CHAPTERFOURTEEN
Yasmin
Yasmin lurkedin the shade of the oak tree near the sign-up table, doing her best not to make eye contact with any of the other runners warming up in the grass.
She wouldn’t be making the journey with them and really didn’t deserve her tee shirt, but she hadn’t scored a mud run tee in years and the custom shirts from each year inevitably became collector’s items. The design team behind the Mud Run tee was kept top secret, but they were clearly some of the most brilliant creative minds in Lonesome Point. If she had been forced to give up a Mud Run tee shirt as well as her hopes, dreams, and romantic fantasies, Yasmin was pretty sure she would have laid down on the ground beneath the oak tree and never gotten up again.
Noah O’Sullivan may have broken her heart, but by God, he wouldn’t rob her of a Mud Run tee.
The thought made her press her lips together, fighting the stinging at the back of her eyes. She couldn’t believe she’d done it again, fallen hook, line, and sinker for a liar. Sure, the lie wasn’t a deadly lie or even a dangerous one, but it still hurt like hell. It was what the lie represented that hurt the worst—another man who couldn’t be trusted, another time Yasmin’s judgment had proved to be shitty and flawed. But this was even worse than the times before. She’d already been having happily ever after dreams starring Noah as the leading man.
Idiot. She deserved a bad case of heartache. That’s what she got for falling head over heels for a man she barely knew, even if he did have the kindest eyes she’d ever seen and had made her feel, for one amazing night, like the sexiest, most irresistible woman in the world.
“Yasmin!” The voice seemed to come straight from her subconscious, summoned by memories of her epic night with Noah O’Sullivan. But then it came again, louder this time. “Yasmin! Wait!”
She turned to see Noah racing across the square toward her. His shirt was untucked and his hair stood up in a wild, rumpled, bed head tangle and his cheeks were covered with quite possibly the sexiest morning stubble she had ever seen. Even now, he looked beautiful. Beautiful and worried and excited to see her all at the same time. It was enough to make her want to smash her fist into a tree. Or maybe his face.
Yes, his face would be better.
How dare he come here looking handsome and sexy and worried whenhewas the one who had ruined everything?
“Go away.” She pointed a finger toward Bayer Street, where she could see his truck parked beneath a tree. “I have nothing to say to you.”
“But I have a lot to say to you,” he said, stopping in front of her, his breath coming fast. “Actually, no, I don’t have that much to say. Just that this is all a big mistake and that you can’t go.”
“I can do whatever I want. It’s called free will, Noah. The same free will you used when you sent your stupid samples back to San Francisco.”
“I didn’t send them!” He thrust his arms out to his sides as if he had nothing to hide. “At least not yesterday. I had them scheduled to ship on Tuesday. The crazy woman at the bank decided to move up the date on her own. I had nothing to do with it. And I certainly never told her to call you.”
Yasmin scowled. “I don’t believe you.”
“You don’t believe that the sperm bank that sold you a storage client’s sperm by accident might have made a mistake?” Noah rolled his eyes. “Anothermistake. That place is a fucking nightmare. If I were a different person, I would sue their asses for everything they’re worth.”
Her frown trembled, and a sliver of unease snaked through her self-righteous anger. “But you were never going to agree to the insemination,” she said in a softer voice, keenly aware that they were starting to attract attention. The other runners were keeping their distance, but every word of this conversation would be making the gossip rounds by the time the starting pistol rang. “Admit it. You were just stringing me along.”
“I was not stringing you along,” he said, his eyes pleading with her to believe him. “Yes, the chances that I would have agreed to the procedure were slim, but that’s only because I was—”
“See!” She crossed her arms at her chest, shaking her head back and forth. “See, you already talk about it in the past tense! Like, it’s all been decided, even though it’s only Friday and as far as I know your sperm maker isn’t broken.”
“Okay, then. Fine.” Noah reached for the close of his belt. “If that’s what it takes to get you to believe me.”
Yasmin’s eyebrows shot up. “Wh-what are you doing?”
“Getting you a sample,” he said, ripping the belt through the buckle. “Right here. Right now.”
“But we’re in the middle of the town square,” she squeaked, gazing frantically over her shoulders. “And there are people everywhere.”
Noah’s eyes didn’t waiver from her face. “I don’t care. You’re the only person I care about. And I’m going to get you a sperm sample. And then I’m going to convince you that I’m falling in love with you and that you’re falling in love with me and that all of this is ridiculous because we should just move in together, finish falling in love, and make a baby the old-fashioned way.”
Yasmin blinked against the tears rising in her eyes. She was so shocked—and touched—that Noah had his zipper all the way down before she recovered enough to launch herself across the grass between them.
“Stop it,” she hissed, hands covering his as he prepared to shove his jeans down. “Are you crazy?”
He nodded “Yes. I’m crazy. I’m crazy about you, and if you leave now I’m going to have to quit my job and follow you across the country until you realize running away from this is the dumbest thing you’ve ever done.”
“I don’t know,” she said, tears still pressing in. “I’ve done a lot of dumb stuff. Especially where men are concerned.”
“But that’s all over now,” he said, holding her gaze. “Because you’ve got me and like I told your mom on the phone this morning, I’ll do whatever it takes to prove to you that I’m worth taking a chance on.”