Page 56 of Sorry, Not Sorry
Noah’s deep voice rumbled through his chest. ‘Are you sure about that? I thought you loved your job. Can’t you talk to Polly and work something out?’
Delilah snuggled deeper into his arms, wondering how much detail to get into. Noah knew she had been seeing a therapist, but she had never explained it was a precondition of her job, and now she’d ditched Arne, there was no point bringing it up.
‘It’s not just Polly…’ She tailed off with a sigh. ‘I’ve tried my best but maybe relationship counselling isn’t the right direction for me. Anyway, enough about that. Let’s talk about you – what’s on your mind?’
‘Right now? Nothing much. Just enjoying lying in bed with the most incredible girl in the world in my arms.’
‘I am rather incredible, aren’t I?’ she teased, and he promptly tickled her ribs, leaving her giggling helplessly. She buried her face in the crook of his neck and mumbled, ‘I’m so glad you’ve taken the day off work. Now, you can project manage me all day instead of your sweaty construction crew.’
‘When you put it like that, how can I say no?’ He squeezed her tightly against him. ‘I’m so crazy about you,’ he said, his voice muffled by her shoulder.
She couldn’t stop the shiver that ran through her at his words, and she wrapped her arms around him and tried to push away the unwelcome prickle of unease. Moments later, when Noah rolled on top of her and kissed her deeply, she stopped thinking about anything at all.
37
After spending most of the morning in bed, Delilah and Noah finally left her flat for a stroll into town. Walking hand in hand through the neighbourhood park, they stopped to sit on a bench, watching people walk their dogs and the occasional jogger run past them on the pathway that circled the park. Overhead, the blue sky was darkening as clouds clustered into a grey blanket, slowly blotting out the late morning sunshine. The temperature had been unseasonably warm when they’d left the house but was quickly dropping, and Delilah was beginning to regret not bringing a jacket. A sharp gust of wind cut through her light sweater, and she rubbed the sudden goosebumps on her arm.
Noah reached for her hand and squeezed it gently. ‘Looks like we missed the best weather while we were in bed.’
Delilah smiled coyly. ‘I know, but it was so worth it. Best way to start the day.’
‘Couldn’t agree more.’ He released her hand and wrapped his arm around her, and she snuggled against him. It was so good to see the tactile and affectionate Noah she had known in the past, with none of the moodiness and coldness he had displayed towards Zazie. She stifled a pang of jealousy at the thought of Noah’s ex-girlfriend. It was hard to forget that only a few weeks earlier, he had been so involved with another girl, he had been contemplating proposing to her. But then, Delilah reminded herself, Noah had stood up to his mother in front of her in a way he had never done for Zazie, which had to mean something.
‘Has Zazie been in touch with you since – well, you know?’ she asked tentatively.
‘No,’ Noah said tersely. ‘Just as well cos I’ve got nothing to say to her.’
‘Don’t you think maybe you two need to have a proper chat and get closure?’ Delilah persisted, even as the voice in her head was screaming at her to shut up. Are you trying to drive him back into her arms, you idiot!
‘You really can’t stop yourself going into counselling mode, can you?’ Noah drawled, his voice tinged with humour.
‘Well, when people react strongly to someone, it means there’s still feelings there,’ she pointed out. ‘I just want to make sure I’m not the rebound girl.’
‘Del, if anyone was on the rebound, it was me with Zazie.’ He shifted on the bench to face her squarely. ‘I won’t pretend I didn’t care about her because that isn’t true. When I met Zazie, I was struggling to get over you, and she was fun and easy to be with. I was desperate to move on from you and me and to be happy again. Maybe I was forcing things with her a bit, but Zazie really cared about me – or at least, I thought she did,’ he finished grimly.
‘I know she cared about you! Look, I’m not saying what Zazie did was right, but no one’s perfect and it isn’t always easy to be upfront about things if you’re afraid you’re going to hurt someone, or even lose them.’
‘Yeah, well being honest is super important to me. You’re not holding anything back from me, are you?’ He studied her earnest expression quizzically.
‘No, of course not,’ Delilah said quickly. She reached up and stroked his face gently. ‘I’m glad you’re over Zazie. I won’t lie – it was torture watching you loved up with someone else.’
Noah turned his head to kiss the palm of her hand before tracing a path down her arm with his lips. His hand slipped under her top, and she shivered at his touch and pressed herself against him. He kissed her hard, and his warm fingers stroking her left her aching for more. A cyclist whizzed past, and Delilah pulled away from Noah, laughing.
‘You need to behave or we’re going to get arrested,’ she breathed, her voice catching at the naked desire in his eyes.
‘I don’t care who’s watching,’ he murmured, but she resisted the temptation and sat back, slipping a hand through the crook of his arm to lovingly trace the small crown tattoo on his forearm.
‘I’m shocked you still have this,’ she marvelled. ‘I would have sworn you’d removed it or covered it over with – with something else.’
‘Didn’t occur to me,’ Noah said with a shrug. ‘You’re always gonna be my queen.’
‘That’s so sweet! Who knew you were such a romantic?’ She beamed up at him and squeezed his arm, a fuzzy ball of happiness lodging itself inside her. She and Noah would be fine, she vowed silently. Zazie was his past, and there was nothing to fear about the future.
‘Okay, so now it’s your turn to demonstrate a bit of romance,’ he said with a grin. ‘I distinctly remember you promising to get a tattoo when I did this one, and we both know that never happened. We could go to Stan’s parlour now if you’re up for it?’
His eyes dared her to accept the challenge, and Delilah pulled a face and shuddered. ‘Ugh! Sorry, but I can’t handle the idea of that needle drilling into me.’
‘And here’s me thinking I’m worth any amount of pain. Just so you know, Zazie was planning to get one done with my name on it,’ he said plaintively, and then burst out laughing when Delilah rolled her eyes.
