After paying the driver, I had a moment of doubt, feeling like there was no way I would ever be goodenough for a man like Noah. Before punching in the code to the front door that he’d sent me in the text, I felt like running away. Ashamed and afraid of what he would think of me when he found out where I lived, I almost couldn’t face what was on the other side of the door.
Yet, as if they hadn’t had enough from before, my lips twitched, longing to feel Noah’s against them once again.
Turnsout desire is an emotion that outweighs shame. Who knew?
As I typed in the four numbers to the alarm, each followed by the electronic ding, my heart beat even harder in my chest. It was ridiculous really. Noah wasn’t on the other side of the door. He was tucked away safely at the reception. And here I was, a damned fool, like some kind of whore, waiting on his return for another night of hotsex.
Warring with myself, I was about to turn away when a whining, barking dog on the other side of the door made me go through the entryway. In a flash of fur, the dog jumped on me, licking me to death. Still a puppy, it was clear this was no guard dog. And based on the chewed-up couch cushion and torn-to-pieces feather-filled pillow at the base of the stairs, it clearly wasn’t a well-traineddog either. “Hey, pup,” I greeted, squatting to the floor to keep it from jumping. After a quick look at the tags, I said, “Katie,” and her ears perked up. “Well, at least you know your name.” Looking around the room, I laughed, taking stock of everything else she clearly didn’t know.
Continuing with her whining and barking, she led me to the back door. Obviously needing to relieve herself, shedanced as I fumbled with the lock. As I walked past the kitchen, I saw she had already used the small area rug for the same reason before. While cleaning up a dog pee-soaked rug and chewed-up cushions wasn’t exactly what I wanted to be doing, it was enough of a distraction to keep me busy while Noah was still at the wedding.
After making quick work of the rug, I searched through the cabinetsto find a garbage bag for the destroyed pillow and cushion. “Looks like Mr. Money Bags is going to need a new couch after this,” I said aloud, talking to myself. “Ah, shit,” I cursed, as I slid to the floor.
Laughing was the only option I had because just like the rest of my life, it would only happen to me that I’d land in shit just when I thought things were going my way. Turned out dress shoesand dog crap were not a good match. Carefully, I slid the shoes off and took off my pants. “Looks like a load of laundry is in my future as well.”
Not that the thought hadn’t run through my head, but the last thing I wanted to do was rifle through Noah’s drawers while he wasn’t here. But since I was desperately in need of something to wear, that’s exactly where I found myself. His room was beautiful,nothing short of immaculate. But while everything was perfectly in order and decorated with precision, it felt homey and comfortable. It was masculine and warm, the bed still unmade from the morning. Seeing the blankets tossed casually across the mattress made me smile, thinking about Noah lying in bed, half-naked, waiting to greet the day. Not wanting to get lost in my daydreams, or getcaught snooping, I changed into a pair of sweats, loving how the soft fabric felt against my skin; it had nothing to do with the cotton, and everything to do with the fact that they belonged to Noah.
Katie was already at the back door waiting to be let in when I came back downstairs. She raced immediately to her empty food and water bowl, sitting there begging for me to fill them. I was suremost people would have been more than annoyed at what I’d walked into, but for me, it was a much-needed distraction. Not only for the time I was waiting for Noah to come home, but from my life in general. Everything about Noah’s house, and presumably his life, was neat and ordered, perfect and picturesque.
He was everything I wasn’t. So even if it wasn’t mine, I was more than happy to live inthe fairy tale for just a few minutes.
I fixed a snack and flopped onto the one cushion left on the couch that hadn’t been chewed to pieces. I couldn’t help but laugh when I found the remote wedged between the arm of the couch and the cushion. It was probably what saved it from the fate of Katie’s puppy teeth. The tune of ESPN’s Sports Center greeted me as I turned the television on. “At leastwe have that in common,” I said to Katie, who had already flopped on the half-eaten cushion next to me. With her head on my lap, I combed through her soft fur.
I must have fallen asleep sometime between the top ten plays of the day and the credits, because the next thing I remembered was the gentle touch of fingers running up my thighs. Blinking the sleep away, Noah’s handsome face came intofocus. “Hey,” I said, my voice gravelly and sleepy.
“Hey yourself.” Glimpsing down to his fingers on my legs, he added, “Nice pants.”
Nervously, I sat up, waking up Katie in the process. “Mine… are… uh…,” I defended, rather lamely.
He laughed, breaking what definitely would have been an awkward moment between us.
Joining in his laughter, I took in the scene. I was asleep, on his couch, inhis pants, with his dog, a plate of his unfinished food on the coffee table where he sat across from me. “You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.”
“She destroyed the couch,” he said, eyeing the half-chewed cushion next to me. “And ate my pillows. Then, let me guess, you stepped in one of her landmines and needed to wash your pants.”
My face must have given away my surprise because he added, “Yourshoes are by the door and the rug by the sink is missing. Not to mention half the cushion is missing its filling and there were a few stray feathers by the stairs.” We laughed before he said, “And it’s happened to me once or twice.”
The heated desire that was boiling between us back at the wedding was still there, but it had cooled somewhat, the late evening wearing on both of us. “This was abad idea.” Raking a hand through his hair, Noah sat on the edge of the coffee table in front of me.
Dejection sat heavily on my chest, making it difficult to breathe. “Yeah, probably,” I agreed, not knowing what else to say. “I should get going,” I added, making a move to stand.
Before I could even get an inch off the couch, his fingers were digging back into my thighs, pushing me back down.“That’s not what I meant,” he said, before letting out a deep sigh.
“No, really. It’s fine.” I tried my best to play it as cool as possible. And I was sure I failed miserably, but I didn’t want him to see me off balance in any way. “I shouldn’t have come here to begin with.”
My second attempt to move away from him was met with more resistance than him pushing me back into my seat. In a flashso quick, he straddled my lap, holding my face in his hands. “Stop,” he demanded, softly pressing his lips to mine. “And let me explain.” Unable to offer more than a nod, I sat silently waiting for his words, reveling in the feel of his cock pressing against mine. “I want this… this… whatever this is between us.”
“Those are called dicks. They’re dicks,” I joked, hoping to lighten the intensityfloating around us.
“Yeah, I want that, too. But I mean more than that,” he said, not missing a beat from my lame joke. “And I don’t want to fuck it up with a few random, casual hook-ups.”
I swallowed hard. As if he were in my head, he’d said the words I’d been thinking all night. Yet my surprise, and my exhaustion for that matter, kept me from asking anything more. Lamely, all I spat out was,“Okay,” and it sounded more like a question than a statement.
“Okay,” he repeated, before pressing his lips to mine once more.
My phone rang, the harsh tone and buzzing vibrations on the coffee table sounding out like an alarm blaring between us. Nearly knocking Noah over, I grabbed the phone before Noah could see Benny’s name flash on the screen. “What’s up?”
I moved past Noah as Benny spokequickly and nervously into the line. “Remember how you said if I ever needed a ride—”
