Chapter 10
Noah
I yanked on my gray sweatpants and took a quick moment to run my hands through my wet hair. As much as I wanted to be naked in a room with Rosa, this was not how I pictured it.
Then again, as it turned out, nothing was working like I’d pictured it when it came to me and Rosa.
Outside of the bathroom door, Rosa was calling out to me.
“Oh my God. I’m so sorry, Noah! I did not mean to walk in on that… I mean you ! I did not mean to walk in on you! It’s just… the woman at the desk said you hadn’t come back yet!”
“I came in using the freight elevator in the back of the building.” I’ve known the owner of the inn for years and after staying here a handful of times, I’d learned it was just easier to sneak in the back unnoticed rather than risk getting recognized by other guests of the inn.
Rosa groaned. “Of course.”
I was still shirtless with no underwear and only wearing loose, gray sweatpants. But I swung open the door anyway. “Rosa,” I said gently, trying to interrupt her rambling train of thought. “It’s fine. Really. As long as whomever you were chatting with wasn’t a Facetime call, we’re all good.”
She shook her head, her face pale, eyes wide. “It wasn’t, I swear! My mother didn’t see a thing.”
“Your mother?” It was my turn to cringe. “Well, that’s one way to introduce me to the in-laws.”
“I didn’t even get a chance to tell her about all that yet!” Rosa said.
All that . A twinge of disappointment fell heavy in my heart. As much as I cared about Rosa, this situation was completely fake to her… even if it wasn’t to me.
Rosa sighed. “They don’t have any rooms available here at the inn.”
I sighed. “That’s what she said when I called, but I was hoping she was mistaken.”
No rooms available in our little town was odd. And yet, my heart gave an exhilarated skip.
“I was going to hop online and see if there are any Airbnbs available.”
“That might look suspicious… you staying in an entirely different building.”
“Well, what the hell do you suggest we do?” Rosa tossed her hands carelessly into the air.
“You can stay here with me.”
Her eyes widened as she swept her gaze down my body, taking in my shirtless physique. “That is so not a good idea,” she gulped.
Shit. As much as I desperately wanted her to stay here with me, the temptation of sleeping within the same walls might just kill us both. “You can take the bed,” I added quickly. “I can sleep on the pull out.”
She sighed. “We may not have a choice.”
“Well, don’t sound too excited.” I crossed to the kitchen and grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge, cracking the cap before handing it to Rosa. “Here. Drink. You look like you’ve seen?—”
“Your penis,” she finished for me, grabbing the bottle and taking a swig.
“I was going to say a ghost .” I chuckled as she fell to a seat on the couch, dropping her head into her free hand.
I lowered to the seat beside her and bumped her gently with my elbow. “I think I should be insulted. I’ve never had a woman scream and run for the door after seeing me naked.”
I meant that as a joke, but instead of laughing or even cracking a smile, her eyes skimmed across my shoulders and down my bare torso.
The paleness in her cheeks was replaced with a flush of pink and the molten brown of her eyes left my heart racing and my cock twitching.
Fuck. Was she… was she turned on ?
Each rise and fall of her chest heaved with her inhales and exhales and I found myself gripping the edge of the couch.
The textured fabric pinched between each of my clenched fingers as she slowly skimmed those eyes back up to look into mine.
Dark brown pools of desire reflected back at me.
Then, she caught her bottom lip between her teeth.
Holy God. I wanted those lips. I wanted to cup her jaw and press my mouth to hers and kiss Rosa into submission until she was wriggling against my body, spreading for me, and begging me to take her.
And judging by the way her pupils dilated, Rosa may just want the same thing as me.
I should have closed my eyes. Looked away from her hypnotic stare and willed my body to calm down.
But I didn’t.
Instead, I lifted a hand and dragged my thumb across her bottom lip, freeing it from the clamp of her teeth.
“Noah,” Rosa whispered, dragging her hand from my shoulder down my bicep. Her fingers curled over my flexed bicep as her smooth throat moved with a swallow.
I hadn’t counted on the rush of heat that surged up my skin from her touch. “Hm?”
“If we’re going to be forced to share a hotel room this week, I’m going to need you to put a shirt on.”
I chuckled, but Rosa didn’t even crack a smile. She was dead serious, her eyes cast onto my pecs, fingers dancing over my biceps.
Gooseflesh lifted my skin beneath the silky pads of her fingers. It took every ounce of restraint to stop myself from reaching out to caress her in return. Something told me that the moment I did that, she would retreat.
That was the last thing I wanted.
I wanted her to keep touching me. Lean into me. Hold me.
Kiss me.
But it had to be on her terms, in her time.
I was in control… until those fingers trailed down the center of my chest over my abs, plucking each ridge like the strings of a guitar.
A cross between a growl and a guttural moan escaped me. Her muscles bunched from within my arms where I held her.
Shit .
Within a moment, she was on her feet across the room, pressed against the kitchenette counter like she was a bunny rabbit caged with a tiger. “I-I’m sorry,” she said. “This isn’t going to work.”
I reached for a shirt that was hanging out of my suitcase and slipped it on over my shoulders. “Which part? You staying here? Or us pretending to be married.”
Her only answer was the press of her lips.
I was losing her. I’d hadn’t even had her for 24 hours yet, and I was already losing her. “Rosa,” I said carefully. “It’ll be fine. I promise to wear a shirt. Hell, I promise I’ll wear a damn snowsuit around you. Just… relax.”
“Relax,” she repeated, a small laugh exploding with the word. “Relax. I woke up married to one of Time Magazine’s most eligible bachelors of the year and you’re telling me to relax.”
“Let’s be honest, Rosa,” I said. I knew I had to tread carefully, but walking on eggshells wasn’t exactly working to diffuse the situation…
maybe a little tough love truth would. “You’re not freaking out because of the marriage.
You’ve known that fact several hours now.
Us staying married was your idea, remember?
If you want to abandon that plan… fine. It’s not too late.
But don’t pretend that what’s happening right now is cold feet. ”
Her eyes narrowed dangerously.
Yep. If I was walking on eggshells before, then now I was making my way across a very active volcano.
“Oh, really?” she asked. “Then enlighten me, what is happening right now?”
“You’re freaking out because you want me.” It was obvious. She couldn’t go from caressing my bare torso one moment to darting across the room the next. I saw it in her panic-ridden expression. “You don’t want to want me… but you do. And it scares the hell out of you.”
Those narrowed eyes of hers flare, anger flashing in them.
“Tell me something, Noah. Do you make a habit out of telling women what they’re feeling?
Because if so, I think I’m getting a much clearer picture of why you haven’t kept a girlfriend for more than a few months at a time.
Other than your co-star… what was her name? ”
Morgan. We only really dated for a couple months, but the show and our publicists decided it looked good to keep the ruse of our relationship going for the first season and a half of our show.
Morgan, unfortunately, thought it was more real than it truly was.
“Pretty low blow. Are you trying to push me away? What would your armchair psychology assessment be about that?”
Her eyes lit on fire at that and she grabbed her luggage and white box that was on the counter.
“I’ve spent my adult life getting an education in this field.
I have a damn PsyD in it. I’ve spent years growing, and learning.
And I’m damn good at what I do.” She yanked the door open to my suite and shoved her suitcase out first.
Then she stomped down the hallway.
Oh hell no. I wasn’t letting her get away that easily. Not in a huff of anger. I ran out the door after her out into the hallway, being sure to grab my room key before the suite door shut behind me.
I caught up to her just as she was shoving her finger into the elevator call button.“Where are you going? You said so yourself, there are no rooms available anywhere.”
“You were right about one thing,” she snapped, spinning around to face me. “Maybe we should abandon our plan of staying married. The only people we’ve told so far are your family members. And I’m sure they’d be understanding.”
The elevator gave a ding and the doors opened to us. I followed Rosa as she rolled her luggage on and hit the lobby button.
“ Your plan, Rosa.” I said, pointing at her. “This was all your idea, remember? Your practice. Your potential clients.”
“Your charity auction! Your career that has stalled with a crappy teen vampire show!” she shouted back. As she flailed her arms, the white box tipped, the cover opening and six cupcakes spilled onto the floor of the elevator.
We both stared at the mess between us for a couple of seconds before Rosa gave a shrill, frustrated squeal and dropped to her knees in front of the pile of sugar, buttercream, and cake.
She was only making the mess worse as she tried to pick up the pieces, accidentally smearing the buttercream more along the floor. “Shit, shit, shit,” she said.
“Stop,” I said, kneeling on the other side. “Use the box to scoop it up. The heat of your hands is melting the buttercream. God, you had to get blue cupcakes, didn’t you? Couldn’t have gone with standard vanilla?—”
“They looked pretty!” She fell back on her haunches and looked to the mirrored ceiling, letting loose another feral growl.
Her hands were covered in blue and pink frosting with bits of cake stuck between her fingers. Some had gotten on her legs and on the hem of her dress.
“This was all we needed, huh? A giant mess left in the elevator.”
With a sigh, Rosa tried to stand up and I couldn’t help but smile at the blue frosting coating her knees.
“We’ll explain it to the front desk and offer to finish cleaning it up ourselves.” I shrugged, as I attempted to scoop the remnants of cupcakes into my palms.
“Do you think they’ll understand—” Rosa started to ask. But her heel slipped on the slick buttercream and down she came, falling right into my lap.
Two fistfulls of buttercream smashed into my face just as the elevator doors opened and a crowd of photographers and reporters charged us, cameras flashing and capturing the moment.