Chapter 19
NOAH
“Noah?” the words slipped from her mouth.
She wasn’t wrong about what she’d said. Sure, I’d tried to pretend otherwise, pretend that I could have her here with me in my home without viewing her in that way. Maybe it was even possible.
But with her bringing it out in the open like that, there was no denying it. I wanted her like mad, and she wanted me.
“What’re you doing?” she asked.
It burned to know that she viewed my desire for her as a problem that needed to be solved. Hell, maybe she was right for thinking that way, but gazing down at her, looking into the innocence of her big, blue eyes, all I could think about was how much I wanted to take her up to the nearest empty bedroom and do the one thing we ought not to do.
I placed my hands on her soft, round hips, pulled her forward, and let her feel my hardness through my pants. She gasped at the sensation of my stiff cock against her belly, her eyes going wide with surprise before she bit down on her lower lip.
I couldn’t resist her. I leaned in and placed my lips on hers, kissing her slowly, deeply. She didn’t resist, giving in and opening her mouth to let my tongue find hers.
She gasped through the kiss as if it were more intense than she’d remembered. My hands stayed on her hips, holding her in place.
But as soon as the reality of what we were doing settled, I realized I’d made a huge mistake. I pulled my lips from hers, and as soon as they were apart, Sadie stepped back and put distance between the two of us.
“Shite,” I said, turning and running my hand through my hair. “That was a bad idea.”
I turned back to her, expecting a look of pure rage on her face. But it wasn’t there. Instead, she smiled slightly.
All the same, I knew I had to say something.
“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have done that. It was selfish and stupid and…”
I trailed off, and she shook her head.
“No. Maybe we shouldn’t have done that. But I’m not going to pretend that was your fault. I could’ve said no or stopped you. But I didn’t.” She raised her finger, ready to make a point. “But this is all the more reason why I don’t know if we can live together.”
“It wouldn’t be like this,” I said. “I’d be able to keep myself in check. Not to mention that you’d need at least a month and a half of recovery time after birth before you were ready for, you know, any of that. I’m sure we’d be able to make it work. Just because I’m into you and you’re into me doesn’t mean we’d be giving into that. You could have the guest house if you wanted. It’s two floors, two bedrooms, and plenty of space to have to yourself. I mean, we’d be more like landlord and tenant than anything sexual.”
She smiled slightly. “Wow, Doc, you sure know how to sweet-talk a girl.”
That got another laugh out of me. “OK, that was a little business-like. But you get what I’m saying. I want you here, and more than that, you being here would be what’s best for you and the kids.”
Sadie glanced aside, thinking something over. “Well, I’m going to be working from home starting at the end of the month, and I’ve been wondering how I’d be pulling that off in a tiny apartment with two screaming babies a few feet away from me.”
“Done – there’s an office upstairs with your name on it, and we could hire live-in childcare until you’re ready to go back to the office. And when you are, we can take it from there.”
She sighed, crossing her arms under her breasts. “It’s too good of an arrangement to pass up. Not to mention I wasn’t looking forward to going back to the apartment tonight and getting iced out by Mom and Dad.”
“You’ll get that all sorted out later. Send them a text and let them know that you’ll be staying here tonight. They’re mad, sure, but with time, they’ll be fine.”
Her eyes flashed as if she’d realized something. “If we’re going to do this, you and I keeping our hands off one another is just one thing I want.”
I was curious. “What else is there?”
“You said you wanted to co-parent, right? Then let’s make this nice and official, get it all in writing.”
I went from curious to confused.
“Get what all in writing?”
“I want a lease. The guest house sounds good – I’ll take that starting tomorrow. I want it all in writing, and I want to pay rent.”