“You,” Noah said softly, his eyes glued to the image beneath her fingertip.
“Me. The Star. It’s about the power of dreaming. Wish fulfillment. Hope and new beginnings.”
“Well, that seems appropriate,” her mother said.
“This one,” Callie said, pointing to the card at the bottom of the spread, “is the foundation of the relationship. The six of cups.”
“What’s that one mean?” Pattie asked, leaning in to get a better look.
“It’s about forming new connections with someone from your past. Someone…unexpected.”
“That one looks ominous,” Maggie said, indicating the card at the center of the spread.
When had everyone gathered around so closely?
“The Hanged Man.” Callie was no longer looking at the cards, her attention focused solely on Noah. “It means you have to leave old pain in the past. It means you have a choice: stay in your suffering or climb down and move forward. It means you want more.”
Noah’s eyes snapped to hers, their depths stormy in a way that sent a shiver through her body. Callie’s gaze never wavered as she tapped the final card at the top of the spread.
“Page of Cups. The likely outcome.”
“What does it mean?” Noah asked, his voice a deep rumble.
“An attractive young woman,” Jamie said. “Weren’t you listening to my reading?”
Callie shook her head. “Yes, but in this context it means that happiness is imminent. That love has arrived and is just waiting for you to notice.”
She knew that their friends and family buzzed around her, delighted by the reading, but she hardly heard them over the pounding of her heart, barely saw them with her eyes locked on Noah’s. Several long moments passed—or maybe it was no time at all—as they stared into each other’s eyes, the expression on Noah’s face a mix of wonder and something darker, something she couldn’t define but very much wanted to.
Chapter 12
Jamie had prepared a picnic lunch for everyone. “No shellfish,” he assured Callie with an apologetic smile as he unloaded the coolers, setting out containers.
They ate like kings, the laughter and conversation flowing easily amongst their group, but Noah was only half paying attention. He sat beside Callie and laughed when everyone else laughed, though he hadn’t really caught the joke, and ate more food than anyone should eat in one sitting, but his mind was still stuck on the tarot cards.
It means you have a choice.
It means you want more.
He wanted too much.
Callie threw her head back, laughing at something Liv had said—or was it Pattie?—her eyes sparkling. God, she was beautiful when she laughed. Lit from within, like all that joy bubbling within her had nowhere to go so it burst out of her lips.
Before he knew it, lunch was over, the containers packed away as quickly as they had appeared. And then Liv was running down the beach and straight into the surf, laughing and calling for the rest of them to join her. Daemon and Jamie didn’t need much coaxing, and as soon as Min dropped her sarong and began to pick her way across the sand, Liam followed as well. Pattie and Maggie stayed behind in the cabana, keeping Mrs. Cole and his mother enthralled with talk of the cruise they had taken the previous year to the Greek Isles.
Callie shrugged out of the drapey robe-like thing she’d been wearing, revealing an aqua one-piece swimsuit. The cut was scandalously high on her thighs, and a zipper ran from the center of the neckline to just below her full bust. Noah’s eyes raked over her, taking in the softness of her thighs and hips, the curve of her ass barely covered by the bathing suit. His brain stuttered over the zipper. The desire to pull it down overwhelmed him, the need to open her up so strong he was half sure he was going to do it.
“Are you coming?” Callie asked.
Love has arrived and is just waiting for you to notice.
But no, this wasn’t love. This was lust. He wanted her—there had never been any doubt about that—but wanting her and loving her were not the same thing. And having her without loving her had never been an option, would never be an option. Liv would never forgive him if he broke her best friend’s heart. He’d never forgive himself, not when he’d already hurt her in so many other ways. And heartbreak was the only possible conclusion. He knew what happened after the storybooks ended. He only had to look at his parents to know that no one lived happily ever after forever.
Still, he’d be lying if he said his skin didn’t buzz with an awareness of her eyes on him when he pulled his t-shirt over his head and discarded it.
“Race you,” he said with a grin and then took off down the beach.
He ran just fast enough to stay ahead of her, to keep her laughter nipping at his heels so it could fill him up, make him feel fresh and new, baptized in her joy. As they reached the water’s edge, Callie caught his arm, pulling him back so they splashed into the waves at exactly the same time.
