“Noah.”
“I probably shouldn’t have shot down the hot air balloon idea so quickly, just because it’s a brisk thirty degrees out.”
The bed doesn’t squeak or dip when I sit up, bringing the sheet up with me. “The date was perfect.” I grab his wrist and his defeated eyes find mine. He scoots himself up, leaning against the headboard. His bare chest is mildly distracting when the sheet falls to his naked lap. “I like you, okay? Against my better judgment and almost everything I stand for…” That gets a tiny huff of a laugh from him. “I like you.” I pause, trying to put my thoughts into words, wondering how much to actually tell him. “But.”
“No ‘buts’. That was perfect.” He grabs my hand that isn’t holding the sheet. “Let’s leave it at that.”
I bite down on the inside of my cheek, and he watches, patiently waiting with a speck of hope in his eye, right where the brown meets the green.
I swallow the lump of emotion lodged in my throat and look down at our intertwined hands. “It just feels too complicated.”
“Because of your dad?”
“No.” I shake my head, adamantly. “I mean—not in the way that you think.”
“Okay, then tell me in what way so we can figure it out.”
I can’t just throw myself head first into something with Noah. Even if I wanted to, which I haven’t decided that I do… but even if I did, I wouldn’t know how. I’m the opposite of a ‘do first, ask questions later’ type. I’m skeptical of everyone's motives, and I’m unwilling to get attached.
“What if we don’t make a big deal out of it, and we just keep it to ourselves for now?”
I don’t answer. I look to him for clarification as he lifts a hand and begins spinning a strand of my hair around his fingers.
“Something is going on in this big, beautiful head of yours, and I’m willing to wait until you’re ready to share it with me. But while you work through it." He pulls me closer by the back of my neck, planting a soft kiss on my lips. “Let’s see where this goes. No one else has to know.”
In any other situation, I would see the red flags popping up in my head. I mean, shit, this is exactly the situation Chloe is in right now and I continuously tell her that it’s terrible. Guy wants girl, but doesn’t want to commit and doesn’t want to tell anyone. Red flag.
But thisiswhat I want. Right?
I’m past the point of believing that one trial relationship won’t change things, but what’s the alternative? I say no to something that I’m interested in? That’s not who I am either.
“No one?” I ask, seeking confirmation.
His lips find mine again and I melt against him. I’m sucked into his touch, his lips, his comfort.
“Just us.” He deepens the kiss, and I let the sheet fall, pressing my breasts against him. I run one hand through his hair while my other wraps around his muscular back, pulling him closer.
“King! You gotta—Oh shit.”
I don’t have a second to think when the door flies open. I get a quick glance at Maverick before I throw myself behind Noah and he moves his hand to my shoulder to cover me at the same time.
“OUT!”
“Sorry! Hey Sass!” I can hear the giddy smile in Maverick’s voice. I squeeze my eyes shut.
“Get the fuck out!”
The door slams shut and Maverick’s muffled voice yells through the wood, “Sorry, buddy! You gotta drive to the barn, I left my whore runner at the bar last night.”
Noah drops his head to my shoulder, and I lift mine solely to instill the fear of god in him with my deepening scowl.
“Okay, so, just between you, me… and Maverick.”
I fix him with a withering stare, and he responds by cupping my cheeks in the palms of his hands and planting his pillowy soft lips on mine again. Just like that, all is forgiven.
Sneaking out of your house in high school is like a right of passage. Not that I would know. I never did it. But sneakingintomy apartment as a full blown adult has me holding my breath and reminding myself why I didn’t do this as a teenager.
Tiptoeing past the kitchen, I peek down the hall and I’m relieved to find Chloe’s door closed. My shoulders fall, and I let out a heavy breath, dropping my purse on the tiny table.
