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Because of them.

For one weekend, she had been allowed to pretend she belonged here. The dangerous part was that no one inside seemed to be pretending.

After watching a movie with his whole family, Claire found herself standing in Noah’s childhood bedroom, looking at old photos on the wall. She saw pictures of birthday parties, vacations, Little League, Christmas mornings. A whole lifetime of being loved.

Her eyes landed on the bed.

And suddenly the air felt different.

“Your mother seems to think we sleep in the same bed,” she commented.

Noah grinned. “She thinks we’re dating.”

He stepped past her to pull a thin blanket from the closet, and Claire suddenly became very aware of how small the room felt with both of them in it.

This was ridiculous.

They had stood closer than this before.

Somehow, a bedroom made the distance between them feel different.

“Yes,” she said, “but shouldn’t moms be against premarital bed sharing?”

Heat rushed to her cheeks, and she silently hoped he didn’t think she was implying there might one day be bed sharing. Or marriage.

“Probably so. But I’m sleeping on the floor, so there will be no premarital bed sharing.”

“You can’t sleep on the floor.”

“I can.”

“That is not reassuring.”

“Claire, take the bed.”

“What if somebody comes in and sees that we’re not sharing the bed?”

“We’ll tell them we don’t believe in that.” He shrugged.

“Thanks, Noah,” she said softly.

“Of course. I want you to be comfortable. You take the bed, it’s a no-brainer.”

Claire woke up in the middle of the night. Biscuit was curled up at her feet. She forced herself to contain her laugh, not wanting to wake Noah, but knowing he would say something about Biscuit sleeping with her instead of him.

She glanced over at Noah, asleep on the floor. He was using his hoodie as a pillow.

He had to be cold. She got up and looked in his closet, searching for another blanket. After finding one, she carefully draped the blanket over him.

Noah shifted beneath it but did not wake.

Claire stood there for a moment, looking down at the man who always noticed what she needed. Then she climbed back into his childhood bed, quietly pleased that this time, she had noticed first.

CHAPTER 19

Belonging

Claire woke again when pale morning light began slipping through the curtains.