Undeniable

UndeniableCara Dion Copyright © 2023 Cara DionAll rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system without the written permission of the author, except where permitted by law.This is a work of fiction. The characters, incidents and dialogue are drawn from the author’s imagination and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.Print ISBN: 979-8-9882826-0-0Imprint: Independently publishedFirst editionCover designed by Cover2Cover Services. Contents Title PageCopyrightDedicationPrologueChapter 1Chapter 2Chapter 3Chapter 4Chapter 5Chapter 6Chapter 7Chapter 8Chapter 9Chapter 10Chapter 11Chapter 12Chapter 13Chapter 14Chapter 15Chapter 16Chapter 17Chapter 18Chapter 19Chapter 20Chapter 21Chapter 22Chapter 23Chapter 24Chapter 25Chapter 26Chapter 27Chapter 28Chapter 29EpilogueAcknowledgementsAbout The AuthorBooks By This Author For Papa SENSITIVE MATERIAL WARNINGThis book contains a character with a chronic illness (fibromyalgia). It also deals with themes of grief, especially around the loss of a parent. While the death of the parent happens in the past, off page, it may be triggering to some readers. PrologueNew York CityNoah Van Aller was not going to kiss his little sister’s best friend.Liv had asked him to go, so he was going to make an appearance at this birthday party, have a drink, and then get out of there.“Who are you supposed to be again?” his best friend Liam asked as they wound their way through the crowded Manhattan bar.“The Dread Pirate Roberts,” he said, sliding on a domino mask to go with his black pants and black button-down shirt. “From The Princess Bride.”Liam shrugged. “Never heard of it.”“At least I have a costume. Who are you dressed as?” Noah asked.Liam produced a newsboy cap. “Pablo Neruda.”“Nerd.”“You made it!” Liv squealed, pushing through a group of costumed twenty-somethings and throwing her arms around Noah and Liam’s necks at the same time. She wore a green high-waisted mini skirt, a purple plastic seashell bra, and a bright red wig.Born five days apart, Liv and her best friend Callie had been having joint birthday parties their whole lives and they were almost always costume parties. Noah had been unprepared, however, for the day that the costumes transitioned from princess dresses and fairy wings to the kind sold with the word “sexy” emblazoned on the package. Apparently today—their twenty-first birthday party—was that day.“Happy birthday, Livi,” Liam said.“Where’re the rest of your clothes?” Noah grumbled. He scanned the room, trying to look menacing to any guy in the bar getting ideas about his half-dressed little sister.Liv rolled her eyes and handed them each a name tag sticker and a sharpie. “Make yourselves a name tag—character names only—and grab a drink. We’re all at those tables over there,” she said, making a vague gesture towards a group of high tops in one corner of the bar.He was still affixing his name tag when he spotted her: Calandria Cole, Liv’s best friend. He’d gotten good at spotting Callie across rooms over the past year, not that she was hard to miss with that riot of red hair. She wore a poofy dress that looked vaguely historical, her cleavage spilling over the top of the low-cut, ruffled neckline. Even at a distance he could see her eyes sparkling as she laughed with her friends, her full lips curved into the most breathtaking smile. She was more beautiful than he remembered, regardless of her ridiculous costume.Liam disappeared into the crowd as Noah made his way to Callie. She watched him the whole way, her eyes on him like a physical touch. He didn’t want to like it. Just as he didn’t want to like when she called him late at night to ask for his help with the finer points of music theory. It was never just about music theory.“Happy birthday,” he said, bending close so she could hear him over the music and the laughter.“Thanks.” She smiled, her eyes sparkling. “I wasn’t sure you were going to come.”“It’s a birthday party for two of my favorite people. Why wouldn’t I come?”His eyes dipped to her lips, to the way her breasts rose and fell with each breath she took. Was she wearing a corset? Did he really want to know?“Let’s get a drink.” He snagged her hand and led her through the crowd to the bar.One drink turned to two turned to three.“How’s your sonata coming?” he asked, his lips almost brushing her ear.“Better. I think I’ve figured out the second modulation. Thanks for your help with that,” she said, a blush rising in her cheeks.“Of course.”The first time she’d called him, she was near tears with frustration over her composition professor’s comments on the early sketches for her senior capstone project. They’d talked for maybe ten minutes, Noah leaving her with a variety of things to try. He was, after all, a composition professor himself. I don’t make my students cry though.When she’d called back a few days later, he’d walked her through an alternate chord progression before the discussion had turned to other things—how much they both missed his sister and were looking forward to her coming home after she graduated, the new reality show starring the front man from one of the 80s hair bands Noah loved so much, and how many marshmallows were acceptable in a cup of hot chocolate. Noah maintained it was three despite Callie’s insistence that there was no such thing as too many marshmallows.By the third call, their conversation had turned flirtatious when Callie casually let slip that she was only wearing underwear because she’d spilled kombucha on her pajamas and the laundry machines in her dorm building were all in use. He hadn’t meant to picture it, but how could he not? They’d spent the rest of the call discussing the finer points of fabric choices for women’s underwear. He was partial to cotton—soft, simple fabrics without much fuss—which seemed to surprise her. When he’d confessed a preference for going commando himself, she’d simply