Natalie
Noah drives up to the curb with his old, roofless red Ferrari. It's probably super expensive, very stylish, like the man sitting behind the wheel.
I have to fight the immediate response to drool. Noah looks good with his shades and a white t-shirt in the summer heat. It's fighting for its dear life to hold back his pumped, sexy biceps.
"Good day," Noah muses. "Or should I say morning, Mrs. late riser?"
I open the car door. "Good day to you too."
Noah smiles at me but snaps his head to the sidewalk when a girl from our school, Lindsay, calls his name.
"Noah!"
Lindsay walks down from a building with a Louis Vuitton purse dangling from her trimmed arms. Her smile speaks of a woman who knows she has the world admiring her beauty.
I'm not exaggerating. Lindsay looks like she could be dating the handsome man sitting next to me. They would make an attractive couple that could easily pose for magazines.
"Hey, Lindsay," Noah says. "I didn't know you lived here."
When Lindsay walks up to the car, I sink further into my car seat, feeling entirely out of place.
"Yeah," Lindsay squits her eyes, not even acknowledging me but allowing her eyes to openly size up Noah. "Do you want to come around sometime when you aren't busy?"
Noah let his eyes travel to mine. Something is churning within his blues, curiosity perhaps? Regardless, his smile returns.
"Not today, but maybe some other time?"
Before I know it, he waves at Lindsay, and we are blasting down the street at incredible speed. Once we stop at a red light, I face Noah and gather enough courage to ask him something.
"Are you dating Lindsey or something?"
Noah gives me a peculiar smile, and I search his face for the answer. I have no idea why he appears so amused.
"Would it bother you?"
I frown, crossing my arms over my chest. "Of course not."
Noah tries to stifle a laugh but ultimately fails. He shakes his head while taking us on the highway. I have no clue where he is taking me, but I'm more interested in knowing why he is laughing.
"What is so funny?" I ask.
"I spent the entire night worrying that you're not into me. I questioned myself, thinking I was crazy for thinking we have chemistry, but I have my answer now."
I meet his eyes in the rearview window. "What is your answer?"
"You like me."
I almost choke. "I do not!"
I expect him to fight me, be defensive and call me out on my bullshit, but instead, he slyly smiles. "Lindsay is really into me."
A girl in her right mind would probably admit how she feels about Noah, but I'm not in my right mind. I'm stubborn as a mule, and like I said: I don't let people in.
I have my pride, and I will not admit anything to Noah.
"Good for you."
Noah breathes a laugh. "I'm not seeing Lindsay right now. We were dating before I met you."
Relief floods my chest, and I relax a little. Like a pufferfish, I retract my spikes and slump back in the car seat. Noah is watching me, smiling as if seeming to understand my body language.
Perhaps he can?
Gosh, I hope not! The invisible words on my forehead must say something cheesy like, "in love with my stepbrother," which Noah would take advantage of. He is an opportunist.
"What is your favorite food?" Noah asks.
"Noodles."
Dimples pop on his face. "Be serious."
"I am—noodles are very affordable."
He laughs. "You're impossible. Any girl would jump at the opportunity of getting served precisely what she wants."
"I'm not any girls." I would love to be, but I've always been a weirdo. Top grades, yet only one person I can call my friend.
"I'm aware." Noah smiles at me, and somehow, it feels like I've received the best compliment in the entire world.
"It still shocks me that you want to hang out with me." I look at the ocean as we pass it, smiling at the wind fanning my hair away from my face. "I'm crazy and not a good influence."
"Do you want to hear my version of who you are?"
I snort. "This will be good."
"You lie a lot," Noah says, meeting my eyes in the mirror. "But you do it to protect yourself and the ones you love. You act reserved to almost everyone, but damn, when you crack open that door into your heart..." Noah shakes his head, laughing. "You have that kind of love that stains a man's soul and makes him beg for another night in your bed."
I stare at Noah, experiencing my heart crash against my ribcage, again and again until I can barely breathe. Not without this heat crawling over my skin and those butterflies overtaking my senses.
Noah is still smiling, saying. "I want you, Natalie. You belong to me, and you will admit that to yourself with time. You and I have chemistry—the kind you only find in fairy tales. And I'm not giving that up. What we have is rare."
I distract myself from the burn in my throat by turning the other way and facing the ocean again. "I don't believe in love."
"Why not?"
I breathe a laugh. Something about Noah makes him easy to talk to, which frightens me because I can't stop myself. "People just aren't meant to stick together. They hurt and betray each other. They break each other's hearts."
Noah isn't giving up. "And what makes you say that?"
"Because most people claim that the only unconditional love is a mother's love for their child," I snort at my words, fighting the prickling tears behind my eyelids. "But Lady Gracen left me, and she didn't look back. Not a letter. Not a single phone call... She didn't hesitate. She understood what she was doing when she closed the door on us."
My heart is throbbing at my words. Everything is black. I've told no one what I just told Noah—not even my dad.
What makes Noah special?
I don't understand myself. I should be running in the opposite direction of Noah, but when he places his hand on my thighs, my chest is light. His touch is soothing.
"And that is her loss," he briefly turns his head away from the road to give me a smile, not the usual shiny one, but a warmer, kinder smile. "Because you're an amazing person to get to know."