“The kiss was real. I kissed you because I wanted to. I’ve wanted to for years.”
Whoa.
How’s that for honesty?
“I know you feel the same. I don’t think this is one-sided.” His eyes grow wide with panic. “Jesus, tell me it’s not one-sided. I’ll die right now if it is.”
My brain is so set in its ways, pre-programmed to be at odds with Noah, that even when I’m confronted with irrefutable evidence proving his words to be true, I still have to ask, “You swear this isn’t some elaborate prank you’ve meticulously planned in which you convince me to fall in love with you and then subsequently break my heart and brag to everyone about it? That sort of thing?”
“Oddly enough, no, I’m not trying to reenact the plot of an early-2000s teen movie. I’m telling the truth.”
Wow.
This is wild.
Almost…too wild.
I narrow my eyes, trying to see through the bullshit.
“What exactly are you suggesting here, Noah?”
“A ceasefire.”
“Interesting. For how long?”
He fights back a smile. “Forever, Audrey.”
I think he can tell I’m still not convinced.
“Let me prove I mean what I say. Give me a week. No mean tricks. No dipping your hair in my inkwell. No poking you with a stick at recess. Next Saturday, you let me take you out on a date.”
“Why?”
He tosses his hands in the air and shrugs. “Oh, I don’t know. It’s what normal people do. I’m supposed to buy you food. We might kiss at the end of it.”
A shiver shoots down my spine.
Still, I make him wait. I want beads of sweat rolling down his face. I want him nervous with anticipation. If this is all real…
The possibilities are endless.
“Fine.”
I hold out my hand for him to shake before I lose my nerve.
“Fine,” he repeats back to me.
We shake hands, up and down, over and over, as our smiles grow in tandem.
Then I sigh, sounding perfectly content. “Well, now that that’s sorted, I need you to help me clear out this attic. If we work together, we might actually finish before morning.”
He groans under his breath, reaches out to grab me around the waist, and hauls me up onto the bed with him.
“We’re going to sleep,” he insists, driving home his point by turning off the lamp. We’re plunged into darkness.
“We can’t both fit on this bed.”
Our limbs are a tangled mess.
“We can and we will. Shove as close to the wall as you can.”
“My cheek is literally squashed against it. I’m suffocating.”
“You’re so dramatic.”
He shifts us so we’re both lying on our sides, facing the wall with the window. I’m the little spoon and he’s the big spoon. We’re touching everywhere. My back is pressed against his chest. His arm is draped over my waist. Our knees are bent and our legs are molded together. My butt is nestled right against his groin. Oo la la. I should have known he was packing heat all these years. Poor Noah. If he’s truly as into me as he says he is, this is akin to torture.
“Just…ignore it. It’ll go away.”
He shifts and tries to adjust himself down there, but it doesn’t help.
I’m wearing a devious little smile in the dark.
Apparently old habits die hard because I like knowing I affect him like that. Knowing I hold all the power. And if I wiggle my hips just a little…
He grips my waist. “Stop for the love of god.”
“Sorry. Just trying to get comfortable.”
He curses under his breath, and my smile grows.
But my victory is short-lived because the longer I lie there, the stuffier the room gets. I’m starting to sweat. I forgot to take my sweater off before bed. That on top of the poor airflow up here and the body heat Noah’s putting off means I’m literally panting.
I see no other way around it.
“Hold on a second,” I say, sitting up so I can yank off my sweater.
Thank god it’s dark or he’d be getting an eyeful of my cleavage in this dress.
I reach around him to drop the sweater onto the bedside table and then lie back down. If my boobs brush against him in the process, hey, it’s a small bed. I can only do so much.
Noah is rock hard when I get back into my little spoon position and nestle against him. Admittedly, I’m provoking him.
“There’s nothing to be embarrassed about,” I tell him. “It happens to plenty of guys. If it doesn’t subside in a few hours, we’ll just rush you off to the hospital.”
Apparently, I’ve pushed him too far, because in a flash he’s got me rolled over onto my back as he leans over me. I’m helpless. He has his knee wedged between my legs and his hands on either side of my head, propping himself up off me.
I stifle my yelp, not wanting to worry Giuseppe’s family. That’s just what we need, all of them rushing in here to beat Noah off me.
“You’re playing with fire,” he warns.
I can barely make out his face in the dark, but I can imagine it looks sinister.
“You’ve proved your point,” I tell him, sounding slightly breathless. But even still, I can’t help myself. I lift my hand and run it up under the bottom of his shirt, flattening my palm against the abs I’ve been dying to touch all day. It’s a treat to say the least.
“Audrey.”
It sounds like he’s gritting his teeth. I really need to stop.
Fine.
I hold up my hands and wave the white flag.
“Okay. I’m sorry. I’ll behave.”
I assume he’ll roll off me then, satisfied with my apology, but instead, he lowers himself gently until I feel his delicious weight just barely pinning me down onto the mattress. He feels huge and menacing positioned on top of me. His knee grinds between my legs, doing his dirty work. Somehow, he knows exactly where to rub, and I gasp. He chuckles. His mouth presses against the side of my neck, just under my ear.
“It happens to plenty of girls,” he tells me, teasing. “If it doesn’t subside in a few hours, we’ll just rush you off to the hospital.”
So this is how it’s going to go.
We might talk about a ceasefire and some things in our relationship might change, but I doubt Noah and I will ever be able to truly live in peace. A tiger can’t change his stripes, and we love this too much. Tit for tat is our favorite game.
Satisfied that he’s elicited a reaction from me, he moves up and off me and we rearrange ourselves back into our original position.
“Try to get some sleep,” he says, brushing my hair back in an impossibly tender show of affection. It’s the first instance where I know I’m utterly doomed. If Noah shows me kindness, I’ll fall. Instantly.
I know as soon as I close my eyes and try to relax that I won’t be sleeping a single wink. I might as well get up now and save myself the trouble, but it feels too good to lie here snuggled against Noah. Weird, yes. Foreign, most definitely. But good too. Nice. Safe. When’s the last time I’ve felt this way? Jeff never made me feel safe. He wasn’t a cuddler, said it made him uncomfortable.
I’ve never imagined what sharing a bed with Noah would be like. He’s thoughtful about it. He gives me as much space as he can without toppling over the edge himself. He shifts and settles behind me, and when his breathing calms into a pattern and he falls asleep, I relax a little more knowing he can’t cause me any more trouble now that he’s unconscious.