Page 81 of Before We Fell

“Are you sure? Maybe Riley will want time alone with you.”

“I think it’s time we let Riley in on what’s going on with us, Lauren. After this weekend, there’s no way I’m going back to sleeping alone all the time again.”

Thank goodness we were on the same page.

“Why don’t you talk to her first?” I suggested. “If she really seems okay with me being there, then let me know and I’ll come over.”

“Lauren—”

“No. I know, Noah. I agree with you. I want that with you too, now, I promise. But Riley might want something different…maybe time alone with you.” I pressed my hands to his cheek, grinning softly. God, the man. He always looked so adorably confused when I tried giving him a kid’s perspective.

Like he couldn’t fathom Riley wanting time with him.

“Okay.” He nodded, kissing me again, sweetly and slowly, pulling back before things got too heavy. “I’ll call you later, and just so you know, if I didn’t tell you enough before, I really had a great time with you this weekend. Thanks for going with me.”

“Thanks for inviting me.”

“K. See you soon.”

So Noah, so confident.

I had my keys in my hand so before I could call him on his arrogance, I turned and opened the door. He bent, carried my suitcase inside and stepped back to the porch.

“Talk soon,” he said. “But be ready, because you might think Riley wants time alone with me, and that might be true, but I also know how much she loves you, so she’ll want to share all about her weekend with you, too.”

He winked, turned, and was off my porch, hurrying to his truck, leaving me with the best parting shot possible.

Riley loved me.

Thirty minutes later, I had my bag unpacked, laundry started, and had just filled a glass of tea when my phone chimed, signaling a text.

Riley wants to tell you all about her weekend over pizza.

Get your cute butt over here…and bring more lingerie.

I laughed at the text.

Needless to say, he’d liked the lingerie I wore last night. Lucky for him, I had a similar one in red.

Twenty-Five

Noah

I was fallingin love with this woman. I quit questioning the strange sensation in my chest weeks ago, the one that hit every night it was time to say goodnight to Lauren. She had long ago captivated me, drawn to Riley with the sweetest temperament, all glares at me for being a jerk. The weekend away cemented it.

We were one hundred percent, in every damn way that mattered, perfect for each other. Even with my lack of long-term relationships, I wasn’t the least bit concerned about screwing anything up with Lauren. She had more patience than anyone I’d ever met, so I knew, even when I did inevitably fuck up, Lauren would be there, not only to tell me what I’d done to be an ass but on how to prevent it in the future.

Needless to say, I was looking forward to Lauren teaching me. For a long time.

Now, sitting next to me on the couch, I had my arm thrown across the back, my palm resting on Riley’s head that was curled up next to Lauren while she read a story.

It was another story about Jack and Annie. Once I saw Riley reading it on the app, I’d hopped online and ordered the entire paperback set. Almost one hundred of them, neatly stacked in order on a bookshelf in the living room where Riley could hunt for whichever one she wanted.

And she read them daily. For hours on end. She’d need to find a new series soon with the rate she zipped through these books.

But tonight, she’d asked Lauren to read to her, so it was Lauren’s sweet voice filtering into my ears as she described the latest quest of the two young kids. She brought books alive with the inflection in her voice, and even I was enjoying listening to her.

But hell. Lauren could read me a grocery list, or a few pages of the dictionary and I’d probably be equally enthralled.

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