Page 78 of Before We Fell

And when we finished, he cleaned us both up, and came back to the bed and did it all over again, until my legs were jelly and I was perusing the room service menu.

“Ordering room service was the best idea you’ve ever had,” I said. The sheet from the bed was wrapped around my chest and I sat up, watching him move through the hotel suite, unashamed of his nakedness.

And hello, if I had that body, I’d never be clothed. It should have been a rule. All men with tight asses, impressive dicks, and rippled abs with the perfect amount of masculine hair should always be naked.

“I don’t know.” He tossed me a wink. “I think that thing I did with my tongue that last time was pretty impressive.”

My cheeks heated and I dipped my head. “Yeah, yeah, it was all right.”

I caught his expression right before he pounced on the bed. It sent the menu flying into the air and I scrambled to get away from him. I wasn’t quick enough. He flung the sheet off me and wrapped his hand around the back of my knee, flipping me onto his back.

“I’ll show you,all right.”

“What about dinner? I’m starving.”

He pressed his lips to my stomach, licking my belly button and down farther. I shoved my hands into his hair as he moved farther down and grinned. “So am I.”

Twenty-Four

Lauren

I woke cradledin the warmth of too many covers and immediately knew Noah wasn’t still in bed with me. Rolling to my side, I took in the indentation from his head on the wrinkly pillow. Grabbing it, I pulled it to me, the scent of hotel shampoo from last night after our bath—while we cleaned up after round four— invading my senses.

Last night was unforgettable, permanently etched into my memory banks. And even more beautiful than that?

We still had twenty-four more hours to create many more.

The door to the bathroom was dark but opened, and I knew from last night, there was a robe draped on a hook behind it. Throwing my feet to the floor, I hurried to the bathroom, wrapped the robe around me, not bothering to put on clothes beneath, and went through a quick morning routine of brushing my teeth and washing my face. I threw my messy hair into a pile on top of my head and went in search of Noah.

He was easy to spot, sitting at the dining table reading a newspaper and sipping coffee. It was so early, the first hint of pink and orange was barely visible far into the horizon. I yawned, unable to stifle it in time so I didn’t startle him.

“Hey, you’re awake.” Setting down his coffee mug, he turned to me and patted his leg. “Good morning. I hope I didn’t wake you.”

My eyes were narrow slits from too little sleep, but I went to him and slid onto his lap like he’d gestured.

“Good morning.” I yawned again and rested my head on his shoulder. “What time is it?”

“Five thirty.”

“God, you get up early.”

He kissed my temple and held me firmly, his hand wrapped around my lower back, settling on my hip. “I spent way too many years getting up before five to start my day to be able to sleep in now.”

“So when I yelled at you not to wake me up before eight, that must have felt like noon to you, huh?”

“Something like that.” He grabbed the coffee carafe sitting on the table along with a tray filled with sugar packets, a tiny pitcher for cream and another mug. “Want coffee?”

“Please.”

“Cream?”

“Yes please, but I can do it.”

“Nonsense. I want to.” He kissed my head again and prepared my coffee one-handed, keeping me firmly planted on his leg. I let him. It’d been so long, so very, very long since someone had offered to take care of me.

It was a simple cup of coffee. The last time my mom had done anything for me, I’d been nine. And she’d been teaching me how to do my own laundry. By that time I’d already learned how to make my own eggs and toast for breakfast and could vacuum and dust better than any housekeeper.

College roommates used to tease me for being so meticulous with my cleaning, but it wasn’t that I was obsessive with a clean space, it was that I’d grown up craving order. To me, a clean house went a long way into making me at leastfeellike my life was ordered and neat.

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