Semua Bab PerFecT LovE: Bab 31 - Bab 40

~~~"Ahhhhh!"Grace shot upright with a scream, her heart pounding so hard it felt like it would burst out of her chest. She pressed a hand against it, struggling to catch her breath."Seriously... not again."She rubbed her temples and let out a groan. "I thought those nightmares were behind me," she muttered, trying to shake off the last traces of the unsettling dream.After a few moments, she slowly opened her eyes."Where am I?" she mumbled, her voice barely above a whisper.Her gaze swept across the room, taking in her surroundings. Everything looked strangely familiar.Then her eyes settled on the closet.She blinked at the curtains and the dresser.The bedside table.One by one, everything came into focus."This is my apartment..." she whispered, her frown deepening as she looked around again. "But how...?"How did she get home?Grace squeezed her eyes shut, trying to remember.Bits and pieces of last night came back.She remembered drinking with Noah. Talking. Laughing.After t

~~~Noah let out a long, frustrated sigh as he glanced down at his pants before quickly looking away again.Being around Grace was becoming torture.One wrong move... That was all it would take for everything to fall apart.If someone had told him a few months ago that there would come a day when he would actually hold himself back because of a woman, he would have laughed in their face. Yet here he was, forcing himself to stay in control.Last night had proven something to him.No matter how much he wanted her, he could never take advantage of Grace. Not even when she had been drunk.She had made it very clear how she felt about things like that, and whether she knew it or not, Noah respected her far too much to cross that line.His thoughts drifted to a woman he had once spent the night with years ago. She had deliberately gotten drunk before throwing herself at him. By morning, she had joked that she could barely walk because he had never known how to hold back.That had always been

~~~Even though Grace had been against Noah following her around at first, the grocery shopping ended up going better than she expected. No reporters. No cameras. No curious eyes.Still... She never really relaxed.Every time someone walked past them, she found herself looking over her shoulder. Every time Noah moved a little too close, she instinctively took a step away, only for him to close the distance again a few seconds later.He had laughed the entire time."You know, if you keep looking around like that, people are going to think we're robbing the place."Grace rolled her eyes. "I just don't want my face on tomorrow's news.""You'd look good on the front page.""I'd rather not find out."The rest of the weekend slipped by quietly.Well... as quietly as it could with Noah Creed in her apartment.He had kept his promise and stayed the whole weekend.Unfortunately for Grace, he also seemed to make it his life's mission to steal a kiss every chance he got.Whenever she walked past

~~Grace lay sprawled across her bed, staring blankly at the ceiling.A bitter sigh escaped her lips.The past few weeks had been nothing short of torture. Ever since that meeting with Mrs. Vera Creed, nothing had felt the same.The woman's words still echoed inside her head, refusing to leave no matter how hard she tried to forget them. To make matters worse, Noah had been away in Australia the entire time. Not seeing him should have made things easier.Instead... It made everything worse.She turned onto her side and buried her face in the pillow.Being grateful that it was finally the weekend didn't change anything.Another sigh slipped out.Mrs. Creed's words weren’t the only thing that haunted her most… it was what she had said that very day.She could still hear herself saying every single one of those words to Vera.I have absolutely nothing going on with your son. I have no intention of becoming involved with him.She squeezed her eyes shut. "What if she recorded everything?"G

~~Noah stared at Grace’s still body on the bed, his heart sinking even further.The doctor’s words kept playing in his head.“She needs to rest. Call me when she wakes up.”But Grace had been asleep for seven days.Seven long days.Noah sat beside the bed, his eyes fixed on her face. She looked peaceful, but that did nothing to calm him. If anything, it made him more afraid.What is keeping her asleep?He rubbed his face and let out a slow breath.He couldn’t stop blaming himself.If only he had acted sooner. If only he hadn’t wasted all those hours sitting outside her apartment, trying to decide whether he should go in or leave her alone.Maybe none of this would have happened.His mother’s audio recording came back to him again.He had listened to it more times than he cared to admit.It was the conversation between his mother and Grace.The moment he heard what his mother had said to her, he had been furious. How dare she go after Grace?And yet, as angry as he was with his mother,