A / N

...so, anyone still reading this?

It has been so long, I know, and I'm sorry. I got lost for awhile, and Darcy's narrative became really hard to write when I wasn't emotionally stable. But you should know that I never half-arse anything, and that when I'm fully committed to a story I will try to see it through, no matter how long it takes.

So what you have here is a lengthier (hotter) chapter, because this story is finally back on track. Special thanks to stereohearted for being my beta, and beautlies for not giving up on Miles (me. I meant me.) Thank you all for your constant support and kind messages, and stay tuned for more updates (and more Miles).

x Noelle

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1 6

the one where Noelle (/Miles) is back

WITH ONE WEEK left to Christmas, I knew that it was high time I pulled on my big girl pants and get to work. I'd neglected most of my old duties after temporarily taking over Brielle's, which had been perfectly fine with my parents.

Until the day came when Mom discovered that I'd yet to decorate the Christmas tree. With a horrified gasp, she'd shoved the box of decorations into my arms and threatened to have me grounded if I didn't finish the tree. I'd rolled my eyes, but headed to the lobby all the same after office hours. I was midway through sorting the ornaments when footsteps stopped near me.

"Get up, Evers."

I froze at the familiar voice, then threw a glance over my shoulder. Miles was several feet away, all decked out in his usual business suit, and frowning down at me. A smile leapt across my face. "Hi, what're you—"

The words barely left me when he closed the distance between us. Long fingers wrapped around my arm and jerked me to my feet. In a flash, he tugged me closer so that I was almost flush against him. Startled by our proximity, I placed a hand on his chest to steady myself and blinked owlishly up at him.

"What—"

"They were staring," he hissed.

"Who—?"

I followed the direction of his gaze, only to find three guys looking at us. The first two quickly averted their stares, but the last openly leered. He didn't seem bothered that I'd caught him. Instead, he swept his eyes up and down my body, to finally land on my ass.

Teenage Darcy might've stormed over and threatened to stick pins in that pervert's eyeballs. But I felt the growl that ripped from Miles, his muscles tense beneath my palm, and his anger calmed me. I found myself smiling up at him instead. "It's okay," I assured him softly. "I've got this."

Moving away from Miles, I headed towards the other guys. Two of them watched me with wide eyes, but the last shot me a cocky smirk. I took a deep breath and met his gaze squarely. "Hi," I started, pasting the fakest smile I could muster on my face. "Are you guys checking in?"

"Why? Are you checking in with us?"

I bit the inside of my cheek to keep from snapping. "I'm afraid not. I'm all checked in, you see," I said, and shot a deliberate glance towards Miles. He'd remained where he was, but his jaw was tight, blue eyes dark as he glared daggers at them. I turned back to the boys and added, "I'll be sure to find you boys some great rooms, though." Without waiting for their reply, I went to the counter and lowered my voice to speak to the staff. "Have you given them their keys yet?"

Morgan shook her head. "Not yet."

"Mm, well, give them the rooms farthest from the central heater. They're plenty hot enough as it is, and will probably need to cool down."

She chuckled and returned to her computer. "I'm on it."

With a satisfied smile, I pushed away from the counter and returned to Miles. He'd been standing close enough to hear everything, and his lips twitched. "Well played, Evers."

It was difficult not to preen at the warm approval in his voice. "Now you know what happens when guys leer at me."

"Got it. Won't even look at you."

"What? Oh, no, that wasn't what I meant! You can look at me all you want. Honestly, I'd be quite disappointed if you didn't, and—" I trailed off with a blush. It seemed that whenever I was around him, I let my tongue loose and talked my dignity to shreds.

...wait, what was that about tongues again?

I raked a hand through my curls and tried to switch the subject. "So...what're you doing here?"

He shrugged. "A thirty-eight percent growth in tourism that Sereinn has brought to this town is quite a feat. And though I can't say I'm fully confident your company's future, it wouldn't do Hale & Co. any favors if we pushed Sereinn out of the market, considering we've just bought over Blue Haven. Nate agrees. Now we have to wait for the rest of the board to take a look at the files you gave me."

I blinked. "You...you gave my files to the board?"

"I made a promise, didn't I?"

"That's brilliant," I breathed, beaming at him. But my smile soon faded. "What if it's not good enough? I mean, I did present it in the best manner I could. But speaking from a wholly business perspective, Hale & Co. might not think—"

"Evers," he cut me off and fixed me with a firm look. "What did I use to tell you about doubting yourself?"

"...to not?"

"Precisely. Don't. If your research didn't convince me, I wouldn't have sent them to Nate or the board. But it did, and I sent them. So have a little faith in yourself, and Sereinn."

"You're right, of course you're right." I shook my worries aside and smiled up at him. "You really are brilliant, did you know that?"

To my amusement, his cheeks pinked. "You might've mentioned it," he mumbled, "once or twice."

"That's because you are."

He seemed thrown-off by my honesty, because he quickly looked away. His gaze landed on the boxes by the Christmas tree, and his eyebrows rose. "What's all this?"

I gave him a sheepish smile. "Last-minute decorations. My mom's been on my case about it forever, not to mention Brielle will probably fire me if she finds out I haven't done up the tree yet. Right now, I've decided to go for the less is more look."

"Really? Because it's currently sporting a barren look."

"Not if you help me!" I sang and shot him a cheeky grin when his eyes widened. "Come on, it'll be fun. We did this that one Christmas we spent together, remember? Unless..." I trailed off as I remembered the way he'd always reacted when either of us brought up our past. The last thing I wanted was to make him uncomfortable, especially when he'd come all the way here to talk to me. "Unless you don't want to, of course, which I totally understand. You probably have tons of work back in your office anyway—"

"So where do we start?"

A smile leapt across my face when I realized he'd pretty much agreed to my offer. "This tree's been sitting in storage for awhile. We have to spread the branches out so they don't clump together."

"Alright."

Never one to waste any time, he swiftly got down to work and reached up to loosen his tie. My eyes were immediately drawn to the slender, almost graceful column of his neck. A memory long past flashed in my mind's eye—the fluid movement of his Adam's apple when he swallowed; the guttural sound I wrenched from him when I slid my tongue along the tendons on his neck.

I dragged in a deep breath and ripped my eyes away from him. As I did, I realized that I hadn't been the only one whose attention had been caught by Miles's simple action. The interns by the counter gawked openly at him, and so did a few tourists across the room.

I bit my lip, torn between amusement and a twinge of annoyance. Of course Miles was attractive. I'd known that from the moment I met him. My whole life had been spent on the beach, surrounded by guys who strutted around with six-pack abs, bronzed skin and Adonis-like features. But Miles was a breath of fresh air. He had been pale and scrawny then, almost skittish in behaviour, with tousled hair and eyes so blue like the sea that I could almost drown in them.

I'd looked at him and saw everything that he would become. Still fair and lean, he would grow into his gangly limbs and sharp cheekbones, but still retain some of his boyish charm and nervous tics. His maturity and intellect—two traits he'd been bullied relentlessly for—would become his assets in the working world. He would never be loud, assertive or brash like so many other men I knew. But his quiet confidence and unassuming manner made him appealing in a world that was no longer ruled by popular jocks or bad boys.

It often frustrated me that no one but me had seen that about him while he was growing up. Miles himself probably hadn't a clue either. It was one of the many things that attracted me to him—that he shied away from any attention, so he never knew whenever he was the focus of it.

Even now, he didn't seem to have a clue. And when he made to shrug off his jacket, I yelped before I could stop myself. "Wait!"

He stopped. "What?"

"Um..."

"What's wrong?"

Nothing. Nothing was wrong, and that was the problem. It was warm and toasty in here, and Miles was perfectly warranted to take off his jacket if he wanted to. So how could I explain this knot of possessiveness that curled tight in my chest?

"I, um—" I shifted on my feet, looking everywhere but at him. Instead, I glanced back at those ogling interns. "—I just, I don't know, doesn't it feel a bit chilly in here?"

He followed the direction of my gaze. "Chilly, huh?"

"Well, you don't see me removing any clothes!"

His eyes narrowed, and I jutted my chin out in mock defiance. After a slight pause, he sighed and tugged his jacket back on. "Am I allowed to roll up my sleeves?"

Damn it. He'd seen right through me. "Do whatever you want."

The corners of his lips twitched in a fleeting smirk, before he shoved his sleeves up to his elbows and stepped closer to the tree. We worked in companionable silence, which seemed to suit us just fine. Once the lobby got too crowded, we retreated to the staff's lounge to thread ornaments with string and sort through tinsel colors.

I scowled as a bit of tinsel caught on the ends of my hair. "This is like that Christmas all over again," I muttered.

"Here, let me see."

He grasped my elbow to steady me in place, then focused on unravelling the tinsel from my hair. I held my breath, wanting to etch this moment into my memory. Long fingers locked around my arm; his warm body mere inches away from mine; the harsh lines of his mouth a perfect contrast to his gentle movements. He didn't seem affected by our proximity at all, while I had to stop my eyes from falling shut as his rich, earthy scent enveloped me.

"Do you remember that one Christmas we spent together?" I asked at last. "I said that Santa hats were overrated, so I made us matching tinsel ones?"

He cleared his throat and nodded. "I remember."

"It was a fun night, wasn't it? I even kept it, you know. Not the hats—Ean's stupid ass sat on them, but the leftover tinsel."

His eyes flickered to mine. "You kept it?"

"Of course. I kept it where I keep everything else important."

"But why?"

"Why not? That was the best Christmas I'd ever had, and the only one I ever spent with you. I wanted to remember it."

"I see."

His voice was quiet, too quiet, and I bit my lip. "Did I say something wrong?"

"No. It's just..." He let out a slow, audible breath. "You just really confuse me, sometimes."

My eyes widened. "Me? But I'm hardly confusing at all. I'm rather simple, actually. If anything, you confuse me."

Now he looked amused, the corners of his lips twitching up. "How so?"

"Well, when we first met, you wore your heart on your sleeve. But even then, sometimes, it felt like I didn't quite know what you were thinking. You'd put up with everything and bottle up all this hurt inside you that no one, not even me, could ever know. And now, with your whole return to Caverly—you pit yourself against Sereinn, but then come all the way here to decorate the tree with me..." I trailed off, and let out a small laugh that sounded as uncertain as I felt. "Miles Callaghan, you've been a mystery from the beginning, and I've spent all this time trying to figure you out."

"Perhaps to you," he acceded, and I suddenly realized that the distance between us had diminished. Had he moved closer? Or had I? It took everything in me to meet his gaze, and not let my eyes dip to his mouth forming smoothly around the words. "But I am quite easy to figure out."

"Really?"

It was his turn to look at my lips. "Yes," he said in a quiet voice. I shivered to hear the husky undertone in it, and found myself leaning closer to him. His hand came up to tuck a stray curl behind my ear, and his gaze was unexpectedly soft as he added, "You just have to figure out what I want."

Anticipation bloomed in my chest as he lowered his head. I could feel it like a ripple, all the way down to my toes. Liquid fire burned through my veins—this waiting, wishing, wanting for him to close the sliver of space between us. His breath was a whisper against my lips and as I closed my eyes, only one thought came to mind:

All I've ever wanted was you.

But before he could kiss me, a click of stilettos echoed down the hallway. They stopped, suddenly, and a familiar voice cut through the silence. "Well, this is an interesting turn of events."