He pressed me back on the bed, his body a cage and a shield all at once, keeping our hands still linked over my head. ‘But you’re an incredibly smart girl, Noelle,’ he whispered, teeth grazing my chin, nipping and nuzzling kisses into the tender skin of my throat as he moved his attention downwards.
‘And you’re a good man,’ I managed shakily.
His lips closed over my nipple through my vest and tugged, the cotton damp and maddening between us. I shivered and bucked against him with a gasp.
I felt his smile against me. ‘We’ll see if you still say that in the morning.’
Chapter Twelve
For a small person, Noelle took up an extremely large amount of space in the bed. Her head was nestled on my chest, but her legs were splayed out as though she was running across the mattress to catch me.
I’d woken early as usual and tried to get back to sleep so that I wouldn’t disturb her, but her soft skin pressed to mine made my body burn with awareness and barely contained energy. My fingers rested across the slope of her back, thumb dipping into the curve of her waist but I resisted my desire to explore any further until she was awake and certain that she wanted me too.
Last night had been unbelievable but I wasn’t kidding myself. This morning she might regret it. She’d regretted kissing me at the fun fair. She’d been very adamant that she didn’t want to sleep with me for reasons that would seem a lot more logical in the unforgiving light of the day, than they would have done last night when she was so worn out she’d struggled to string a sentence together at times.
When I thought of it that way…had I taken advantage of her? If she woke up, kneed me in the groin and walked out of here, I’d probably deserve it.
My alarm went off and I stretched my arm over the top of her to silence it, and quickly rolled back, trying not to wake her up. Her eyelashes fluttered against my chest as she opened her eyes and I held my breath, waiting to see how she’d react.
She dragged herself up, arms folded on top of me and peered at me through the waves of her dishevelled red hair.
‘Morning,’ she croaked and smiled at me, wider and all the more devastating for the fact that I knew she wasn’t a morning person. That smile was all for me.
‘Good morning.’
She slid her hand along my stomach, up and up, palm pressed firmly, until she reached my jaw and scratched playfully at my morning stubble.
‘Look at this: morning beard growth. There was me thinking you woke up pristine every day. You look very sexy with it.’ She bit her lip but then a frown caught at her. ‘But a little freaked out too. What’s up?’
‘Nothing. If you’re okay, then I’m okay.’ Which was true but also an oversimplification of gargantuan proportions. She knew it as well; I could tell by the way she narrowed her eyes slightly at me but she didn’t say anything. What was she thinking? What wasIthinking? Where did we go from here? I swallowed. ‘Do you regret it?’
‘That depends – are you going to be a jerk now?’ She rested her chin on her hand on top of my chest. The added weight made it harder to breathe.
‘Could you define “jerk” for me?’
‘Well, are you going to get all cold, kick me out and stop talking to me?’
I reached out and cupped her cheek. ‘No. Of course not.’ I felt her smile in the palm of my hand and I wished I could leave it there. ‘But…what are your expectations now?’
The smile faded like I’d predicted, and her eyes flickered over my face. ‘Expectations?’ She rolled off me and sat up, pulling the sheet with her to stay covered. I shivered as the cool air in my apartment brought goose bumps out on my bare skin. ‘Well, you have taken my innocence, you nefarious rake, I expect a carriage to be called immediately so that we can elope and save me from ruin. Otherwise, one of my brothers will call on you to challenge you to a duel.’
I sighed and pinched at the bridge of my nose. ‘You needn’t take the piss, Noelle. I’m just trying to make sure that…I’m not going to hurt you, okay? Are we on the same page about this?’
She licked her lips and pushed her hair back from her face. ‘Well, from my perspective, it’s pretty simple. We’ve been wanting to have sex for some time. Now we’ve done it and it turns out, it’s pretty good. I’d like to keep doing it at mutually convenient times until one of us no longer wants to keep doing it.’
‘Is that your way of describing dating?’
‘No. Dating usually involves things like eating out or going for coffee. Leisure activities that precede the physical ones. Do you think you could handle that too?’ She tilted her head and looked down at her nails. It was easy to think that nothing fazed her, but she was still a person with feelings under her bolshie front. Of all people I could recognise that. I didn’t want to give her an answer just to avoid upsetting her now. It would only upset her more later, so I let myself think.
Dating was not an issue for me. I liked dating and I was sure I would enjoy dating Noelle. Our relationship to this point was not a far cry from dating as it was, just minus the sex. Adding that into the deal sounded perfect to me. But… ‘There’s one more thing dating usually involves.’
‘And what’s that?’
‘The potential for long-term commitment. I can’t make you any promises.’
‘It’s okay. I know how you feel about that. I’m a grown woman and I’m going into this with my eyes wide open. So, are we on the same page now?’ She drew her knees up, taking yet more of the sheets with her. She was a complete bed and cover-hogger and she looked delicious, light blue cotton wrapped around her soft, freckled skin. Hadn’t I wondered what it would be like to tumble her back into bed in the morning? I could hardly believe I was going to get the opportunity to find out.
‘I have one more question,’ I said, wrapping my hand in the covers that skimmed her toes.
