Quandary | Noah Sebastian |

two

A/N: sexual content.

I woke up confused when my alarm went off and I didn't feel the comforting warmth of Noah wrapped around me or hear the soft groan he would expel when I woke him up. I tossed the blanket off me, swinging my legs over the edge of the bed as I ran a hand through my unruly curls and flicked on the bedside light.

In fact, I wasn't even in our bedroom.

When my eyes landed on the pool of navy in the middle of the floor, I remembered how I wound up here, in the spare bedroom. I sighed and stood up, promptly stretching before I made my way towards the kitchen to start my morning coffee, rubbing the sleep out of my eyes as I went.

I halted as soon as I crossed the threshold to the kitchen, the aroma of freshly brewed coffee slapping me in the face. There was Noah, holding a steaming mug with a soft smile curling at the corners of his lips as he made his way over to me. He hands me the cup, then cradles the back of my head and presses a kiss to my forehead.

"Good morning, love," he greets me gently before stepping back to give me space.
"Morning." I glance down at the steam billowing from my mug, breathing in the scent of toasted almond as it danced around my face. I took a sip, a smile immediately forming on my lips—he made it just the way I liked it. "Thank you for the coffee...but why are you up so early?"
"I know how you have to count your inventory on the first of every month," he flashes me a sleepy grin. "I wanted to catch you before you went in so I could lend you a hand."
"Oh," I blink, shocked he knew my schedule well enough to gather that. "You don't have to do that. You look exhausted—"
"But I want to, Liv. It's the least I could do for being such a shithead."

I chuckled and placed my coffee on the island table before wrapping my arms around him, nuzzling my head against his chest. "Yeah, you're definitely a shithead."
His laugh vibrates through his chest as he holds me tight, and I can feel myself melting into him when he runs his hand through the length of my hair. "I'm really sorry, Liv," he whispers before pressing a kiss to the top of my head. "I know that doesn't fix anything, but I promise I'll make it up to you."

I close my eyes and sigh, nodding against him, unable to find the words to say to him without suddenly wanting to cry. I craned my neck and gave him a kiss on his chin before releasing my hold on him to proceed getting ready for the long morning I was about to endure.

I squeezed into a pair of black leggings, slipped on one of Noah's well-worn shirts, threw my hair into a messy bun and was stepping into the early morning 20-some-odd minutes later.

-

Noah trails after me sluggishly as I made my way through the back door of my bakery, clearly not used to being up at barely-4-in-the-morning. I giggled as he grimaces and blocks his eyes with his hand after I flicked on the lights, groaning lightly. "Did you even sleep at all last night?" I mused, now unlocking the door to my office.
"No," he mumbles.

I plop down into the computer chair and press the power button on the tower before turning my attention back to him. The smile on my face falters when I see him leaning up against the doorframe by his shoulder with his head following suit, his eyes heavily hooded with exhaustion. He wasn't joking when he said he didn't sleep.

"You don't have to help me count inventory, you know," I say once I printed out the list. I pick up the papers and tap them neatly in place against the desk, standing. "Go on home and get some sleep. I'll be back in a few hours, okay?" I rub his upper arm while flashing him a concerned grin.
He stands up straight and gives me a sheepish smile, taking the papers from my hand. He divides them in half, handing me my own pile. "If we each do our own list, the faster it'll get done. C'mon," he cocks his head to the side, gesturing me to get started on the task of fine counting every little item in the building.