into a holiday everyone could enjoy, too.

Knowing Ryan, he’d likely been skiing every single day since she’d been gone, without a care in the world about whether she’d be back or not.

Not because he didn’t care, but because he knew.

Noa groaned and threw herself into the giant king-sized bed. Heknewshe’d be back. Was she really that predictable?

Despite doing the most unpredictable thing she possibly could have by running away with a stranger, it didn’t matter because ultimately and predictably, she was back for the life that had always been waiting for her.

Even if she didn’t want to face it.

Noa pulled the duvet up and over her head. It was only when she closed her eyes and saw Asher’s face when he told her toget outreplayed over and over in her mind that she finally let herself cry.

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