Perfect for You(45)

His brow furrows. “You have avoided Ash, haven’t you?”

“In person, yes.” I reach up and unclasp the necklace. I take it off and hand it to Noah. “It’s time to avoid this memory of him, too.”

Noah closes his hand around the necklace and presses his lips to mine. At first, his lips are soft, but then they’re crushing mine. The kiss is laced with desire, desperation, and hope. I want to tell him to ease up, but I’m already asking a lot of him. He’s giving me time to get over Ash and staying with me while I do it. Most guys wouldn’t be able to do that. His hands start to roam over my body, and I feel the cool chain against my stomach. It’s too much. I can’t have Noah and Ash in my mind at the same time. Not while I’m kissing Noah.

I put my palms flat against his chest and gently push. He resists me, so I turn my head to the side. He continues to kiss me, his lips trailing across my face and finding my neck. “Noah,” I manage to say, though I’m beginning to forget what it is I want to say.

“Please, don’t tell me to stop,” he says between kisses.

I can’t do this. Not now. Not here. We haven’t even been together a month. I’m praying someone—anyone—will walk in. I’ll gladly take Nathan’s parents or little brother right now. No one comes. Noah wraps his arms around my waist and lifts me up so I’m standing. He never falters from kissing my neck, knowing it’s my weak spot. His hands go for my shirt, lifting it.

“Noah.” I pull away from him this time.

He’s breathing heavily and staring at me. Without warning, he whirls around and punches the wall, his fist making a hole. I jump. “Damn it!” He pulls his hand out, and his knuckles are all cut up and bloody.

“Noah.” I reach for his hand, cradling it in mine. “We need to get this cleaned up.”

“It can wait. You’re making me wait, so I’m going to make you wait on this.”

I cock my head to the side. “This is totally different. And for your information, I’ve only done that with one person and I made him wait almost five months.” Wrong thing to say. Noah knows about Ash and me—that we slept together. But he didn’t know Ash was my first, my only. This isn’t helping things at all.

“So since the mighty Ash had to wait five months, what does that mean for me? Six months? Seven?” His face is red with anger and hurt.

“Is that all you care about?”

“Don’t do that. You know that’s not true.”

Nathan bursts in. “What the hell happened?” His eyes go from the gaping hole in the wall, to Noah’s face, to me. I look away, embarrassed to be in the middle of all this.

“Sorry, man,” Noah says. “I’ll pay to have it fixed. Give us a minute, would you?”

Nathan nods, and I can’t help wondering if he’s figured out why Noah’s so upset that he punched the wall. “Sure. No problem.” He gives me one last look before he leaves.

“This isn’t about sex,” Noah says. “You know that, right?”

“I thought I did, but just now…What was that? Why were you suddenly groping me? You’ve never pushed me like that before.”

“I kind of lost it. When you took the necklace off…” He opens his bloody fist. The necklace is still clutched in his palm. “I thought you were trying to show me you wanted to get over him. That you wanted me. I shouldn’t have assumed it meant you were ready to sleep with me.”

I step toward him, trying not to focus on the necklace. “I’m not ready. I don’t want to regret anything we do, and if that happened now, I would regret it because one or both of us would end up getting hurt. I don’t want that.”

He lets out a deep breath. “I don’t either.” He holds the necklace out to me. “I don’t want you to wear this anymore, but I don’t want you to give it to me either. Put it away somewhere.”

I take the necklace and put it in my pocket. I have no idea where it will end up once I get home, but I can’t think about it now. This moment is about saving what I have with Noah. “Will you please let me get your hand cleaned up?”

“Bathroom’s this way.” He motions down the hall, and I follow him. I run his hand under cool water, rinsing his cuts, which aren’t as bad as I thought they’d be. Then I carefully dab his knuckles with a washcloth from the closet. I find some Band-Aids, but Noah shakes his head. “Guys don’t do Band-Aids. I’m good.”

“I didn’t know Band-Aids weren’t manly.” I’m trying to lighten the mood any way I can.

“Come here.” He picks me up by my waist and sits me on the counter next to the sink.

“What are you doing?” I ask, still feeling a little uncomfortable with what’s happened between us.

“Shh.” He leans forward, his lips inches from mine. “I’m trying to be the guy you found irresistible.”

“You never stopped being him.” Not entirely true. This jealousy over Ash did make him put his fist through the wall and go a little postal, but I’m trying to stroke his ego.

“Then why are you still talking instead of kissing me?” His minty breath tingles my nose.

I drape my arms around his neck and pull him to me so his body is between my bent knees. “This any better?”