“Yes.” Her heart still ached at the thought of him leaving, but she felt more settled now she knew his reasoning. “If you want you can stay here every night until you leave. Even the nights you’re working. I’ll give you the spare key and you can let yourself in. Mel won’t mind.”
The dip of his eyebrows wasn’t exactly the enthusiasm she’d expected.
“You don’t have to,” she said quickly.
“I want to.” His lips twisted to one side. “I just remembered that Seren’s coming over on Thursday. She fancied a couple of days away and volunteered to help me get my stuff back.”
“That was nice of her.” Keira hoped she didn’t sound too begrudging and reminded herself that she liked Seren. It seemed to be something she continually needed to remind herself of.
“I can still stay at your place. She knows I want to spend as much time with you as possible. It’ll be fine.”
Keira’s smile was insincere. She definitely didn’t share Noah’s optimism there.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Slipping into Keira’s bed each night and snuggling into her warm, sleeping form would be one more thing for Noah to miss. Every day the desire to abandon his plans and stay in Bristol grew stronger. In the end, he told himself he’d go back home for the summer and then re-evaluate the situation. If his Mum was okay and he and Keira wanted to give things a proper chance, he’d come back to Bristol.
On Thursday he was already awake when Keira’s alarm went off. Her eyelids were heavy when she turned in his arms and looked up at him.
“I must be getting used to you sneaking in at night because I didn’t hear you at all last night.”
“It’s quite surprising since I wasn’t really sneaking,” he said cheekily.
“Were you trying to wake me up?”
“I wouldn’t go that far. I just wasn’t tryingnotto wake you.”
“You could have woken me.” She trailed a hand over his bicep. “I wouldn’t have minded.”
“I’ll remember that when I come in tonight.”
“You’re not working tonight,” she reminded him. “You’re working your last day shift and finishing early to pick Seren up from the airport.”
“How is it Thursday already?” he groaned. The week had gone by in a blink. With Seren arriving that evening, the remainder of his time in Bristol would be over before he knew it. He already resented Seren’s presence before she even arrived. She’d take away from his time with Keira. He should have told her not to come, but it was too late to do anything about it now.
Keira turned his wrist to look at his watch. “I’m going to be late for work.”
“Good idea.” Pulling his arm out from under her head, he shifted to lie on top of her.
“It wasn’t an idea,” she said, laughing. “I actually meant I should get up so I’m not late for work.”
He shook his head and narrowed his eyes. “It definitely sounded as though you were making a decision to be late for work. Which I fully support.”
“I’m sure you do.” She ran her hands up and down his back as he kissed her.
“The company won’t fall apart without you, will it?”
“I guess not.” She pushed her hands into his hair as he kissed her neck. “I suppose I’ll find out.”
* * *
Since he’d already sold his car, Noah borrowed Kevin’s Golf to collect Seren from the airport. Keira called when he was halfway there and he put the phone on speaker.
“Have you already got Seren?” she asked.
“No. Traffic’s horrendous.”
“That’s going to be a late dinner by the time you guys get back to Bristol.”