Page 9 of The Stalker Snafu

When he finished the piece, I turned my head and kissed his shoulder. “Thank you. That did help.”

“Want another one?”

“Yes, please.”

He dove straight into another song that warmed my insides, and I soaked it in—and another and another—before voicing my nagging worry. “Blaise threatened Aaron’s grade before you came over. Do you think she’ll mess with mine now, too?”

“If she does, we’ll report her to Slade. He’ll replace her with a new TA.”

My nose scrunched. “We’re not snitches, Noah. We can’t go running to daddy for this.”

His fingers froze on the keys. “Daddy?”

“You know what I mean.” I waved a hand for him to keep playing, and he obliged. “Tattling on Blaise will only bite me in the butt. Who knows if Slade would even believe us? Sleepy Susan isn’t a reliable witness, and I don’t think Aaron would back me up.”

Noah snorted quietly. “He’s an ass.”

“He is.” I pulled away from Noah’s shoulder to grin at him. “And it was so hot when you told him to get lost.”

The corner of Noah’s mouth lifted, flirting between a smile and a smirk. “Yeah?”

“Oh yeah. I might’ve swooned.” I lowered my voice, as if we were sharing a secret. “To be honest, I was kind of hoping you whisked me away from class to make out instead of work on our duet.”

The music stopped, and I was more than ready when Noah turned his head. My hands cupped his strong jaw before I fused my lips to his.

An invisible rope holding him back snapped, and Noah quickly took control. One hand found my hip, the other sliding down the back of my thigh until he was pulling me to straddle his lap without interrupting the kiss.

I landed with a muffled squeak—the sudden closeness igniting sparks in my veins.

“That’s better,” he murmured against my lips, making me grin. “And there’s no reason we can’t multitask.”

It was a tight squeeze with the piano right behind my butt, but I wasn’t complaining. Especially when Noah slanted his mouth over mine again.

I didn’t think Slade had had this in mind when he gave us time to work on our duet, but what he didn’t know wouldn’t hurt him.

I happily returned the kiss, before pulling back with a frown. “I still think I should’ve punched Blaise, though.”

“No, you shouldn’t have,” Noah said patiently.

“I really wanted to,” I admitted, holding up a fist between us and eyeing it. “I might’ve gone for it, if you hadn’t said that thing before about me breaking my thumb if I tried.”

He wrapped his hands around my fist and carefully untucked my thumb from inside it, before brushing his lips against it. “And we can’t have that. I need this thumb for our duet.”

The reminder made me giddy, but I tried for a saucy wink. “Amongst other things.”

His gaze returned to mine, and an eyebrow lifted. “Other things?”

“They’re pretty handy for dealing with pesky little buttons,” I whispered, reaching for the highest fastened button of his dress shirt and working it free.

I barely managed to undo the second one before Noah pulled me back in for another kiss, which I met with equal enthusiasm.

This was the Noah I loved. The one who stood up for me and kissed me silly and wasn’t on secret phone calls in his bathroom.

And I was so happy he was my duet partner. This was a lot more fun than it would’ve been with Cheyenne.

A low groan rumbled through Noah’s chest as he pulled me tighter against him, and I threaded my fingers through his hair when he turned his attention to my neck.

My head fell back, and I struggled to believe this was happening. Were we really doing this in the music room? It wasn’t like I hadn’t had daydreams about what Noah and I could do on this piano. Many, many daydreams. But having those fantasies collide with reality… A full-body shiver rippled through me.