Rock the City: A Midnight Fate Novel (38 page)

“Lane, the buyer was Elmore Beckett.”

“And?”

“Lark told me Easton’s
real
name tonight. Of course, I laughed at it and joked around about with her, but on the inside, my heart was pounding so hard I thought I was going to pass out. I sent her to bed like a child so I wouldn’t break down in front of her.”

“It’s not a big deal, Noelle.”

“If it weren’t, you would have used your own name and not one I wouldn’t recognize. Why’d you do it?”

“You don’t want to live there anymore. I don’t want you to live there anymore. I figured if I hurried the sale along, you’d get the money and be done with it. Maybe I should have let it play out on its own, but I wanted you to be able to focus all of your energy on the baby like you want to.”

“You
bought
the building, Lane. That’s a
lot
of money. You can’t just buy my problems away every time I have one. Not to mention you’re stuck with a building you have no use for.”

“That’s where you’re wrong. I spent
our
money, so technically we made money on the deal. I offered you more than you paid for the salon.”

“What?” I ask him, confused. “I don’t think it works like that.”

“It doesn’t matter how it works, just that it does. I got you out of a bad situation, and I’d do it again if I had to. Sometimes you
can
put a price on happiness, Noelle. All I want is for you to be happy.”

“Your money isn’t
mine
.”

“It is if I say it is.”

“I don’t want to argue about it. I’m too tired.”

“Then stop arguing. It was a business decision. I already have someone interested in turning it into a restaurant. Though I suggest you get used to the idea of having money because I’m only getting married once. Our wedding won’t be surrounded by contracts and signatures. The only thing we’re signing is the marriage license.”

“Lane, that’s insane. You can’t mean that. I did nothing to earn any of that money.”

“Why is it insane? If I can share my life with you, I can share money. The way I look at it, if you’re going to divorce me, then I’ve already lost it all anyway. You might as well take all the money, too.”

I hop off the counter, shedding my bra and panties. As I undress, I face him and say, “First of all, I wouldn’t divorce you. Secondly, I’m not mad. Shocked, yes, but not mad. Thank you for caring enough about me to help me.”

He moves closer, grabbing two handfuls of my ass as he holds me. “You’re my beginning and end, baby.”

“I want you to take me to bed, but we can’t waste that bomb. Will you get in with me for a couple minutes?”

He lets go of me, helping as I climb into the warm water. The lower I get, the better it feels. I didn’t realize how stressed my body was until now. “Are you getting in or are you just going to watch me?”

He leans against the wall, shrugging. “Depends what you plan on doing. I have a great view up here.”

Resting my back against the tub, I spread my legs and close my eyes. I feel him watching me, but with the layer of suds on top of the water, he can’t see a thing. All he can do is watch my facial expressions and guess.

It doesn’t take him long to figure out what I’m up to when he asks, “Are you touching yourself?”

“Maybe.”

“You’re supposed to be relaxing, Noelle.”

“This
is
how I relax. Especially after my insanely hot fiancé buys my business to make me happier.”

“Are you happy?”

“I’m crazy happy—actually, I’m pretty close to ecstatic. Just give me another minute or two.”

Lane leans down and pushes the soap away. When he still can’t get a good enough look, he reaches his hand in the tub and feels around until he finds mine. “How much of this is you and how much is the bath bomb I tossed in here?”

“I guess you’ll never know. I’d keep buying them though. Just to be safe.”

“Noelle,” he warns. He hates when I’m vague. The man likes straightforward answers, and sometimes I’m too much of a smartass to deliver.

I open my eyes before he has a chance to get all worked up. “I’m just messing with you. Get in here already.”

He climbs in behind me, pushing my wet hair off my shoulders so he can knead them. My head falls forward; if he’s not careful, I might fall asleep. “That feels so good.”

“Good, because I want you relaxed for what I have in mind.”

“I just have one more question before we get to that.”

“What?” he asks when I sit up a little straighter.

“If Lark hadn’t told me Easton’s real name tonight, were you ever going to tell me the truth?”

He leans his head against the edge of the tub, sighing. “You would have found out when we closed on the property.”

“You would have taken it that far? I’d have walked in there with my realtor looking like an asshole.”

Without responding, he stands up, taking me with him. We’re still slippery from the soap and I almost slide out of his hands, but he sets me back on the counter without dropping me. “I’m dripping all over the place.”

“I didn’t even start yet,” he says, as he opens the drawer in the vanity and pulls out my bullet. He turns it on one of the higher speeds and spreads my legs open as far as they’ll go. I know it’s coming, but I still jump when he presses the cool silver against my clit.

Already intense, I search for something to hold onto. “What was wrong with my question? I think it’s valid.”

“Nothing, but you were hell-bent on making some kind of point, so I thought I’d make one of my own.”

“And what point are you trying to make?”

He leans in and kisses me, his mouth making a creative statement with a giant exclamation point at the end. Hs stops only to push two fingers inside me, whispering, “I know how to make you happy, Noelle. You can ask as many questions as you need to and try to paint me into a corner, but in the end, you know the real reason why I do most everything, don’t you?”

I see his mouth moving and I can tell words are coming out, but all I can focus on is what’s happening between my legs. My head is spinning so fast the contracts and property deals are already forgotten.

Pressing my back against the glass mirror, I shift my hips, giving him even better access to what I want. “Lane,” I practically beg, even though he’s already doing everything I need him to do.

“Baby, I’ll make you feel so good, but let’s get one thing straight real quick.”

“Okay.”

“Every relationship has bumps along the way. It’s what you do with all the noise when everything sucks that matters.”

“That’s a little bit poetic. So, you’re saying that when we argue, you’re just gonna sex my anger out of me?”

“Overthinking ruins things, Noelle. It creates problems that didn’t even exist.”

“I’ll stop thinking if you just keep doing. From here on out, no fucks will be given.”

He smirks when I dig my nails into his arm, practically screaming as he turns the bullet up another notch. “I’m glad we’ve had this little talk, baby.”

“You’re the smartest man I know.”

“And don’t you ever forget it.”

Noelle lays the baby down in the bassinette, her eyes still teary from the birth two days ago. Until now, I never knew a woman could cry so much, but seeing her so happy, with her future in her arms, nothing will ever compare to that. Well, maybe the day she was born. That was pretty damn amazing.

Holding onto my arm, Noelle is shaking so bad I worry I’ll have to pick her up and carry her the rest of the way. Despite it being three o’clock in the morning, she has more energy than she knows what to do with.

“I wonder how she’s doing,” she says for the tenth time in five minutes.

I squeeze her hand, desperately needing her to relax. “You heard the doctor; these things take hours.”

She agrees but turns away from me, her eyes focused on the oak tree outside the window. When her shoulders start to shake, I realize she’s reached her breaking point. “Baby, what’s wrong?”

She wipes away her tears with her palms, not giving them the chance to speak for her. After a couple more seconds of silence, she turns toward me with tired eyes. “What if we’ve gone through all this and she doesn’t sign the papers?”

“Noelle.”

“I hate myself for being so selfish, Lane. She’s the one who has to make the hardest decision of her life, not me. But I’m still so scared. I love this baby and I haven’t even met her yet.”

I kneel in front of her, desperate to take away her pain, even though there’s nothing I can do to make it better. That only makes me feel even more helpless than I already am. “It’s out of our hands now. If that little girl is meant to be ours, Lemon will keep her word and sign the papers. If it’s not meant to be today, then we’ll focus on tomorrow. I told you I’ll do whatever it takes to make you a mother.”

She tightens her ponytail and brings her knees to her chest, curling into a smaller ball. “I’m trying so hard to stay positive, but all this waiting is killing me. My stomach is in a giant knot.”

Just as I reach out for her, a nurse calls our names. Noelle’s eyes widen and start to well up again. Assuming it’s bad news, I walk over to her, keeping my voice low when I ask, “What’s going on?”

The nurse smiles warmly, no doubt seeing the fear on both our faces. “Lemon’s asking for Noelle. She’d like her to come in the room during the birth.”

I hear the gasp behind me, and like her prayers have been answered, she stands up and smiles so big it almost knocks me flat on my ass.

“She wants me?” The nurse nods and squeezes her shoulder, the little bit of silent reassurance Noelle needs.

As they walk away, leaving me alone in the waiting room, all I can do is sit back down and wait. I wait for Noelle’s dreams to come true and for my sister’s to begin. What started out as a disaster has ended up breathing life into all of us.

But if I thought waiting it out with Noelle by my side was rough, it’s even harder watching the hours pass alone. I’ve counted the tiny pinholes in the ceiling and the tiles on the floor, plus examined each person who walked into the room, wondering if their life was about to change, too.

Sometime after lunch, I must have dozed off because the next time I open my eyes, Noelle’s shaking me, begging me to wake up.

“What’s wrong?” I ask her as I sit up and let my eyes adjust to the harsh hospital lighting.

“She’s here, Lane. She’s here!”

I stare at her, shocked that it’s over. “How’s Lemon?”

“She did so good, but she wants to see you.”

I run my hands through my hair, trying to get myself together. “Okay, come on,” I tell her. I’m confused all over again when she stays put and doesn’t follow me.

“She wants to see you alone, Lane.”

My excitement nosedives and right away, I wonder if this is the beginning of the end. “Why?”

“I don’t know. I think she needs her big brother.”

Praying that’s all this is, I walk to Lemon’s room with my hands shoved in my pockets, still counting the tiles on the floor and avoiding stepping on any of the cracks.

Before I knock, I take a deep breath. A breath so uncertain I have to think about the next one and the one after that. For the longest minute of my life, I stand in the doorway, watching her holding the baby in her arms. She brushes her finger down her little cheek, staring in awe at the life she created.

“Come here,” she tells me, scooting over in her bed so I can sit next to her. “I wanted you to meet your daughter.”

“You still want to go through with it?”

The smile falls off her face, and I see the panic rising in her eyes. “You don’t want to?” she asks in shock.

Of all the stupid things I could have said, I already regret it. “That’s not what I meant.”

“What did you mean?”

“Lemon, all I’ve ever wanted to do is give you the life you deserve. Whether Noelle and I leave here with this baby or not, we want you to be happy. So, I guess I needed you to know that neither of us is making this decision for you. This is all yours. Whatever you decide, we’ll still support you.”