Page 175 of Beauty
Me: Goose!
Beckett: There she is!
Aiden: Her! You! How late will you be?
“We’re going to be late.” I shift in my seat and frown at Noah.
The party is in the opposite direction, but he insisted on stopping by the arena first.
“Screw the party,” he says, squeezing my hand.
“We can’t ditch this. It’syourretirement party.”
With a scoff, he shifts into park.
He looks so good tonight. He’s all dressed up in a black tuxedo, his brown hair swept to the side, his blue eyes dazzling behind the pair of black frames that make my knees weak. He has boxes and boxes of contacts at home, yet he chooses to wear the glasses because he knows they make me hot.
My dress is more revealing than my usual clothing choices these days, calling back to a younger, more reckless Sienna. The Sienna who reveled in taunting the man in the villa next door. It’s dangerously low-cut, the V ending just above my bellybutton. Think JLo’s green dress but red, with a gold seashell belt that I squealed when I found.
The garment is my design. The first for my new boutique based in Boston. The boutique I’ll open once I’ve found the right space. I’ve done little more than tell my brothers that I’m stepping down from the organization and sketch designs.
“Can I put this on you?” He holds up a black silk blindfold.
I shimmy my shoulders. “Oh, kinky.”
With a chuckle, he throws his car door open. He helps me out of the passenger side and kisses me thoroughly before placing his hands on my shoulders and spinning me to face the car.
“Just a few seconds of darkness.”
He’s gentle as he slips the blindfold over my eyes, careful not to mess up my hair. Then he lifts me into his arms.
Giggling, I cling to his neck. “Well, this is fun.”
He hums, but as he heads toward our destination, he’s silent. I listen to his footsteps the whole way, trying to discern our location.
When he finally sets my feet on the ground, he holds on tight, ensuring I’m steady. Then, with his lips against my ear, he says, “Six years ago, I met a girl on a plane, and she stole my heart.”
A shiver courses up my spine.
“We had the most incredible few days,” he continues, “but she had a whole new life ahead of her. So she asked me to put my name and number in a book, swearing that if she found it, we were meant to reconnect.”
I grin, my eyes tearing up behind the blindfold. Our story will never not make me emotional.
“I promised I would. I’d write my name and number on the title page, then send that book out into the universe, hoping one day it would find its way to her. But I have a secret, baby.” He presses a kiss below my ear. “I lied.”
I suck in a shocked breath. “What?—”
He eases the blindfold from my eyes, distracting me from my confusion.
I squint beneath the overhead lights, a bookshelf coming into focus as my vision clears. It’s flush against the wall and it’s stuffed full. There have to be a hundred paperbacks lining the shelves, each one with an identical spine.
Heart racing, I glance at Noah. “Are they?—”
Nodding, he squeezes my arms. “I got back as many as I could find. Called every bookstore in Paris. Practically put out an APB.”
I walk to the bookshelf, my heels clicking loudly in the quiet space, and pluck one from its shelf. It’s the book he brought with him on the plane all those years ago. But not. Because the original is on a shelf in my bedroom.
“Wait, I have the original, right?”
