Page 80 of Before We Fell

Noah glared at me from the lane next to me. We stopped at Dave and Buster’s after a morning of shopping to eat a quick lunch and I’d coerced him into playing the arcade-style games. So far, he’d kicked my butt in air hockey and a basketball shooting game where my aim was worse than it was at darts. I’d managed to hold him on an arcade style game of Candy Crush, and then I’d lost to him in the classic Pac-Man game. But when it came to skee-ball, I was killing him.

He threw another ball up the lane, the ball spinning weirdly and I threw my hands to my hips. “You’re throwing this aren’t you?”

Noah shrugged, palmed another ball into his hands, tossing it back and forth, smirking at me. “I wouldn’t do that. Too competitive.”

He rolled it up the lane, hard, but straight to the bottom corner and pressed his lips together. I shoved him, pushing him back three steps in mock anger. “You’re a tool,” I growled, laughing as he grabbed my hands and yanked me to him. “I can’t believe you’re throwing this.”

“I can’t kick your butt in everything we play today.” He tugged at the waistband of my frayed denim shorts. “I’d like to get back into these pants later.”

Like I had a problem with that. I humphed in annoyance and stepped back, grabbing my own ball and chucking it up the lane. It fell into the forty point rim and I danced. Who cared if he was letting me win?

I was the biggest winner of all. And Noah proved that more than once throughout the day. But what sealed it? Was when we were done with our game, and our hands were filled with paper tickets, he took them to a family who was there with three boys, all around Riley’s age, and dropped them off, giving them to the boys to cash in.

It was so sweet, made him so much more damn sexier in my eyes, even though previously I’d thought that impossible, I grabbed his hand and pulled him to me, rolling to my toes and whispering in his ear, “How much time do we have before our dinner reservation?”

Dinner at Bluestem was incredible.I was incredibly stuffed from the five-course meal that had been delivered with perfect timing. It had been one of the nicest restaurants I’d ever been to and thank goodness I’d brought one of my best, black dresses for the occasion. We’d almost missed our reservation due to my excitement when we returned to the hotel, and now we were walking through the lit up streets of the plaza, Noah’s arm around my waist, holding me close to him as we enjoyed the warm night. Warm enough I didn’t need a sweater to cover my bare arms, cool enough we weren’t overly hot.

It was truly the perfect evening. The most beautiful day I could ever remember happening. The only thing that could have put the cherry on top for perfection was if it were Christmastime, and we were strolling through the plaza decorated extravagantly for the holidays.

“We have one more stop,” Noah said, guiding me to a nearby fountain.

“Oh?” I leaned into him. I was hoping, really hoping, and as we turned a corner, I squeezed his hand, pulling to a stop. In front of us were two of the most beautiful and regal white horses I’d ever seen. Attached to them, was a carriage, white and curved like something from Cinderella. Magnificent and sparkling, elegant and oh so beautiful, it took effort not to jump and squeal like I knew Riley would have.

“A carriage ride,” I said, sighing with pleasure.

Noah shrugged. “I seem to remember the promise of a lingerie set if this was provided.”

“Of course.” I didn’t know if he’d planned this before the weekend, or if he’d done it with the mention of lingerie. I also didn’t care. Carriage rides around the plaza were one of my favorite things to do.

Plus, I would have worn the lingerie anyway.

He guided me toward the horses, gave his name for our reservation time and it was only a few minutes before we were settled on the red velvet bench, a matching red blanket covering my lap even though it wasn’t needed. My head rested on Noah’s shoulder as we clip-clopped our way down the street, and our hands were tangled together, resting on his thigh.

“I don’t know if I could have crafted a more perfect day. Thank you for giving this to me.”

He kissed the top of my head. “I should be thanking you for taking the risk of coming with me.”

I couldn’t have resisted him. I knew that from the first night I showed up at his house, armed with dolls and de-tangler spray. Noah was a force all on his own, magnetic, drawing me to him in confusing ways from the moment he stomped down the hallway of my school.

Resisting him had been futile from the onset and yet there was still so much to know about him.

So I asked. I asked about his life in St. Louis and as we rolled through the streets of downtown Kansas City, I listened to him speak about his life, his passion for the law, and with every smooth step of the horses in front of us, pulling us along, I felt my heart falling more deeply in love with this man than I’d ever thought possible.

I was pressedto my front door, one leg thrown over Noah’s hip. We were making out like teenagers fighting to get in a quickie before our parents caught us late from curfew. I didn’t care. I didn’t even care if my neighbors saw me. I held him to me, kissed him back with equal fervor.

This had been the best weekend of my life, and I was unwilling to let him go even though he had to.

Riley would be home soon.

Which meant I’d have to go back to sleeping alone.

And after only two nights falling asleep in the cocoon of Noah’s warmth and muscle, I could have cried at the thought of cool sheets and too much space in a bed.

“I need to get back before Riley is home.”

“I know.” We’d push back our departure until the last minute, unable to tear our hands off each other.

I had no regrets. Based on the heated look in Noah’s eyes, neither did he. “Come over for dinner tonight,” he said, brushing a strand of hair off my cheek.

---