I gave him my unimpressed look.“Just because you’re sober doesn’t mean you can’t have fun.”I squinted for a second.“Did that make sense?It was like a triple negative or something.”
“I get what you’re saying.I just, I don’t think they have time for me now.”
“Yeah, I’m not buying that.Chase watched DJ for you.You guys have been texting since you’ve been here.Clearly they want to be there for you—have fun with you.You’re just not letting them in.”
“Yeah, okay.I’ll think about it.”Noah’s nose nudged the back of my head, and I shivered in his arms.I thought maybe we were ramping up for round two—or was it three?—but Noah abruptly changed the subject instead.“So I’m guessing Parker was the one who you’d considered family when you were growing up?”
I swallowed thickly.I hadn’t thought about it for so long.But some wounds never really heal.“Yeah, that’s why it hurt so much when he turned on me.And maybe why it’s been tough to let anyone in since.”
“Alice,” Noah murmured in my ear.He tried to nudge me onto my back so he could look at my face, but I wouldn’t let him.I hated being vulnerable.He sighed.“I’ve loved every part you’ve shown me.Parker was a dipshit of the highest order.What happened is a reflection of what an assheis.You didn’t deserve any of that.”
I huffed.I hated feeling all exposed and needy.“Kinda hard to believe it when the world keeps slapping me down.My mom left me.The state didn’t give a shit about me.Most of my foster families just looked at me as a paycheck.I thought what I had with Parker was real—that he cared about me.He saved me.”My breathing was all uneven, and I was seconds away from crying.“Now I look back and see all the signs I missed.All the shitty comments he made about my drive, my appearance, my talent.He was an ass, and I let him break me down until I was a brittle shell of a person.Fuck, I feel so stupid.”
Noah finally rolled me onto my back, but I avoided his eyes by scrubbing my hands over my face.I couldn’t face him.I didn’t do vulnerable.
“You’re the bravest, smartest, sexiest woman I know, Alice Rose.And you deserve to have all the good things happen to you.”
I dropped my hands from my face and finally looked up at Noah’s serious expression.“Ditto,” I whispered.
“You think I’m a smart, sexy woman?”Noah wagged his eyebrows.“Thanks, I think.”
I shook my head and sighed.“Some things never change.”
“Or do they?”he asked just before he bent down to kiss me.
His lips were a whisper away when my stomach gave a loud rumble.
We both cracked up.
“Well shit.I guess I should feed you.”Noah gave me a squeeze then moved away.
“Oh!Check the front step.I ordered some food.That’s why I came downstairs in the first place.”
“That was—what?Over an hour ago?It’s gotta be ice cold by now.Or teeming with bacteria or whatever.Let’s order something fresh.”
I thought of the hit my savings account had taken when I’d placed the order and groaned.I hated losing money.I might’ve only recently moved to Vegas, but I knew who had built the Strip—and it wasn’t winners.“That order cost me a fortune.”
“What?Why?What did you order?”
“Some amazing food from that place down the beach I’ve always wanted to try.”
“Well hell, I’ll fix that.”Noah pressed a kiss on my cheek, then bounded out of the room, and took off bare assed naked.
My heart thudded unevenly in my chest.I didn’t know what to make of that whole exchange.But I didn’t have time to think about it.I still had cum leaking out of me, and I was starving.
And my man had promised to feed me.
Chapter 25
Noah
“Hey, Mal, do you have a second?”
“For my favorite sponsee?Always.”
I smiled as Mal’s voice boomed through my Range Rover’s speakers.The man might be a mile away or a whole continent away, but he always made me feel like I was a priority for him.I’d leaned on him pretty heavily when I first started in the program, calling him day and night with the smallest of problems.But I liked to think I was figuring shit out on my own now.
Except for now.
