Naked (39 page)

Noah snorted. Even Violet’s snort had rubbed off on him. “Why would she want someone like me? I’m the labor. She’s the fucking CEO.”

“And you’re not good enough for a CEO?” She smacked the back of his head. “I did not teach you to feel inferior. I did not brave inclement weather driving to hockey tournaments. I did not endure hours of ear-piercing guitar riffs, nor did I listen to night after night of hammering and sawing while you were busy making things in the garage.”

She had done all those things. Add the girls’ dance recitals, figure skating, and slumber parties to the list, and you had all the reasons why this woman deserved this house.

“I endured all of those things because I knew you were going to be great. If Violet isn’t the woman to recognize that, if Violet can’t let down her guard enough to trust you, so be it. Someone will. She’s out there.”

She
was
out there. Probably at her midtown condo drinking a glass of white wine all alone with her scarves.

“Embrace the man you are, sweetheart.” She cupped his cheek and turned his head so they were face-to-face. “You’re a good man, Noah Young. Blue collar, white collar, no collar. It doesn’t matter. All that matters is how good, kind, and loyal you are to others.” Her other hand came up and brushed across his shaved head. “And you, my son, are all of those things.” She kissed his forehead and whispered, “I love you,” then stood, leaving him alone in the kitchen to return to her guests. And most likely to find Henry.

Noah got up and walked over to the counter, looking out the small window above the sink.

Violet’s house sat there. Empty. Her shoes were probably beside the door, one fallen over the other from when she kicked them off without a care.

Her collection of scarves would be hung on the rack by the mirror in the foyer.

He loved her. He wanted her. But he loved himself more. He didn’t know what was going to happen in his career. But at least he knew where he wanted to go.

As far as his love life was concerned, he no longer felt inferior. He’d find a woman who loved him, trusted him with every part of her being.

That woman wasn’t Violet. And that reality tore his heart apart.

Chapter 33

Violet begged Harper to help her trick Noah into visiting Inked.

Noah hadn’t been silent about their breakup, and she knew that by contacting Harper she was taking her life in her hands, but she was desperate. This was the only way she could get him to speak with her. He didn’t return her calls. He didn’t return her texts.

And she had something to say, damn it. She had something to show him.

She was standing in Harper’s office, nearly naked, the only thing covering her body a silk robe. Underneath she was completely bare. And she was going to show Noah. Her true self. Body and soul.

Because she trusted him. She loved him. More than the company. More than her project.

Pretty soon she’d have a revised plan to present to the board. One that kept his mother’s house intact. But she was only going to use that if she fell flat on her face when telling him she loved him.

“Harper?” It was Noah on the other side of the door. She’d recognize his voice anywhere.

When he opened it, nervousness gripped her. He was so gorgeous. So mesmerizing. He looked great. Even better than every other time she’d seen him. And he looked relaxed, but as soon as he noticed her standing there, that relaxation disappeared. His shoulders rose toward his earlobes.

For a moment, his gaze softened, but then he closed himself off. “Where’s Harper?”

“She’s not here.”

“So then both of you are liars.” He turned to walk away but she yelled after him.

“Please, Noah. Don’t be mad at Harper. She felt sorry for me.”

He turned back but was avoiding eye contact. “You forgot your scarf.”

“No, I didn’t.”

A wave of nausea washed over her, forcing her to hold out her hand to steady herself from the dizziness. But she pushed through, past the coil of dread sitting in her stomach, past the elephant that had taken up residence on her chest.

She had nothing to lose, and no reason to wait any longer. She undid the tie at her waist and let the silk flutter to the floor.

Noah’s eyes darted up and looked at her, but they didn’t linger. He returned his gaze back to the ground.

“Noah!” She stomped her foot on the ground. “Look at me.”

He rubbed one hand over his shaved head. Finally, he did, gasping when he registered the marks on her body. For a moment his eyes were sad, sympathetic, but accepting. For one moment his eyes gave her the reaction she needed.

But then, as if flipping a switch, he shook it off. He looked right at her, but said nothing.

“This is what I couldn’t let you see.”

He nodded but still didn’t say anything.

The dread in her stomach was getting heavier. Doubt filled her mind. Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea. Maybe she was giving him too much credit. Between Harper, her mother, and Roxy, maybe she’d run out of luck when it came to revealing her scars.

Maybe he just didn’t care about her.

He had his arms crossed over his chest. He was so closed off. She missed those dimples. The sly grin that never failed to make her panties wet.

“I missed you.” She’d just blurted it out. It wasn’t part of her speech. Which she’d written about a thousand times before showing up here this morning.

“I know I fucked up. I know I lied. I just…didn’t know how to tell you. I know how much your family means to you, and I didn’t want you to hate me. You’re the last person in the world I want to hate me.”

His eyes roamed over her body as they had so many times before, but this time she didn’t have clothes on. This time, she was naked. Scars on display.

But still he gave away nothing.

God, he had stone-cold down to an art form.

“I have no excuses for why I lied. I just couldn’t reconcile the woman I was with the woman I wanted to be. I was trying so hard to prove myself at work that I lied to you. I let you become the scapegoat for my own insecurities.”

“What changed your mind?” He was expressionless. And it killed her.

“My father.”

He looked confused, unable to process how Ward Walker could convince her to get naked. But he deserved the truth. All of it. And telling him about her father was going to be a walk in the park compared to getting naked.

“Over a year ago my father was diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer’s.”

Realization washed over his face. “I’m sorry.”

“You knew?”

He shook his head. “No, but I wondered why he left so abruptly, and thinking back, there was a conversation that just didn’t make sense.”

“It’s been tough. It’s the reason why my mother…changed. And even worse, there are days when my father doesn’t even know who I am. And that scares the shit out of me.”

She had the means to confront that fear now. Her mother was on her side. Her board of directors believed in her. She could go on and make herself a happy life. But she knew that life would be lacking without Noah in it.

“I’ve spent so much time caring about what others thought of me that I forgot to be happy. To do what makes me happy. And that’s you.”

“
Doing
me makes you happy.” He had a small smile on his face when he said it, but she noticed the apprehension in his gaze. He feared that was all she wanted from him.

“I like
doing
you very much.” She walked forward, and this time he didn’t move away. “But I
love
you even more.”

His head shot up, and finally, his eyes softened just a tiny bit. Her heart swelled, giving her hope. But it was squashed the moment he armed himself again and turned cold, the muscles in his jaw clenching in frustration.

“Did you hear me?” She swallowed down a whimper. “I love you.”

“What do you want from me, Violet?” His voice was raised now. “My mother has the purchase offer. I’m not—”

“That’s not why I asked you here.”

Fuck.

She’d never seen him like this. She knew getting through to him would be tough, but she was going to have to step up her game.

“I told my board of directors about us. I told them everything.”

At the board of directors meeting just yesterday, in addition to being voted in as chair, she had disclosed the whole story. How they met. When they realized the truth. And where they were going in the future. She’d taken the liberty of determining that for them, even though she feared he was going to throw it back in her face.

“You didn’t have to do that.” He stepped back, letting his back rest against the door.

His nonchalance was infuriating, but she deserved it.

She would take everything he wanted to give her. She’d endure all of his anger and lashing out if it meant they could get past this and start over.

“Yes, I did, because I want there to be no mistake when I introduce you to all of my ritzy friends. You’re the associate foreman at Walker Industries
and
the man I love.”

Last week in the boardroom, she’d realized it didn’t matter what other people thought of her. She’d let her own insecurities dictate how other people saw her, but all that mattered was how she felt about herself.

“I’ve spent my whole life with everyone telling me I’m beautiful.”

“Is that what you want to hear? Compliments?” He laughed, shaking his head in disbelief. “Do you want to hear you’re smart? Successful?” He made a noncommittal noise. “Beautiful?” He shrugged again. “Is that why I’m here?”

She hated the anger in his voice.

“You’re here because…” She spat out the words. “You’re here because I’m sorry. I’m so damn sorry that when the time came for me to either show you my scars or hide, I hid. Because I couldn’t…” She let her head fall forward, trying her best to hide her tears. She didn’t know what she wanted to say. Nothing was coming out the way she wanted it to, the words a blur inside her head. She looked up, his eyes suddenly warm, and without even a word, he put her at ease.

She shook her head. “I couldn’t show you, Noah. I just couldn’t give you the opportunity to think I’m hideous.”

Immediately, she felt the warmth of his body. He had closed the distance between them, enveloping her in his embrace.

He whispered in her ear, “I don’t think you’re hideous.” His hand swiped down her hair and a new stream of tears rolled down her cheeks. “And I don’t ever want to hear you say that you’re hideous again.”

Without Noah walking into her life, she might never have recognized her sense of self.

She knew she could survive without him. She’d been doing that for days. She’d be successful without him, and maybe even one day, she could be happy without him, if he chose to walk away.

She didn’t
need
him.

But she
wanted
him.

They stayed like that for a while, until she’d gotten enough courage to keep going.

She lifted her head, letting her chin rest on his chest as she looked up at him. There he was. Noah. His anger had dissipated and finally the man she’d fallen in love with was standing in front of her.

“He died,” she whispered.

He wrapped a strand of her hair around her ear. “I know.”

“He died, and I lived. And I have no idea why.”

She squeezed him tighter. It made her angry. She was a rational person, a logical person, and this had no logic. There was no sense to what had happened.

“We were arguing because of sex.” She laughed. “So stupid. He was too busy looking at me ranting at him to see the truck.”

She still heard the sound in her head as clear as when it had happened. Screeching. Smashing. Then the hiss of steam. Then silence.

“I’m not sure what happened, but the truck collided with another car first, causing the beams it was carrying to unhinge from the back of the truck.”

She remembered it like it was yesterday. The beams flying through the air like missiles locked onto their target, which was their car.

“The beams impaled the windshield just as our car smashed into the truck. We were out of control for I don’t know how long before we landed in the ditch on the side of the road. But by that time, the damage had already been done.” Her words came out on a whimper. “One of the beams penetrated on my side, and with the movement of the car, ended up slicing up my chest and stomach, causing all of my scars.” She pointed down to the largest one that bisected her collarbone. “The beam ended up trapping my hand against the door and shattered the bones in my wrist, which is why I have trouble gripping things.” He nodded in understanding. “I’ll never have full dexterity.”

People often said she was lucky and that she’d had someone watching over her that night. But she hated thinking that. It meant that Steven had had no one watching over him.

“The second beam…it came through on Steven’s side.” She sobbed into her hand. “He didn’t stand a chance.”

“Violet.” He petted her head, his head trailing down her hair.

God, she loved the way he said her name.

He grasped her chin between two fingers, lifting her head. Her stomach leaped. She’d been naked this whole time, but it wasn’t until now that she’d felt that nakedness in her soul. Because that’s what she’d just done. Bared her soul to the man she loved, hoping that he’d bare his soul right back. When he traced the line of the scar that bisected her breast and collarbone, she shivered, but not in embarrassment. In desire. His touch never failed to ignite a fire within her.

“I felt these that night at your condo. I knew…” He bent down and kissed her scar, the one closest to her neck. Then he kissed another. “I knew you were hiding them, but I didn’t want to push you. I just wanted you to trust me, but you…” He backed away again. “Even if I lo…”

Butterflies danced in her stomach. He was going to say it, but something was stopping him.

“How can everything be okay between us when you’re going to force my mother to sell the house?”

She’d known it would come back to that. And she’d gone to great lengths to figure out a solution.

“If I told you to trust me, if I told you that I fixed it, would you believe me, and leave it at that?”