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I purse my lips, staring into the ocean and admiring the panoramic views as we begin to rise. “If that’s what you want to call it.”
“You don’t like New York City?”
Letting out a sigh, I think about his question. Noah has this odd way of reading my mind before I’ve even said a word. In ways, he’s much like Charl
ie. The two of them are very intuitive, or perhaps I’m just too comfortable around them, and my body language is readable.
“Home isn’t Manhattan…”
“Then what?” he questions. “England?”
I shrug my shoulders, the void in my answer only raising more questions within my racing mind. What’s wrong with being a nomad? Perhaps I don’t need a home. My purpose in life can be to wander the earth alone. Gee, can I sound any more pathetic and morbid?
“Does it have to be a place?” I pose the question back to him. “What if you don’t know where home is because it’s not a physical destination?”
Noah nods with his distant stare. Like me, the ocean view becomes magnetic, almost as if with every crash of the waves onto the shoreline, a piece of us washes away.
“So, this guy, Dominic,” Noah mentions the name with slight animosity. “If that’s what you want to call him.”
I laugh, knocking his shoulder trying to lighten my mood. “Do you think I faked a name? That’s his real name.”
“You’re in love with him.”
“I’m not…” I stammer, hating the words ‘love’ and ‘Dominic’ in the same sentence. “It’s not love, okay? Yes, I feel something, but I’m not “in love” with him.” I use air quotes to accentuate it.
Rather than speak, Noah nods his head knowingly, a habit of his when he either tries to think of something inappropriate to say or has nothing to say at all. I watch his profile, admiring his sharp jawline. He has the kind of face that stops you in your tracks—handsome and striking like an iconic movie star.
“So, help me out here. Connect the dots… you’re not in love with him?” Noah asks, raising his brow while watching me. “But you’ve still got no response, and you’re pining for him?”
“Pining for him?” I laugh again, his choice of word humorous. “Who are you? Danielle Steel?”
His eyes gleam as his chuckles softly, making him even more handsome.
“Look, I spent this week with a bunch of romance authors, so cut me some slack. I’m trying to understand this whole love thing.”
Our carriage stops at the top of the Ferris wheel. The view is breathtaking, the California coastline stretching for miles in the distance. Beneath us, a ray of bright lights illuminates the pier as crowds of people stroll around. It’s nothing like Manhattan. The open space allows me to breathe for just a moment to take it all in.
“This is beautiful,” I murmur. “I feel so…”
“Content,” Noah says, while I squeeze into his side tighter. “It’s like a whole other world up here.”
“It really is,” I whisper, breathing in the fresh air. “So, are you telling me Noah Mason has never been in love before?”
With a slow and steady gait, his usual long pause is accompanied by him loosening his shoulders. “I’m not cut out to fall in love. I just want to have a good time.”
Noah’s honesty is very forthcoming, and what makes our friendship unique. In his presence, I feel my complete self without the lies I often tell to please everyone. Eric is great, but his immaturity at times, becomes too much for me. I crave a real man by my side, and not necessarily someone I need to fuck or marry.
Despite our closer relationship now, Lex will always be my mentor. I rely on him to educate me, teach me how to succeed. We have a professional relationship as well as a personal friendship that took years in the making. Even if Charlie wasn’t in the picture, he isn’t the type of guy I’d sit around the couch with and watch movies with an oversized tub of popcorn. However, in the boardroom, there’s no one else I would rather be with.
Yet with Noah, there’s this feeling of completeness between us. Like I’ve known him my whole life when, in fact, it’s been two weeks.
“How do you know you’re not cut out to fall in love if you’ve never been?”
“I guess you have a point,” he agrees, his expression indifferent. “I can’t say it’s something I think about. As I said, I just live life on my terms.”
I nod, agreeing with everything. Before Dominic, I lived life on my terms, and now I’m here in a cul-de-sac of regret.
“So question…” I pose, shuffling onto my side, so I’m facing him. “Why did you agree to the bet on settling down?”
