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He frowned.
“She’s down there auditioning because she thinks it’s what she was supposed to do, but it’s not. I can’t tell her that. Hell, I don’t think you can either. But if she decides to stick it out and she makes it to training camp…”
“There’s a training camp?”
Lucas nodded. “There is. And it lasts for ten weeks. But if she does it and you want to stay, we’ll make it work for both of you, okay? There are no obstacles.”
He thought about that for a moment. “For me there is.”
“Seriously?”
“Yeah, seriously. No offense, but I really don’t want this to be like…you know…a family thing. I feel like you’re meddling and playing matchmaker here–a lot like your dad did with your whole family–and I’m not sure how I feel about it.”
Then he waited for Lucas to get mad.
But he didn’t. He laughed.
Hard.
“That is possibly the greatest compliment you could have given me,” Lucas said with an easy grin. “I learned from the best, and I promise, once you land in Miami, you’re on your own and I’ll only help if you ask. Is that fair?”
“It is. Thanks.”
After that, everything was a bit of a blur. There was a private section of the airport where the Montgomery jet was. The plane was spacious and kind of awesome and Noah felt a little out of his element as the flight attendant got him settled and offered him a cocktail. It was a little after seven and he figured, why not? So, he sipped a glass of wine, watched a movie, and before he knew it, he was on the ground in Miami.
Now came the hard part.
It took a few minutes to find the car that was there for him, and then it took almost thirty minutes to get to the hotel. Noah looked over the paperwork and saw there wasn’t a reservation for a room for him and said a silent prayer that he wasn’t going to need one.
The entire ride up to the sixteenth floor in the elevator, he practiced what he was going to say, which wasn’t much. All he managed to think of was, “Hey, Lily…”
Yeah. He was totally going to screw this up.
The doors opened, and he let out a long breath before stepping out into the hallway. She had the room at the end of the hall and it felt like a mile away. When he finally knocked on the door, he knew he was going to have to think fast.
She opened the door and her beautiful eyes went wide. “Noah? Oh my God!” And then she was wrapped around him, kissing him, nearly knocking him on his ass. His arms instantly banded around her as he held her close, kissing her back.
Definitely not the greeting he was expecting, but so much better!
He reluctantly broke the kiss and carefully put her back on her feet. “Hey, beautiful,” he said softly.
Her smile was everything and her eyes shone bright with unshed tears. “What are you doing here? How did you even know where to find me?”
Picking up his suitcase, he nodded toward the room. “Can I come in?”
“Of course!” Lily stood aside as he walked in and closed the door behind her. “I’m so confused right now,” she said with a small laugh. “I mean…”
Putting the suitcase down, he turned to face her and really looked at her. She looked tired and unsure of herself and not at all like the incredibly confident woman he knew.
And yet, she was still the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen.
“I missed you,” he said, and then decided to lay all his cards out on the table. “I’ve been miserable since that night. I wanted to call you back and come to the guesthouse and just…make you talk to me, but I also knew you were dealing with a lot so I was trying to give you space.”
Taking a step toward her, he went on.
“I was being my usual, overly cautious self and I’m done with that. I’ve been living my life that way for too long and I’m over it.” He was standing close to her now and reached up to gently cup her face. “You, Lily Montgomery, make my life worth living. You bring laughter and color and music and love to it, and without you, I’m back to being just a sad, numbers nerd.”
She giggled before biting her lip. “You’re too sexy to be just a numbers nerd…”
