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I quirked a smile. “I like her too.”
“You just like her because she thought I should dance with you.”
I shrugged. “She has good taste.”
Ella laughed, and the sound was music to my ears.
More and more, I wanted this woman in my arms. I didn’t know when it had happened. Maybe when I’d first seen her. Maybe at the hospital. Maybe the other night when I’d held her during the confrontation with Clint.
She smiled. “You look deep in thought. Thinking about your ex girlfriends?”
“Are you jealous?”
“You wish.”
I grinned, but it quickly faded. “Ella, can you forgive me? Could we start over?” I hadn’t been expecting to blurt that out, but it was what I felt. The chemistry and tension between us had returned, even stronger than it had been when we were younger.
She stopped dancing, giving me the same look I’d seen when I’d first gotten back. “I told you I can’t. Just like I can’t forgive myself.” She pulled her hand back and turned away. “Thanks for the dance.”
Chapter Twenty
Ella
I lay in bed, still angry and flustered after my dance with Noah. Why had I been restless and unsettled since the man had pulled into town? And why did he keep begging me to forgive him?
I turned on my side and squeezed my eyes, trying to force myself to go to sleep. It didn’t work, so I pulled my phone off the charger and turned on an old show. Whenever I couldn’t stop thinking at night, I liked to have funny shows going in the background to help me sleep. Finally, I started to drift off.
A loud bang jolted me awake. It was pitch dark, and I couldn’t see anything. I turned toward the neon clock, but it was out. It looked like I’d lost power. I checked my phone, but the battery was dead.
The banging sound started up again, growing louder. I grabbed my grandparents’ shotgun, which I’d stashed back beneath my bed. I put on my flip flops and opened my door. I rushed down the hallway, yelling, “Who’s there?”
A flash of lightning lit everything up from outside. The screen door was bouncing against the doorframe in the wind, the bangsechoing through the house. I pulled it shut, but my adrenaline spiked even higher as I looked around. “Who’s there?”
Something dropped down the hallway, and I freaked out. The shotgun slipped from my fingers as I burst through the screen door and across the porch. About halfway down the driveway, I realized I should turn back and get the shotgun, but I was too far away. Who was in my house? Clint? My ex?
I sprinted down the road, straight to the old Whipple house. I raced right up to the door and banged on it.
It wasn’t long until Noah opened the door, a handgun pointed in my face. My blood turned to ice as I gazed down the barrel.
He realized it was me, cursed, and shoved the gun into the back of his pants. “What’s going on?”
I pushed past him, rushing inside the house. I was shivering. “Someone’s in the house. I heard banging, and it was the screen door. I had the shotgun, but I heard something, and I dropped it and ran.” I pulled my hair. “I can’t believe I dropped it.”
His arms were around me, holding me. “You did the right thing. You’re okay.”
I clung to him like I was drowning and he was the only life preserver. “I shouldn’t have come here.”
“This is exactly where you should be.” He rubbed little circles on my back, and I suddenly remembered that he’d done this whenever I was afraid. He’d liked to comfort me.
The shock of it all was wearing off. “I’m scared,” I admitted.
Noah’s arms tightened around me. “I got you. It’s okay.”
For a long time, we didn’t move. I felt safe and loved in a way I hadn’t in a long, long time. Probably not since the last time I was in his arms.
He pulled away. “I’m going to call Damon and McCrae. We’ll get this checked out.”
“Okay. My phone’s dead.” I felt like an idiot. “I don’t even have it.”
