Heat in the Hamptons

Chapter 16

Things between Addison and Noah had been good despite the sex dream debacle. Noah was thankful that she didn't move out the next day. He wasn't sure if he could really get through this without her.

She had only been in his house a few weeks but it was like he couldn't remember a time without her here. He could constantly feel her presence in the house, no matter where she was. When he was upstairs in his office he knew when she was cleaning, or cooking, or watching TV. He could even tell when she was trying to work on her novel.

It wasn't that she was loud, or that he could hear her. He could feel the static electricity vibrating through the air. All this sexual tension in the house plus not having sex consistently anymore was really getting to him, there were only so many cold showers he could take.

Likewise, Addison liked being here. She was glad Noah had been so sweet about the entire talking-in-her-sleep thing. She was thankful she hadn't said his name out loud, otherwise, he would've known the dream was about him.

But don't you want him to know? A voice asked in her head.

Addison rolled her eyes.

Now is not the time to start sleeping with your ex-boyfriend's best friend/your ex-best friend's fiancé/longtime friend/current roommate. Addison chastised herself.

She had to keep it in her pants.

Addison was bored today while Noah worked in his office. She tried to watch TV but couldn't find anything she liked. She had already cleaned the house and made Noah lunch. She sighed as she let her head drop onto the couch behind her. She was bored.

She sat up and eyed her laptop sitting at the dining room table. She shrugged and stood up, might as well make an attempt at writing today.

But she couldn't. She couldn't find the words to write.

She had been working on a romance novel for the last year, but she hadn't been able to write since she had broken up with James. Nothing in her life was screaming romance at the moment. She was staying in the house next to her ex-boyfriend, and he didn't even know she was there. She was losing her goddamn mind all day because she couldn't hang out outside or James would see her. She didn't want him to find out where she was staying. Luckily Noah had let her park in his garage to hide her car, so James had no clue.

For all James knew she had moved back home to Ohio with her mom.

She shut her laptop and put her head in her hands. She could feel the tears start to well up in her eyes.

"Are you okay Addy?" She heard Noah say behind her. She didn't even hear him come down the stairs.

She quickly wiped her tears and turned around, smiling at Noah.

"I'm fine!"

He nodded. He knew she most definitely wasn't fine, but he could tell she didn't want to talk about it.

So instead he opened the refrigerator and grabbed a bottle of wine.

"I'm done with work for the day, want a glass?" He said as he turned and showed her the bottle.

She smiled and jumped up, "That's my favorite kind!"

As he poured them both glasses he asked her how writing had been going.

Addison rolled her eyes.

"Writing isn't going anywhere, I haven't been able to write, or even edit, since everything happened."

He handed Addison her glass. "Writer's block?"

She shrugged and took a sip and then said, "The worst I've ever had. Usually, it goes away after a couple of days, but this is unreal. It's because the book is a romance, and I'm most definitely not in a headspace to be writing about anything lovey-dovey."

Noah nodded. He knew he'd regret the following words, but he also knew it'd probably make her happy; "Want to have a RomCom night?"

Her eyes lit up, "What?"

His stomach flipped at the sight of her growing smile. "It's six o'clock, I think we could order some takeout and watch at least two or three romantic comedies. Don't you think that would help get your romance brain juices flowing?"

Addison started tearing up a bit and wiped them away. "I definitely think that would help." She said smiling up at Noah.

He smiled, "Don't cry, save that for the cringe movies."

She laughed and playfully shoved him. 

He ordered some Chinese food to be delivered and they settled on the couch ready to pick their first movie.

"What are you thinking?" He asked her as he grabbed the remote and started scrolling. "How To Lose a Guy in 10 Days? The Wedding Planner? The Notebook?"

"Wow, I am insanely impressed with how many top-notch romance movies you can name." Addison said, truly surprised.

He shrugged, "My mom was a hopeless romantic."

"I am too." They both said at the same time and burst into laughter.

"Wow, of course, we'd be the ones who got cheated on together," Addison said while she was laughing. It was her way of coping.

They settled on The Wedding Planner and hit play.

Halfway through the movie the food had been delivered and by the end of the movie Addison was in a food coma passed out on her end of the couch. She was curled up, her head resting on the palm of her hand.

Noah pulled the throw blanket off the top of the couch and laid it over her.

As the end credits played he couldn't help but watch her a moment. She was effortlessly beautiful. Sleeping there she looked even more pure than she was each day. Noah couldn't believe James would do this to her.

In that moment Noah realized he was more upset with James for hurting Addison than he was mad at James for cheating with his own fiancée.