Fathead raced over to join her.
“Teddy approves, too,” she said as she sat up to make room for him. “What are you in the mood for?”
Going down on you.
I swallowed. “What do you mean?”
“What do you want to watch?”
“Oh…haven’t really thought about it. What about you?”
“Something light and funny without sex so I don’t blush watching it with you.” She laughed.
Damn good idea.
“Alright.”
But as she sat there enjoying the new piece of furniture, I couldn’t take my eyes off her. Those nipples piercing through her dress taunted me. How I wanted to bite into them, taste her skin. What’s wrong with me? I normally had better control over my thoughts—maybe not in the shower, but at least in her presence. Tonight, though, I couldn’t seem to stop them. Maybe holding everything in for so long had finally made me crazy. I imagined her spread eagle beneath me, screaming in pleasure as I rammed into her tight, little pussy. I imagined my cock down her throat. I imagined my tongue in her asshole while I rubbed her clit and brought her to orgasm over and over. Licking my lips, I could feel myself getting hard. I needed to refocus my brain before she noticed.
When she seemed to catch me staring, I pulled a question out of my ass. “Is that your natural hair color?”
What the heck did I just say?
“Yeah. My father had blond hair before he lost it all. I get it from him.” Her eyes narrowed. “Why do you ask?”
“No reason. It’s nice.”
“Thanks.”
We ended up choosing some Reese Witherspoon movie. Even though Heather was looking at the screen, she seemed preoccupied. I knew that, of course, because I still couldn’t take my damn eyes off her.
She nearly caught me again when she suddenly turned to me. “Are you sure I’m doing the right thing?”
I sat up straighter and lowered the volume a little. “About selling the house?”
“Yeah. Now that people are starting to look, it’s getting so real.”
“You don’t have to sell if you really don’t want to, but I do think it’s best for your future.”
“We’ll never get it back. You know?”
“You’ll always have the memories. Happiness shouldn’t be about a particular place anyway. It should be something you take with you everywhere you go—transferable. If you really miss it, you can always visit the lake. It’ll always be here.”
“You won’t be here.”
My eyes widened. “No, I won’t.”
She stared long and hard into my eyes before asking, “Are you happy, Noah?”
Heather had been trying to figure out my deal since the moment I moved in. Maybe I could afford to open up to her a little.
“I’m working on it. Being here has been good for that. It’s been exactly what I needed.”
“You needed to work your ass off for no pay?” she teased.
“I’ve gotten plenty out of it. Believe me.”
She turned her body toward me and rested her head on her hand. “Are you ever gonna tell me what you’re running from?”
Heather had really good intuition. But she was wrong in thinking I was running away from something. Whenever we spent time together, I was tempted to tell her the truth, but I was never quite sure it was the right thing to do.
“Why do you assume I’m running? Maybe I needed to run toward something else. I was looking for a change of pace, something different—and I found it here.”
“You were looking for something profound, and you got me instead?” She smiled.
She had no clue how much she’d changed me.
“It wasn’t until I got here that I realized why I was here. Something outside of myself sent me here to help you. I truly believe that. I feel like once I leave, my job will be done. I’ve helped set you on the right path.”
I’m a better person when I’m around you.
Heather didn’t seem satisfied with my answers. “What about you? I sell the house, go away to college, start my new life. What happens to you?”
I blew out a breath. “I go back to my life in Pennsylvania. Taking photo assignments. Looking after my father. I don’t really know what’s next for me. But I’ll go back home feeling more fulfilled because I was here.”
She nodded slowly. “I really like you, Noah.” Her face turned red. “I don’t mean that in the way I did when we first met, so don’t worry. I really like you. You try to remain a mystery, but I can see right through you—to your heart. You show people with your actions what kind of a person you are. You live your life with purpose, just like I try to. I think that’s probably the biggest thing we have in common.”
“I can agree with that.”
“I can also tell you live with a lot of regret. I can sense it. Whatever guilt you’re carrying around—about who you were in the past, the mistakes you made with your ex-wife, whatever it may be—let it go, because you deserve better than to live like that.”
Her words both healed me and amped up the guilt inside of me all at once. She doesn’t know everything. “I’ll try. Thank you.”
She looked over at the television and joked, “Well, this was a good movie.”
“It was for the first five minutes when I was paying attention.” I chuckled.
Heather looked back at me. “I like talking to you better.”
“I like talking to you, too. We’re definitely good at that.”
We’re good together.
That realization stung, because being together wasn’t a possibility.
Our eyes lingered. Fuck, if I didn’t want to kiss her. Her skin was so soft and flushed. I wished I could have bit into it and watched it change color some more. It felt like she could see right through me. I wondered if my feelings for her were obvious.
She looked down at the sofa and rubbed her hands along the fabric. “This was a really nice gesture. Thank you.”
“I’ll take it back to Pennsylvania with me, so you don’t have to worry about moving it.” I rubbed the dog’s head. “Fathead seems to really like it.”
Teddy was out like a light.
“Either that or he’s asleep because we bored him to death.”
When the feelings creeping up inside of me felt like they were becoming too transparent, I stood up and said, “I almost forgot, I bought some bread. Want me to heat it up?”
“That sounds yummy. Yeah.”
I couldn’t go past the bakery in the supermarket anymore without buying a loaf of garlic bread.
Slicing some pieces, I said, “Bonnie and Clyde always look pissed when I’m making real food.”
Heather looked perplexed. “Bonnie and Clyde?”
“The guinea pigs. I finally named them.”
“Aw, that’s so cute.”
“Yeah, but they get angry when they see me eating—especially meat.”
“They’re bitter vegans.” She laughed.
We ate the bread in comfortable silence as Fathead continued to sleep.
For a moment, I considered asking her why she’d left her panties in my damn laundry a couple of weeks ago. But then I’d have to admit what I did with them and why she’d never get them back.
***
The following afternoon, while Heather was at work, Alice let me into the main house to fix a few things. The last window that needed to be replaced was the one in Heather’s room. I hadn’t told her I would be coming in to do this work today, so I hoped she wouldn’t be mad when she found out I’d been in her bedroom.
It took me about an hour to put the window in. After I finished cleaning up, I was headed out when I tripped over her bedside table, knocking a notebook to the ground. When I picked it up, I noticed my name written amongst a bunch of other words.
I couldn’t stop thinking about Noah all day. It was hot out, so I decided to sneak over to the boathouse to use the outdoor shower. After taking off my clothes, I let the water stream down on me. My backside was fully exposed.
When I heard footsteps, I covered my chest and turned around to find Noah standing there. I expected him to yell at me for sneaking into his outdoor shower. Instead, he said nothing, just flipped me around so my ass was facing him. I could feel how hard he was as he—
“Noah?”