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Chapter One
Daisy
Ihate waking up. It’s that moment between the comfort of sleep and the slap in the face of reality. The moment I remember I’ve destroyed my own dream.
The fact that someone is licking my face isn’t making me feel any better.
Eyes still closed, I swat at the licker, only to have him head butt me right in the chest.
“Ow,” I moan, my eyes flying open as an arm tightens around me from behind.
A goat is staring at me with weird sideways eyes, like I’ve neglected some duty for the satanic beast.
“Leave us alone, Arty.” I feel the rumble of my husband’s voice as much as I hear it, because he’s tucked up behind me on the couch.
I wince and mentally correct myself. Not my husband, not anymore. He was my best friend before our impulsive and short-lived Vegas marriage, and he’s my best friend now.
That’s all I can have of him, and I’ll take it because having any part of Noah Brooks is better than nothing.
Why am I wrapped up in Noah Brooks?
I blink. Also, why are we in the den?
It comes back to me in a blur. We had a slasher flick marathon last night to celebrate my first job as a freelance editor. It’s a small job, barely a hundred pages of technical writing, but I have to celebrate the minor accomplishments or I’ll drown in despair.
Not that I told Noah what we were celebrating, because that would require telling himwhyI’m freelancing. I’m not ready to admit my abject failure as a professional.
I try to sit up, but Noah’s got me pinned against his body with one muscular arm.
“Let me go. I need coffee.”
“Arty can be aggressive before he’s had breakfast. Let’s give him a minute. He’ll probably get bored and—”
Arty lowers his head and chews on the cuff of my favorite flannel pajama pants. I wiggle my leg, trying to get it away from him, and he head butts my shin.
“Ow. What the hell is his head made of? Adamantium?”
“Good idea.” Noah pulls me tighter against him and I get a whiff of his sandalwood scent. I inhale deeply to breathe in his scent and I almost miss his next words. “Let’s do a mutant superhero movie marathon next.”
Noah’s a huggy, touchy, friendly kind of guy, but it’s been years since he’s held me quite like this and it feels… Dangerous. His breath against my cheek, his warm body at my back, it all feels way too intimate.
I decided years ago that I would never allow myself to be intimate with Noah Brooks again. My heart can’t handle it.
“Let me go so I can defend myself against this beast.” I shove at Noah’s arm and he releases his grip. Finally.
I sit up, oddly out of breath and dizzy. I stare at the devil goat, so I don’t have to look at Noah. His hair is almost definitely mussed from sleeping, his eyes heavy-lidded. Noah is a good-looking guy all the time, but just woken up Noah is deadly.
Arty stares back at me and… I break after about ten seconds of his creepy eyes. I pull my feet up onto the couch and turn toward Noah reflexively. He’s smirking, his brown curls a floppy mess, his eyes just as half-hooded and sexy as I expected. Hell, even his lips look sexier than normal.
I have a sudden vision of leaning over and tasting those lips, but I shut it down. “What do we do?”
He tilts his head back and yells at the top of his lungs. “Dani! Dani, save us!”
We wait, staring at each other, my own lips twitching in amusement. His eyes are this dark, rich brown that turns amber when he finds something really funny.
They’re amber now and so warm I feel like I could melt under their glow.
I’ve been drawn to this man from the first moment we met in college, and even from that first moment, we’ve been able to communicate without words.
