Chapter 4 - The Secret of Las VegasMy heart pounded against my ribs. I looked at Noah, but I didn't correct him in front of the buyer.

When the customer walked away carrying his wreath, I pulled Noah behind a stack of cedar lumber.

“You’re playing with fire, Noah,” I whispered, my cheeks flushed from the cold air and his proximity. “The bank expects a fiancée, not a secret wife from a ten-year-old Las Vegas chapel.”

“Why does it have to be a secret, Eleanor?” Noah asked softly, stepping closer, framing my face with his warm, leather-gloved hands. “Look at what we build when we are together. You saved this barn today in three hours.”

“I’m doing this for my lease deposit!” I argued, my voice cracking slightly. “I need twenty-five thousand dollars to open Juniper & Rose Floral in Boston on January 2nd! This was a business transaction!”

Noah’s thumb gently brushed across my cheekbone, wiping away a stray fleck of pine dust.

“Is that really all this is to you, El?” Noah asked softly. “Just a lease deposit?”

I looked into his eyes—the same eyes that had looked at me under the gold arch in Nevada when we were twenty-two. The memory of our wedding night flooded back: drinking warm champagne from paper cups, dancing barefoot on a hotel carpet, promising to hold each other through whatever life brought.

We hadn't split up back then because we stopped loving each other. We had split up because we were terrified of failing each other.

May you like

Waitress Whispered “Run!” to the Mafia Boss—What Happened Next Shocked E...

My husband laughed when I asked for a divorce, certain I would never rea...

THE MAFIA BOSS NEEDED A WIFE FOR ONE WEEKEND—SHE CHANGED HIS FAMILY FORE...

Before I could answer him, the heavy barn doors creaked open, and a sleek black SUV pulled up through the snow.

Stepping out of the vehicle was Harrison Vance, the lead loan officer from First National Bank—and standing beside him was Julianna Ross, Noah’s wealthy, ambitious ex-girlfriend from Vermont who owned a rival commercial timber operation.