Don’t forget to tell her that you want to keep it casual… I remind myself. Say it now. Right now!
But the words don’t happen to come out of my mouth, and I wonder if that’s because I don’t really mean them, I know that I can’t let Mia in but at the same time, I really want to. It’s a head verses heart situation and I don’t know which side of me is going to win out in the end.
12
Mia
I don’t know what came over me when I asked Noah back to mine, it was a crazy bolt of bravery, but now it feels right. I keep shocking myself with all these brave remarks, but they all seem to pay off.
“Oh, I’m sorry. I haven’t tidied up much, I wasn’t expecting guests.”
“It isn’t a mess, it’s just art stuff everywhere. That’s really sexy.”
He throws an arm over my shoulder and smiles at me. “Don’t be nervous. It’ll be fine.”
“Well, my paintings are all piled up there. You take a moment to look through them, I will make us some drinks. Do you want a coffee?”
“That would be amazing, thank you.”
As I stand in the kitchen waiting for the kettle to boil, I bounce up and down anxiously on my toes, wondering what’s going through Noah’s mind right now. It’s so weird to have a man complimenting my work after everything I went through with Wesley. I don’t know how to take it. His support is real as well, I can tell.
“This is a good thing,” I mutter quietly to myself. “This is an awesome thing. Don’t freak out.”
It doesn’t feel like a fling anymore. I don’t know how, but it’s become something so much bigger in my mind. I know that’s a fast track to getting my heart broken but I can’t stop it.
“These paintings are even better in person,” Noah calls out, calming my anxiety. “I need one now.”
I grab the mugs of drink and take them into the living room where he’s standing with one of my canvases in his hand, looking at it like it’s the best thing in the world.
“Right, you’re making me too nervous now. You need to put that down and drink this.”
Noah grins at me as he does as I command. This is another thing I like about him. He seems to really know what I need, even when I don’t properly vocalize it. He can just see that I’m getting worked up.
“Mmm, this coffee is delicious too. You really are a woman of many talents.”
There it is, the girlish giggle again, I can’t seem to stop doing that. I take a sip of my drink to cover it up, but the heat burns my lips so I end up putting
it down where it will likely be left to go cold.
The sexy man from the gym is here in my apartment… that’s something I need to get my head around. I run my eyes over him, wondering how I managed to entice him. It doesn’t seem like he should like me at all… not that I’m complaining. As confidence boosts go, he’s an incredible one.
“So, thank you for taking me out on a date tonight, that was really nice…”
“Well, it was you that asked me actually…”
“Which is why you should have let me pay,” I insist. “The person who asks, pays.”
“Maybe in your world, but in my world, the gentleman pays. End of story”
“That’s ancient history, Noah. No one follows that rule anymore…”
The teasing takes a new turn as he grabs me and kisses me to silence me from arguing anymore. I don’t mind being shut up this way, his lips are phenomenal. I want to kiss them all the time.
The zipper on my dress slides down noisily, and I let it fall. I knew the moment I asked him on this date we would end up here and it’s exactly what I want. As the dress falls down, I step out of it to watch Noah’s eyes nearly bug out of his head at the sultry purple lacy underwear I have on.
“Oh, wow, you look fucking gorgeous,” he growls. “What the hell am I supposed to do with you?”
I extend my hand to him and he takes it. As we walk towards my bedroom, I unhook my bra with my free hand and I watch it fall to the ground. Luckily, it’s strapless, so I don’t need to let go of him. Once in my room I spin around to see his eyes drinking in my room as much as he does me. It’s almost as if he’s so fascinated by me that he wants to get to know my personality as much as my body.