Wild Nights (8 page)

Chapter Nine

Six weeks later…

“Natalie. When are you going to stop moping over him?” Reagan’s voice was firm as she stared at her from across the tiny round table they were sitting at in the crowded bar. “It’s been six weeks and he hasn’t contacted you once. Noah Wilde is an asshole. Fuck him.”

“Yeah, fuck him,” Andrea chimed in, holding up her margarita glass before she sucked half of it down.

Natalie glared at her friends. Her blissed out, totally happy and sexually satisfied friends. They had a lot of room to talk. After being down in the dumps for weeks, Declan finally showed up while she was at work and told Reagan he wanted her in his life. Andrea and Luke Nelson were so sickeningly in love—yes, in freaking
love
—it was disgusting.

In other words, Natalie was jealous as hell and could hardly contain it.

“I wish I could fuck him,” she retorted, earning shocked looks from both of her friends. She shrugged and took a sip of her margarita. “It’s true. I miss him.”

“We know,” Andrea said, leaning across the table so she could be heard. The bar they all met at to have drinks and chips and salsa was extra packed tonight. “And you need to get over him. There are plenty of cute guys here tonight. You should go talk to one.”

“Oh yeah, it’s that easy,” Natalie said sarcastically, grabbing a chip and dunking it in salsa before she shoved it in her mouth. She hadn’t been eating much since they came back from Vegas. Work kept her busy. Worry and sadness kept her nauseous. It was so stupid for her to feel like this, but she couldn’t help it. Those last hours with Noah, despite the fight and her almost leaving, had been the best. The absolute best.

And then he just…disappeared. He’d asked for her phone number and did nothing with it. No calls, no texts, nothing. The photo that appeared on the gossip sites? Her face hadn’t been shown, just the back of her as Noah kissed her in the street right before they grabbed a cab and went back to the hotel. She still looked at that photo on occasion, her heart aching at the way he touched her face, so tenderly, like he cared.

Clearly, by his actions, he didn’t care at all.

“I know it hurts. I’ve been there.” Reagan reached for Natalie’s hand and covered it with her own, giving it a squeeze. “Maybe you should try and reach out to him?”

“No way.” Natalie shook her head, withdrawing her hand from Reagan’s. “I couldn’t do that. I don’t have his number. He didn’t give it to me.”

Reagan sent her a look. “I could get it. So could Andrea. Declan and Luke know him. They’re all friends. I could text Declan right now and ask him for it…”

“No,” Natalie practically yelled, startling herself. She cleared her throat, ignoring the wide-eyed stares her friends were giving her. “I don’t want his number. I refuse to contact him. If he’s interested, he’d call. I’m guessing that’s not the case.”

“Natalie,” Andrea started, but Nat cut her off with a glare.

“Seriously. Let’s drop the subject.” She glanced at Reagan, who was furiously texting someone. “And you better not be asking your man for Noah’s number or I’ll cut you.”

“Please.” Reagan rolled her eyes and set her phone down. “Like you’d do that.”

“Don’t tempt me.” She’d never been one to enjoy violence, but she’d really like to kick Noah’s ass just about now. It made her sad, how quick he dumped her. Sad and angry. Yeah, it had only been one weekend, but damn it, she knew she wasn’t the only one who’d felt something special spark between them, right?

Right?

She knew she was being irrational. A no-strings affair had been what she wanted, but the more time she’d spent with Noah, the more she liked him. And now that he wasn’t around? She missed him.

Terribly.

Reagan’s phone vibrated, sending it skittering along the table, and she snatched it up, her eyes going wide when she read the text. “Oh my God.”

“What?” Andrea asked. “What’s going on?”

Natalie ignored them both. It was probably a dick pic from Declan and Reagan was just rubbing it in. God, she couldn’t believe she was thinking like this, acting like this. It went against her nature completely. Her parents would be shocked. She was behaving like a bitter old woman and she was tired of it. Tired of feeling sad.

“You won’t believe this.” Reagan was looking directly at her when she said it. “I just got a text from James.”

“James?” Natalie frowned. They’d all stayed in contact with James since they came home from Vegas. Andrea had even gone out to lunch with him once and had a great time. Natalie couldn’t bring herself to make firm plans with James because seeing him would only make her think of Noah and that would make her miserable.

Reagan nodded eagerly, her gaze dropping to her phone screen. “He said, ‘Have you heard the new song by Wilde & Wicked? It just came out today.’”

“What?” Noah had confessed to her that relations between the band members had been strained. Had they worked it out?

“I didn’t know they had a new song out,” Andrea said, glancing between Reagan and Natalie.

Reagan looked like she was about to burst. “Yeah, they have a new song. And it’s called…‘Natalie’.”

“
What?
Why wouldn’t James text me first?” Natalie said again, a little louder this time. She scrambled for her purse and pulled out her phone, going to iTunes so she could look up the song.

“You know how he loves to gossip. He’s probably counting on me telling you. Oh yeah, James now says this: ‘Hmm, wonder who this song is about? And it’s a sexy one too.’ He wrote a freaking song about you, Nat!” Reagan said, her voice brimming with excitement. “I’m sure that has to mean something.”

Natalie found the song and stared at it, shock coursing through her. In black and white on the iTunes site, it said “
Natalie” by Wilde & Wicked.

Holy. Crap.

She hit the play sample button, holding the phone up to her ear so she could hear it in the noisy din of the bar. The guitar was soft, the beat slow, and then she heard Noah’s voice croon direct in her ear, the familiar sound making her insides vibrate.

One night with you

Could never be enough

You’re the girl of my dreams

The girl with the right stuff

Natalie grinned. That was sort of cheesy in a New Kids on the Block way, but she…loved it.

If I could do it all over again I would

Never let you go

Oh Natalie, I made a mistake

You’re the only girl who could take

Ownership of my heart

And soul

Never let you go

Natalie

“You need to call him,” Reagan said when Natalie slowly set the phone on the table once the song sample was done. “Is there a message in the song?”

“Oh yeah,” Natalie said, trying to wrap her head around it all. He wrote a song about her. A song that would probably be played on the radio—about her. The nobody that supposedly didn’t matter.

Maybe she did matter. Far more than she thought.

“You going to call this Natalie girl and tell her how you really feel? Or are you expecting her to come running to you all because you wrote a song about her,” Rick said with a shake of his head. “That’s sort of an asshole thing for you to do, I must admit. And I’m on the biggest asshole on the planet, so…”

Noah stared at his older brother incredulously. Since when did he give him relationship advice? Both of them were anti-relationship, always had been. Until Noah finally couldn’t take it anymore and wrote the song for Natalie in about four hours’ time, brought it to the band and proclaimed it their next big hit.

He had a feeling he was going to be right. All thanks to a sweet, sexy woman named Natalie.

“I don’t expect her to come running,” Noah finally said. “I just…I don’t know quite how to approach her yet.” He felt like a jerk, not contacting her once since their weekend in Vegas together. He
was
a jerk. He knew it. Declan told him he was and so did Luke. So did his brother. Hell, so did Walt, his manager, who was pissed about him getting caught kissing Natalie in the middle of a busy Vegas sidewalk but then changed his tune when he read the “Natalie” lyrics.

Now Walt thought their relationship was great publicity for the band. Of course.

“Grow some balls and call her. Do something corny like sing the song on her voicemail. That ought to get her blood pumping,” Rick suggested.

Noah rolled his eyes. His brother was an idiot. “That’s cheesy.”

“No, writing a song for a chick you hardly know is cheesy, but I’m not protesting because it’s a fucking good song. Considering it’s in the top ten on iTunes, I think everyone else agrees with me.” Rick smiled. “I forgot to tell you—Walt called. He arranged for us to get on
Jimmy Fallon
.”

“Great.” Noah nodded, but his enthusiasm fell flat. Normally he’d be all over that. A performance on one of the most popular late-night talk shows was guaranteed excellent publicity. But all he could think about was Natalie.

And how he needed to talk to her. Soon.

Reaching for his phone, he pulled it out of his jeans’ pocket as he exited the room without another word to Rick. They were at the studio, hammering out the rest of their songs for their upcoming album, which was going to release in two months. He’d pushed for the Natalie song to be recorded and released as an early single because he knew it would be a hit, and also…

He wanted Natalie to hear it as soon as possible.

What did she think? Did she believe the words? He hoped so, because they came straight from his heart. He wanted her in his life. She took a piece of him with her when she left. They lived close to each other, yet he felt like she was so fucking far away, and it killed him.

Damn it, he needed to get over his fear and worry over making their conversation perfect and just call her. He brought her number up on his phone and stared at it, his thumb hovering over the call button. He hit it before he chickened out and did nothing.

The phone rang again and again, and right before he thought it would go to voicemail, she answered with a tentative hello.

The sound of her voice was so fucking good, and he closed his eyes in sweet relief. Christ, he missed her. “Nat,” he practically growled, sounding all choked up because holy shit, he
felt
choked up. What the hell was wrong with him?

She paused, not saying a word, and for a moment there he thought she hung up. “Noah? Is that you?”

“Yeah.” He cleared his throat, feeling like an idiot. “How are you?”

“That’s what you ask me? No call, no text, no nothing for six weeks and then you call out of the blue with a ‘how are you’?”

“Nat, did you hear my song?” he asked, hoping like hell she wouldn’t end this call without listening to his explanation. An explanation he really didn’t have. How could he tell her that he was scared? That he didn’t believe in love or relationships, so he figured what they had was just good sex and tried to move on?

Instead, he’d felt hollow. Alone. So fucking lonely he couldn’t stop thinking about her. She’d consumed his thoughts and finally when he couldn’t take it anymore, he put it all down on paper. And that’s how the song for Natalie was born.

“Of course I heard your song!” She was yelling. Ah shit, she was furious and yelling at him and this wasn’t going as planned at all. “It’s a freaking wonderful song! Damn it, Noah. Why did you write it? Why?”

“I missed you,” he admitted in a harsh whisper. He swallowed past the lump in his throat, ready to lay it all on the line for the woman he cared about.

“Really?” She sounded wary, not that he could blame her.

“Really,” he said firmly. “I missed you so damn much, Nat. I couldn’t believe it at first.
Wouldn’t
believe it, if I’m being truthful.”

“What changed your mind?” she asked.

“I realized I needed you in my life. Desperately. I didn’t know how to tell you to your face, didn’t know how to put it in words, so the best way I could come up with something was…by writing a song.”

She was silent for a moment, and he swore he heard a sniff. “You’re not crying, are you, Nat?”

“N-no,” she stuttered, then broke into sobs. “I miss you too, Noah. So much.”

His entire body ached to hold her in his arms. “Damn it, Nat. Where are you? I need to see you.”

“I’m at work. I just started my shift.” She sniffed again. “I don’t get off for twelve hours.”

Fuck. That sounded like an eternity. “Give me directions and I’ll be there to pick you up when you’re done. We can go back to my place. I know you’ll be tired and I understand, but I need to see you, Nat. I need to hold you,” he confessed. “Will you let me?”

She was quiet for so long he thought he would slowly die inside. The woman knew how to keep him on the hook, and he nearly passed out when he finally heard her answer.

“Yes.”

Epilogue

“We’re not going to win,” Noah muttered, sinking lower in his seat. He tugged at the neckline of his monkey suit, still wondering how Natalie had convinced him to wear it when they were at the fucking Grammys, for Christ’s sake. It was all about the edgy rock and roll when they went to the Grammys. He’d never worn a suit while in attendance, not once.

Of course, he’d never come with the woman he loved before either. Natalie looked amazing in a striking red dress by Valentino, her lips slicked in the same color, her long hair falling in cascading waves down her bare back. God, she was sexy.

And all his.

“Stop saying that.” Natalie reached over and squeezed his hand, offering him a reassuring smile. It was a commercial break, but the next award being presented was the one that meant the most to him, the one he desperately wanted Wilde & Wicked to win.

The Grammy for Song of the Year.

“I’m trying to psyche myself out,” he said, feeling like an ass. His brother was sitting to the right of him, chatting up his date, a girl he’d been seeing somewhat seriously. It was like Noah’s relationship with Natalie had spurred all the members of Wilde & Wicked to find someone to settle down with. A slightly weird but pleasant situation, he had to admit.

“Well, stop. There’s a good chance you’ll win. I’m tired of your negative talk.” She leaned over and pressed a firm kiss to his lips. “I love you,” she murmured.

“Love you too, sweetheart.” He touched her cheek, overwhelmed with his love for her. He’d written more songs for Natalie, tons of them, ones he might never sing for the public, but he’d shared them all with Nat and she loved every single one of them.

Some of them even made her tear up a little bit. Those were the ones he knew were winners.

Presenters were announced and they appeared at the podium, announcing which award they were giving next. Noah sat up straight in his seat, his gaze glued to the stage. Natalie squeezed his hand hard, lacing her fingers in his. Rick nudged his side when they said his name, grinning at him like an idiot. Wilde & Wicked may have performed the song together, but the writing credits went to Noah only.

If he won this, it would be
his
Grammy. One that he would share with Natalie.

The moment was big. Huge. Special. He twisted his fingers around Natalie’s as he waited for the announcement, watching as Katy Perry smiled and tore at the envelope with the winner’s name inside.

“And the Grammy for Song of the Year goes to…Noah Wilde for “Natalie”.”

Amazement washed over him and he leapt to his feet on shaky legs. Natalie stood beside him and he turned to her, loving how she reached up and clasped his face in her hands and kissed him, murmuring against his lips, “I knew you’d win.”

“Only because of you, sweetheart,” he whispered, kissing her again before he turned and let his brother and the rest of the band embrace him.

He made his way up to the stage and kissed Katy on the cheek before he grabbed his Grammy and held it up into the air, shaking it in victory. Everyone cheered, but the only person he could see was Natalie hopping up and down in her eye-catching red dress, joy and pride written all over her face.

“I want to thank my fellow members of Wilde & Wicked for giving this song a chance and believing in it. But the person I want to thank the most is my love, my life, my future wife, Natalie, for being the inspiration behind the song.” He leaned in close to the microphone, his gaze never leaving hers. Tears streamed down her cheeks, and the sight of them tugged at his heart. “I love you, sweetheart.”

She mouthed
I love you too
, and he held the Grammy out toward her.

“This one’s for you. It’s all for you.”

And he meant every word.