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“Maybe…”
“Come on. Don’t let this ruin our night, okay? No one’s judging you.” He kissed her hand. “I think you’re perfect and I love that you got the chef to make our dinner extra special.”
Forcing herself to relax, Lily smiled over at Noah. “You’re right. Let’s eat!”
* * *
It was a little after midnight and they were naked and wrapped around each other, completely content. He was tired and knew he could easily fall asleep, but he wanted to savor the moment. Everything was potentially going to change at some point tomorrow.
Well…today, since it was after midnight, he thought.
He played out multiple scenarios in his head over the last several days, and yet he still had no idea which one was going to actually play out.
Professionally, he felt like he could handle anything. After all, Lucas had been snarling at him for three years; how much worse could it get? Plus, after handling everyone’s top clients for the last month, he would think everyone would be feeling thankful toward him. That should work in his favor, right? Either way, with his new position and the work he’d put in with Mac, Jason, and Lucas’ clients, Noah was feeling very secure.
Personally? Not so much.
This last week with Lily had been amazing. He felt like they had connected on a whole other level and he just truly loved being with her. Was he going to miss nights like this? Absolutely. Was that a deal breaker for him that they couldn’t do this as often? Not at all. They were adults and while the sex was off the freaking charts, he was mature enough to wait a little in between nights they could spend together.
Then there was the dancing.
She’d been spending a lot of time at the studio over the last week, and he knew she was feeling very confident because she was moving with no pain. Every day she talked to him about how she used to dance and how she was dancing now to avoid aggravating the injury. It sounded like a temporary solution to a long-term problem, but he kept that to himself.
Unfortunately, he was keeping a lot to himself because he didn’t want to rock the boat, but eventually he was going to have to speak up. If this relationship was going to work, they had to talk to each other even when they didn’t agree.
But…considering how his entire life had gone, he was overly cautious and wasn’t confrontational. It wasn’t a great way to live, but it had gotten him to where he was financially stable and helped his mother go back to school to get her nursing degree. He was never going back to that small town life of struggling.
Yawning, he shifted to wrap himself around Lily’s sleepy form. He placed a kiss on her forehead, and it didn’t take long for him to lose the battle to stay awake.
The next time he opened his eyes, sunlight was just filtering in and, in the distance, he heard her phone ringing. She instantly shot up and looked around frantically. “What the…?” She scrambled from the bed and stumbled naked out to the living room. “H’lo?”
Noah sat up and could obviously only hear her side of the conversation, which, he soon discovered, didn’t sound great.
“Oh my God! Is he okay?” She paused. “Okay, okay…is the ambulance here now?” Another pause. “I’ll meet you at the hospital. Thanks. Bye.”
He was instantly out of the bed because he figured this had to do with William. He was tugging his pants on when she turned the lights on. “What happened?” he asked, stepping in front of her and gently grasping her shoulders.
“That was my uncle,” she said, her voice shaking. “My grandfather…he wasn’t feeling good after dinner…” Tears streamed down her face. “I…I don’t know all the specifics, but he was up all night and he started coughing and then was throwing up blood…he fell and…oh God!” She was openly sobbing, and Noah pulled her into his arms and held her. In the distance, he heard the sirens. “We need to go…”
“We do,” he said, turning her toward her closet. “Get dressed and I’ll drive you to the hospital. Maybe we’ll beat the ambulance there and you can see him before they take him back to examine him.”
And that just made her cry harder.
He felt completely out of his element, but did his best to quickly dress and then help her. They were out the door five minutes later and in the distance, he could see the lights in front of the main house and knew the rescue squad and ambulance were still there. “Should we go up to the house…?”
“Yes. Please,” she said.
As soon as they drove around and pulled into the driveway, Lily was out of the car and running to the front door. The EMTs were carrying William out on a stretcher and Noah quickly went over to catch her because she looked ready to collapse.
“Grandpa,” she sobbed, reaching for him.
“Hey, sweet girl,” he said hoarsely. “Don’t cry. It’s all going to be okay…” But his voice was fading and they were rushing to get him into the ambulance.
Robert walked out of the house looking grim and stopped short when he spotted the two of them.
“Would you like to ride with us?” Noah asked and was surprised when Robert nodded.
The ambulance pulled away and the three of them climbed into Noah’s car, with Robert taking the passenger seat and Lily getting relegated to the back. Noah had a ton of questions, but he didn’t want to upset either of them.
