Page 60 of Stolen for Keeps
I hummed, swirling the champagne in my glass. “That’s the thing, Noah. I don’t really have a good side.”
He looked me dead in the eye with something there that I didn’t understand. “You sure about that?”
I wasn’t.
Not when I was standing here, laughing with him, and letting the night settle around us like it belonged to us alone.
Not when he looked at me like I was something more than a series of bad choices.
A waiter passed with a tray of champagne, and I tookanother glass. Maybe my third, maybe more. Hard to keep track when my heart’s already a mess.
Dinner was served, conversations carried on, and through it all, Noah stayed beside me.
Saying goodbye to him would be worse than prison.
Because men like him didn’t just break through walls. They made you believe the ruin had been worth it.
16
MAYA
The knock at the door jolted me awake.
I groaned, burying my face deeper into the pillow. My mouth tasted like regret and wedding champagne, my head a sluggish swirl of exhaustion. Too much wine, too much laughter, too many stolen glances at a certain cowboy. And now? Way too much sunlight streaming through the curtains.
Another knock came. More urgent this time.
I fumbled upright, squinting as the world came back into focus. My dress from last night was draped over a chair, my shoes kicked off haphazardly near the door. Shit. What time was it?
A glance at my phone sent my stomach plummeting.
10:07 a.m.
The knock came again.
I jerked upright, my pulse spiking, every muscle tensing.
Shit.
I grabbed the bedside lamp before my brain could fully catch up. Weapon of choice? Not great, but better than nothing.
With my feet silent on the motel floor, I padded to the door, holding my breath.
Another knock came, firm but not threatening. Then?—
“Maya, open up!”
Sheryn.
Not a threat.
The tension in my chest eased, but the residual adrenaline left my fingers clenched around the lamp.
I cracked the door open, blinking against the sunlight, and found Sheryn looking annoyingly well-rested for someone who’d just had the biggest night of her life. Nick stood beside her, looking like he’d been expecting whatever ridiculous scene he just walked into.
Sheryn’s gaze immediately dropped to the lamp in my grip.
“Whoa, it’s just us,” she said, lifting a brow. “Did you…sleepwalk? Or were you trying to redecorate?”
