Read VAIN - Part Three (The VAIN Series Book 3) for Free Online

torture."
    I try to break free so I can look at him. My gaze is cast down out of necessity. My eyes catching on the black dress slacks he's wearing and his bare feet. "Noah." My voice is lost in his chest.
    He pulls back slightly, his hands darting to my face. I feel the warmth of them as he guides my face up to meet his. I take in every curve, relishing in the sight of his familiar chin, the strength of his brow and the beauty of his scar.
    "You're so perfect." His eyes tear a path across my face, stopping to study each of my features. "I've missed your beautiful face."
    I can't take my eyes off of him. I feel as though I've stepped into a dream. "You're here."
    "I came here for you." He brushes his lips across my forehead.  "I came to find you."
    "How did you know I'd be here?"
    I feel his lips feather over my cheek before they brush across mine. "I called Axel Boston and someone there told me you were in Manhattan." He stops to kiss me lightly again. "She told me you were working at the restaurant here."
    "I tried to call you." My hands move from his waist to his hands, pushing them closer into my face. I've been starved for his touch for months. I finally feel as though I can breathe again. "I called you a few weeks ago. You didn’t call me back."
    "I didn't know what to say." His eyes glisten slightly and I know that he's feeling everything I am. "I just wanted to see you. I wanted to hold you and look at you."
    "So you came to New York?" I nod my head towards the floor. "You came here to see me?"
    "Yes." His eyes dart from my eyes to my mouth and back again. "I came here to see you."
    I have a million questions but I can't form a single one. I can only stare at him.
    "You look so beautiful." His eyes skim over my dress. "You were out tonight, weren't you?"
    I nod. I've never lied to Noah. Starting now seems foolish. "I was on a date. I was at the restaurant when you called."
    "Is he important to you?" There's no anger or jealousy woven into the question at all. It's direct.
    I shake my head slightly from side-to-side. "I just met him. We hadn't even ordered yet."
    "Tonight was your first date?" This time there's no hiding the emotion in the question. He's happy. I can sense it between the words.
    "My first date since I got here," I offer.
    "Then I got here just in time." His hands tangle in my hair, pulling my mouth into his for a lush, deep kiss.
    My eyes flutter closed as I lose myself in the touch in the man that I'm in love with. There's absolutely no question of that within any part of me now. I love Noah Foster. I belong with Noah Foster. Now I just need to make that my reality.
     
    ***
     
    "I got a new tattoo." He's sitting on the edge of the coffee table, my bare feet resting between his thighs , which are still hidden beneath the fabric of his pants. "I got it right after you left."
    I want to correct him. I want to tell him that I didn't leave. At least, I didn't leave willingly. In his effort to force me into the world that he thought would make me happy, he abandoned me in many ways. I'm not over that. I can't be. I have so much I need to say to him. "Where?" I ask the obvious question for now.
    "Here." His hand darts to his chest. It rests directly over his heart.
    "I can't see." I lean forward, all the while painfully aware that my breasts are about to dive out of the top of Kayla's dress. It was just a touch too small but that hadn't stopped me from squeezing myself into it earlier in an effort to impress Alec. I had no idea that hours later, I'd be sitting with Noah, staring at his beautiful chest.
    "Right here." His finger traces a small space in the middle of a larger tattoo. "It's the numbers six and seventeen."
    "Is that a combination to something?" I laugh expecting him to follow suit. I tone it down the moment I realize his expression is stoic and serious.
    "It's the day we met." His voice is low and tender.
    It's a gesture that I wasn't expecting. "When did you get this?" I rest my hand over