Noah (23 page)

Noah
took the tree off the car roof and carried it in the house allowing
for little assistance from
Veronica
.

Between the two of
them,
they put it up in her living room
.
Noah turned on the
radio
and they began decorating.
Veronica tried not to be too obvious about how nervous she was suddenly feeling being around Noah. He seemed just a little too content tonight. There was almost a gleam in his eyes, but after a
few songs, she
forced herself
to
snap out of it
and
enjoy
ed
their decorating evening.

“Ooh and now for my favorite part.”
She
brought a small wooden step stool
from the kitchen into the living room
and placed it next to the tree.
Noah smiled curious
ly
as s
he took
out a small bundle
wrapped in tissue paper out of a box and unwrapped it carefully.
The beautiful and very delicate
crystal
star tree-topper
was as she always remembered it
.

“
Fancy
,” Noah said
admiring it.

“It’s been in the family for generations.”

Noah pulled his hands away. “
Then
I’m not touching
it
.
I might break it.
”

Veronica
giggled. “You don’t have to. It’s been my job
to place it atop the Christmas tree
since I was five. I do it every year. My grandmother said the tradition gets passed on to the newest member of the family but since no one was ever born after me in the family I’ve been the only one doing it ever since.”

She stepped up on the stool and proceeded to carefully place the
star
at the very top of the tree. It took her a few tries before she got it just right. As she pulled her arm away slowly making sure she didn’t disturb the tree
,
the stool wobbled a bit.

“Careful!” Noah reached out for her
hand
,
but
instinctively
and a bit panicked she
pulled back
before their fingers touched.

“I’m okay
.
” Only she jerked back so fast
the sudden
movement made the stool
wobble even more and down she
went—r
ight into his arms.

The stool fell all the way over but Noah held
her
safely. With their bodies touching now the reality s
u
nk in fast—
she
was in
Noah’s big strong
arms
.

She could feel his heart begin to thud against her own.

“You okay?” 

Veronica
nodded
,
her
betraying
eyes going
slowly
from his
eyes
to his lips
and
though she knew she should she couldn’t pull herself away.
He licked his bottom lip
and she
stared
imagin
ing
how his beautiful lips would feel against hers
.
His hold on her tightened a little.
Was this really happening? Was she going to let him kiss her?

Unable to control it her body shivered and s
he closed
her
eyes
,
squeez
ing
them tight
as she willed away the
incredible urge to give into the moment
.

“What
is it
?”

“Noah.” She finally
found the strength to
pull away gently.

“What’s wrong?”
The concern was in his voice was genuinely tender.

“What happened today at the gym… I feel like…” She glanced
away from him focusing on the star on the tree
. “I just don’t want you to get the wrong idea about us. I like this. How things are between us.”

“I love it.”

She turned back to him.
God
,
she hoped he understood.
“I love it too, Noah. And that’s exactly why we have to keep it this way. If things change—”

“Okay.” Noah
said a bit too quickly and Veronica caught the
alarm
in his eyes
. “I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable.”

“I’m not. It’s just that your friendship means the world to me now. I want
to make sure
you
’re
aware of that.
  

He stared at her
.
“I am aware of it and don’t worry, I feel the same way.”

Finally, the
anxiousness she’d begun to feel ever since he’d gotten in Edward
’
s face at the gym eased a bit.
“Good.”
Hoping to lighten up the
moment,
she glanced back up at the star on the tree again and smiled.
“Looks good right?” 

“It’s perfect,” he said in a near murmur.

She continued to admire the
t
r
ee
, try
ing
to focus on the memories of decorating it with her mother and grandparents.
Instead,
all she could do was
obsess in her head about what they would be doing that very moment had she giv
en
in to the temptation. Would it have gone further than a kiss? She turned to him and smiled as the images of her undressing him became too vivid. “I worked up an appetite
.
H
ow ‘bout you?”

“Actually food sounds great right about now
,
”
Noah smiled following her out of the living room.

Shaking off all the built up anxiety Veronica headed to the kitchen. She really wasn’t very hungry at all. She just needed something to change the subject and mood
fast
.
“So what are you asking Santa for this year, Noah?”

“I already have all I need.”

Veronica turned to him from the fridge. “Really?” She didn’t want him to guess she was digging but she did want to get him a little something and she had no idea what would be appropriate. She was hoping for some clue to something simple and fun. She turned and looked into the fridge trying to sound casual. “No special cookies or gadget you’d want to indulge yourself with?”

He shook his head. “Nope. How
‘
bout you?”

“I usually just go shopping after the holidays when everything is on special.”

“But you have to open something Christmas morning.” Noah insisted.

Veronica pulled out some pastrami and began to unwrap it. “Don
Roberto
from across the street brought me something. One hundred percent sure it
’
s jam. He has a plum tree and he makes it every year and passe
s jars of the stuff
out for Christmas. But he wraps it
in a
pretty bag so I can open that.” Veronica smiled. “And Nellie dropped her present off early since she’ll be on a cruise all week.”

She looked up in time to see him frown. “So she’ll be gone again. How are you spending Christmas?”

“Like I always do. In my j
a
mmies all day watching holiday movie marathons.” She stirred the pastrami in the pan. The instructions said microwave but she liked it crisp.

“I don’t own pajamas but I can watch with you in my sweats.”

Veronica didn’t look up from the pan. She hated feeling thrilled that he wanted to spend the entire day with her watching movies but she couldn’t help it. Before she could respond he spoke again.               

“
Speaking of Christmas,
Jack’s having the gym’s annual employee Christmas dinner this weekend. You should come with me.”

Veronica turned to him as she
moved the pastrami around in the pan
, the unease creeping in again. Was he asking her on a date?
“A Christmas dinner?”

“Yeah, it
’
s not formal or anything. Since he leave
s
the place up to
us,
we only ever choose two places.
Rio
’s
,
the pizza place we were at the other night
,
or Chente’s, a Mexican seafood hole-in-the-wall
,
over
on
Evergreen.”

“I’ve been to Chente’s. They have good food.”

Noah smiled. “Well, that’s where it’s at this year. It’s completely informal but it’s fun.”

“Won’t it be just employees though?”

“Are you kidding me? Jack will just pay for us but everyone shows up. Like after the fight the other night. Gio’s sisters usually show up, too.”

Veronica lifted a shoulder. If she ever wanted this thing between her and Noah to feel normal, she had to stop making more out of everything they did and he said. “I haven’t had Chente’s in a while. I love their shrimp fajitas.”

“Damn that sounds good. We’ll order that on Saturday.”

And just like that it was settled. Veronica was going to Noah’s Christmas dinner with him. But not
with
him, with him
s
he told herself.
Just with him. 

~*~

Saturday’s workout was a short one again. Roni wanted to leave early to shower and get ready for the dinner. Most of the other guys were just rinsing off at the gym and going straight there. In the
past,
Noah would’ve done the same. He wasn’t kidding when he said it was completely informal. But tonight felt different.

Ever since he’d held Roni so close a few
nights
earlier he still hadn’t gotten over the electric current that had pierced through his body. He’d never felt anything like it but most memorable and what he hadn’t stopped thinking about was she’d felt something to
o
. It was undeniable. Though she fought it Noah seen it in her eyes—felt it in her trembling body.
It gave him hope. Hope that if she was feeling for him what he wouldn’t even try denying he felt for her anymore, then maybe somehow he
could
convince her things
could
work between them. 

Noah understood her fear of ruining their friendship. He feared that also—more than feared it. He
did
n’t even
like to think
of the two of them going their separate ways. But that would only happen if things didn’t work out and he didn’t see how they couldn’t. They got along so well
.
She was the perfect girl for him as far as he was concerned. Fuck the age difference. That didn’t mean shit to him. Now that she put it out there that her biggest fear was ruining what they had, he was even more hopeful that the age thing was becoming less of an issue for her.

Tonight was the beginning of “Operation Make Her See Th
at
We
’
re Meant for Each Other.”

After showering, he splashed a little extra aftershave on. She’d mentioned before
that
she liked it. There was a knock at his bedroom door just as he
slipped his jeans on
.
He zipped them up and clasped the button.
“Come on in
.”

The door opened halfway immediately saw her eyes widen. “I’m sorry I didn’t mean to—”

“It’s okay,” he chuckled
as he slipped into his shirt. Her reaction to seeing him shirtless was amusing
as hell
. “I’m almost ready. You ready to go?”

She pushed the door open a little further. “I know you said
it’s
very informal but you don’t think this is too informal
?
”

He couldn’t believe his luck. He had the go
-
ahead to size her up completely. Something he did often but only when she wasn’t looking. She even lifted her arms at her sides.
Than
k
you Jesus
. He took her in slowly from top
to bottom and then back up again
. She wore jeans and her
gray
boots with the fur
th
e kind
he loved seeing her in. Her v-neck sweater matched her boots and those adorable dark curls hung loose around her face.
He
swallowed
hard and realized he’d done far more than just size her up. His eye
s
had just about violated her.