Some Loves (8 page)

His hand fell away as he peeked at me. “Even though I kept you up late last night?”

I bit back a smile and nodded. We’d kissed and talked and kissed some more. The thin layer of clothing had stayed in place. But fingers had touched and explored, as we reacquainted ourselves to one another. The night reminded me of when we’d first started dating. Every small touch felt new and explosive. It had been satisfying just being together, without having to go too far.

Noah’s kisses still took my breath away.

“I enjoyed being kept up,” I finally admitted. “I hope you don’t have class this early. My first class isn’t for a few more hours.”

“I’ve got a while before class too,” he said.
“In fact, Ethics is also my first class of the day.”

My bed wasn’t all that big yet the space between us was too much for my liking. I tentatively reached for Noah’s hand. He smiled as his fingers squeezed around mine.

“I hope that means you’re not mad that I just showed up in the middle of the night,” Noah teased.

“Hardly. It was the highlight of my week,” I teased back.

“So do you think maybe you could give me a ride back to my house in a bit? I really need to shower and get some clean clothes.”

Butterflies danced in my stomach as his thumb swirled against the back of my hand.

“No problem,” I answered.

“And then,” he said as he let go of my hand and scooped me closer to him instead. “Do you think I could take you out to breakfast?”

“I would love that.”

My hand floated up to his cheek. It was rough with morning stubble. His eyes were still heavily lidded from sleep and his hair was a sexy mess. I brushed my thumb across his lower lip. It curved into a smile and I met his eyes again.

“Thank you,” I said.

“For what?” he asked. His arms tightened around me. Our bare legs tangled together. The feeling of skin on skin gave me the most pleasant tingly feeling.

“Giving us another chance,” I said quietly.

He nodded as his hand slid up the back of my cami. His fingers danced across my bare back. This was how things should be with Noah. It felt so natural, so incredibly right. I knew I’d never love anyone the way I loved him. I vowed right then to make sure that nothing tore us apart again.

“I just wish it hadn’t taken me so long to decide we were worth fighting for,” Noah said as he pressed a kiss to my forehead.

Thunder rattled the windowpanes and lightening forked out across the sky. I let the curtain fall back into place.
It wasn’t as if I could even see across the yard. The rain was falling down in sheets, running across the window pane in waves. The wind howled outside as the storm seemed to worsen by the minute.

“It’s not going to let up,” I said, pointing out the obvious.

“You’re right,” he said as he came up behind me. His arms slid around my waist. He pulled me back, holding my body close to his. His breath whispered across my neck and my knees went weak. When his lips began to nibble at my collarbone, my knees almost gave out completely.

I let out a satisfied moan. “What are we going to do instead?”

His arms slipped away from me and I felt oddly disoriented. I turned around to face him. He smiled at me as he took both of my hands in his. He swung them between us.

“Let’s have a movie marathon day. We can make some popcorn, turn out the lights—”

“Snuggle up on the couch,” I interrupted.

He laughed. “Exactly.”

My head swiveled around so I was looking out the window again.

He tugged my hands, pulling my attention back to him. “We’ll go down the river another day. I promise. We have all summer for that.”

“I know,” I pouted. I had just wanted to go now. Today. I wasn’t exactly sure how to explain why. I guess maybe because that’s where we began. I’d wanted to go back there to commemorate our new start. Noah was right though, we would go another day.

“
Come here.” He reached for my hand and led me into the living room.

“I thought we were going to make popcorn,” I teased.

“Later,” he said as he pulled me down on the couch with him. “I didn’t get nearly enough of you the other night.”

“I’m all yours,” I said as I leaned in, pressing my body next to his. I gently pushed him backwards, moving along with him.

He parted his lips and I took full advantage, kissing him deeply. His hands roamed down my back, squeezing my hips, pulling them downward as they rolled against him. As Noah’s tongue tangled with mine, I found myself fantasizing about him doing other things with that tongue. I moaned as the fire in my body heated up.

His hand slid up my shirt,
moving it out of the way and shoving my bra aside. He rolled my nipple between his thumb and forefinger. I let out a little gasp and he took advantage of my mouth leaving his. He guided my breast to his mouth. As his tongue swirled around, my body rocked against his.

I found myself wondering why we hadn’t gone straight to my room. Then again, I thought as he moved to
my other breast, taking it in his mouth, we were just fine where we were. As his tongue set to work, fireworks sparked to life. Noah had put on the brakes the other night but surely he wouldn’t now, would he?

I readjusted myself, giving him better access and myself as well. My hand slid down, rubbing against the erection that was still contained in his jeans.

He let out a moan as my fingers quickly unbuttoned and then unzipped him. My hand slid inside. He thrust upward, into my palm as his hand tangled in my hair, pulling my mouth back to his.

“Emory!”

The shout tore into my state of bliss like a dart being jabbed into a balloon.

I nearly toppled off the couch; I was so surprised to hear Tyler’s voice.

“I’ll be right there!” I called. The last thing I needed was for Tyler to walk in on us in the aftermath of a compromising position.
I tugged my shirt back into place as Noah scooted toward the end of the couch. He hurriedly tried to readjust himself. He gave me a questioning look as I hurried to my feet.

“I’ll be right back,” I told him. He looked as though he needed a few moments to compose himself.

I tried tugging a hand through my messed up hair as I made my way out to the foyer.

“Hey, Emory,” Caleb said with a grin. “We’re stopping by to check in on that promise you made me.”

“Promise…?” I asked in confusion. Had I promised him something?
I had no idea. My head was a whirling mass of lust induced confusion.

My eyes darted between my brother and Caleb. The rain must’ve let up a bit. While they weren’t drenched, their shirts were dotted with raindrops.

“Yeah,” he said with a laugh. “You promised to think about coming with Ty and me today. Remember? The rock climbing wall? The conversation we had at dinner the other night? You, me, Ty and a day full of fun?” he teased.

“Right,” I muttered as I glanced over my shoulder. Noah appeared in the doorway.
His expression was carefully blank but I could tell by the stiff way he held himself that he wasn’t happy about what he overheard.

“Noah!” Tyler cried when he saw him.

I glanced at Caleb. He shot me an apologetic look.

“Hey, Ty!” Noah said. He held out his fist to my brother. Tyler grinned at him and bumped it with his own.

“Hi, Noah,” he said with a big grin. “We didn’t know you were here.”

Noah looked at me then back at my brother. “Yeah,” he said, “I kind of figured that.”

“Sorry,” Caleb said. He looked extremely uncomfortable, just as uncomfortable as Noah and I both were. “I should’ve called first. It’s just, Ty was so insistent.”

“You said you’d come with us today!” Tyler said.

I shook my head. “I said I’d
think
about it.”

“Ty, buddy,” Caleb said firmly, “Emory’s busy. Maybe she can come with another time.”

“Yeah, maybe she could go another time,” Noah flatly repeated.

I gave
him an apologetic glance as he looked from me to Caleb and back again. His expression was completely impassive.

Tyler’s face lit up. “You should both come!
”

“That’s not a good idea,” I said. I could hardly fault him for his enthusiasm. I knew that to Tyler, we were three of his favorite people. Of course he’d want us all to come along.
I was pretty sure that Caleb had assumed that I’d be easier to persuade in person. Normally, that assumption would be correct. Not today, though. Not with Noah here.

“We should get going,” Caleb said as he nudged Tyler toward the door.

For just a moment my little brother resisted. He looked at me, then Noah. He probably realized by the set looks on our faces that we weren’t going to budge. His shoulders slumped in defeat. The look he gave me, so full of disappointment, would’ve cracked my resolve any other day.

“Sorry, bud,” I said, putting some cheer into my voice. “Some other time?”

His smile flashed back into place. “You can come with when Caleb and I go look at the puppies again!”

Damn.

I shook my head. “That’s not what I meant. Just you and me? Maybe we could go to a movie tomorrow. Or swimming?”

He didn’t loo
k pleased about my offer.

“You know what?” Noah said. “It sounds like I might be coaching your team this summer.”

Tyler’s eyes lit up in excitement. “Really?”

Noah nodded. “Maybe if Emory says it’s okay, the three of us can go to the batting cages before baseball starts for the season. I can give you some pointers.”

Tyler’s fist flew up in the air as his smile landed back on his face. “Yes! Can Caleb come?”

“We’ll talk about it later,” I said as I pulled him into a quick hug. I already knew the answer to that.
No way in hell
. I’d deal with that question at a later time. “You and Caleb have fun today. Okay?”

“We will,” he said.

The excitement of the rock climbing wall must’ve tangled around him once more. Without a backward glance he bolted out the door and bounced down the steps into the light rain.

“I am really sorry for just stopping by,” Caleb said. “I’ll make sure to call next time.”

“Thanks,” I said.

He followed Tyler outside and I closed the door behind him.

“Next time?” Noah asked in a disapproving tone.

I moved back toward the living room and he followed. I didn’t have to look at him to know that his body was full of tension.

He settled himself into the cushions. He still wore that maddeningly impassive look. My heart clenched because I felt an argument coming on and I wanted to avoid it at all costs. We hadn’t even been back together for a week and already Caleb was a wedge that was once again between us.

“Sorry about that,” I said. “I had no idea they’d stop in.”

“I got that. So…do they stop a lot?”

I knew by ‘they’ he was really asking about Caleb.
Had he asked me the same question last year, the answer would’ve been ‘weekly’. For the first time, I found an upside to Tyler living with Aubrey. I was sure that Noah would not have been pleased if Caleb was still at my house on a weekly basis.

“Not often, no. You know Tyler’s living with our aunt and uncle.” Noah nodded. “So when Caleb gets Ty, he always picks him up there.
”

“So you haven’t seen him at all these past few months?” Noah asked.

I felt like that was a trick question. I was sure that he’d heard Caleb mention dinner the other night. I realized that might sound a bit misleading.

“I didn’t say that. I see him once in awhile. Mostly if I’m over at Aubrey’s.
A few nights ago she invited me over for dinner. After I got there, Caleb dropped Tyler off and Riley invited Caleb to stay,” I explained.

“Riley?” he looked doubtful.

It wasn’t as if I could tell him Riley invited Caleb in part to see if I had any feelings for him. That was the very last notion I needed to put into Noah’s head. Instead I said, “You know how she is. She gets an idea in her head and…,” I shrugged.

“Right. Like the day she insisted I meet her at Clarice’s.
She wanted me to spend time with you. So what was dinner with Caleb? A way for you to compare your options?”

“Noah.
What’s with all the questions?” I gave his shoulder a gentle nudge as I tried to lighten the mood.

“It’s nothing.”

“Are you worried about Caleb?” I cautiously asked.

He hesitated a moment. “I don’t know if ‘worried’ is the right word. I just,” he shrugged and made an apologetic face, “I don’t like that you see him.”

“I hardly ever see him.”

“But you
do
see him.”

I fought off the urge to let out a little growl of frustration. Though I said nothing, now it was my expression that gave me away.

“Look at it this way. Remember last fall when you asked me to stay away from Amanda?”

I nodded. I had known she was interested in him. I’d been uncomfortable about it because she’d been
there
and I’d been
here
. I hadn’t liked the thought of Noah spending any time with her. I’d asked him not to. For the brief time that we were together after that request, he’d honored it.

“I remember,” I said.

“So you probably remember that you asked me to keep my distance, to not even be friends with her.”

I nodded again because that’s exactly what I’d asked. I had a pretty good idea I knew exactly where he was going with this.

“I did what you asked
because
you asked. So now, I’m asking the same thing from you.” He took my hand in his. “I’m asking you to stay away from Caleb. Given your history, that you kept your…
friendship
from me before, I’m just not comfortable with him.”

I hesitated, trying to f
ind a way to tell him that wouldn’t be a problem. I really hadn’t seen that much of Caleb. I hadn’t exactly been avoiding him, not really, but we just didn’t cross paths the same way we had in the past.

He took my hesitation as something other than it was.

He squeezed my hands.

“How would you feel if Amanda lived in Ashton? Would you want me to spend time with
her?”

“No,” I said, taking his point to heart. “Like I said, I hardly ever see Caleb. It does happen on occasion, but I’ll try to avoid it when I can.”

I understood what he was asking. Even though I trusted him, I simply didn’t like the thought of him and Amanda together. Not even in the friendship capacity. Not after everything that had happened. Our emotions were too raw, the transgressions still too recent.

Even though he had no real reason to feel uncomfortable, Caleb was hardly an issue, he did
feel uncomfortable. To me, his feelings were all that mattered. Given the circumstances, and the fact that I could completely relate to what he was saying, I was willing to do as he asked.

“It’s just…,” he squeezed his eyes shut as he pulled in a breath. “I can’t stand the thought of you two together. Do you have any idea how hard that was on me? Thinking of you two together? And believe me. I didn’t want to. I hated the thought of it. It makes me sick. For weeks, I couldn’t stop picturing it. I couldn’t stop thinking about some other guy…inside you.”