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Chapter Twenty-Six

Blinking my eyes open slowly, it took a few seconds to figure out that I wasn't in my bed. The wooden window blinds had been half-opened, but the February sky outside was gloomy. Squinting in the dim light, I looked over towards the empty sofa opposite and suddenly remembered where I was.

Sending an unwelcome wave of sadness straight through me, I also remembered the horrific reason I was there in the first place.

Before I had time to wonder where Noah had disappeared to, the door opened slowly and he crept quietly into the living room. Dressed in only his trademark black skinny jeans, their button fly remained undone with an unbuckled, worn-in brown leather belt hanging down.

His hair was wet and I could smell a subtle hint of his freshly applied aftershave from the other side of the room. For the first time since we'd met, I finally got to cast my eyes over his naked torso in all its glory as he stood by the window with his back to me, silently tapping away on his phone.

Tall and muscular, his strong, wide shoulders tapered down in a V-shape towards his slim waist. The swirling ends of his intricate stomach tattoo crept all the way around his side, but the only other ink on his back was a small symbol between his shoulder blades.

As he turned around, still with his eyes on his phone screen, I couldn't help the tingling that started to stir at the sight of him. His chest was broad and toned, with detailed black ink designs placed randomly across his golden skin. While my hands had already felt a hint of what was hidden underneath those plain T-shirts he wore so well, my eyes were now fixed on his topless frame for the first time, drinking in every delicious inch of him. A visible but not bulging six-pack was perfectly framed on each side by those muscles I'd only ever seen before on models; the ones that seem to point directly towards the groin in a way that screams 'you know what's down here' loud and clear.

"Morning, perv," Noah chuckled gently.

Startled by his voice, I shot my eyes up. He was no longer looking down at his phone but directly at me instead, his eyebrows raised.

"Morning," I replied with a quick smile, before pulling the blanket up over my head.

Feeling a sudden rush of cold air as Noah whipped the blanket away from me, I gasped and pulled my arms across my chest in reflex. Swinging it up and over his shoulders, Noah dropped down to kneel above me on the comfy green sofa, his legs straddling my thighs, before placing his hands on either side of my head.

With the blanket now forming a little fort over us both, the cool, minty air of his freshly brushed teeth hit my face, and I became instantly self-conscious of my dry, sleepy mouth.

"Time to get up, lazy," he laughed gently, his smile gleaming under the darkness of the blanket. "We've got some bed shopping to do."

Rolling my eyes, I groaned at his enthusiasm. I didn't even have a chance to respond before his cool lips gently met mine in a short, sweet kiss.

"We can't have you on the sofa every time if you're going to be staying here more often," he whispered against my ear. "Although, in those PJs I wouldn't mind having you on the sofa right here, right now," he added.

Pulling his head back, Noah flashed a wicked grin before leaning in to kiss me again, his lips lingering longer against mine this time.

Feigning my best coy look, I tried my best to seem serious. "What happened to taking it slow?" I asked. "Bed shopping together already?"

"Consider it the ultimate fresh start," he smiled, before kneeling back up.

As he snatched the warmth of the blanket away again, I felt my nipples tighten with the sudden chill. Glancing up at him through my eyelashes, I tried to ignore the embarrassment of my thin pyjama vest doing little to hide them from his sight.