Page 59 of Before We Fell

“How noble of you.” I kissed her nose and grinned as she blushed.

I led her to the kitchen where she slid back into her flip-flops and grabbed her keys. She hadn’t even bothered bringing her cell phone or purse with her earlier.

“Call you later?” I asked, holding her close to me at the back door.

“Yeah. I’ll be home.” Her lips pulled to one side and she got a worried look on her face.

I kissed her again until that worried look softened and cupping the sides of her face with my hands, kept her close to me. “If you’re scared of this. Don’t be. I’ll make it good for you.”

“Cocky,” she teased.

“Confident,” I promised, and it was one I would keep. Already I knew there was something special about Lauren. Something different, something that made a man re-think his life and his past, and vow to be different.

I was smart enough to recognize it, hopefully smart enough not to fuck it up.

Nineteen

Lauren

She’s asleep.Get your cute little behind over here now.

He was bossy even via texts. Noah put Riley to bed at eight-thirty every night, even on the weekends. For the last week, he’d text me as soon as she was asleep, around nine, and I’d head over for an hour or two where we’d occasionally have a drink, but mostly we sat and talked quietly, the television on for background noise.

And then we’d spend some time making out, but he always stopped it. I’d never been so sexually frustrated.

Years without sex, and now it was so close…yet so far away. Within reach, but out of my grasp. I was in danger of losing my mind if we didn’t get a night alone and soon.

Keys in hand and purse over my shoulder, I made sure to double-check the house was locked up before I hurried through the back yard. I was halfway to the tree line when my steps quickened, and my jaw went slack.

He’d changed something, and as I stepped past the hedge in my yard I still needed to trim down, my pulse went into supersonic speed.

I raised my hand, gently brushing it over the lights.

He’d light the path for me.

Two rows of twinkling, white Christmas lights were wrapped around the tree, make two, crooked and uneven lines along the entire path. When had he done this? Had to be that day because I’d walk through last night.

But then a thought hit me. I’d complained about needing to remind myself to keep a flashlight in my purse for these nightly walks. My phone flashlight didn’t always cut it, and last night, my phone had been dead. Which means at some point earlier in the day, Noah had gone out to buy lights and didn’t waste any time stringing them up for me.

Which meant by the time I was at his back door, smiling, my heart racing, other parts of me were heating more rapidly.

“Hey,” he said, smiling down at me as he opened the slider door. He’d made it a point to always be waiting for me, knowing I’d be there in a few minutes after his text.

“You lit the path,” I said, and my voice had gone breathy. I stepped up to him, pressed my hands to his cheeks and pulled him down for a kiss. “That’s very sweet of you.”

“Don’t tell anyone,” he said, smiling against my lips. “Ruins my asshole image I’m so fond of.”

“The only person in town who thought you were an asshole was me.”

“And do you still?” he asked the question, pushing hair back off my ear and allowing his fingertips to linger, brushing around my ear, down the side of my throat. Shivers popped down my spine and I curled into him. We were barely inside his house and he hadn’t even shut the door.

I turned and did it for him before taking his hand and kissing it. “No, well, not all the time. Certainly not now.”

He laughed. It was throaty and beautiful and hinted at all the attraction he had for me. “I’ll try to keep that part of me in check for the night, then. Drink?”

“Water, please. Thank you.”

I dropped my purse by the back door and settled into the couch, curling my feet beneath me like I always did. We’d gotten into the habit of turning on the television and talking before the night took a turn into more pleasurable activities and that night was no different. We were barely watching the football game he’d turned on and before long, he’d pulled me into his lap before rolling us both to our sides, me facing him on his couch, my leg thrown over his, and our lips connected.

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