Page 56 of Before We Fell

Noah

“I have rules.”

My hand was on the doorframe, and I leaned against it. The very last thing I expected after seeing Lauren at the coffee shop a few hours ago was to watch her strut through my yard and straight up to my back door wearing skin-tight shorts that barely covered her ass and a bright blue tank that clung to her in all the right places.

Her little hands were curled into her fists, and the hair she’d had in a ponytail when I saw her earlier was now flowing around her shoulders.

Damn, she was pretty.

And sexy as hell as she stared at me with what I assumed was to be a determined expression.

I was so lost in all the thoughts I wanted to do to her and with her and for her, I blinked.

“Come again?”

“I have rules.”

Right. This should be good. I leaned against the doorframe and arched a brow. “And those are?”

One finger popped into the air out of her fist. “Riley doesn’t know.”

I wouldn’t do that until I knew I had something that would go the distance with a woman anyway. “Okay.”

Another finger of hers joined the first. I bit back the desire to ask if her counting off her rules on her fingers was a teacher thing and thought better about it. “No one knows. I don’t want to be talked about and I still don’t know if this is smart.”

I’d prove to her that being with me was the smartest thing she ever took a chance on, but fine, I’d wait.

For a little while, anyway.

“Okay. What else?”

She lifted her third finger in the air and nibbled her bottom lip. “Well, I don’t know. I wasn’t expecting you to be so agreeable about the first two.”

This woman. Adorable and sexy. Cute and sweet. She was the entire package and I’d never been so thankful I hadn’t gotten serious about a woman before that moment. I liked the idea of my “first” in that way of being with someone like her. Someone my mom would like. Someone Amanda would have been friends with had she been there to witness me falling for a woman.

Lauren did it for me, in a multitude of ways.

“I can be agreeable.” At her look, arched brows, scrunched nose, I amended it. “I can be agreeable when it’s something I’m on board with.”

“So when you’re getting your way.”

“Yeah, but I’m not getting my way yet.”

“You’re not?”

“Nope.” I shook my head and held out my hand. “You’re still outside.”

She slid her hand into mine. It was small, soft, and warm. “Well, I haven’t been invited in yet.”

I pulled her toward me, stepping back just far enough so she was inside and then I reached around her with my other hand and slammed the sliding door shut.

“Always,” I said, pressing both my hands to her cheeks. “You’re always invited. Whenever you want to be here.”

“Oh.” Her eyelids fluttered. The edge of her tongue slid out and brushed along her bottom lip, wetting it.

I chased it as I pressed my mouth to hers, traced my tongue along the path hers had taken and then took her mouth.

Heaven. She tasted like heaven and mint, smelled like flowery soap and lotion. She’d been messy when I saw her this morning, cheeks flushed in a way it was obvious she’d worked out. And based on what she wore now, although it was new, I assumed her workout of choice was yoga.

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