I could only stare while trying to find my voice, and when I did, my brain could only focus on the most obvious of observations. “You brought waffles?”
“Three containers’ worth of waffles.”
My heart skipped a couple beats and then stumbled over itself to catch up. “You really shouldn’t have done this. There's such a thing as setting the bar too high, you know.”
He looked up from the bag, and the smile that lit his face also lit something warm that the butterflies flocked around like a cult. I blinked, pretending my eyelids were a camera shutter that could memorize the moment.
“I need to prove my worth if you’re going to keep me around. Did you keep the bed warm for me?” Noah asked.
“Like a furnace.” I was entirely too aware of how much clothing I wasnotwearing at the moment. “But I’m a little underdressed now.”
Holding the sheet to my front, I scooted to the edge of the bed, only for Noah to shake his head. His eyes lit with appreciation as he placed a white food container next to the syrup. “No, I like you like this.”
I attempted and most likely failed to raise one eyebrow. “Naked?”
Noah’s eyes crawled down to where my hand held the sheet against my chest. “Why not? I’m still planning on taking you up on your offer.”
“Who knew you were such aguy?” I teased before biting my lip to hide the severity of my smile. I scooted back against the pillows and trapped the sheet in place with my arms so I could cup my coffee in both hands. “Does that mean your pants are coming off?”
Noah didn’t even blink, but I saw the corner of his lips twitch as his hands went straight to his belt buckle. My jaw went slack as he made quick work of the clasp before sliding the leather smoothly through the buckle, and I sucked in a breath in time to him unzipping.
“I think you mentioned something about seedy background music before?” Noah smiled, and to my utter astonishment he took his time slipping off his pants. They dragged painfully slowly down his hips—flipping my heart upside down—before he stepped out and kicked them up into a smooth catch.
I tried and failed to wolf whistle. Noah took my cup away and put it on the nightstand. Then he proceeded to toss his pants straight at my face. I couldn’t help laughing as my world turned dark, and I pulled them down to find Noah climbing into bed beside me.
The bed sheet was still between us, and Noah was still sadly wearing much more clothing than me. But when he leaned in, I eagerly met his lips halfway.
And when his fingers traced lazily up my arm, I might’ve forgotten about the sheet completely as it slipped down an inch. I felt like I was floating. The feel of his skin under my fingertips was intoxicating. But when his lips kissed down to my neck and I had a prime view of the food container sitting oh-so-innocently behind him, my priorities quickly shifted.
I cleared my throat and delighted in each shiver his touch provoked. “Can we eat the waffles first?”
Noah’s lips traced down to my shoulder, making the hairs on the back of my neck stand up as he smiled against my skin. “I need to work on my seduction if you still have waffles on your mind.”
“Something would be very wrong if I didn’t have waffles on my mind. That’s when doctors would need to get involved. Besides, we don’t want them to get cold.”
He chuckled against my shoulder, and shivers trickled down my arms as his fingers trailed up my bare back.
My breathing stalled when his fingers found a raised patch of skin on my shoulder blade.
“What happened here?” Noah traced a finger over the scar tissue as I shivered. I hated that scar. “I didn’t notice it last night.”
I swallowed around a lump forming in my throat while scrambling for a believable story. Today was too perfect of a day to ruin with the truth. “Promise not to laugh?”
His lips caressed my shoulder. “I’d never laugh at an injury.”
I said the first lie that popped into my head. “I was pretending to be a monkey.”
Noah pulled back from my shoulder and nudged my waist until I was facing the other way and he could get a closer look at the reason I rarely wore tank tops.
My mouth babbled on. “I was young, way high up in a tree, and I thought I could make the jump to another branch.”
I could practically feel Noah’s wince behind me as he traced the tightened skin around the scar.
I licked my lips as a weight settled in my stomach at the evolving lie. “It was a rough landing, and my shoulder took the brunt of it on a sharp rock. Miraculously, there weren’t any broken bones.”
“A rock did this?”
I nodded, hiding my grimace. It did if the rock was my father. “It never quite healed right.”
