Page 26 of The Billionaire's Secret Kiss

Noah was great in bed, but sometimes, I thought he didn't know much about women. I settled for a shift dress with spaghetti straps and a V-neckline. It wasn't short, exactly, but it hit a few inches above the knee with a swirly skirt that showed more leg when I moved my hips.

The dress itself wasn't a showstopper, though I thought I looked good in it. No, the real reason I chose it was what I was wearing beneath. I hadn't had much cause to wear lingerie in the past few years. What I was wearing I'd actually purchased a few months before Noah and I had split up, but because he hadn't had time to come home and I'd had a hard time getting out to California, he'd never seen it.

At the memory of our failure at long distance, I felt a twinge of unease.

But we were different people now, weren't we?

If we really wanted to, we could handle this. I needed to believe that was true.

I was touching up my lip gloss in the bathroom mirror when the buzzer at the front door rang. Tossing the lip gloss in a small purse, I grabbed my keys and hit the button on the intercom. "I'll be right down."

I opened the door to see Noah standing outside, wearing a navy blue suit and a blue- and green-patterned tie. Except for his college graduation, I'd never seen Noah in a suit. My mouth went dry at the sight of that lean, built body wrapped up in a perfectly tailored suit.

I liked Noah as he usually was, in his faded jeans and Converse high-tops, but I wouldn't complain if he wanted to dress up every once in a while. Not if this was the result.

I locked the door behind me and turned back to see him staring at me.

"What?"

He recovered himself and slid an arm around my waist to lead me to the car, parked just up the block in the entrance to the alley.

"You look beautiful," he said.

Warmth flushed my cheeks. "Thank you."

I let Noah open my door and help me into the car. As he pulled back out into the street, I asked, “Where are we going?"

"Not far," he said. Still being mysterious.

A few minutes later, we pulled into the lower parking deck of the Four Seasons Hotel. I expected Noah to head for the restaurant, not the elevators.

"Is there someplace to eat up here?" I asked.

Looking a little nervous, Noah swallowed hard and said, “There is."

I got it a few minutes later when Noah led me into his suite. I might have been annoyed at him for making assumptions, but we’d slept together the night before, and it's not like that was the first time. Besides, he'd gone to a lot of effort.

There were flowers everywhere, roses, lilies, and the Gerber daisies I'd always loved best. A bottle of champagne sat chilling in an ice bucket beside two crystal glasses. The desk had been turned into an elegant dining table, complete with a linen tablecloth, fine china, and a chair on either side. Tucked against the wall of the sitting room, I spotted a room service cart stacked with covered dishes.

In explanation, Noah said, "I wanted to be alone with you. I didn't want to share you with an entire restaurant, and room service here is very accommodating. But if you'd rather go out—"

“No, this is beautiful. Thank you."

"Are you hungry?" Noah asked.

Was I? I wasn't sure I could tell. My senses were so focused on his nearness, the scent of the flowers, and the effort he’d put into making dinner special. I shrugged one shoulder.

"If you’re hungry, I could eat."

"Okay. First, I wanted to give you this."

Noah disappeared into the bedroom of the suite and returned a moment later with an unsealed envelope in his hand. His shoulders were tense, his eyes flicking from the envelope to me and back again.

He was nervous. My stomach tightened in anticipation of bad news.

I opened the envelope and drew out two pieces of paper, the contents familiar but entirely unexpected. It was a course schedule for spring semester. The exact classes I'd been enrolled in before I'd been forced to drop out. I turned the class schedule over in my hands, trying to understand, and saw the sheet of paper beneath. A statement from the bursar's office showing the semester's tuition had been paid, including living expenses and a dining card.

I stared at the papers, my chest tight. Looking up at Noah, I asked, “What is this? What did you do?"