Page 25 of Picture This

“I thought we could start over.” He cleared his throat and held out a hand, giving me a devilish smile that might have been handsome if not for the sheer arrogance radiating from his body. “Jake Hearst.”

I forced a smile. “While I appreciate the effort, there’s really no need.”

“How about a date to the wedding tomorrow?”

“No, thank you.”

“Dinner tonight?” He was persistent, I’d give him that.

“I just ordered room service.”

“You don’t want to eat alone. I’ll join you.” He took a step forward to cross the threshold, but I held up a hand, planting it over his sternum and pushing him back.

“Jake. It’s a no.”

“Look, I know Emily was hoping we’d date or something. She told me about what happened with your ex.” He leaned forward, lowering his voice. “This doesn’t have to be anything serious. Just a hookup for the weekend. Call me a rebound if you want.”

I was really going to love slamming the door in this guy’s face.

Except before I could swing it closed, he went flying backward, yanked by the collar of that starched shirt.

“You have three seconds to get the fuck out of this hallway before I throw you out a window.”

Noah.

He glowered at Jake, fists planted on his hips. Annoyance and anger radiated off his towering frame.

Jake righted his shirt and sneered. “She’s not even that hot.”

Noah turned and faced me. “Yeah, she is.”

My heart skipped.

“Your hair looks nice.” Noah leaned a shoulder on the open doorframe.

“Thanks.” I stared up at him, wishing my belly wouldn’t flip whenever he was around.

Jake muttered something under his breath and stomped down the hall, probably to find a new bottle of bourbon.

“Sorry,” Noah said. “I know you had that handled, but I couldn’t resist.”

“It’s okay. Though I was looking forward to slamming the door in his face.”

“Want to slam it in mine instead?” he teased.

“That depends. What are you doing here, Noah?”

“I was hoping you’d be my date to the wedding tomorrow.”

It took everything I had not to say yes. More than anything, I wanted to go with Noah. But I also couldn’t ignore the elephant somewhere in this lodge. “What about Emily?”

“Well, I think she’ll be there too. She was talking about wearing a white dress.”

“Funny.” I bit my lip to hide a smile.

“I’m not sure what’s going to happen,” he said. “I just know that I can’t be in the same room as you anymore and pretend like you’re not the only woman I can see.”

My breath hitched.