Noah eyed his friend. “You know I like to head up early. But I don’t know if you’re gonna make it. What is that, number five?”
“Dude. I’m good. I’ll finish this one and crash here, if that’s okay. I’ll be good to go by eight.”
“Here?” Mia asked.
“I probably shouldn’t drive. I’ve stayed in the guest room plenty of times,” Graham said. He looked between the two of them. “But I guess that was before you two...is that still okay?”
Mia went still against his ribs.
“Sure, that’s no problem,” Noah said. Graham had no clue this was all fake, and it needed to stay that way. He gently squeezed Mia’s arm, and she relaxed marginally.
“You sure? Mia, you don’t mind? I guess I still think of this as Noah’s bachelor pad.”
Mia’s pitch was a little higher than normal, but her voice was steady. “Of course you can stay. You’re always welcome here.”
Boy, was Noah glad they’d decided to keep all her stuff in his room. It was probably annoying for her, but she’d been good about not leaving personal things in the guest room and making the bed every morning. No one would know that’s where she’d been sleeping. That they’d never shared a bed.
Until tonight.
His stomach clenched, and he resisted the urge to drop his chin to his chest. Tonight Mia would share his bed. Sleep beside him, her soft skin inches from his, her hair spread across the pillow next to his face.
He swallowed thickly, one hundred percent unprepared for this.
Half an hour later, Noah lay in his bed, trying and failing to focus on the book in his lap. He wasn’t even sure which book he was holding.
He didn’t look at her as she slid in beside him. Her vanilla scent immediately enveloped him, and dammit, why hadn’t he gotten a king-size bed? The queen felt way too small for the two of them.
She may as well have been on top of him.
“Whatcha reading?”
She’d piled her hair on top of her head and her skin looked freshly scrubbed. She was so beautiful his chest ached.
He held up the cover.
“Is it good?”
“I don’t know,” he said without thinking.
She laughed.
“Keep it down in there,” Graham called from the next room. “And if you get it on, for the love of God, don’t let me hear you.”
Mia covered her face with her hands, her face beet red.
“No promises,” Noah yelled back.
She smacked his bicep.
“What?” He grinned, feeling a little more himself.
She smiled back, then her eyes dropped to his bare chest.
His smile faded. “Do you want me to put a shirt on?”
She shook her head.
Okay...