“Damn,” he mumbles. “I would kill to be over there right now. You know that, don’t you? You know that if I didn’t have Nova here, I’d be there in a heartbeat.”
“I know.” My heart melts at his sweet words.
“I haven’t been inside of you in days.” His voice is low and raspy, his drawl much more prominent, something that happens when he’s turned on.
“Soon.”
“Really?” he admonishes. “Because I’m beginning to think it’ll never happen again.”
I chuckle. “You miss my body that much, huh?”
He’s silent for a few beats, and then he takes a deep breath and blows me away with his words.
“It’s more than your body, Lennon. It’s your scent and the way it wraps itself around me. It’s the way your eyes sparkle when you smile and the sound of your laughter throughout my house. And how you are with my daughter. You’re amazing with her. You’re gentle and kind and loving and… it’s everything. It’s you. I miss you.”
“Noah?”
“What?”
“Unlock your door.”
I end the call, and two seconds later, I’m hauling ass out the front door in my pajamas. When I hit the bottom step of his porch and find Noah half-naked in front of his open door, wearing nothing but a pair of low-slung sweats, I nearly lose my breath. I’m not sure if it’s the tattoos crawling up his arms, or the way he’s hanging on to the top of the door frame—it could even be his warm, brown eyes, which are eating me from top to bottom—but he looks different.
“What took you so long?” His slow, sexy grin pulls me in, and I walk straight into his open arms.
I pull my bottom lip between my teeth and smile. “I had to put clothes on.”
In an instant, Noah scoops me up, kicks the door shut, and is moving down his hall.
“Why the hell would you do something like that?”
Noah strides through his house, not stopping until we’re in his room. There he slowly sets me down, but he doesn’t let me go. His arms stay wrapped around my body, his chest moving gently against mine. I wasn’t imagining it earlier; there is definitely something different about him. As I stand here trying to figure out what it is, Noah begins tugging at my clothes.
“Let’s get you out of these.”
My top goes first, followed by my shorts, and Noah grins when he finds me sans panties.
“I told you I was naked.”
“What’s it mean?” he asks, looking at my hip. “Nosce ti ipsum.”
Brushing a finger over the three words inked on my left hip, I smile wistfully. “Know thyself.”
“And do you? Know yourself?”
“I’m getting there.”
My eyes roam his body, taking in all of his ink. Three stars—one over his heart, one under his left pec, and the other just above his left hip. Clouds cover his left shoulder, traveling down his arm. I reach out, tracing the dove that flies through the sky.
“Are the stars for Nova?”
Noah nods, watching my finger skate over his body. “Yes.”
“Why three?”
“One for Nova and one each for my mom and dad.”
“The three people you love the most.” It isn’t a question, and Noah doesn’t take it as one.