“Can I help?”
“Nope.”
“How about if I set the table?”
His heart pounded again. The idea of sitting down with her for a simple meal at her homey dining table like a normal couple was almost more than his catapulting emotions could take. He’d wanted this for so long that it seemed impossible this was real.
“Sure,” he finally answered.
She moved around him, her hand casually sliding across his back. When she reached for the plates, his eyes drifted down to where her sweatshirt pulled away from the soft skin of her stomach. His breath vacated his lungs. Her dark gaze met his, and the hunger in her eyes likely matched his own.
After she set the table, Alexis turned on some music in the living room. The twangy, bluesy strains of Mumford & Sons broke the nervous pressure in the room. She returned to his side and opened the cupboard where she stored her wine and glasses.
Alexis selected a bottle of white and two glasses and carried them to the table. Noah made quick work of tossing the drained pasta and cream sauce in the stockpot.
Alexis filled their glasses as he carried the pot to the table and set it in the center.
“I feel like we should toast to something,” she said.
Noah leaned back in his chair, glass aloft. “You start.”
Her eyes drifted right in thought. Then they came back to his with a glisten. “To coming home.”
His heart officially relocated.
Several minutes later, Alexis collapsed against her chair with her hand over her stomach. “I was starving. Thank you.”
The music switched to a romantic ballad by a band Noah didn’t recognize. Alexis bit her lip and stood, hand outstretched. Noah folded his fingers into hers and let her pull him to his full height. Her smile was coy, her gaze shy.
“What’re you doing?” he rasped.
She tugged his hand as she headed toward the living room. “I want you to dance with me.”
“Honey, there are very few things I suck at, but dancing is one of them.”
She turned to him, arms outstretched. “Then just hold me while I rub my body all over yours in time to the music.”
“That is undeniably the best offer I’ve ever received.”
Her laugh was a sexy combination of lustful and sweet as he walked into her embrace. He gathered her right hand into his left and tucked it against his chest. He settled his other hand low on her back and drew her just close enough for their hips to touch as he led her in a gentle sway.
A pink flush rose on her cheeks. “You’re better than you think.”
He dropped his cheek to hers. “Only with you.”
Their lips found each other naturally, and their dance became more.
Wordlessly, they helped each other shed their shirts, bumping into each other with elbows and chins, laughing and apologizing in heated whispers, and then it was back to kissing, naked chest to naked chest, content for a moment to just enjoy the feel of skin on skin. The coarse hair that covered his taut muscles abraded the soft, tender flesh of her nipples with every labored breath, every shift of his body.
He angled her toward the couch. “Lie down.”
She obeyed, reaching for him as she did. But instead of joining her on the couch, he knelt in front of her. She rose on her elbows.
“What are you—”
He lifted his eyebrows and pulled off her shorts, never losing eye contact with her. Then he hooked one leg over his shoulder, then the other. He saw the moment when she realized his intentions. Her eyes widened. Her hands fisted the couch cushions.
He lowered his mouth between her legs and whispered, “Can I kiss you here?”
“Yes,” she breathed, tilting her head back in anticipation.
He grazed the sensitive skin between her legs, and she moaned. And then her groan became his, because fuck . . . her taste. Sweet. So Alexis. He loved her with his tongue, using the tip to find and circle and massage the swollen nub. She writhed beneath him, and he felt her hand grip the back of his head.
Her breaths came in little pants. Her legs tightened against his shoulders. He already could tell the signs of her coming orgasm, and he increased the pace and the pressure.
“Noah . . . oh my God . . .” She bucked and cried out. He continued to stroke her until her spasms subsided and she sank languidly against the couch.
“Come here,” she whispered, reaching for him.
Noah rose on his knees. His hands shook as he stood and undid his jeans. She helped to free his erection and cover him in a condom, and then she wrapped her legs around his waist as he bent over her.
He could barely think because the tip of him was already pressed against her opening, and fuck, fuck, he was like a virgin again. He buried his face in her neck and thrust. And the entire fucking world shifted. “Alexis . . .”
She gasped, arching into him.
Nothing had ever felt like this. Nothing.
She held him there, her face pressed into his neck. And that’s when he felt it. The shudder in her chest. He rose up immediately, afraid he was crushing her. But she rolled her face away from him. He watched a tear roll down her cheek.
Fuck. What did he do? “What’s wrong?”
She sucked in another shaky breath, but when she let it out, it came out with a small sob.
He reached up and turned her face back to him. “Talk to me.”
“I’m sorry. I’m just . . .” She caught her breath. “I’m just happy.”
* * *
Alexis woke up alone the next morning.
She rose on her elbows and tried to get her bearings, but then she heard the clink of dishes in the kitchen.
She pulled on a long T-shirt, padded downstairs, and leaned in the doorway at the end of the hall to study him. He stood at the island with his back to her, a bowl of cereal in
