the best possible version of me. Hell yes.
And I believed that right up until I walked into the kitchen to find Mei and Paddy sitting at the table drinking coffee. He was rumpled, his tee all creased and hair in disarray. The way it got when he’d been all restless and shoving his fingers through it over a prolonged period. Stubble lined his jaw and the bruising under his eyes was even more pronounced than mine. An impressive feat.
“What are you doing here?” Oh, dear. That was me screeching. Never a good look. “Paddy?”
Mei stood. “I’ll leave you to it.”
“Thanks,” he said.
She just nodded, giving me a quick smile.
My knees were shaking for some reason. That my back rested against the wall was about the only thing holding me up.
“Why don’t you sit down?” he asked.
“Why don’t you answer the question?” My hand flew to my mouth and my voice went deathly quiet. “Shit. Did something happen? Did they take back the job offer? Was it something I did?”
He frowned. “Why would it be something you did?”
“I don’t know. I’m having a panic attack,” I grumbled. “You’re supposed to be on a flight landing in Hungary in a few hours and instead you’re here, and it’s really thrown me because it was everything you’ve been working toward and wanted since the moment I met you.”
“Yeah.” He winced. “It’s sort of a long story. First the flight got delayed. After all of that rushing. Some sort of last-minute mechanical failure that dragged on and on. And I was sitting there the whole time in the lounge just thinking about everything. Just going over and over it inside my head. And when we finally got told to board . . . I couldn’t get on the plane.”
“What?”
“I know. I just couldn’t do it.”
“Why not?”
“You,” he said.
“Me?”
“Yeah. You.”
My butt hit the floor. Which kind of hurt. But never mind.
Patrick rose so fast his chair scooted across the floor. “Are you alright?”
“I think so.”
He knelt in front of me. “I couldn’t get on the plane, Norah. The thought of leaving you so soon . . . it just didn’t feel right. Maybe if we’d been together for a while it would have been okay. But not right now. Since you couldn’t come with me, I’ll just have to stay here with you. At least for the next little while.”
“Wow.”
He shrugged. “Anyway, my career isn’t in such bad shape. And it’s not like there won’t be things getting filmed here in LA. In the meantime, I can work with Mei on setting up the production company. Won’t hurt me to take a break. I’ve been working pretty much nonstop since I was twenty-one.”
“You’re serious about this?”
“Absolutely. This way, I’ll be here to support you with whatever you’re doing for the next few months or so. Much better than screwing around on Skype and trying to figure out time zones.”
I collapsed back against the wall. “Paddy, you’re being pretty much perfect right now.”
“Don’t get too used to it. I’m bound to fuck up sooner or later.”
“I don’t believe it.” I sighed. “Though I had pretty much already decided to get the shop sorted and fly out and spend at least a couple of days with you before I started working with Zena full-time. You’d only been gone a few hours, but I missed you like crazy.”
“Baby,” he said with a gentle smile that made my heart swoon. I’d seen its facsimile in films, but this was about a billion times better. It was all true and it was all mine.
“You said I wasn’t a baby. That was like the first pet name you tried.”
“I lied. It just felt too personal or something. But now it fits you perfectly.” He grabbed me around the waist, lifting my ass off the floor. Then he deposited us both on a seat, with me on his lap. Of course I wrapped my arms around his neck and got as close as I could. I wasn’t a complete idiot. He looked me over with raised brows. “Not to be critical. But why are you dressed like Pollyanna?”
“You left. My heart was broken. I was trying to be cheerful.”
“Right,” he said. “Why weren’t you sleeping in our room?”
“It made me too sad.”
“It’s nice to know that being apart doesn’t work for either of us.”
“Not even a little.”
I lifted my chin and he met me halfway, pressing his lips against mine. The kiss stayed chaste for approximate half a second. Which was good