Page 51 of Cluelessly Yours

“Can I tell you something that will probably make you laugh?”

Noah looks me over with a curious smile. “I’m all ears.”

“I thought Mary was someone you were…romantically involved with.”

“Really?” His eyes go wide.

I cringe. “In my defense, I didn’t know you had a sister. And Mary is an incredibly beautiful woman. It made sense that you would want to date her.”

“Well, we’re definitely not dating. Pretty sure Jared would have a problem with it.” Noah runs a hand through his hair on a chuckle. “I don’t date very often, period.”

“Oh. So, you’re, like, more of a one-night-stand, casual-hookup kind of guy?”

“One-night stands?” A barking laugh jumps from his lungs. “Uh, no, Sammy. And I’m not into casual hookups either. I’m a little too old for that empty shit. I had a few dates with someone a few months ago that I thought might go somewhere, but…” He shrugs. “It wasn’t what I thought it would be.”

“Why not?”

“I just didn’t have thefeeling.”

“The feeling?”

“Yeah. The all-consuming, heart-racing, stomach-aching, I’m-going-to-throw-up-if-this-doesn’t-work-outfeeling.”

I nod. I know the feeling. “It’s the same feeling I read about in Brooke’s book about Chase that made me know she had to go for it.”

He searches my eyes for a long moment that makes all my breath stall in my chest. “What’s going on with you and Gavin, Sammy?”

Oh boy. Suddenly, the weight of the world feels like it rests just above where I decide to put this answer.

“We’ve been on a few dates, and he’s a nice person. But I—”

“Last call!” the bartender announces to the half-empty bar, cutting me off midsentence and leaving both my answer and the world hovering somewhere over Manhattan. “Bar is closing in ten minutes!”

“Shit,” Noah mutters and glances at his watch. “I can’t believe it’s already last call.”

“What time is it?”

“A little after one.”

“It’s afterone?” I laugh. “The last time I stayed up past midnight had to be when Grant was a baby.”

He grins. “How about I close out our tab and walk you home?”

“Yes, please,” I say with a smile. “This old lady would love to have you walk her home.”

Noah tsks. “You’re not old, Sammy.”

“I’m forty-one, Noah. I’m old.”

“Baby, I’m forty-three,” he retorts. “If you’re old, then I might as well be ancient.”

I shrug dramatically. “See, all you really did there is confirm that we’rebothold.”

“Grab your coat, Grandma. Grandpa will pay the check.”

“How’d you know you wanted to be a doctor? Is that something you always dreamed of, or did it just seem like a practical way to make money?” I ask as I unlock the door to my apartment and step inside. I hold the door for Noah to follow, and he does without hesitation.

It’s a little weird that I didn’t ask him to come up and he didn’t ask either—but it’s almost as if neither of us even considered another option.

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