Page 86 of Lucky Shot
Thankfully, Elixon takes pity on me. “Would you like to share a room?”
Nervous laughter bubbles out of me. “I sound like an idiot. I’m sorry.”
“You don’t. You’re adorable.”
My smile couldn’t possibly get any wider. My cheeks hurt. “I’d like to share a room. We can get different beds if you want to. There’s no pressure to—"
“Take a breath, Pretty,” Elixon says and I do. My smile only grows when he continues to call me Pretty instead of Noah. “Yes, I’d love to share a room. One bed sounds like a good idea. How do you feel about booking in a different hotel than the rest of the participants are being put up in?”
I sigh, my shoulders relaxing. “That would be awesome.”
“Not that I don’t want to be seen with you,” he clarifies. “We’re definitely going to be seen together. But I think it might take some pressure off us.”
“You don’t need to explain; I already think it’s a great idea.”
“I just needed to clarify,” he says.
And then we fall into silence, just staring at each other. Minutes pass and if it wasn’t for his blinking, I’d think our connection broke, and the screen froze. But we just stare at each other for a long time. I wonder if he’s thinking the same things as I am. How surreal this is. How perfect this is. I wonder if he feels like maybe we’ve wasted years because we never opened our eyes to someone that has always been right there?
Is his stomach dancing with nerves so violently that he almost feels sick? It’s not a bad sick, but maybe a little overwhelming. It’s so impossible. With all the billions of people in the world, we’ve been talking to someone we knew!
“You okay?” he asks.
I nod. Probably a little too enthusiastically. “Yeah. I’m just… in awe.”
His smile makes my heart stutter. How have I never noticed how gorgeous he is? How has his smile never made me swoon before? I’m totally swooning right now.
“There is definitely no better outcome than this,” he says, and fuck, I think I might have just fallen in love.
TWENTY-FIVE
ELIXON
When Noah’sface popped up on my screen, I was completely and totally fucking confused. I hadn’t called Noah. I’d called PrettyInLace. How had the signals gotten crossed so I ended up with Noah Kain on the line?
It took me an embarrassingly long time to realize what had happened. It wasn’t a mistake. I hadn’t gotten Noah instead of Pretty. NoahisPrettyInLace.
Then rapid-fire questions were flooding my mind. How had I not recognized his voice? His laughter? His sense of humor? Fuck, even his body. I’d just spent three weeks around him while he wore nothing but goddamn Speedos! Had there been other things that should have tipped me off that this had been Noah all along?
But as soon as I heard his voice, everything inside me seemed like it dislodged itself and shifted, making Noah the center of my fucking world. Maybe he always was because the shift didn’t feel that profound. It was just that I was now aware of it.
It made me more and more irritated with myself that I’ve let so many years go by with himright thereand I just walked on by.
I didn’t always walk on by. He’d needed someone at the gala, and I’d made myself that someone. I walked him to his door, and hadn’t wanted to let him go.
Maybe there’s always been something inside me that has been drawn to him, but I ignored it. Reasoned it away. He’s always just been a pretty face. Even after the conversations I’ve had with him, somehow I still shoved him away as an acquaintance. Not someone important in my life.
I was wrong. Noah Kain, my Pretty Boy,ismy life.
The first night we video called, we fell asleep online. I woke up to the call having ended since my laptop hadn’t been plugged in and it died. Stupid on my part. I didn’t make that same mistake the second or third night.
Now it’s the day before I travel to Colorado for the charity game. I’m packed. Travel and lodging booked. I’ve even done some shopping that I’m super stoked about.
When my phone pings, I’m already grinning. It’s Pretty. Of course, it is. But his message makes me frown.
Pretty Boy
I meant to tell you… Trevor McAllister doesn’t exist.
