Page 17 of A Montana Childhood Promise (Sagebrush Ranch Sweethearts #3)

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

He could practically hear the erratic beat of her heart.

That wasn’t right. It was his heart that beat at a tempo that was definitely unhealthy.

Jane’s skin was hot and electric beneath his grasp. Her eyes flashed with fear and embarrassment—but there was something else there, too.

Or it was possible that he’d completely gone off the deep end with his own feelings, and he was seeing what he wanted to see?

Noah wouldn’t have thought it was possible for him to want for more in this life—not when he had everything he could need, not when he could just write a check and get whatever he didn’t already have.

It wasn’t until Jane breezed back into his life that he realized he couldn’t have been more wrong.

Jane.

He wanted her. He wanted her smiles, her laughter, her gentle touch. He wanted everything he knew he shouldn’t because she’d made it abundantly clear exactly what side of the fence she stood.

Noah swallowed hard, his eyes bouncing to each of hers as he attempted to form the words he knew he needed to say. This tension between them had gone on far too long, and there was a feral part of him that wanted very much to just lay his cards out on the table.

“Noah,” she whispered.

His focus dipped to the way her plump lips formed his name, and it took everything in his power not to pull her into his embrace and show her exactly what she’d be getting if she’d just give in.

But he couldn’t do that to her.

“What do you want?” he murmured.

Jane blinked. Her eyes searched his, confusion pooling there for a moment before her cheeks flushed. “I don’t know what you?—”

He shook his head. “Don’t do that, Jane. I asked you a question. What do you want?”

She chewed on the inside of her cheek and made a half-hearted attempt to pull away from him. “I need a date to my dad’s birth?—”

“That’s not why you’re here,” he insisted, shaking his head.

“Noah—”

His hold on her tightened, and he lowered his face to hers.

They were nearly nose-to-nose, and his voice came out in what might be described as a growl.

“We’ve been spending all this time together.

Whenever you’re not at work, you’re here.

To anyone else, it looks like…” he trailed off, not sure if he was ready to put a label on it himself.

His brows pulled together, and he frowned at her. “You know how I feel.”

Her lips parted, and that coloring in her cheeks intensified to a maddening extent.

“You know how I feel,” he repeated, harsher this time. “You can’t deny it. There’s no use hiding it or lying about it, either. So stop jerking me around.”

Jane’s lashes fluttered, but she didn’t attempt to pull away from him. Instead, it seemed her body was leaning closer. “Noah…”

The way she said his name, it did things to him he wasn’t proud of. Jane was his endgame. Already, he knew that. He’d wanted her from the moment he’d seen her when they were teens. His brother thought he was crazy for making that marriage pact, but he knew what he was doing.

Noah was in love, and love did strange things to people.

He cupped her cheek in his hand and closed his eyes briefly, reveling in the knowledge that she wasn’t withdrawing from him.

His whispered words cracked in his throat.

“You’re holding back. Whether or not you want to admit it doesn’t change the facts. ”

When he opened his eyes, he found that she’d closed hers. Jane’s breathing had turned shallow, but the color in her cheeks remained the same. Goosebumps had risen all along her arms despite the lack of chill in the air.

This was it. He was so close. All he had to do was push her over the edge just a little bit and…

And, what?

The hunger and desperation mounting in his chest were so bad that he could feel himself losing control. Between the way she was reacting to him and the way she smelled, he didn’t have the slightest chance at pulling back. He was too far gone.

Tilting her face upward, he framed the sides of her face within his hands. Her startled gasp was the last thing he registered before his mouth slammed into hers. Their first kiss had been sweet and all too quick for his liking. He wanted more. He needed more.

This kiss exceeded those desires tenfold. The way it felt to be this connected to her should be criminal. She was moon and stardust. She was sweetness and spice. She was the whole package, and he’d been waiting far too long to get what he’d known he’d always wanted.

At first, she didn’t react to him, and he thought he’d made the biggest mistake of his life. He’d pushed her too far—and he was bound to scare her off. Noah nearly withdrew when her hands wrapped around his wrists tightly. Her fingernails dug into his skin with a desperation to match his own.

She wanted him.

Nothing could make him happier than he was in this moment.

Jane wanted him, and she wasn’t trying to hold back. Her hands dragged up his arms and settled around his neck as their desperate kisses continued. They were being consumed by a fire he’d underestimated existed between them, and it wasn’t going to burn out until they explored each other fully.

Her soft moans spurred him onward. His kisses left her lips and nipped along her jawline to her neck. Jane gasped but didn’t release him. When he returned his attention to her mouth, their kiss shifted into something… different.

The desperation was missing, and in its place was a quiet curiosity. As if they both needed to discover something about their connection before they were willing to part. Noah was the first to pull back, but he didn’t go far. He pressed his forehead to hers and heaved a sated sigh.

“That was…” he murmured, his warm breath fanning between them.

“Yeah,” she whispered in agreement.

His eyes met hers, searching, as he pulled back. Her cheeks, nose, and mouth were tinged with a different kind of rosy. The scruff along his chin marked her as his own. Noah brushed the pad of his thumb along the irritated skin with a smirk. “If you didn’t know how I felt before, you know now.”

She released a laugh. It was genuine and free of restraint. It was the kind of laughter that could bring a man to his knees or have him laughing right along with her. “I know how you feel,” she whispered.

“And?” He hated the way his heart stammered at his own question. He didn’t want to have to guess if she kissed him back because she was high on the moment or if she felt the same. The euphoria was quickly slipping away, and he was already wondering if kissing her had been the right decision.

Jane lifted a shoulder. “And what?”

He threw his head back with a groan. Not this again.

Then her hands framed his face, and she yanked his eyes back to meet hers. “Noah, I’d be lying if I said I didn’t feel this… spark… between us.”

Noah nodded, waiting, holding his breath until she finished what she wanted to say. This could still go in so many directions.

Jane chewed on her lower lip. Her eyes never left his as she continued. “I care about you.”

He lifted a brow, stirring a laugh from her lips once more.

“I care about you… a lot .”

His smirk slowly returned to his face. This wasn’t the time to be smug, but he couldn’t help it. Noah leaned in and tapped her nose. “You like me.”

Jane rolled her eyes, dropping her hands to her sides, but before she could escape him, he snagged her around the waist.

“You like me,” he drawled. “Like, really like me.”

This time, she groaned before meeting his gaze. “Does this mean you’ll come to my father’s birthday?”

Noah cocked his head. “Hmm. I wouldn’t be much of a boyfriend if I didn’t.”

“I never said we were?—”

“Yes, you did. You said it a couple weeks ago.”

Her cheeks flushed, and she let out a giggle, no matter how hard she’d attempted to stifle it.

He brushed a quick kiss to her lips before murmuring, “Yes, I’ll come.”

“Ready?” Noah murmured at the edge of Jane’s ear. He’d already slipped his fingers through hers, and his sultry voice was enough to make goosebumps materialize on her arms.

Jane’s breath hitched slightly before she nodded, her hand tightening around his.

“What are you so nervous about? I’ve already made a killing with your family. They love me.”

She gave him a sideways glance. “That was when we weren’t actually dating.”

“So?”

“I didn’t really care if they disapproved of you.”

He stilled, swinging around so he blocked her view of the house. His eyes narrowed slightly as he tried to make sense of what she was getting at.

Jane blushed as she lifted her eyes to meet his. Then she cleared her throat and dropped her focus to their interlaced hands. “Now I do.” She said it so quietly, he wasn’t sure he heard her right. She cared if her parents didn’t approve of him. She was worried.

“Hey,” he murmured, hooking a finger beneath her chin.

She met his gaze with a sort of trepidation he wasn’t quite prepared for, and he blew out a breath he hoped would ease his own tension.

“There’s nothing to be worried about. If they decided they didn’t like me, would that change the way you feel about me? ”

She didn’t react right away, and as much as he hated to admit it, her lack of answer sent his heart into overdrive. But then she shook her head. “Of course not.”

He dragged the edge of his thumb along her jawline until he opened his palm and pressed it against the space where her jaw met her neck. “Then take a deep breath and don’t forget the most important thing about today.”

“And what’s that?” she hedged.

He brought the hand he held to his lips and kissed her knuckles. “I’m here. And I’m not going anywhere .”

Emotion brimmed in her eyes, making them look larger than they already were. Shoot! He didn’t want to be the reason for her tears. He needed her to relax.

Without warning, she pulled her hand free and threw her arms around his neck. “Thank you,” she mumbled into his neck. “You don’t know how much I needed to hear that.”

He held her tight, letting her choose how long this hug would last. When she finally pulled back, she brushed her fingertips beneath her lower lashes with a strangled laugh. “Come on. If I had to guess, I’d say they might even be watching us from the windows right now.”

Noah stiffened, then a sly smile crossed his lips as he cocked his head to the side. “Then maybe we should put on a show.”

She scoffed, whacking him with the back of her fingertips as she pushed past him. “Keep dreaming, buddy.” Her hips swayed as she made her way toward the house. He couldn’t seem to drag his focus from her as she departed.

Releasing a low, appreciative whistle, he followed after her.

The evening went perfectly. Noah was the perfect gentleman he always was. He made sure to compliment Jane’s mother on the meal she’d prepared and join in the conversation with the others around the table. He joked with Jane’s brothers-in-law and connected with Jane’s father on sports.

The whole time, he was either holding Jane’s hand or brushing his touch to her skin.

He couldn’t get enough of her. Every spare moment he had, he took advantage of the opportunity.

This dinner was definitely different than the last—at least it was for him.

There was less tension, and even Jane was smiling more.

By the end of it, he knew he couldn’t have made a better first impression—or rather a second one.

They were preparing to leave when Jane’s mother requested their attention. “Jane, dear, I packed up some cake for you and Noah to take with you. Come to the kitchen and get it.”

Jane tossed Noah a smile. “I’ll be right back.”

He shoved his hands in his pocket and nodded, watching her leave.

The second he was alone, her father materialized.

He was a tall man; quiet, too. He was a lot like the men Noah had to deal with when it came to his charities.

When donors wanted to meet someone ‘higher up,’ they met with him, not realizing he was the brains of the operation.

Jane’s father could be described as formidable, with a thin layer of scruff at his jaw that matched the graying color of his neatly trimmed hair. He had dark eyes that seemed to be able to see right through a person.

Noah lifted his chin in greeting. “I hope the rest of your birthday is a good one.”

Her father nodded his thanks. Then, without warning, he murmured, “Jane is special.”

It took a lot to keep his expression schooled. Jane had said she didn’t feel as though her parents approved of her—or that they might not care for her as much as her sisters.

Without prompting, Jane’s father continued. “I won’t tolerate her being used then discarded.”

This time, Noah’s brows shot up with surprise he couldn’t hide. “Sir?”

His voice lowered. “I saw the way you treated her last time. It’s different than how you treated her today?—”

“With all due respect, sir, things were different between us last time. We’d…

only just… started seeing each other.” His throat swelled as he attempted to tell the truth without revealing the lie they’d spilled during their last visit.

He cleared his throat and straightened his spine.

“But I can promise you one thing. The way I feel about your daughter is never going to change. I loved her when we were kids, and I love her now.”

The man lifted a single brow. For a moment, Noah thought he might argue with him or ask him to divulge more. He did neither. Jane’s father merely nodded then held out his hand.

Noah stared at the offering for a moment.

Then he grasped his hand, and they shared a firm shake.

It might not have been right to confess his feelings to Jane’s father before he told Jane himself, but it had just come out.

Hopefully Jane’s father wouldn’t let the secret spill before Noah had a chance to tell her to her face.