“Like I Can”
Noah
Surely my lip-reading skills must be deceiving me, because I can’t have just had Zoe tell me she loves me when I’m not close enough to touch her, kiss her and do what I want to her and for how long I want to do it for.
Her face morphs into a look of “oh shit, what have I done” and as much as I try to school my expression, she’s obviously read something into the look on my face to immediately want to backtrack. Something I do not want and will not let her do.
But I’m forced to hold myself back as she walks down the aisle with her arm looped in Zach’s and row-by-row the guests filter out of the room toward the bar, where we have been told to go after the ceremony.
I lead Zoe’s mom and younger sister Danika out and scan the bar for Zoe, but by then she is nowhere to be seen. We congratulate Kate and Zander—who squeezes my hand extra tight just for good measure—and I pick up two glasses of champagne and a glass of juice, one for each of the three of us.
“That ceremony was beautiful, don’t you think, Noah?” Zoe’s mom asks me, distracting me from my search.
“It was. You raised a fine man there, Mrs. Roberts.”
“Oh, call me Julie, honey.” I nod at her and smile. Zoe looks a lot like her mom—the same color eyes and matching dimple on the left-hand side of her cheek.
“You seemed to be watching Zoe a lot,” Danika teases.
“She’s hard not to look at. Must be a thing with you Roberts women.”
“Charmer,” Danika retorts.
“I like to think of myself as smart, but if the shoe fits . . .” Both women laugh, and I feel Zoe’s phone vibrate in her purse. She’d given me her purse to look after when she left Zander’s room to finish getting ready.
Pulling it out, I see there are five missed text messages on there. I can’t see who from, but my curiosity is definitely piqued.
“There she is!” Julie calls as Zoe enters the room and walks toward us. She seems to have recovered from her moment of panic and smiles brightly when she reaches us. Her face still seems flushed, but she seems to have tidied up her make-up and touched up her lipstick.
“Hey. Wasn’t that a beautiful ceremony? I bawled like a baby,” she says, commandeering a glass of champagne from a passing waiter. I look down at her and she smiles quickly before turning her attention back to her family.
“I think Zander cried too. I’m gonna give him so much shit for that.”
“Danika—mouth!”
“Sorry Mom,” she mumbles into her glass as she takes a sip of juice.
“I can’t believe one of my babies is married now. Soon they’ll be having babies of their own.”
“Don’t get your hopes up on that happening too quickly, Mom. Zander wants to enjoy his new wife for a while.”
“I bet he does,” I retort without thinking, and am met with Zoe’s wide ‘oh fuck’ eyes again while Danika and Julie giggle quietly.
“Noah.” Zoe’s voice is low, a veiled warning if ever I heard one.
“Sorry, that was inappropriate. I just meant—”
“We all know what you meant, Noah,” she snaps, which just makes me smirk at her.
“Please explain, Zoe. I’m not sure I’m up to that topic in my health education classes.”
I snort loudly at Danika. It seems Zoe isn’t the only one with a good sense of humor in the family.
“Will you two excuse us for a moment? I need to talk to Zoe quickly,” I ask the women as I grab my girlfriend’s hand and lead her out of the bar and into the corridor outside.
“Noah, what on earth—”
I cut her off by pushing her into the wall and slamming my lips down onto hers, not giving a fuck about the freshly applied lipstick that will probably end up all over me. My tongue plunges into her mouth and her hands grip on to my shoulders before she sags against me and gives in, looping her arms around my neck and running her fingers into my hair. It’s my favorite kind of Zoe kiss.
My hands run up from her hips, to her breasts, to cup her cheeks, and I slowly ease my lips back, leaning my forehead against hers as I try to catch my breath.
“Noah, I was caught up in the—”
Her body tenses up against mine, but I don’t give her the opportunity to backtrack. No fucking way. “Don’t! Don’t take it back. I hope like hell I understood what you said correctly, because I love you too. I didn’t know what it was that I was feeling, but last night something changed. I panicked when you said you needed to break up with me and that panic—even though you were drunk and talking bullshit—made me think about why I reacted like that. I’ve fallen for you and I don’t want you to take it back because I won’t. I mean every fucking word.”
Her mouth drops, and never one to miss an opportunity, I kiss her again, slow and soft, pouring everything I feel for her into it.
We lose track of time, neither one of us caring about where we are or whatever is going on around us. It’s about the two of us, sharing this moment.
Until a throat clears beside us and we both pivot our heads to find Mac with a shit-eating grin on her face.
“As much as you guys might be enjoying sucking face like a pair of teenagers outside prom, Zoe, you need to come with me to the limo so we can go get our photo taken ten million times and Noah, you need to put that thing away, because you’re in charge of entertaining Kate and Zander’s families until we get back. And as much as I bet Zoe’s mom likes you right now, I’m guessing she won’t be as appreciative of your asset as her daughter obviously is.”
Zoe sniggers and I smirk at Mac, unable to get mad at her smart-ass comment when she’s one hundred percent right.
Looking back to Zoe, I kiss her again softly before stepping back. “She’s all yours. For now . . .”
“Right. I’m sure Zander will be most appreciative,” she retorts wryly. “Maybe try to keep it in your pants until after the reception?”
I give her a mock salute and hand Zoe her purse before giving her one last sneaky kiss before watching the two of them walk around the corner and out of sight.
Two hours and a few beers later, we’re asked to stand to welcome the bridal party as they enter the reception.
First Mac walks in with Daniel, Jared and Riley holding each of their hands. All of the women in the room let out a collective ‘aww’ when they see the two mini-monsters, Jared looking smart in a small tux and Riley wearing a mini version of the bridesmaid dresses. Even a non-clucky asshole like myself can admit that they’re cute.
It’s not that I don’t want kids, because I do. I come from a two-child family with a stay-at-home mom who went to every school play, fundraising event, and sports fixture Matt and I were involved in. I want that for my own kids, with someone I love.
Someone who could very well be Zoe, if things keep going as well as they have been.
I feel a buzzing in my pant pocket again and I remember that I forgot to give Zoe back her phone. Pulling it out, I see there are now ten text messages. Either my girlfriend is more popular than I give her credit for, or something is seriously wrong. Besides the fact her family is all here at the same place, I can only hazard a guess that it’s a friend in need.
I look up to see Zoe, Zach and Mia walk in, Zach escorting the two Roberts’ sisters down the makeshift path between the dining tables and toward the large table where we’re all going to be sitting.
As Julie explained to me, Zander and Kate felt it was unfair to have the family split up between tables so the bridal party plus Julie, Danika and myself are sitting in a large table to the side of the dance floor.
When Zoe reaches my side, I gently place my hand on the small of her back and kiss her cheek, earning a sexy telling look for my efforts.
“Now put your hands together for the bride and groom, Mr. and Mrs. Zander Roberts.” The room erupts with loud applause when Kate and Zander come into view, Zander scoops her up, forcing Kate to squeal loudly as he carries her over to the dance floor.
“And at the special request of the groom, the happy couple will now share their first dance because, in Zander’s own words ‘who knows how drunk those girls will get after dinner’.” Laughter takes over the sound of clapping and Kate whacks her husband on the arm playfully before dipping her head into his shoulder to hide what I can only guess is bright red cheeks.
“Never Seen Anything ‘Quite Like You’” by The Script starts playing and I run my fingers in light circles on the bare skin of Zoe’s shoulder as we watch the bride and groom slow dance together, their eyes focused on nobody else.
“After you, sweetheart.” I gesture as I pull out Zoe’s chair and she beams up at me before carefully taking her seat. I do the same for Danika and then Julie before taking my place at Zoe’s side. I hook an arm around the back of her chair and lean in, holding out her phone.
“Did you check your phone? It was going nuts with texts before I gave it back to you.”
She turns to me with a gasp and snatches the phone from my hand, her eyes wide with some unreadable emotion. Quick as it appears, it is gone and it’s like the shutters fall back in place, a bright smile plastered back on her lips as she drops the cell in her lap and places her hand on my thigh.
“Thank you. It’ll just be a friend of mine,” she murmurs, her voice uncharacteristically flat.
I turn to whisper in her ear. “You sure you don’t wanna check it now?”
She tenses and shakes her head, then rests her head against my shoulder as we watch the dance come to an end. Kate’s dad walks onto the dance floor and cuts in, spinning Kate around the floor to “Maybe I'm Amazed,” by Paul McCartney. Zander walks toward our table and curls his finger at Julie, a huge smile on his face as she shakes her head at him.
“Julie, Julie,” the table chants, and she laughs before standing up and taking her son’s now outstretched hand and letting him lead her over to join Kate and her dad.
“I’m looking forward to dancing with you later,” Zoe says quietly.
I dip my chin and kiss her hair. “Definitely makes up for the last wedding we were at together.”
She starts giggling and lifts her head up close to mine. “Well maybe this time I won’t need to go home and take care of myself.”
Cue my choking/coughing fit, which draws almost everyone’s attention to me. I hold up my hand to signal I’m okay and grab the glass of water in front of me and gulp it down until my throat loosens, and I look at the woman I love to see her smirking at me.
“Giving me a taste of my own medicine, I see,” I muse.
“Fair’s fair.” She shoots me a knowing grin and fuck if it doesn’t make my dick twitch—again.
“You’ll keep.”
“Isn’t the punishment half the fun?” she adds with a wink before turning toward Mia sitting on the other side of her.
Trust me to fall for the biggest cock-tease on earth. And the dirty minx knows exactly what she’s doing to me.
“Smooth, brother,” Daniel says, thankfully breaking the sexual tension.
“Seems I have a side job providing entertainment at weddings.”
“As long as that’s the only job you’re getting at weddings, you’re forgiven.”
“If only you knew, Winters.”
“And that’s my cue to dance with my wife.” He stands, lifting Riley up into his arms and ushering Mac and Jared to the dance floor. More like the cue for exploding the ovaries of every fertile woman in the room.
Glancing again at Zoe, I find her sneaking a look at her phone under the drape of the white tablecloth. “Who was it?” I ask casually, not meaning anything by it but getting suspicious when she jumps in her seat and quickly locks her screen.
“It’s nothing. Just an old friend, like I thought.”
Maybe I’m just being overly suspicious, and unfair to her. But when a woman goes from open and honest—brutally sometimes—to all of a sudden acting cagey and unusually jumpy, alarm bells start to ring.
Unlike before when I was simply curious, now I really need to know who is texting her.
And more to the point, why?
We get home well after midnight and having fallen asleep in the car, I know Zoe is exhausted after being on the go all day, but this uneasy feeling in the pit of my stomach over those text messages hasn’t gone away.
I lock up the house behind us and lead her upstairs to my bedroom. Sitting on the bed, I pull her down to sit in my lap and start pulling the hundreds of clips out of her hair.
“Zo?”
“Yeah,” she replies groggily.
“Who were the texts from?”
Her body tenses but then relaxes again just as quickly. “No one important.”
“I thought you said it was a friend.”
“An old one. It’s nothing.”
“Relax, sweetheart. I noticed you looked uncomfortable when you looked at your phone so I’m just concerned.”
“I’m okay. Everything is okay,” she says softly.
“Is your ex still bothering you?”
She doesn’t answer me straight away and after a while, I even look over her shoulder to see if she’s still awake. Her head drops and she stares at the floor. “It’s nothing, Noah. I’m just really tired. Maybe I’ll just sleep with my hair up.”
She tries to pull away. I wrap my arms around her waist and rest my chin on her shoulder.
“You can talk to me. I hope you know that.”
“Of course,” she says. “As I said, I’m just tired. It’s been a big day.”
“It has. But just answer me this.” I loosen my arms and pull her sideways, gently turning her face toward me with my hand. “You’d tell me if he was still bothering you, right? Because when I said I loved you, I meant it. I won’t let anyone hurt you.”
“He’s harmless. He just wants me back.” She drops her head to my shoulder and nuzzles into my neck in what I suspect to be a diversionary tactic.
“He can’t have you. His loss, my gain,” I murmur against her temple.
“Mmm hmm,” she hums before her mouth opens and her tongue touches the skin below my ear.
“Don’t start something you don’t want me to finish.”
“Never,” she says, her lips smiling against my neck.
“Then I better get you undressed and in bed, especially if I’m going to fuck you senseless.”
I watch as she starts pulling off her dress in an extraordinary boost of energy that has my dick hardening and my blood pumping—mostly south.
I launch myself at her and pull her down onto the bed beside me, covering her body with mine and kissing her speechless. Then I proceed to really wear her out, making a point of ending this wedding in a much better way than the last.