LITTLE GIRL LOST by SARAH BETH LEE (best books to read for knowledge TXT) 📕

on my own it wouldn’t have meant anything at all.

I want to take you to Paris in the spring, Central Park in the fall when the autumn leaves are bursting with color. I want to visit Italy in the summer and walk The Road of Love with you, float down a cannel in a gondola with you in my arms and kiss you under a falling star I want to do all those things with you. Then after we’ve seen all of those places we’ll do it all again. I want to see the world with you, to experience all that life has to offer with you by my side. I know this probably sounds completely nuts and that right now you probably think I am some psycho stalker but this is the long version. I don’t expect it to happen tomorrow or next week but someday I want to experience all that with you.”

Hannah found it hard to breathe and she realized she was holding her breath. She slowly exhaled trying to find the words to say something but the ringing of her phone saved her for the moment. She held up a finger.

She walked on rubbery legs to the couch and grabbed her cell off the coffee table. She knew without looking that it would be Maddie. “Hey Mad I’m perfectly fine.”

Maddie let out a string of words at alarming rates of speed while Hannah held the phone away from her ear. She caught Nick’s name and why didn’t you call me, along with some other not so nice words mixed in. She sank down on the couch cushions and listened until Maddie ran out of steam.

“So H are you going to answer me?”

Hannah laughed. “Well Mad, I had to wait to get a word in edge wise. First I am fine thank you very much, second I was going to call you later and yes Nick is still here.”

Maddie started talking a mile a minute making Hannah’s head spin. “So have you talked to him about your dad and what happened the day his parents died, did you tell him about Nate? Oh and did you tell him about the crazy dreams you’ve had about him? Hannah did you…”

Hannah cleared her throat. “Maddie I haven’t had a chance to tell him much of anything yet, with my near death experience, my nap, decorating the Christmas tree and now you calling I haven’t had the time to think clearly.”

Maddie sighed and slowed her rambling. “Okay I get it, back off. I suppose that you don’t want to go shopping tomorrow after such a long day and eventful night.”

Hannah really didn’t want to go she would prefer to sleep in and join them for lunch. “Maddie I’m sorry

Maddie laughed. “Okay fine we’re going to Martin’s place for lunch fair warning mom wants to meet him and Nate is tagging along to see you.”

Hannah groaned into the phone. “Mad can’t you guys eat breakfast there? I really don’t want to hurt Carter’s feelings if he start hitting on me again. I swear I am never getting drunk again the repercussions aren’t worth it.”

Maddie laughed. “Ok I’ll see what I can do. We’ll see call you and let you know where to meet us for lunch. Have fun with Mr. Perfect, good night.”

Hannah heard the click of Maddie’s cell and the dead silence that followed. She laid her cell on the table and saw the uneasy look on Nick’s handsome face as he finished putting the garland on the tree. She stood to her feet and walked back to join him.

“Hey what’s wrong?”

Nick looked at her and shrugged his shoulders indifferently. “Nothing just the mention of Carter’s name brought up a bad memory.”

Hannah looked at him with confusion. “Wait a minute you know Carter? How do you know it’s the same Carter?”

Nick looked out the window to avoid looking at Hannah’s flashing eyes. “Well I am assuming it’s the same Carter who has a brother named Martin who is dating Maddie. The same Maddie in fact that is my shrink. I also assume that you were referring to Zach and Beth’s engagement party that you skipped out on because you were too drunk to stay and almost threw up on my shoes on your way out the door.”

Hannah could feel her face turning a bright shade of tomato red. “So let me get this straight you know Zach, Carter and Martin. You arrived at the party as I was leaving and it was you who I ran past on my way outside to empty the contents of stomach in the alley?”

Nick nodded his head sheepishly, “You forgot that Maddie is my shrink and that Carter and I got so drunk each thinking about you that we got into a barroom brawl that Martin and Zach had to it break up. I think I almost broke Carter’s nose.”

Hannah was standing with her hands on her hips with her mouth hanging open. She was in shock at all the information pouring out of Nick’s very kissable lips. She chided herself for letting her thoughts stray. She was beyond mortified that Nick obviously knew way more about her than she did about him.
“Poor Carter, so it seems I am the only one who has been out of the loop on this. So Zach knew who I was all along?”

Nick dropped his brooding eyes to the floor to study the tips of his shoes. “Yeah he did. He felt very protective of you so he made up that story to talk to you. He knew that you wouldn’t give him the time of day any other way.”

Hannah began to pace the room lost in her own thoughts. She sank down on the couch and closed her eyes against the overhead lights that seemed way too bright. “So was any of what Zach and I talked about real or was he just playing some kind of sick twisted game with me?”

Nick walked carefully around the empty boxes and trinkets still scattered on the floor. He approached Hannah slowly trying to determine if she was mad enough to hit him if got any closer. She moved to one end of the long couch and rolled her eyes in his general direction. “Oh for heaven’s sakes sit down all ready.”

Nick sat caddy corner on the opposite end of the couch facing an irritated Hannah. “I have no idea what you and Zach talked about but he did tell me that you reminded him a lot of Beth which is not a bad thing. I have known Zach for seventeen years and if there’s one thing I know about him he is honest to a fault and he is loyal to the end. I know that he thinks a lot of you and feels very protective of you.”

Hannah sighed in frustration and watched Nick squirming uncomfortably on the couch. “Well that’s all good and fine but I wish he had been honest with me from the beginning.”

Nick smiled at that, “Right seeing as how you were so forthcoming Peyton.”

Hannah felt her cheeks burning a dozen shades of red under his reproachful eye. “Ok so I wasn’t entirely honest but that was a defense mechanism that I’ve used my entire life. I was afraid of the world and how people look at me if they knew who I really was. I moved in with my Aunt after my father died and I kind of stayed to myself and then when I left for college I never made many friends so I kind of stayed to myself.”

Nick heard the trace of sadness in her voice as she spoke of that dark period of her life. “Hannah I know that you don’t really know me but I know how you feel. I can’t say that I have hidden away from the world but I never let anyone get too close. I was the guy who didn’t make commitments or put down roots. I hid from the world and the pain by being the life of the party and the guy that everybody wanted to be friends with. I won’t lie to you I have been with other women but I never felt anything for them it was just another way of running from things I didn’t want to remember.”

Hannah drew her legs up on the couch and faced him now. “Wow that makes me feel so much better thanks.”

Nick looked perplexed not grasping what she meant. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

Hannah buried her head in her arms that were clutching her legs to her chest. “I have spent the last seventeen years hiding from everybody and everything. I have never even been alone with a guy except Nate but he doesn’t count and now here you are the guy I’ve dreamed about since I was eight years old; only to find out you have slept with God knows how many beautiful women as if it were merely a recreational sport.”

Nick watched as she raised her head. He could see the light pink on Hannah’s cheeks turning a deep crimson. “Hannah please don’t think like that it was a long time ago and I’m not that cold or callous anymore. I was numb and all I wanted was to forget what happened and that was the only way that worked for a while but then even that didn’t work. I am so sorry but I don’t ever want to lie to you about anything.”

Hannah could see the longing in his eyes and the pleading in his low husky voice. “Hannah I don’t want to be that guy anymore I want to get to know you and for you to know me. Hannah we owe to ourselves to see where all this takes us.”

Hannah relaxed her shoulders and wondered how this would all end if she opened herself up to him. She was afraid that she might never recover if he walked away but somehow she knew that she needed him in her life.

“Okay but I think we need to take things slow.”

Nick offered her his sexy grin, “Ok how about a movie and some popcorn?”

Hannah laughed as the tension filled air melted away. “Ok you put in the movie and I’ll get the popcorn and drinks.”

Hannah walked to the kitchen trying to clear her head enough to make sense of everything that had happened today. She had never imagined that things would get any crazier than learning that Maddie was her twin sister and that Nate was Nick’s brother; but now here she was in her kitchen watching the microwave rotate and listening to the popping of the popcorn while Nick sat in her living room. She leaned against the counter and wondered exactly how to tell him he had a brother who looked exactly like him living just thirty miles outside of town. She was pulled out of her thoughts by the beeping of the microwave. She grabbed the popcorn and poured it into a bowl, grabbed a couple of sodas and some napkins. She took a deep breath and walked back to the living room.