25. Delancy #2
When I crouch down to get her legs, I look up at her. She smiles and runs her fingers through my hair. “Thank you for taking care of me,” she says.
I give her a wink and kiss her thighs, just above the knees, then grab a robe hanging on the back of the bathroom door and help her put it on.
“Teeth next?”
She nods and watches me put the toothpaste on the brush. She tries to grab it, but I pull back.
“Open,” I command, and she pouts, preparing to disobey.
I clutch her jaw and squeeze her cheeks.
“Open, Vixen.”
She rolls her eyes, and I make a note to punish her for that later.
After her teeth and breath are minty fresh, I claim my kiss and lead Noah back to the room.
“Tell me what you need,” I say, my arm wrapped around Noah’s waist while she uses me as a crutch to get back into bed.
“You.”
“Seriously, Noah.”
She rolls her eyes. “More food? That soup did nothing for me.”
I make a call to Gio’s kitchen staff and ask them to whip up scrambled eggs, toast, and a bowl of fruit for Noah. She wanted waffles and bacon, but the doctor has a list of foods she can’t have while recovering.
“And coffee,” she adds before I hang up.
I order her apple juice. Coffee is on the list.
“Anything else while we wait?”
She pats the bed beside her. “More cuddling?”
I’m suspicious of her intentions, but crawl into bed anyway because I desperately need to be touching her right now. Noah curls up against my side and rests her head on my chest.
I’ve never been one to cuddle, but having Noah’s body against mine is a luxury I never knew I needed. She's warm and soft, and I relish how the calm of contentment rushes through my veins. If we could only lay here forever and not worry about killing to survive and surviving to kill.
“Why were you such an asshole neighbor?” Noah mumbles. The exhaustion in her voice makes me want to go back to the Lords Mansion and kill every last fucker for a second time.
“Me? An asshole?” I laugh. “You must be confusing me with someone else.”
“Um... waking me up at seven or eight in the morning blasting your music? That’s an asshole thing to do, Puppet.”
I smile at the memories that were only a few months ago.
“I can explain. You see, I’m quite shy,” I begin, and Noah scoffs.
“I am. So, I saw you moving in, and I thought you were gorgeous, but I don’t like to initiate conversations.
Never have. Then I thought, what if I annoy her enough that she’s the one to come knock on my door? And that’s exactly what happened.”
She lifts her head to look up at me. “That was the dumbest plan in the world.”
“Maybe, but here we are now. Besides, I liked that you got angry. You are undeniably unapologetic and when you started fighting back, it became a game.”
“A game I always won.”
“Wrong.”
“What else do you like about me?” Noah rests her head back down, sighing. Her palm mindlessly rubs my stomach, and I’m doing everything I can not to grab it and move down to my hardening cock.
“I like that you look at me with no fear. You never saw the evil inside me like other people do. You didn’t run away.”
“That’s the thing. I think I not only saw the evil, but I saw the pain in your eyes. I felt connected to you, and I couldn’t understand why.”
I kiss the top of her head and rub her back.
“Is that what you like about me? That I’m evil? Damaged? ” I ask.
“You make me feel alive,” she whispers, and before I’m able to do something dumb like flip her onto her back so I can fuck her properly for that response, there’s a knock on the door.
Noah groans at the interruption. “Come in.”
A woman carrying a tray enters with Noah’s food. That was fast. I guess when the boss’s daughter is injured and healing, she gets anything and everything she wants in record time.
I hop out of bed to take the tray from the worker. Noah sits upright, and I place her breakfast—even though it’s almost seven at night—on her lap.
I squeeze some ketchup on her eggs, swatting at her hands when she tries to do it herself.
“You spoil me,” she says with a grin.
“I do because…”
“Because?”
My heart pounds inside my chest at the near admission.
“Because you love me?”
I’m feeling dizzy. Lightheaded. I’m panicking. What if she doesn’t say it back? I mean, we’ve only known each other for a few months. Is it too soon?
I can face down the barrel of a gun or sink a knife into a man’s chest and not care about all the blood that follows, yet I've never been more scared in my life than at this moment.
“Tell me you love me, Delancy,” Noah’s voice is low, barely a whisper.
My phone rings, and I curse as I pull it out of my pocket.
“What?” I yell upon answering my brother’s call.
“What the fuck is up your ass?”
“I’m in the middle of—”
“It doesn’t matter. I need you to meet me at the Lords Mansion. I found something.”
“I’m not leaving Noah here alone.”
“Tell the guy you stabbed to stay with her,” Elias chuckles, and I want to crush my phone in my hands.
I’m ready to argue and tell him that even if Matthew hadn’t disappeared, I wouldn't want him anywhere near Noah without me here. Before I can say that, Noah stands and places her palm in the middle of my chest.
“Go. If he’s calling you and asking you for help, it must be important.”
I cup her cheek and run my thumb over her bottom lip. I’ve missed these lips. I’ve missed her. She’s alive, but Finn is the reason she nearly died. Noah is right. If my brother has information about him, anything that could explain how he figured out we’re contract killers, then I need to go.
“Fine,” I sigh into the phone. “On my way.”
I disconnect the call and angrily stuff my phone back in my pants.
“I’ll be okay. Don’t worry about me,” Noah says. She takes one of my hands and peels my balled fist open so she can weave her fingers with mine.
I clutch the back of her neck and bring her mouth to mine, kissing her hard and deep.
She gasps for air when we part.
“Yes. I do love you, Rainbow Bright,” I begin. “I love you so much it scares me.”
And I walk away before she can react.