There were red and pink hearts plastered to every store front in honor of Valentine’s Day. Last year she’d spent it with Rob at an overpriced restaurant with food that had been far too rich for her taste. Of course, her ex had loved it because it was the hottest place in town. If only she’d had the confidence then that she had now, she would never have wasted her time with him.
Quitting her job had been a risk. Opening up the store had been a risk. Both of those had paid off in spades. Asking Rafe to find Noah was a risk too, but if things kept going this well, Colbie was starting to feel pretty good about her odds....
* * *
Noah Bryant loosened his tie and settled into one of the chairs in the cocktail lounge to wait for Rafe. Surprised when he’d texted about meeting up tonight, Noah hadn’t been able to reach his friend all day to find out what was up, but hoping it was good news about Colbie, he’d immediately agreed.
Noah’d had a busy week at the Maverick Group’s Seattle office, with a big deal he’d been working on for months finally closing. Still, he couldn’t shake his discontent. Because he couldn’t stop thinking about Colbie...and wondering if he was ever going to see her again.
If it turned out that Rafe hadn’t found Colbie yet, Noah was finally going to do what he should have done a week ago: he was going to call every goddamned number in Lake Tahoe, no matter how long it took to find her. And then he was going to do a hell of a lot better job of convincing her to give him a chance than he’d done last week.
So many things about her had resonated with him in those first few minutes they’d spent together. The jolt of pure physical attraction. The fact that she was his exact ideal of what a woman should look and feel and smell like. And, most of all, that Colbie was the kind of person who tried to help a little child she thought was in trouble, even when helping someone else meant she was going to get herself into more trouble. She was the kind of woman who went tumbling down a mountain in a stranger’s arms and was far more concerned about making sure she hadn’t hurt him than she was for her own bruises.
Noah’s parents were in a good, loving relationship. Baggage and commitment issues weren’t the reason he hadn’t yet married and started a family. He simply hadn’t found the right woman yet.
But in only a handful of minutes in Lake Tahoe, hadn’t he known that he was looking at a woman he could fall in love with? Hadn’t his soul recognized his mate…even as his intellect had tried to get him to look at things rationally?
His phone buzzed with an incoming text. He saw Rafe’s name and figured he was just checking in about being late. But that wasn’t what the message said.
I found her.
Hallelujah! Noah wanted to cheer and pump his fist in the air.
Where is she?
Rafe’s answer came a beat later.
In the bar.
Noah blinked at the words once, twice, three times before believing them. At which point he stood up so fast he knocked his drink over. But he didn’t stop to right it, not when he was too busy scanning every face in the room to care about the beer dripping onto his shoes.
And then he saw her. She was standing at the bar with a friend. A friend who was pointing straight at him.
My God, he thought, just as he had on the mountaintop in Lake Tahoe, she really is the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen.
And so damn sweet, from the inside out, that it made his chest hurt just looking at her.
Noah wasn’t the kind of guy who had a bunch of checkboxes he was trying to fill. Ideas came when it was their time, business flowed when it was meant to be, and he’d always known a wife and a family would come, too, when they should.
Now. He wanted her now.
He moved swiftly through the crowd toward her and she stood and stared at him as if she couldn’t believe her eyes. "Noah?"
Just seeing and hearing his name on those gorgeous lips had him instantly as aroused as he had ever been. But it wasn’t just his body responding to her. This time he was all in, heart and soul.
He’d learned his lesson in Lake Tahoe, knew how bad it had been to lose her once.
He wouldn’t lose her again.
"Colbie." Her name was a caress on his lips as he smiled down at her beautifully expressive face. "I’ve been thinking about you all week. And now—" He couldn’t stop himself from touching her, from brushing his knuckles across the soft skin of her lightly flushed cheek. "—here you are. My very own wish come true."
"I’ve thought about you, too." She looked away for a moment as though she was embarrassed. "More than I should have."
They were standing in the middle of a crowded bar on one of the busiest nights of the year, but all he saw was Colbie, and all he heard were her quickening breaths as the crowd jostled them into each other’s arms.
Until her friend said, "It’s nice to see you again, Noah."
He was hard pressed to pull his gaze away from Colbie, but when he did, he finally recognized her friend. "Mia Sullivan?"
"I’m glad you remember," Mia said with a grin. "I’m not fifteen anymore, but you’re clearly taken, so I’ll catch up with both of you later. Oh, and Rafe says to tell both of you this one is on the house." Her eyes sparkled with mischief. "Have fun, you two." A moment later, she’d disappeared into the crowd and he was alone again with Colbie.
"You know Rafe?" she asked.
"He was my roommate in college," Noah explained. "And you—"