Page 71 of Purchase Power
Chapter 20
While it wasn’t the first time Lucy fell asleep in Noah’s arms, it was the first time it happened in the intimacy of his bedroom. Or after a kiss, for that matter.He kissed me… he really kissed me.He had done more than kiss her. When Noah wasn’t exploring the depths of her throat, he was giving her tender pecks to her cheek and inviting Lucy to curl up against his warm, bare skin. She fell asleep there, awakening with a start when she realized he had gotten up to take a shower. Her timing had been fortunate, however. Noah returned a mere five minutes later, suggesting she have her turn – oh, and he was going to invite her, but didn’t have the heart to wake her up again.
It was the fittest sleep Lucy had enjoyed since deciding to sell herself at auction.I can’t believe this is happening. Falling in love with the man who won me… is that a kind of Stockholm Syndrome?How invested was Lucy in discovering the truth?
She didn’t dream. She didn’t wake up until the dawn encroached on the bed. When shedidopen her eyes and remember what had happened, she was surprised to discover how relaxed she was. The sheets were still a little sweaty, but all Lucy smelled was the natural scent of two people who fell asleep in each other’s arms.
Her first inclination was to wonder if he loved her. Was what she felt for him even love? Or was it infatuation?
What heavy thoughts to have first thing in the morning.
The only reason Lucy dragged herself out of bed was because she desperately needed to go to the bathroom. She snuck out from beneath Noah’s arms and quietly slung her legs over the side of the bed. A few minutes later, she was turning on the spotless faucet in his master bath, which was somehow more impressive than hers in the main guest suite.The man has a sunken bathtub in the corner. And a shower with not one, but two showerheads hanging from theceiling. There was also the option to frost and defrost the window in front of the shower, allowing a person to catch the sunrise if they showered at the right time.
Whenever Lucy thought she was done being impressed with such decadence, she surprised herself again.
Noah was still half-asleep when she climbed back into his bed. Her eyes remained heavy with the need for more sleep. It was still kinda early, anyway. Eight on a Sunday morning. Surely, Noah could stand to sleep in after the long night they had.Maybe we could have breakfast on the balcony.Lucy wondered what it was like to eat omelets in the fresh, open air with the man she loved. Was he wondering the same thing about her?
Probably not. Knowing Noah, he was fast asleep in a dreamless stupor. She would be lucky if he thought of her at all in his dreams.
“Oh… sorry.” She attempted to lean her head against his shoulder, but it was enough to make him open his eyes and inhale the first deep breath of the morning. Noah rubbed the sleep from the corner of his eye and stretched one arm above his head. As his hand wrapped around one of the grips of his wrought-iron headboard, his whole body stretched, and he sucked in the air straight from her own personal space.This is about as intimate as it gets, right?Lucy was sure that no other woman had seen this vulnerable side of Noah Gabriel. This was him in his rawest form. A man unafraid to be himself, because he was too natural to know otherwise. “I didn’t mean to wake you.”
Noah looked at the digital clock on his nightstand and immediately recoiled against the sunshine spilling through the windows. That sent him onto his side facing Lucy, where he made such a silly, strained face that Lucy imagined his toes curling over the side of the bed as he indulged in the greatest stretch of his life.
“Morning.” He closed his eye for half a second. Once they were open again, Lucy guessed that this was it. He was awake for the day. “How long have you been awake?”
“Only about ten minutes. I had to go to the bathroom.”
Noah encircled his arm around her midsection. Lucy didn’t anticipate anything else. Her instincts told her that he had already forgotten what they shared the night before. Maybe not the physical details… but maybe the kiss. How drunk on sex had he been when he kissed her?
“Bathroom sounds about right.” He made to get out of his bed, but with his arm so ensconced around her, he wasn’t quick. “Huh. I don’t have to go as badly as I usually do.”
Lucy lifted the sheets and peered at what she could see in the shadows. “You’ve still got morning wood.”
Noah was still stretching his legs and making silly morning faces in the process. His facial hair was so scruffy that Lucy was tempted to rub her own face against it.He’s usually so groomed and so kempt. I only ever see him after his rituals. I only see him looking his best.Wasn’t this Noah’s best as well? He was still handsome in his true element. The gruff demeanor, those sleepy blue eyes, and the languid way he moved his muscles as he adjusted to a world where he had to be conscious would remain settled in Lucy’s mind eye for a long while.
“You probably would too if you had a dick.”
Lucy laughed. His sleepy comment was so unlike him that she could only assume this was the sort of unfiltered thought few women ever saw. “Need some help with that?”
Noah peered beneath the covers. “Honestly, after last night, I’m afraid to touch it. It might have a stroke from too much strenuous exercise.” He lowered the sheets. “Give it a few minutes and it will sort itself out. It’s just another day that ends with Y.”
“So youdoremember last night?”
He did a double-take in her direction. “Of course I do.”
Lucy bit her lip. “Do you remember kissing me?”
His hesitation suggested that he wouldn’t answer. Then, “Of course I do. Why are you quizzing me about what we did last night? Do you have amnesia?”
“Are you suggesting you fucked me hard enough to give me amnesia?”
“That would be something, wouldn’t it?”
Lucy nuzzled against his shoulder. “I thought you never kissed.”
“I didn’t say I never kissed.” He hesitated again. “I said it’s a lot of intimacy.”
“Last night was very… intimate, huh?”
