Wedding Promises. Jennifer Faye

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СКАЧАТЬ wedding was a game, another act. That at the end of the day he could take his ring off and go back to being just Riley again—no harm, no foul.

      Marriage meant somewhat more to Noah. That was why he had no intention of ever entertaining the institution.

      Still, even knowing that not everyone in Hollywood shared his opinion on the importance of marriage, he hadn’t expected the stag do to feel so...shallow. Meaningless.

      Irrationally, he blamed Eloise. She was the opposite of shallow. She’d given him false expectations for the rest of the world.

      He hadn’t even been looking for Eloise, particularly. He’d been looking for a drink—a proper one, not a cup from the keg Riley had insisted on, as a homage to frat movies past. But when he’d heard Eloise’s voice...he had to admit that maybe it had been her he’d been looking for all along.

      Melissa spat out something hateful about Eloise’s mother, and Eloise responded with a denial. Noah moved in closer, in time to hear Melissa rate all the things about him that mattered in her world, none of which were anything he’d want to feature in his obituary.

      Then she left, and Eloise was alone in the hallway.

      ‘I’m not sleeping with Noah Cross,’ she said.

      Noah stepped out of the shadows. ‘And isn’t that a crying shame?’

      Eloise spun round, her eyes wide. ‘What are you doing here?’

      ‘Just looking for a drink.’ Was it the lights, or was that something akin to lust that he saw in her eyes? ‘And you.’

      ‘Why?’

      He didn’t have an answer. It should have been easy—I want you. I desire you. He’d been sure that was all this was, this strange attraction between them. A game, a flirtation. A friendship with edge, that was all. At least until the kiss they’d shared at the Frost Fair.

      Now...now he had no idea what this was, or why the need to be with her was thrumming through his body like a second heartbeat.

      But it was. And he did need her. Right now.

      Discretion be damned.

      Noah moved forward, closing the distance between them in just a couple of steps. Eloise licked her lips, just a quick brush of her pink tongue against her lower lip, but it was enough to drive Noah wild. Enough for him to imagine those lips on his own again. To imagine them on his skin, covering his body, while his own mouth touched every single inch of her...

      No, he had no idea what this was between them. But he knew he was done fighting it.

      He wrapped his arms around her waist, just as he had on the stage that afternoon. But this time there were no costumes, no parts. No Romeo, no Juliet. Just Noah and Eloise.

      She stared up at him, her lips parted, her pupils so large they almost eclipsed the blue-green of her beautiful eyes. She wanted this as badly as he did; he could see it.

      But the most frightening thing was, he wasn’t sure that a kiss would be enough. Or one night. Or several nights.

      He wanted her body, sure, but what scared him was how much more he wanted. What was it about Eloise that made him want to look deeper? To know more, to understand?

      Deeper was off the table—and had been since Sally.

      But if it hadn’t been...he had a feeling that Eloise was a woman he could have shown every inch of his soul, and come to know hers in return.

      He shook his head, just an inch or so, just enough to dismiss the thoughts. He’d known the woman a couple of days. That wasn’t what this was about, for either of them.

      All he needed to concentrate on was kissing her again.

      He didn’t say anything—words were unnecessary now. As he stared into Eloise’s eyes he knew she understood everything he wasn’t saying. He tilted his head, lowering his lips to hers, and she rose up on her toes to meet him, pressing her body against his. He could feel every inch of her pressed against him, warm and soft and wanting where they touched, and he couldn’t help but deepen the kiss. It took everything he had not to sweep her up against the nearest wall and make love to her, without a thought for who might see or what they’d think. Or what might get back to Stefan, the director, who needed to believe that Noah could control his baser instincts.

      Usually, he could, Noah was sure. He remembered having control, willpower, restraint once. Before he’d met Eloise.

      He’d never felt this before—this desperate, unthinking desire. He’d dated the world’s most beautiful women and he’d had true love, yet none of them had ever inspired this sort of passion down deep inside of him.

      Noah didn’t want to think too much about what that meant. He just wanted to enjoy it.

      But then Eloise pulled away.

      Noah let his hands fall from her waist as she stepped back, staring up at him, her mouth half open as if she wanted to talk but couldn’t quite get the words out. After a moment of wordless staring, she swallowed and said, ‘Not here. Please, not here.’

      ‘Right. Of course.’ This was a bad idea. This was everything he’d sworn he wouldn’t do this week. ‘I should go.’

      But then Eloise met his gaze and shook her head before she turned away, stalking up the hallway towards the stairs.

      He watched her go, his whole body at war with his mind. His feet ached to follow her, his arms to reach out and grab her. But his mind told him to stop this now, before it grew too much. Too dangerous.

      Never mind that it could jeopardise the first movie role he’d been excited about in seven years. As much as he wanted it right now, the film seemed like the least important thing in his world.

      There was a reason he didn’t normally feel this way about women—he didn’t let himself. But Eloise had pierced through every defence he’d ever built in less than forty-eight hours. How much more damage could she do with another day?

      His eyes fell shut as he willed his body to leave it be.

      But this time his body won out.

      It took seconds to catch her up, halfway up the stairs to the third floor, but she didn’t acknowledge his presence at all. Which at least meant she wasn’t sending him away. In silence, they made their way up the stairs, down darkened hallways, to a room at the far corner of the hotel.

      Eloise’s hands shook as she reached for her key, and he leaned over to take it from her without thinking. She rested against the door, her back to the wood as she looked up at him, her eyes vulnerable now. Wary.

      ‘I said I wouldn’t do this,’ she whispered. So had he. But some things couldn’t be denied.

      ‘Because you don’t want to?’ he asked softly. ‘Or because Melissa told you not to?’

      ‘Because I’m not normally this person.’

      ‘Do you want to be?’

      If she said no, he’d walk away. The frustration might kill СКАЧАТЬ