I woke up to the sound of loud knocking at my door the next morning. I groggily opened one eye, and then the other wishing the knocking would stop. It didn't.

"Ellie, open up", a voice said from behind the door. It was my mom's voice. I slowly sat up from bed, glancing at my bedside clock as I did. What did she want with me at 8? She knew I liked to sleep in on Saturdays. I went to the door and pulled it open to see my mom standing there with a weird expression on her face.

"Hi, honey. Sleep well?" she gave me a smile that was way too bright for the time of the day

I could only manage a slow nod. I had fallen asleep almost immediately and my night had been haunted with thoughts of him, but she didn't need to know that.

"Well come to the kitchen. Someone wants to see you", she gave me that weird look again and disappeared down the stairs before I had the thought process to ask her who. It had to be Maya, I thought. I hadn't called her to let her know how the night went. She must have been dying with curiosity.

I hustled down the stairs and made my way to the kitchen. I paused as I neared the entrance. Was that pine trees I smelt? And then I heard his laugh, my eyes adjusting to the sight of Noah in a sleeveless sports shirt, sipping coffee casually and laughing with my mom at the kitchen counter.

What the... His head started turning and I immediately bolted back up the stairs, hoping he had not seen me in my totally unattractive morning look. I must have set a world record because I brushed my teeth, washed my face, brushed my hair and changed into a sightlier t shirt and shorts than my ratty PJs in less than three minutes and I came back downstairs.

I stepped into the kitchen and Noah's gaze scanned me from top to bottom with an amused smirk on his face. Yes, he had indeed seen me. I pretended that didn't bother me and sauntered up to him, ready to ask him why the hell he was having coffee at my house.

I settled for a nicer, "Noah, what are you doing here?" for the sake of my mom. I tried not to grit my teeth.

"Good morning to you too, sunshine"

I rolled my eyes at him and he chuckled. "Well on my way back from the gym I saw you left your bag in my car from yesterday. I tried calling but your phone was also in your bag"

He held it up and I felt my face heat up. I was in such a hurry to get out of his car; I'd left my bag and didn't even notice, thinking the worst of him for showing up at my house when he was only being nice.

I came forward and took it. "Thank you", I said a bit sheepishly. He gave me a smile that did dangerous things to me. He was sporting a 5 o clock scruff and messy hair, his toned physique the more obvious in his sleeveless shirt. He looked downright sexy.

"Ellie, you didn't tell me you were friends with Mr Stinson's son", my mom said looking at me with a twinkle in her eye.

Oh no. She had better not get any ideas.

I made my way to the coffee maker and poured myself a mug. "Uh... It must have slipped my mind". I tried not to look at Noah because I knew he would be smirking at me.

Just then, Trent and Karen burst into the kitchen, Karen chasing Trent and Trent laughing in a way that was meant to torment her.

"Hey hey hey!" my mom grabbed hold of Trent after he had run around the kitchen counter and stopped him. Karen stopped near me.

"No running in the kitchen! Or anywhere inside the house for that matter", she scolded

"Trent stole my Elsa doll!" Karen cried, pointing her little accusing finger at him.

"That's because she broke my Minecraft game", Trent protested, looking up at mom for justification. Karen looked like she was about to burst into tears.

"Now, Karen already apologized for breaking your game. I'll get you a new one, stop tormenting your little sister", my mom admonished him

Trent looked down. "Okay mom". He walked up to Karen and handed her back her Elsa doll that was stashed in one of the pockets of his cargo pants.

"Now both of you sit down and have your cereal", mom told them. Trent went and got his cereal from one of the cabinets. I picked Karen up on my hip.

"Ellie, I'm too big to carry", she whispered and shook her head at me, her blonde ringlets flying around her little face

She was a little heavy. "What cereal do you want, sweetie?"

She thought for a second and then gave me a toothy grin. "Fruity loops"

I got the fruity loops out of the cabinet and poured it into a bowl for her after setting her down on one of the stools at the counter. I retrieved milk from the fridge and a spoon and soon she was chomping down happily, along with Trent who kept looking at Noah curiously.

I suddenly felt uneasy; Noah had stood there and watched my whole family dynamic quietly. I wondered what he was thinking. Walden came into the kitchen then, already dressed in a white crisp button down and slacks which was strange as Saturday wasn't a work day for him. He came around to my mom, wrapping his hand around her waist and dropping a kiss on her cheek. She smiled and looked up at him lovingly.

I wished I could find love like that.

Walden looked at Noah. "Hey, you're Carlisle Stinson's son, right?"

Noah nodded and extended his hand to Walden. "Yes, I'm Noah. I work with Ellie at the company"

Walden shook his hand heartily. "Patterson has told me about you. Honey, this kid is brilliant", he said to my mom.

Noah smiled bashfully and I rolled my eyes. Did Noah's ego really need more bloating, guys?

"Why are you all dressed up?" mom asked the question I had been wondering.

"Oh, I have to catch a flight to Chicago in about an hour. There's a new development on the case I'm working on", Walden was a lawyer and he was handling a high profile case that had been taking all his attention lately.

"What? Dad..." we all turned to look at Trent. Now he looked like the one that was about to cry "... you promised you'd take us to Super Adventure Land today. We planned it weeks ago"

Walden rubbed his fingers against his temples. "Oh my, kiddo I'm so sorry. I totally forgot", he looked at my mom "Maybe..."

My mom held her hands up."Hey don't look at me. Sherri just gave birth and I promised to go see her today. I'm sorry, kids"

The looks on Trent and Karen's faces were downright mournful. I wished I could take them, but Super Adventure Land was a relatively new spot and since I had been back in town for just about a month, I had no idea where it was.

I heard Noah clear his throat.

"I don't mean to intrude", he started "But I was supposed to take my little sister there next weekend. I could pick her up and we could all go today, she'd be thrilled. That's if Ellie isn't busy of course"

Everyone turned to look at me. I actually had plans to catch up with some summer assignments I wouldn't be able to do during the week. But the hopeful looks on Karen and Trent's faces, I could just do them tomorrow. I couldn't bear to let them down.

"Sure I'm free. Sounds like a plan, guys"

Trent and Karen cheered and gave each other high fives. My mom and Walden looked pleased. Noah emptied his coffee mug and placed it in the sink.

"In that case, I guess I should be going", Noah said "Nice meeting everyone"

"I'll see you out", I said and followed him out of the kitchen, escorting him out the front door. He pressed the unlock button on his car and gave me a slight smile.

"See you by 12, Ellenore", he said to me, walking down the steps to his car

"Noah", I called out. He turned to look at me, his hazel gaze all intense in that moment. "Thank you". He gave me that smile again, got in his car and drove off. I went back inside and shut the door. I had about four hours before I'd see him again.

Four hours rolled around pretty quickly. In that time, I had dressed up in a tight black vest with these denim dungarees that actually looked cool on me, accessorized with a black choker with gold detailed necklace, a bracelet and some strappy sandals. I'd brushed the life back into my hair and put on minimal make up. I used the rest of the time to worry myself into a frenzy. Why did Noah always find a way to hang out with me? Was it deliberate? Was it just a coincidence? Was Noah just being nice? Was this him just being a friend? Did he want more? Or was I getting ahead of myself? If he wanted something more, he would tell me, right? But he hadn't said or actually done anything to suggest he wanted something more. I groaned, this was all wearing me out really.

I heard the horn and I tried to push these nagging thoughts away. Today was just about relaxing and spending some time with the kids, and maybe Trent would start warming up to me.

I got my bag, remembering how I stupidly forgot it and didn't even notice. When I opened my phone, I had received about a million missed calls and texts from Maya. I had called her back and relayed the events and she had confessed with a laugh, that the call was actually from the salon reminding her of her nail appointment and she had just wanted to give us some 'alone time'.

I made my way outside, Trent and Karen followed behind me, talking excitedly. Noah was leaning against his silver Mustang, and I could see the top of a blonde head sitting in the backseat of the car.

"Hey", I said to Noah. He looked good, dressed casually, his hair had been combed back neatly but he still maintained the sexy scruff on his face.

He raked his gaze over me, sending shivers down my spine just as Trent burst forward. "Cool car!" he said to Noah, eyes wide as he looked over the car like it was some masterpiece.

Noah chuckled down at Trent. "I take it you like antiques"

"Oh heck yeah", Trent handed Noah his phone "Can you take a picture of me with your car? My friends will freak"

Noah preceded taking pictures while I bundled Karen into the car with her backpack.

"Hi, you must be Ashley", I said to the blonde little girl sitting at the back. She peered up at me under long lashes, a bit shy at meeting new people "I'm Ellie and this is Karen"

"Hi", she replied in her small voice.

"Hi, Ashley. I love your hair band", Karen scooted closer to her, all smiles and a bundle of energy

Ashley beamed. "Thanks. I like your backpack, Frozen is my favourite movie"

They chatted on and I beamed as I watched them become fast friends, it was so cute. Noah and Trent eventually came in and I took my passenger's seat beside Noah.

"Alright guys", Noah said revving up his engine "Next stop, Super Adventure Land"

Super Adventure Land was really cool. Like really really cool. It had all sorts of rides and games and stations, it had practically everything making me wish I was a kid again.

Once we got there, Trent had bolted off saying he had to meet up with his friends Brendan and Josh so they could go on all the scary rides together. I gave him the 'be careful' speech and made him promise to answer his phone whenever I called and shrugged at Noah when he had muttered a 'sure' and run off.

Karen and Ashley, now practically best friends after joining forces to torture Trent in the backseat of the car, singing a medley of Disney songs had decided to go on a fairy themed ride. We had sent them off and were now sitting on one of the benches, waiting for them.

"You look like a kid at a candy store", Noah suddenly said from across the bench

"Huh?" I turned to look at him, looking all sexy as he observed me through his Ray Bans sunglasses.

"You keep looking around, all doe-eyed, mouth almost hanging open", he smirked at me

"Oh", I flushed "This place is like, awesome you know?"

He snickered, his shoulders shaking with mirth. I glared at him.

"I take it you haven't been to a lot of amusement parks", he cocked a brow at me

"Not lately"

"How long?"

"Since I was ten", I supplied honestly

"Woah. That's been a while, what did you do with your teenage years?"

"Ehh. I studied mostly, I'm not a very social person", I shrugged

He laughed. "What, no boyfriends to take you to the amusement park? A carnival?"

"My boyfriend", I corrected. I had only one boyfriend in my junior and senior year of high school, we had broken up because we were going to different colleges, but it wasn't a sad thing. "Was just as focused as I was. We agreed high school hang outs were lame and preparing for the future was a better use of our time"

"Oh so you were boring together?" he joked, amusement lifting the corner of his mouth

I shook my head at him and opted to remove the focus from me. "What about you? Visited the amusement parks often?"

"Well, kinda. I lived in LA before my dad moved his company here two years ago"

"So you're an LA boy", it was my turn to smirk at him "Explains the cockiness"

He threw his head back and laughed his wonderful laugh. "Touché"

"Did you live in LA all your life?" I asked, always curious to know more about him

"Not really, I spent some time in Australia, mostly summers and stuff. My mom was from there", he explained

"Oh", that explained the faint accent.

He stood up suddenly, looking imposing as his tall figure loomed over me.

"Come on, let's go", he held his hand out to me

I peered at him in confusion. "Let's go where?"

"Ellenore, you just admitted to me that you haven't been to an amusement park since you were ten", he said in a mock serious note "I intend to give you the complete experience"

He took hold of my hand before I had a chance to defend myself and pulled me up. I giggled as I stood up, enjoying the way my hand felt in his.

"Karen and Ashley will be through any minute", I tried protesting

"Well let's look around for a bit and we'll come get them and continue finding you some adventure, okay?"

The look he gave me made any lingering protests die in my throat.

"Fine", I smiled and went along with him.

And so we went, he gave me a mini tour wherever we went. I gaped around at the beautiful rides, the scary rides and the downright crazy ones with a goofy happy smile on my face while Noah droned on, giving me fake information as the fake tour guide. We got to a cotton candy machine and I made Noah get me some and I chewed on the light, sugary treat while we walked back to get the girls. Karen and Ashley wanted to get their faces painted next, so we dropped them off at the station and moved on, agreeing that face painting would buy us some time with the number of kids that were there.

"We should go on a ride to add to your repertoire", Noah told me; he had noticed the way I kept staring at the rides.

"Oh, no way", I shook my head "They're for the kids"

"Well we're kids for today", Noah said "Come on, Ellenore, Just one ride, that's all we have time for anyway"

I totally fell for the puppy dog look he was giving me. I mean, who could say no to this guy, he was freaking adorable.

"Okay, Noah", I acquiesced in a huff of breath. He gave me a grin and led me to one of the rides nearby. It was called the 'Paratrooper'. It should actually have been called the 'crazy death ride' because once we got on till the time it ended, I felt like I was going to die. I cried, screamed, shrieked, my heart about to pop out of my chest and the Paratrooper spun us round and round in a circular motion at increasing speeds. I screamed so loudly, my hands clutching desperately to the handlebars while Noah hollered in laughter beside me. Finally, the ride from hell was over and while it had been fun, the feeling of almost dying was greater and I punched Noah in the arm immediately we got off.

"Ow", Noah laughed rubbing the area, even though I knew it didn't hurt because in my severely dizzy state, I was incapable of putting any power behind it. "What was that for?"

"You know", I narrowed my eyes at him and almost stumbled on a rock as we walked

"Easy there, sunshine", he came close to me and put his arm around my shoulder, pressing me to his side. I sucked in a breath, I could feel his hard body against me and it sent heat waves through my body. "Sorry about that. We'll just cross that off the list next time" he chuckled.

Next time. Those words resonated through me but I shrugged them off and the dizzy feeling along with it. We came towards a shooting booth and Noah stopped.

"Here I'll make it up to you by winning you the biggest stuffed animal this place has", he walked up to the guy at the booth and handed him a dollar bill

I walked towards him just as the guy gave him the toy rifle.

"Oh my gosh. What are you doing, Noah?" He couldn't be serious.

Noah took a stance and raised the rifle, taking aim. "Trying to win you the stuffed animal your boyfriend never won for you. Don't worry your head sunshine, I'm good at this"

What? That was so masochist of him.

I crossed my arms. "Well for your information I don't need guys winning anything for me. I'm a feminist like that"

He cocked a brow at me, a daring smirk on his face. "Oh really? Prove it then"

I scoffed at him and handed the guy operating the booth a dollar bill. He handed me my own toy rifle with an amused smile.

I took stance beside Noah and a look passed between us. Oh, it was on.

"Okay, in case you didn't know the objective of this game is to shoot as many moving ducks as you can in sixty seconds. The record is fifty two ducks so far", he explained to us

Noah nodded, looking confident in his skills. I gulped, why was I doing this again?

The operator started up the machine and the ducks started moving, slowly at first.

Pop. Pop. Pop, went Noah's rifle shooting the poor ducks down in quick succession. I took aim and fired, managing to take a few down but not even close to Noah's rate. The damn ducks sped up and I kept missing shots now, frustration growing in me as Noah kept up his pace, firing them down one after the other. Okay, this was just embarrassing now. I felt a wave of relief as the buzzer sounded showing the minute was over.

"Great job", the operator congratulated Noah "You beat our record. Fifty five ducks" he glanced over at me "The lady got twelve down"

Noah gave me a dazzling grin. "Told you I was good"

I rolled my eyes at him. "My arm just had a little twinge. I could've done better"

"Don't be a sore loser", Noah turned to the operator, rubbing his hands together "Okay, where's my prize?"

He laughed and reached into his booth, pulling out the biggest panda I had ever seen and handing it to Noah. He offered me a sad looking orange monkey with a smile.

"Well this is yours", Noah handed me the panda

It was almost half my size. "Great, so now I have to carry this thing around?" I grumbled

"I'm going to ignore that and imagine you said 'thank you Noah'"

"Thanks, Noah", I gave him a sincere smile. No one had won anything for me before, it was a sweet gesture "And I guess this is yours" I handed him the orange monkey.

He beamed at me as he accepted it. "Why thank you, Ellenore. I'll put this right next to my bed to remind me of your awful aim when I wake up each morning"

I glared at him and the next second, we both cracked up laughing.

"Let's go get the girls", Noah said, and I nodded following him as we walked back to the face painting station.

In a couple of hours, the kids were beat and we drove back home. Trent even managed to give me a smile before he thanked Noah for the best day ever and dashed inside. Karen gave Ashley, her new 'bestie' a hug and followed her brother into the house. Noah walked me to the door.

"Thank you so much, Noah. The kids had a great day and I had fun too", I smiled up at him

He dug his hands in his pocket and gave me an aw-shucks look. "It was nothing"

"I mean it, Noah you're some kind of awesome" oops, had I said that out loud.

Noah looked at me, like really looked at me, hazel eyes boring into my blue ones. The air suddenly changed between us, sparked with something... electric. I sucked in a breath and his eyes darkened, his gaze flickering to my lips.

Oh my. Was this it? Was Noah about to kiss me? My heart beat about a thousand miles a second and I held his gaze, aching for that single touch....

Suddenly Noah pulled away and was now the one scampering back to his car.

"Goodnight Ellie. I'll see you at work", he tossed over his shoulder. He got into his car, revved it up and pulled away while Ashley waved to me from the backseat.

I waved limply back, standing there stunned.

Had I just imagined that? No, there had been something and Noah had felt it too, I could see it in his eyes. What game was he playing with me? I sighed and went back into my house, trying to push all thoughts of Noah away from my mind.