Page 60 of Before We Fell

Hands roamed and I pressed into him. Beneath his shorts, he was hard, and that part of him rubbed against me in the most delicious way. Arching into him, I whimpered into his mouth, his hands at my hips pulled me firmly.

“Wait,” he gasped.

“No.”

He chuckled against my mouth, slid his hand into my hair. “Next weekend, I’m kidnapping you. Taking you to the city for the weekend. I really don’t want the first time I have you screaming my name to be fifteen feet away from Riley.”

My heart was racing so rapidly it took me a minute to catch up. “Were you going to ask?”

An adorable frown pressed his lips down. “I thought I did.”

I chuckled, this guy. “It was more of a telling.”

“Are you going to say no?”

“Absolutely not.” I threaded his hand through my hair, leaned in and pressed my lips to his. “I should probably get going—”

“No! Mommy! Daddy!”

Noah jerked so fast I almost tumbled off the couch. At the last second, he wrapped his arm around my lower back.

“What the heck?” I asked, stumbling to my feet just as Riley let out another deadly sounding wail.

“Go away!” she screamed.

“Shit,” Noah cursed. He climbed from the couch and pressed his hand to my hip. “Stay here. I’ll be back.”

He took off running down the hallway, Riley screaming again, shouting out for her mom and dad.

And my heart. It ached so badly I wasn’t sure I’d ever felt that kind of pain deep in my chest. It only took me a second to debate, but I took off after Noah until I came to her bedroom door.

He’d left the door open and from the light in the hallway and her lamp next to her bed, I could see them clearly. Riley was in his lap, arms clinging to his shoulders, head burrowed into his neck. Her back shook violently as she made the most feral sounding moan I’d ever heard in my life.

“Oh no,” I whispered, my hand pressed to my chest to relieve the pain burrowing deep.

Hearing me, Noah lifted his head. He kept his hand at the back of Riley’s head, pressing her to him tightly and whispered, “Can you start bath water for her?”

It was incredible, how I could be aching from pain and sweetness at the same time. Noah always wondered if he was doing a good enough job with her. If he was failing. If he was making Amanda and Jake proud. Yet as I watched him care for her after her nightmare, helping her with the bath, changing the sheets on her bed, assisting when asked in an effort not to overstep and let him lead, I was baffled.

How could this man be so worried about failing when he was doing such a fantastic job?

I gave them time to get re-settled in her bed and grabbed the sheets he’d tossed into the hallway into the laundry room. It was the least I could do to help.

A few minutes later, I was in the kitchen having a glass of water when Noah entered. Shoulders slumped and head down, the man looked as if he’d been the one having the nightmare.

He ran a hand down his face and rolled his shoulders, walking to me. Before I could say anything, he pulled me into his arms and squeezed me tight. “I hate those. Fucking hate those.”

I ran my hands up and down his back to soothe him. “Do they happen a lot?”

“Less now than before. Still, one of them is way too many in my book.”

“I’m sorry,” I whispered and hugged him tightly. There wasn’t anything I could do or say to ease his pain. “Poor thing. Does she tell you what they’re about?”

He stepped out of my hold and scratched the back of his neck. “No, but she always shouts for her parents and then shouts ‘go away,’ so it doesn’t take a genius to figure it out.”

I thought back to how much he cared for her. Hell, he did more for Riley than my own dad ever did. If I’d had a nightmare, my parents groggily woke up, rolled over and sent me back to bed without thought. Granted, Riley’s were probably worse than any dream I’d ever had, but still, he needed to know. “I think you’re an amazing uncle, Noah.”

“Yeah?” He huffed and shook his head. “Doesn’t always feel that way.”

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