I looked up and smiled at Noah, who was standing behind the couch, peering over my shoulder at my laptop. “You think?”
He didn’t look away from the screen. “You know it is. Bailey looks….”
“Otherworldly?”
“Yeah. That’s the perfect way to describe her. So does the old woman. And the dogs are fantastic.” He chuckled softly. “I didn’t know Andy’s craziness could be a good thing.”
“Here, check this out. Which do you like better?” By tapping a couple of keys, I toggled back and forth, showing him two different versions of the image. “I’m kinda leaning toward this paint-stroke effect. It’s barely noticeable, but it gives it a bit more depth. Don’t you think?” Both were fantastic. Though it had taken me nearly a week to find time to work on editing the shoot, they were turning out better than I’d hoped.
He squinted at the screen. “Yeah. It makes it a bit more dreamlike or something. Although I like the clarity of Bailey’s profile without it.”
I switched it back and forth a couple more times.
“Just let both of them sit for a while. You’ve been working on it for hours. Plus I’ve got dinner ready.”
At the mention, my stomach growled. “That might be the one thing that could pull me away. That or sex. I’m starving. I could eat a whole cow.”
He kissed the top of my head, then straightened and began walking toward the kitchen. “Well, sorry to disappoint, but it’s turmeric chicken skewers tonight, not an entire cow. But sex is definitely on the menu after.”
After placing the computer on the coffee table, I stood up and followed. “I can live with that.” I helped him transfer the food to the table. “Oh, by the way, Mom called today. She said Dustin is making his announcement on November twentieth, which will give him a whole year to campaign before the election. She wanted to make sure we get it scheduled so we’ll be there.”
Noah placed the platter of chicken skewers on the table and gave me a teasing grin. “Any other instructions from her? Shave, haircut, plaid bow tie?”
I grimaced. “Plaid bow tie?”
Noah laughed, the loud burst filling the small space. “Wow. I wish you could have seen your face right there. You looked like your mom when she sees something she doesn’t like about Kayla. I take it you have an aversion to plaid bow ties.”
“Yeah. Doesn’t everyone? They’re hideous.” I flinched again, realizing what Noah had said. “Did you really just compare me to my mother?”
“Well, come on, now. You’ve got to admit that you may sound a bit like Maureen Morgan at the moment.” He motioned to the chair. “Come on. Let’s eat.”
I didn’t sit. “I don’t think that’s fair. Anyone would balk at a plaid bow tie.”
He shrugged. “I think it’s cute. And I look rather dashing in it, if I do say so myself.”
Whether it made me more like my mom or not, I gaped at him. “You don’t actually have one, do you?”
Noah smiled. “Sit, Randall. I thought you were starving.”
I sat. “No. Really. You don’t.”
“I absolutely do. Even wore it for one of the humane society ads.”
“Oh Lord. You need me. I thought you were trying to raise funds for them, not chase away donors.”
“Scoff all you want. Like I said, I look rather ravishing in it.”
I couldn’t help but laugh. “Ravishing? I thought you said you looked dashing. Either way is too much like a cover of a romance novel.”
Noah placed two skewers on each of our plates. “I was going to show you how good I look in a plaid bow tie after dinner. Inonlya plaid bow tie. But I guess I won’t. Wouldn’t want to turn you off.”
I started to cringe again but got the mental image of Noah wearing nothing but a plaid bow tie. “Huh. Maybe I’ll have to see it to believe it.”
“Oh no.” Despite Noah’s teasing tone, his expression was serious. “Not after all of that. That little number will stay in the drawer until an opportune moment. And I’ll put Dustin’s big announcement in my calendar.” He gave me a wink. “But I’ll wear my hair, beard, and bow tie however I want. Deal?”
I almost argued, then pictured how controlling Mom and Dad were over everything. And how Dustin turned around and did the same to Kayla and Bailey. Apples falling from trees, it seemed. “Yeah. Deal.”
AT THErisk of sounding like a complete sap, waking up with Noah was one the best things I’d ever experienced. Despite all my hookups, I hadn’t had too many sleepovers. A few, but I never liked them all that much. It was kinda nice to have someone there during the night. You never knew when an early-morning boner could turn into another round of sex. But with sleepovers, there was the whole question of breakfast, and the compulsion to exchange numbers, and really, the whole thing dragged on more than either person wanted it to. Except for the times when it didn’t and the other person really did want to hang around. That was the worst. No, no sleeping over. That was the great thing about a hookup. Get naked, get off, get out. Clean, simple, mutually beneficial.
