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Chapter Forty-Seven

By Wednesday night, I missed Noah too much. My period had reared its ugly head again earlier that week, making me extra emotional, and I felt sick at the recollection of having thrown him out of my flat so cold-heartedly.

What if he doesn't want to see you anymore, psycho bitch? My subconscious taunted as I lay in the darkness, struggling to sleep.

Without hesitating to think, I grabbed my phone off the bedside table and typed out a simple text asking how he was doing.

To my surprise, his reply buzzed through swiftly. The selfie he sent - laid in bed, shirtless, his hair a mess and his skin looking golden against his white pillows - made my heart skip a beat.

'All good, would be better with you here x' his words read.

Smiling to myself as I zoomed in and studied the photo in detail, I wondered whether it would be too late to ask him to come over.

No, you idiot, my subconscious snapped. You've barely gone forty-eight hours without seeing him, stay strong.

'Looking forward to Friday x' I responded instead.

'Me too, be ready for 7. Pack an overnight bag and wear that dress x' he shot back instantly.

I was still smiling gently to myself as I drifted off, holding my phone loosely in my hand with the image of him open on the screen.

By the time Friday came around, I almost felt like a new person. Not only had my unwelcome monthly visitor finally got the hint and buggered off, but my initial Noah withdrawal symptoms had also subsided.

For the first time since he mysteriously first appeared in my life, I felt like maybe we could maintain a healthy, balanced approach to dating after all. It would make a change from him turning up unannounced all the time, and me constantly battling against my body's urge to take everything at one hundred miles per hour.

A week of focusing on my studies had also done me the world of good, and I'd received high praise for my rendition of Tina Turner's Proud Mary in group performance class. Not an easy task when you're more of a 'sit at the piano and sing a ballad' type of girl.

All in all, I was feeling fresh, focused and ready for some fun. By the time I got back to the flat I only had an hour to shower and get ready.

Ready for what? I thought to myself. Noah hadn't told me anything about where we were going or what we would be doing, but my insides flipped at the anticipation of finding out. Maybe a little air of mystery wasn't necessarily always a bad thing...

Charlotte had happily lent me the black lace dress again. As I slipped it on, my mind flashed back to the last time I'd worn it. The memory of how the material had crumpled against my skin as Noah's big hands had pushed it up and over my body made my heart beat a little faster as I applied my make-up and straightened my hair.

At seven on the dot, the door buzzed and I practically ran to answer it. Charlotte and Alex were already curled up on the sofa - I'm pretty sure they were already practicing for married life - and Alex's wolf whistle as I burst out of my room made me blush.

Turning to jokingly give them both a curtsey, I opened the door to Noah and nearly fell over backwards. I had only ever seen him wearing a suit once before. At Ben's funeral. Even under such sad circumstances, he had looked pretty incredible.

But, tonight, he looked as though all the goddesses ever known had pooled together to create the perfect man, then sent him straight to my front door. His navy suit was perfectly tailored to every inch of his tall frame, and the fitted white shirt he wore open at the neck had the faintest pattern of small grey flowers running through it.