“Did you just name your pen?” Amusement was heavy in his voice.
“Henrietta,” I corrected him, then frowned when I accidentally gave Hello Kitty an extra ear.
Oh well. Art was in the eye of the beholder, right?
“Your tongue is sticking out,” Noah whispered as I moved down to add the whiskers.
“I’m concentrating,” I said defensively, belatedly realizing my tongue was in fact poking out as I focused on the drawing.
“We have about an hour before we need to go.”
“What do you mean?” I changed my focus to her eyes. “It’s Sunday, so we’re not going anywhere. We can stay in bed all day, eat Pop-Tarts, and I’ll give you more cool tattoos.”
“If that’s what you want,” Noah agreed quickly. Almosttooquickly. He took a breath that made my pen veer off course again. “But it’d be a shame since I made reservations at that waffle café you like. The one that puts whipped cream and sprinkles on their iced coffee.”
Henrietta froze against Noah’s chest, and my gaze shot up to his. “You did?”
A smile fought to crack through his poker face. “It’s all right. I can always call back and cancel.”
“Don’t you dare!” I cried. I inadvertently dug Henrietta deeper into his chest before pulling her back. “What time is the reservation?”
Noah’s smile broke through. “I was accounting for traffic, but it’s not for another hour and a half. You have time to finish your drawings.”
His finger trailed up my side, and I shivered. The elected chief of the butterflies—because my stomach was a democracy and not a dictatorship—awoke from his slumber and riled his citizens into a tizzy at the touch.
Noah was taking me out for waffles.
“Have I ever told you how wonderful you are?” I leaned up to smack a kiss on his cheek. “Seriously, you’re the best.”
Noah chuckled as I settled back down to continue his temporary tattoo. His chest moved in time with his breathing, which was both distracting and detrimental to my already abysmal artistic ability. But I kept all my attention on the pen in my hand, and funny things happened to my stomach when she glided across his skin like roller skates on a rink. The elegant detail on Henrietta was breathtaking, and this strange sense of empowerment fueled my veins as I held her.
Honestly, I was getting a little worked up. My legs shifted restlessly against Noah’s as his fingers played with the hem of my tank top, and I cleared my throat while finishing up Hello Kitty’s bow.
Noah never missed a thing, and the dry amusement in his voice did little to help my growing dilemma. “Is the pen turning you on again, Emma?”
I froze mid-doodle, avoiding eye contact.
“Well… it’syouI’m drawing on. So maybe it’s you turning me on?” I asked before batting my lashes at his chest.
“Maybe?” Noah’s hand slipped further inside my top to grip my hip, and I sucked in my stomach at his cold fingertips. “MaybeI’m turning you on?”
His voice ended on a growl, and I squealed out a laugh as he rolled us until he was hovering over me. The movement gave Hello Kitty an unintentional unibrow that stretched across the rest of Noah’s chest, but any complaints went flying out the window when Noah grinned down at me.
I swallowed. He looked at me the way I looked at Henrietta.
“Would it be too forward of me to make a move on you right now?” Noah asked as he anchored himself on one elbow above me. His other hand brushed back the curtain of blonde hair that’d gotten in my face, and his gaze dropped to my lips. “I don’t want you to think I’m taking liberties because I bought you a gift. You just look so happy, and you’ve been rubbing up against me, and… well, I’m only a man.”
My lips twitched into an amused smile, and I stretched out underneath him to gingerly set Henrietta back into her box on the nightstand. Then I snuggled into Noah’s pillow and wrapped my arms around his neck. “You are way more than a man. And I don’t see why not. We still have an hour, and they call it birthday sex for a reason.”
“Do they?” Noah moved his ankle to cage my legs in as he leaned closer.
“Or so I’ve heard,” I whispered with a smile. I trailed my tongue over my bottom lip before meeting his kiss halfway.
Best. Birthday. Ever.
CHAPTER35
A Diary
