Page 77 of More Than Just Friends

‘Um…’ I paused, not sure how to answer. ‘Thanks. You’re pretty fine yourself.’

‘Fine?’ He chuckled.

‘No! Not fine as in, okay. I mean, fine as in, y’know, “that man is fine!”’

‘Was that supposed to be an American accent?’ Noah laughed, still holding me tight.

‘What do you mean, supposed to be? I should get an Oscar for how accurate that accent was.’ I giggled like a schoolgirl. ‘Just to clarify, I meant fine as in hot. Or hunky as Sammie and anyone over the age of forty-five might say.’

‘Well, thank you. I’ll consider adding “hunky” to my LinkedIn and social media profiles.’

‘Oh great! If you do that, there’ll be an even bigger queue of women waiting to jump your bones.’

‘Ha!’ he scoffed. ‘You should know all about how it feels to have people lining up to date you.’

‘As if!’ I scoffed. ‘I’ve never had women or men queuing up for me.’

‘I was always in the queue,’ Noah said softly. ‘Waiting and hoping that one day I’d get an invite to leave the friend zone.’

‘Really?’ My jaw dropped.

‘Yes. I’ve always liked you, Ali. Watching you with other guys was torture. I always hoped that we’d have a chance, but when I overheard you saying to Kerrie that I wasn’t your type, I realised that nothing was ever gonna happen.’

‘But I only said that because I thought you didn’t like me!’ I protested, still trying to get my head around what he was saying. ‘I overheard you saying that you’d never go there with me because I was like a little sister to you.’

‘Let me guess. That was when I was with Melissa, right?’

‘Yep.’

‘She was convinced there was something going on between us. I knew she had friends at the party who were watching my every move, so when Colin asked me if I liked you, I guess I was trying to make it clear to him and anyone else who was listening that Melissa had nothing to worry about. And I genuinely believed that was true because of the number of times I’d heard you telling Sammie and your other friends that you weren’t interested in me. What was it that you said? That you liked your men pretty and muscular and I was a nerd.’

‘Shit.’ I winced. ‘I did say that. But I also said that was what I loved about you. And that even though you were cute, you meant too much to me to risk ruining our friendship.’

‘You did?’ He frowned.

‘Yeah.’

‘Oh. I didn’t hear that part.’

‘It’s true. And I genuinely had no idea you liked me,’ I said.

‘Well now you do.’

‘Yeah,’ I said. ‘I mean, if we’re being completely honest, I did think about us getting together. Lots of times. I kind of went through phases where I thought we’d have a chance, then I’d get scared. It wasn’t just because of what I’d overheard. You saw what happened to our friends Simone and Taj and Phil and Margot. They crossed the line and it annihilated their friendships. Same thing happened when I dated Dale. I just didn’t want that to happen to us,’ I added.

‘It wouldn’t have. God. You have no idea how much I’ve wanted you.’ Noah stroked my cheek. ‘How much I’ve dreamt about you. You’re the only woman I’ve ever felt that spark with. That pull. It’s always been you, Ali. It’s only ever been you.’

Before I had the chance to reply, Noah crushed his lips onto mine and the second our mouths connected, everything else disappeared.

The kiss was urgent and frenzied like all of those years of pent-up longing were finally being released and smashing through the surface.

As our mouths moved against one another, electricity pulsed through my veins. My heart hammered against my ribcage, my stomach fluttered, my brain turned to mush and my knees went weak. I couldn’t believe this was finally happening.

I was kissing Noah. My best friend.

I knew it was a bad idea.

It was so, so wrong.