AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I know.” He pressed a kiss to her temple. “I’ll make sure you have whatever you need to put everything back the way it was. It’s the least I can do seeing that you were attacked for work you were doing for Whitlow Group. But in the meantime, stay with me as long as you want.”
Want, not need.
Don’t over-analyze his words, she scolded herself.Don’t add meaning where there isn’t any.
She was just overemotional. A lot had happened in the past twenty-four hours.
Trying to force comedy into her voice, she turned to face him. “If I didn’t know any better, Mr. Whitlow, I’d think you just asked me to move in with you.”
“What if I did?”
“I’d say you were a liar or practicing your stand-up routine, funny man,” she said with a laugh.
But his serious expression never wavered as he snaked his arms around her waist. “Move in with me, Emma.”
“Excuse me?” She tried to step back, but he didn’t let her go. She had to have heard him wrong. Yes, that was it. No way the sexiest man in the world had asked her to move in with him. Offering her a place to stay last night was one thing, but asking her to move in was something else altogether.
“Move in with me,” he repeated.
“Move in with you? As in for a few weeks until I can get back on my feet?” Yes, that, at least, made sense.
“As in make our addresses the same. Permanently.”
“That’s, that’s, that’s…”
Crazy.
Insane.
Ridiculous.
Had she mentioned crazy?
“You want me to move in with you?” she asked yet again.
He nodded.
“Why?”
He mumbled under his breath in Spanish, but she caught a couple words of interest: exasperating woman.
He cupped her face and held her tight. “Because I want you in my life, Emma. I want you beside me when I go to sleep and when I wake. Is there any better reason than that?”
“I have to sit down.” She stumbled backward to sit on the sidewalk, but her butt connected a little harder than she’d planned. It didn’t compare to the blow Noah had just given her, but they both smarted.
He wanted her to move in with him? That would be an enormous commitment and showed that she was more than his current flavor of the month, which made little sense for a myriad of reasons. The last woman he’d been dating had been Bridget Montague for crying out loud! Bridget, who’d been all legs, bronzed skin, and sex appeal. How was Emma supposed to compete in a class like that?
Then again, how many Bridgets had he ever asked to move in with him? It was a question she needed to find out the answer to.
He lowered onto the sidewalk beside her. “Your thoughts are so loud,Bomboncita, that the reporters across the street can likely hear them.”
“Reporters?”
She sat straight as she scanned the street. About half a dozen people milled about, four men and two women. None looked out of place, though. All wore casual spring clothes: jeans, T-shirts, shorts. She didn’t recognize anyone, but that didn’t exactly mean anything.
With a finger to her chin, Noah drew her attention back to him. “Never mind them. For some reason, they like to fixate on me.”
“For some reason?” Somehow, she managed not to roll her eyes. “Have you ever seen yourself in a mirror? You’re a rich, powerful, gorgeous bachelor. You’re a perfect storm for gossip fodder. Is it any wonder everyone adores you?”
