Page 67 of Before We Fell

“Okay then, bath it is.”

I took him to his bedroom and closed the door behind us. Soon, the bath was filled with warm water, my hair was wrapped up in a bun from a hair-tie I dug out of my purse, and I was resting my back to Noah’s chest, his legs on the outside of mine. Our touches were lazy, slow sweeping brushes of my hands on his legs, his hands down my arms and to my shoulders. He peppered my throat with kisses, and we talked about nothing important until I felt him relax his head against the back of the tub and yawn.

The bath hadn’t been sexy, just comforting, but intimate in a way we hadn’t been yet. And as I climbed out, Noah peeked at me through half-opened eyes. “What are you doing?”

“You’re about to fall asleep. It’s time for that nap now.”

The water had cooled anyway, and exhaustion rimmed his eyes. “Fine,” he grumbled, climbing out of the tub in all his beautiful, naked glory.

I turned around, a blush heating my cheeks, and grabbed a towel. Wrapping it around me, I grabbed another one and handed it to him over my shoulder. “Get dressed before this turns into something we can’t do right now.”

“God. Some days, woman. The way I want you scares the shit out of me.”

My eyes popped open and I caught his gaze in the mirror. His eyes were on my chest, covered beneath the towel, and it hit me then, that he was still naked, wiping off his chest and arms, unashamed of his body. We’d done a lot of things on the couch in his living room, but we hadn’t yet seen each other naked.

“You’re a horrible tease,” I said and hurried out of his bathroom to the sound of his quiet laughter.

“It’s not a tease, it’s a preview!”

I shut the door behind me, quieting his laughter and helped myself to his dresser where I found a T-shirt. I’d put my clothes back on later, but for now, lying with him in his bed was the only thing on my mind.

I was climbing into his bed, pulling back covers when he entered the bedroom, towel now wrapped around his waist and he grinned. “Nice shirt. But it’d look better on my floor.”

“You’re incorrigible.”

“I’m turned on and getting ready to climb into bed with you for the first time and there’s no way I can start anything. I’m not incorrigible, I have a severe case of blue balls.”

“Kansas City,” I reminded him. It was coming next weekend.

Seven more days until I could have him.

He opened his dresser and grabbed a pair of boxer briefs. I busied myself with fluffing his pillows until he walked around the edge of the bed. I wasn’t a prude, but I’d had enough looking at him and his body and knowing I couldn’t touch it and do all the things to him I wanted was driving me just as crazy as he was.

Noah slid into his bed and reached for me, tugging me down. “Thank you,” he whispered as he curled me close to him. “You were right. This is exactly what I needed.”

We settled together and soon, I felt his weight relax. He fell asleep with ease and I stayed next to him for an hour, my mind whirring and unable to settle. Eventually, I heard sounds coming from the other side of the hall, so I quickly climbed out of bed, careful not to wake Noah, and hurried to the bathroom to throw my underwear and shorts back on.

I met Riley in the hallway, stumbling half-awake into the kitchen.

“Hey, sweetie. You sleep okay?”

She nodded and kept moving to the fridge where she helped herself to a juice box. “Thirsty.” Her blue eyes swept through the large living area and she frowned. “Where’s Uncle Noah?”

Relief coursed through me. Between last night and today, I’d almost expected her to go back to nods and murmurs instead of full words.

“He’s napping.” I grinned. “The birthday party wore him out. And I was thinking of making the both of you some tacos for dinner. Would you like to help?”

Her eyes went wide as saucers. Beautiful blue eyes shimmering with glee. “Help you cook?”

“And maybe make a cake?” It was a box mix. Nothing special. But what girl didn’t like a funfetti cake every once in a while.

“More cake?” she asked, bouncing on her feet. “That’d be awesome!”

I’d stopped by Noah’s and dropped off the groceries I’d bought to make dinner for them before heading to the party in a separate car, which reminded me we’d left mine at Brooke’s. I grabbed my phone and typed out a quick text letting her know I’d get it later, and then Riley and I started on the cake.

“Now. What would you like to do first? Bake the cake, or make the tacos?”

“Cake!” Riley screamed, clapping her hands together.

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