Free One Night in the Ice Storm by Noelle Adams Page B

promised.”
    “I
bullied him into it.” She reached up to stroke his bristly jaw. “I needed to
know. You broke my heart. I needed to know why.”
    The
lines in his forehead became deeper. “I broke your heart?”
    “Of
course, you did. I was…I was crazy about you, and I thought you’d treated me
like dirt. I just couldn’t forgive you. I couldn’t get over it.”
    “I
didn’t know.” He pulled her into a one-armed hug, holding her against his
chest. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t know. It killed me. I was wreck, but you seemed
to get over it so quickly. So I kept telling myself it was just as well, since
you obviously weren’t serious about me.”
    “I
didn’t get over it quickly,” she admitted, her mouth muffled by his shirt. “I
didn’t get over it at all.”
    “I’ll
make it up to you,” he promised. “Just give me a chance, and I’ll show you how
much you mean to me, how incredibly precious you are to me.”
    “As
long as you give me a chance too.”
    He
leaned down to kiss her—deeper and more ardently than even last night. She
responded, trying to show him through her eagerness, her responsiveness how
deeply she felt about him.
    Despite
the fact that she was still half-crying, it was a pretty good kiss. It was
about to overwhelm her when she accidently put weight on her ankle.
    She
jerked and gave a little cry at the jolt of pain. She had to cling to David’s
shirt to steady herself.
    The
kiss broken, he reached out to support her. “Okay?”
    “Yeah.
Pretty good.” She was grinning. Couldn’t seem to stop.
    “Me
too.”
    “So…so
what now?” she asked. The spiral of emotions was finally leveling off, leaving
as many questions as answers.
    “I
guess Brad and your mom will show up soo—”
    “I
meant what now with us, you idiot.” There was no way he could miss the soft
affection in her eyes.
    His
face softened too. “I guess we should maybe start with a date. Do you happen to
be free Saturday night?”
    She
snickered. “Yes. I can probably fit you. But why wait so long? Why don’t you
join us for Christmas Eve tonight?”
    His
eyes were dark and rich and mesmerizing. “That’s a family thing, isn’t it?”
    “You’ve
always been almost family, and I’m inviting you.”
    “Then
I accept, but I’m still taking you out on Saturday night.”
    She
stretched up to kiss him, so that distracted them for a minute. As they were
pulling away, she said, “Two dates in one week. My social life is picking up.
I’ll have to reorganize all of my other boyfriends to make room for you.”
    She
was joking, and he evidently knew it. He lifted a hand to cup her cheek and
gently wiped one tear from her skin with his thumb.
    “You
better not tell me the names of those other boyfriends or their cars and houses
will be suddenly struck with a deluge of inexplicable catastrophes.”
    She
giggled helplessly.
    “You
understand, don’t you?” David continued, his expression and tone growing sober.
“I’m not going to pressure you into anything you’re not ready for, but I don’t
just want to date you. I don’t want you to date anyone else. I’m serious about
this. I’m serious about you .”
    She
reached up to grab his face the way he’d grabbed hers. “I’m serious about you
too. I don’t want to see anyone but you.”
    “Really?
I was trying not to scare you by moving too fast. I know we’ve just had the one
night.”
    She
gave a huff of objection. “One night? I’ve been crazy about you since I was ten
years old.”
    He
smiled. “That’s good to know. I know we’ll have to work a lot out, with us
living in different parts of the state. But I’ll do whatever I need to do to
make it work.”
    “Me
too.”
    “I
just want you to know—if you want to stay in Richmond, I’d even be willing to
move. I know that’s in the future. I’m not trying to scare you.”
    She
actually laughed at the idea of her being scared by his passionate sincerity.
She thought she might melt