33. Cat

Noah loves me? My chest fills with heat and I jump, wrapping my legs around his waist while he holds me up. I frame his face in my hands, kissing him with all the restrained emotion I'd been keeping at bay. It's like I've been filling a power bank since that moment we shared in the surf and now it's time to expend all the energy in one kiss.

The uncertainty surrounding Otto's bill and who paid it has made me feel icky and unfinished. Even through that, I trusted him when he said he didn't do it, which I was right to do. I can appreciate Noah's healthy respect for boundaries, and it certainly explains why he needed to confirm with Olive before sharing his suspicions with me. While I don't love what Olive did, I can understand it and I can accept it. She wants to make her peace, just like I did.

She did Otto a solid, so I can return the favor and keep her secret. It was a good Samaritan move. No one needs to know who the Samaritan was.

Noah squeezes me closer, angling his head to kiss me deeper. He is so strong and good, his heart clear and wholesome and full of me, apparently. It's too much to believe—too good to be true.

Or maybe I'm one of the lucky ones, and I get to be wholly and truly loved by a good man. Kissing Noah again is everything I've been dreaming about since that kiss during the photoshoot weeks ago. It's everything I've been dying for each time I've seen him since. His lips are soft and pliable, giving and honest and true.

And the way he makes me feel? I'm alive.

Our kiss slows, the feverish pace falling to a crawl. "You're a good man, Noah."

"I didn't scare you away?" he says between kisses.

"You can't. I realized I loved you in New York. I was just too scared to say anything."

He breaks away, looking at me. "That's why you didn't abandon me while I had the flu?"

"I couldn't abandon you."

"I figured that out. You stayed. It was when I realized how special you are."

"That's when you realized it?"

"Nah, that would be more like ninth grade." He grins. "You keep surprising me, Cat. Every time I think you can't possibly do anything to surprise me again, you do. I'm impressed with the way you forgave Olive, and the way you cared for me, and how hard you're working to help your uncle."

I close the distance, kissing him again, holding his face close to mine and exploring his lips entirely. I want this moment to last forever, to kiss him until the sun rises, then again until it sets. But we are two different people with different paths. Are we driving into a storm here? Enjoying the moment but destined for pain ahead? I lean back, then unlock my ankles and let him lower me back to the ground. "You're still leaving, aren't you?"

He's breathing heavier. "What do you mean?"

"You're going to let your parents sell this house. You'll live on the mainland or in Manhattan, and you'll work a lot, and it won't be the same."

He's surprised or confused, his brow bunched together. "That was your problem? That I don't live here?"

"My life is here, Noah. It will be such a challenge to leave." I swallow, my chest pounding with the truth that while my life is here, Noah is my home. As hard as it will be, I can sacrifice if it means we could be together. He's worth it.

"I know that."

"I don't want to," I say quietly. "I'm happy in my little BB with my uncle and my friends around me and the beach everywhere I turn."

He listens to me, letting me feel what I need to. Allowing us to marinate in the moment, to determine our true feelings.

"But?.?.?. For you?.?.?. I can find a way to make it work." The words are out, and I don't feel the impending doom I expected. Sadness, but not doom. "The way I feel about you is more important than where I live."

"Cat," he says, almost like a plea, "I don't care where I live. I don't want to be anywhere that you aren't."

I'm shaking my head. "That's not fair, either. If I force you to stay here, someday you'll grow to resent me for it."

"Not if it's my choice." He pulls me close.

"That's my point, Noah. It's not your choice. I'd be making the choice for you."

"You aren't." He looks earnestly at me. "I told Mateo to get my mainland apartment ready to put on the market days ago. I made an offer on a house down the street."

I'm speechless.

When did he have time for this? I guess when personal assistants help run your life, you can find the time. "Your parents' house?" I ask.

"No. I wanted to start fresh. Let my sisters buy that one. Or they can sell it to a family who might actually use it. I want my own place, where we can make our own memories."

"You'll be giving up Pirate Cove."

"Technically, it belongs to the resort. Dad just never gave them access."

"So you're moving to Sunset Harbor?"

"I am. On my own, even though you weren't really talking to me. Is that enough to make sure you don't worry about me resenting you?"

"It's enough."

"Maybe, when the sale goes through, you can help me decorate? I'm hopeless."

"Only if you pay me. I don't come cheap, either." I squeal when his arm comes under my legs and he sweeps me off the ground. I'm laughing while Noah carries me farther away from the surf, then sets me down on the powdery sand. He joins me, and I wonder if he had the same idea I did, because he starts kissing me, and it doesn't seem like he's going to stop until the sun comes up.