Which meant the damn rules were back in effect. For good.
Chapter Eight
Seven hours later, Kristina and Noah collapsed on his leather couch, shopping bags piled on the coffee table and sitting on the floor in front of them.
“I’m in a shopping coma,” Noah said in a flat voice.
Kristina laughed. It had been a long day, but it had also been nice spending so much time with Noah. They’d laughed, talked, and just been together. Without any weirdness or tension. Just like old times. And after the dream that had woken her and the realizations she’d made about her relationship history, Kristina was really glad for that. “You were a trooper.”
“I was. I deserve a gold star.” He yawned.
“Or a cookie.” Kristina grinned at him.
His eyes lit up. “You bought cookies?”
Laughing, Kristina shook her head. “Unfortunately, no. A metaphorical cookie.”
“Can’t eat no metaphorical cookie,” he groused.
“How can you be hungry?” They’d capped off their shopping trip with a huge dinner at their favorite Mexican restaurant.
“Since when do you have to be hungry to eat a cookie?” His eyebrow arched, and it made her laugh. It was really freaking good to see Noah like this again. Relaxed. Talkative. Playful. Part of her had worried he’d lost this part of himself when he’d lost so much else.
“Well, I suppose that’s true.” Kristina rose from the couch on a chuckle. “Come on. Let’s get to work. Why don’t you start washing your new kitchen stuff and I’ll find your laundry room and wash your new bedding so you can have it for later. Then I can help you dry and figure out where you want things in the kitchen.”
“The sheets are new. Why do they need to be washed?” he asked, standing.
Kristina grimaced. “Because they’ll be all stiff and stuff. Besides, ew.” She found the bags with his new sheets, comforter, and laundry detergent.
“If you say so.” He shrugged.
“I don’t know what you’d do without me,” she said. “Honestly.”
Noah busied himself grabbing a bunch of bags. “Me either,” he murmured.
Something about his tone seemed more serious than she’d expected, and it almost made her reach out to hug him. But, aside from that moment on her couch earlier, Noah had been really hands-off today, and it made her think back to him saying he wouldn’t be able to live without “his old favorite.” Her. So she’d tried really hard all day to respect the physical distance he seemed to be trying to put back between them. Even though it made a part of her ache with want.
But if he couldn’t handle anything more with her, then she couldn’t either. Given how much she already cared for him—anything romantic she might be feeling aside—Noah could probably hurt her in ways none of those other men had even come close to being capable of.
“Laundry’s in the basement?” she asked.
Noah nodded. “There’s a jar of coins on my dresser.”
“Cool beans,” Kristina said, grabbing what she thought she’d need before heading out.
The laundry room was a big bright room with a half dozen washers on one side and the same number of dryers on the other. They’d totally lucked out because only two of the dryers were in use. She dropped the bags to the big table in the middle and removed the wrappers and tags from Noah’s new stuff.
“Hey,” came a deep male voice.
Kristina looked up to see a hot guy stride into the room and head toward the two rumbling dryers. He was tall and lean with wavy light brown hair and tattoos covering a lot of both arms and part of his neck. “Hey,” she said.
He checked the clothing in both dryers and then reset them. Turning, he leaned against one of the machines and pulled his phone from the back pocket of a pair of worn black jeans.
She grabbed a big armful and made for one of the washers, stuffing as much in as the machine could handle.
“You new here?” the guy asked. “I saw people moving in this morning.”
“That’s my friend, Noah,” she said with a smile. She grabbed the comforter to put in its own washer. “I’m just helping him get settled in.”