ZenithRising Read Free Page A

romanticized a minor encounter from their mutual past.
    The bellhop saw her and nodded but Nash had his back to her.
He was even taller than when she’d last seen him but she remembered the wavy
black hair. Her fingers curled into her palm as she recalled what it felt like to
play with it when they danced so close together or when she was teasing him.
    She swallowed hard and her lips parted as her gaze took in
the breadth of his shoulders and the evidence of a firmly muscled back through
a blue t-shirt. Inching downward she noticed how his worn jeans were snug
enough to show off lean hips and a tight ass. Unexpectedly her nipples
puckered.
    Just then he turned around, glanced at her face, her pointed
breasts then a spot behind her.
    Maggie stepped forward quickly, holding her hand out.
“Hello, I’m—”
    He cut her off by holding up an index finger between them
and returning his attention to the bellhop.
    The gesture was as rude as having a glass of icy water
thrown at her face. Although, if that had been the case, at least she could explain
the condition of her nipples. She had her answer. The Noah she remembered,
whether he recognized her or not, would never have cut her off like that…or
looked right at her breasts. It was enough to yank her back to her normally
poised demeanor.
    She waited patiently in the spot he had suspended her, hands
gracefully folded at her center, happy-to-accommodate smile in place, as the
bellhop completed his task and left the suite. She waited several more seconds
while Noah stood facing the closed door.
    Just when she began to wonder if he was okay, he turned
around…and smiled.
    “Hello, Sugarlips.”

Chapter Two
     
    In his gut he was fifteen again and gawky and scared and
unhappy and she was the teen angel who had swooped down from heaven and changed
his life forever. As he waited for her response, his heart pounded in his
chest. He could barely breathe. She appeared to be stunned so he took a step
toward her and hesitantly held out his hands.
    A moment later she closed the distance between them and
threw her arms around his neck. He whirled her around twice before setting her
on her feet, but rather than let her go, he clasped both her hands. “I gather
you remember me?”
    “Good grief, Noah, I thought you might not remember me .
I mean, that would make sense. I’m nobody. But you, you’re a household name.
Who would have ever thought shy little Noah Nash would wind up being a
world-famous celebrity?”
    He threw his head back and laughed the way he used to when
she teased him out of one of his sad moments. He squeezed her hands then
twirled her around in front of him like a ballerina. “You look exactly the
same. Except for the short hair. I still had a picture in my head of you with
the long ponytail.” He stepped back and slowly scanned her from head to toe. He
noticed her nipples still seemed to be poking through her thin top. “Ah, I
think your boobs are bigger. Don’t tell me you—”
    She punched his arm. “I think my not hearing from you in
eighteen years revokes your privilege to comment on the size of my boobs.
However, I am willing to admit they’re all me. Just like the rest of the twenty
pounds you’re pretending not to notice. But you , geez, Noah, you turned
out to be gorgeous. You must have women…and men throwing themselves at you all
the time.”
    She gave him the same once-over he’d given her and the fine
hairs on his arms stood up as though static electricity flowed between them. He
remembered that happening the first time she touched him, so long ago. “I got
lucky. But I’ve never really enjoyed that part of being a celebrity .
Being an author suits the hermit in me. And when I need to be in public, it’s
brought me enough money to buy…security.”
    “Like this suite?” she asked lightly, looking around.
    He grinned and led her over to the sofa. It gave him a
reason to take her hand again and after they were seated he held on. After