My heart fills with joy, finally hearing the words. I mean, after he got arrested didn’t count. My brain is choosing to ignore it. “You’re sure?” I question.
“Never been so sure of anything in my life,” he tells me.
I chew on my bottom lip again. “So, how the hell did you know that I did when I hadn’t even worked it out?”
Noah brings his hand up and trails his knuckles down the side of my face, making my face tilt into his touch. “That night in the kitchen, you know, the day you got hurt. You were an open book. It was written all over you and it was exactly what I needed to keep me there. I was so ready to go and take Monica down, but you needed me and I couldn’t bear the thought of leaving you like that.”
“You loved me then, too?” I don’t know if it’s a statement or a question, but I put it out there as a question, just so I can hear him say it again.
“I think I loved you from the second you poured your lunch all over me,” he admits. “And I really am sorry for blurting it out in the car like that the other day. I didn’t intend to try to take away from its meaning or use it as a tool against you to earn your forgiveness, but I was desperate. I saw you slipping away. You’ve never quite been that mad at me and I didn’t know if that meant I was losing you,” he takes a breath and focuses in on my eyes, making sure I hear him clearly. “I need you. You don’t need me, you’re strong and independent. You can handle yourself without me, but me without you is nothing but a lonely man. You give me something to live for, something to push myself towards. With you, I see a future I could never see before.”
“For the record,” I breathe. “I need you more than you could know.”
Those fingers weave into my head and he pulls me in, holding me close to him as we take in the moment. A heavy sigh leaves me as I think about exactly what he said. I was mad at him. I’m always mad at him over something and that constantly leads to us fighting. It’s either him angry at me or the other way around and that couldn’t possibly be healthy.
I squish my face into his chest, loving the steady rhythm of his heart. “Are we bad together?” I ask him, impatiently waiting for his response.
Noah’s hands come up and take possession of my shoulders, pushing me back so he can look me in the eye. “What the hell are you talking about?” he demands, that deep concern from earlier marring his face once again.
“We always fight. Every chance we get. That couldn’t be a good sign, right?”
“Spitfire,” he sighs. “I fucking love fighting with you. Watching you get all worked up, knowing that it’s me who did it, that it’s me in your head driving you insane. It’s like an inferno building inside you and when you explode…fuck, babe. It gets me off. Nothing is sexier than you speaking your mind and putting me in my place. Every time you yell at me, I see the little she-devil shining through your eyes and it reminds me of that girl I first met in the cafeteria. You were mine even then.”
“Are you saying you push my buttons on purpose?”
He grins back at me. “Sometimes.”
“You’re an ass.”
“Don’t pretend you didn’t know that from the very start,” he says. “Besides, you like makeup sex just as much as I do.”
I can’t help but lean into him once more, my lips coming down on his. “You know what other kind of sex I like?”
He doesn’t respond. He doesn’t need to.
Noah’s hands come up and my bra disappears quicker than I could even blink. “You’re so fucking beautiful,” he tells me, taking me by the waist and lifting me off his lap.
He lays me down on the bed and comes down on top of me, his lips instantly on mine. Though, the reckless, passionate, crazed animals from before are no longer here. He slows it down. His fingers brush over my skin sending goosebumps sailing right over me. His lips find my neck. His hands squeezing and touching every inch of my body.
This is no longer about screwing and getting off for a good time. This is more.
This is Noah Cage showing me how damn much he loves me.
Clothes get tossed aside.
Underwear is slipped down my legs.
Noah is freed from the confines of his jeans.