“What things?” He’d be willing to try and handle anything if it meant he’d be able to continue to hold her and kiss her the way he had tonight. Hell he didn’t think he could go very long without it now.

“What happens if either of us starts seeing someone else?”

Instinctively his body went taut. The very thought made the pounding in his head brutal. “We’ll work it out,” he said through his teeth.

Noah knew he was full of shit. She was right. There was no way he’d handle seeing her with someone else but at the moment he’d say anything to keep her from walking out of his room.

He brought his hand to his head and the concern was immediately in her eyes. “Are you dizzy?”

“A little.”

“Lie back down.” She fluffed the pillow for him.

He did but he wouldn’t let go of her hand. “Lie with me please?”

She did and he wrapped his arms around her as soon as her body was next to his. Spooning her felt perfect. This was exactly where she should be every night. “Roni,” he whispered against her ear.

“Hmm?”

“Will you stay here with me tonight? I promise we won’t do anything but sleep.”

He felt her go stiff and then slowly as he intertwined his fingers with hers and buried his face in her neck, inhaling the beautiful smell that was all Roni, she loosened up. “Okay.”

Telling her he loved her again was on the tip of his tongue. He didn’t care what she said. There was no doubt about it he was completely in love with her and after feeling the sincere reaction that she was powerless to conceal to his touch, his kisses, he was convinced now she felt for him what he was feeling for her.

One thing he picked up on loud and clear tonight was her fear. Fear of giving in to her heart. He’d have to figure out how he could persuade her that it would be okay to give in no matter what f**king stage in life each one of them were in. What they both were feeling was bigger than any of that. He may not know a whole lot about love, but Jack was right about one thing. The heart was forever inexperienced. Roni proved that tonight. Despite their age difference and whatever stage Roni thought she was in, no matter how hard she tried to fight it, their hearts were in the exact same place now and that’s all that mattered.

~*~

“Hickeys?” Veronica turned from the mirror to Noah who was now sitting on the edge of the bed smiling at her smugly. “You gave me hickeys?”

“I got a little carried away.” He chuckled. “What can I say? You drive me nuts.”

She turned back to the mirror. Not one or two but three nearly purple hickeys adorned the front of her neck. Not even in high school when the kids thought they were cool and other girls actually showed them off did she think there was anything cool about them and she certainly didn’t now at her age. Especially when she was getting ready to go back to work the very next day.

She lifted her hair to find a fourth one smaller than the ones in the front of her neck, just under her ear. “How am I supposed to show up to work tomorrow like this?”

He stood up and came up behind her from behind and smiled into the mirror. “Oh wow. Those are pretty big.” She shivered at the touch of his fingers against the back of her neck. He brushed her hair away gently and kissed her nape. “Looks like I missed a spot.”

Her body was immediately awakened by the feel of his tongue against her neck and she pulled away. “Stop, Noah. I’m serious.” She stifled a gasp trying not to put too much thought into the fact that he was obviously planning on continuing what they started last night.

“I was too,” he said bringing his arms around her waist.

She placed her hands over his on her belly and watched him in the mirror as he kissed the side of her face. “Noah, I thought we said we weren’t going to do this.”

“Nope.” He kissed her cheek and hugged her tighter. “You said we couldn’t handle it. I said we’d work something out.”

She turned to face him all ready to lay her argument down, then winced when she saw the side of his face was still swollen. Placing her fingers gently on over the lumpy area she began to ask if it still hurt when he lips were on hers again and she was swept away into another one of his amazing kisses.

When it was finally over after several long minutes of deep kissing, her legs were like two wet noodles. She literally had to cling to his big arms for support. He leaned his forehead against hers catching his breath, his smoldering eyes looked into hers. “If you don’t wanna do this just tell me and I’ll respect your wishes. But unless you say the word, this isn’t gonna stop.”

She had to think of something—some kind of compromise. As much as her brain insisted, she couldn’t bring herself to say the words she knew she should be saying. This needs to stop before it’s too late. But she couldn’t so she said the next best thing she could come up with. “I think we should at least slow it down. We’re friends remember? I don’t want things to change.”

With the words out there like that now, she realized that’s what it really was. She now had this huge fear that things would change and she’d lose him. She couldn’t even bear the thought.

He took a deep breath, the lust in his eyes replaced by frustration. “What do you think is going to change, Roni?”

“Everything.” She pulled away gently, a little surprised by the disappointment that he let her. “I’m going back to work. I need to concentrate on that. On getting myself back to the way I used to be. This,” she said running her finger up his hard forearm. “This will complicate everything. I have so much going on right now, and I hate to sound selfish but I need your friendship now more than ever. If we continue to do this and things change…” she took a deep breath hoping he didn’t notice how emotional this was making her. “I’m afraid we’ll lose what we have.”