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If there was ever a time to be slightly overdramatic and woe-is-me, it was right now. There would never be a more appropriate time.
“Lottie?” Noah said quietly. His voice was warm, smooth, soft, like an enveloping hug that could wash all your worries away.
For a moment, everything came rushing back. Him telling me he loved me; me leaving; us pretending that conversation never happened until he finally stopped replying to my texts.
The way my heart had broken into so many pieces that I, an eighteen-year-old expert on all things life, was sure it would never, ever be able to be put back together.
It had been, mostly. Over time, my heart had healed, although I’d accepted there’d always be a little Noah-shaped hole there. It was a hole I was willing to live with because back then, I’d been sure I’d never see him again.
And now he was here.
In front of me.
Because someone was dead in my bed and breakfast.
Bed and breakfast?
More likedeadand breakfast.
I snorted.
“Are you all right?” Noah asked.
My cheeks reddened, and I finally looked up. He was everything I remembered, but somehow, so much more. He was just as tall as I’d remembered, but he’d grown into that height at some point over the past decade. He’d filled out in the delectable kind of way that only happened to movie stars—I’m looking at you, Hemsworth—but he’d retained everything that made him… him.
His thick, dark hair was slightly longer on top than it was around the sides, and the longer bits looked a shade or two lighter when the sun hit it. His eyes were the colour of moss, a deep, dark green that was both warm and somehow cold at the same time, and he had the kind of gaze that pierced into your soul. Where he’d once had a clean, sharp jaw, he now had a shadow of stubble darkening it, and there was something about a beard that made a man infinitely hotter.
And this man did not need to be more handsome than he already was.
I cursed myself for thinking about that when I was in this situation, but honestly, focusing on something else wasn’t the worst thing in the world to be doing right now.
Even if that something else was my first love.
“Lottie?” he prompted, raising his eyebrows slightly.
“What do you think?” The words came out snappier than I’d intended, but could you blame me?
I was a little stressed.
Noah pressed his lips into a thin line, rendering his expression inscrutable. “I’m sorry, but I need to ask you a few questions.”
“Where’s Jamie? Can’t he do it?”
“No.” He held eye contact with me for a second. “Don’t make this hard, Lottie.”
“Don’t make it hard? Did you miss the part where Jamie said I’d just had a panic attack? Jesus Christ, Noah. Would it kill you to give me five minutes to make sure I don’t lose my shit again?”
Right as I asked that, blue lights illuminated the trees at the entry to the property, and an ambulance appeared through the greenery.
Look at that.
I didn’twantto be checked by a paramedic, but if it made Noah wait, then I’d let them do whatever they wanted to me.
Check me over? Do a blood pressure reading? Check my reflexes? Take me to dinner? Sure, sure, sure, sure.
Noah stepped to the side as two paramedics got out of the ambulance.
“Detective Inspector George,” an older woman greeted him. “What can we do?”
