Chapter 25
Twenty-Five
Caroline
The following morning—
I woke in the thin, blue light before dawn, cocooned in Noah’s sheets, his arm heavy around my waist.
He was still asleep, face turned toward me, mouth barely parted. For a moment, I just watched him breathe, letting myself believe it was real.
Then his phone buzzed on the nightstand.
He jerked awake, reaching for it out of instinct.
“Yeah?” he said, voice instantly alert.
There was a pause—quiet, then clipped words.
“Understood,” he replied, low and sharp. “Ten minutes.”
He hung up, then lay there, staring at the ceiling. His jaw tightened, the whole mood of the room shifted.
He saw me watching and brushed a kiss to my forehead. “Go back to sleep,” he whispered.
He pulled on a shirt and jeans, moving quietly so he wouldn’t wake me. But I couldn’t look away.
He stood in the doorway for a second, like he wanted to say something more, then left.
I lay there, wide awake, listening as the elevator down the hall dinged, then went silent.
Below, in the pre-dawn darkness, a row of black SUVs idled at the curb, headlights cutting slashes in the mist.
Noah stepped outside, his face all business. There were men waiting—big, serious, all in dark jackets. He shook hands with one, clapped another on the shoulder, then got into the lead car.
The doors slammed, and the convoy pulled away, melting into the shadows like they’d never been there.
I sat up, the empty sheets suddenly cold.
I wondered where he was going, what crisis called him out before sunrise, and if he’d be back before I even noticed he was gone.
I touched the pillow where his head had been and closed my eyes, trying to hold onto the sense of safety that lingered there.
But even as I drifted back to sleep, I couldn’t shake the feeling that Noah was more than he let on.
That the man who’d cooked with me, danced with me, made love to me like it was the only thing that mattered—he was also someone else.
Someone powerful.
Someone dangerous.
And, for reasons I didn’t want to think about, I trusted him even more for it.