Throwing himself down on the mattress, he put his hands behind his head and nodded. “I dig it.”
Kit came down on the bed beside him, but when she would’ve lain down, he unfolded an arm so she could put her head on it. He curled it back around her, and they lay there in the sunshine for a while until it got too hot.
“It’ll be great at night,” he said after they went inside, having closed the canopy to protect the mattress from the heat.
“Glad you think so. I got it for you.”
He paused in the act of lifting a juice bottle to his lips. “What?”
“You seem to sleep better in the garden.”
It was true, but he’d figured that was a fluke. Not wanting to disappoint her though, he decided to try it out that night.
Six uninterrupted hours after he’d put down his head, he lifted it up. It was the longest stretch of nightmare-free sleep he’d had in years. Even once he shrugged off the grogginess of such a long sleep, he had no particular desire to get out of bed. Yawning, he lay there and listened to the birds that lived in Kit’s garden and wished she was nearby so he could try some of that romantic bullshit again.
When he asked her to sleep with him on the bed in the garden the next night, she agreed, and yeah, there was some messing around. Kisses mostly. It was normal and romantic, and he actually felt like a goddamn man when he made her moan in the back of her throat.
Maybe this would work, he dared think. Maybe they could make it.
Chapter 36
Kit was feeling guardedly optimistic. Not only was Noah sleeping at least a few uninterrupted hours a night, he was working with her to figure out the physical stuff. She’d thought it’d be awkward and hard, but it wasn’t. It was fun, like they were teenagers, cautious and not quite sure what was okay and what wasn’t.
Noah had really gotten into the “romantic bullshit.” Turned out the bad boy of rock liked kissing. Kit had never been so thoroughly kissed in all her life. The night before, he’d pinned her down on the bed outside and, one hand gripping her jaw, kissed her until she’d all but melted into the bed. For a man who’d avoided kissing before, he’d sure picked it up fast.
“I love him so much,” she confessed to Becca when she met her friend for a coffee a week later, a surely silly smile on her face.
Becca laughed, her makeup relatively low-key today, though her hair remained that gorgeous, vibrant blue. “In that case, I’m happy for you, you sappy goof. I will, however, still stab him in delicate places if he hurts you.”
Reaching over, Kit touched Becca’s hand. “It’s different this time, trust me.” Noah remained the same man, but he was no longer using his defenses to block her out, sabotage their relationship. This was the Noah she’d come to know in their hotel room conversations—the sensitive, complicated, talented man who’d written a heartbreaking song about a sparrow with broken wings.
She understood that song now, knew how deeply personal it was, though to anyone who didn’t know his past, it would simply be a sweet, sad, beautiful song.
“Hey,” Becca said with a wry smile. “Boys come and go, but girlfriends are forever, right? I’m not going to mess with our friendship by dissing Noah when you love him.”
“I want you two to like each other—give him a shot, okay?” Kit knew this “boy” wouldn’t be going anywhere. He made her heart sing.
“Just for you.” Becca poked her cake fork at Kit. “Are you two coming to my birthday dinner? Crap, I think I forgot to e-mail you. It’s tomorrow night.”
“I feel wounded! Forgotten already.” Kit slapped a hand over her heart. “What time? Where?”
“Nothing fancy. My place. We’ll do takeout, and since I forgot to order a cake, we’ll eat random cakes I pick up from the grocery store. Seven p.m. to probably around ten thirty as a whole bunch of us have to be on set by eight the next day.”
“I’ll be there.” Kit crossed her fingers that Becca and Noah would hit it off. “And I’m going to make sure you have a proper birthday cake—chocolate-frosted vanilla, right?”
Becca’s smile was so sweet it belied the tough attitude she so often put on. “Thanks, Kit. I should’ve known I could count on you.”
Noah gave Kit a dubious look when she told him her hope that he and Becca would find common ground. “Becca is never going to like me, Kit. It’s in the girl code or something.”
“Just be nice to her,” Kit said, picking up her phone to call a caterer friend who owed her a favor—and who happened to have a baker on staff.
“Yes, ma’am.”
He was actually nice to Becca, to the point that the makeup artist seemed to be thawing a little. Kit actually saw the two of them in conversation not long after Becca cut the dual-layer cake Kit’s caterer friend had managed on short notice, and Becca had a genuine smile on her face. Relieved she wouldn’t have to run interference between her man and one of her closest friends, Kit had a great time at the party.
Returning home with Noah around eleven that night, she stretched in the hallway. “That was a good night.”
The only awkward moment had come when Terrence turned up.
“Oh, shit,” Becca had mouthed from across the room. Later, when she’d had Kit alone, she’d been so apologetic. “I totally forgot you two had a thing before you got together with Noah. Do you want me to ask him to leave?”
Kit had assured her friend that it was fine, but the situation had been strained. Terrence had barely spoken to her, and it made her sad that he was still so angry with her—though she did think he was taking things a bit hard when they’d only been on three actual dates. They’d been friends for years before that; surely he understood that she hadn’t meant to hurt him?
His behavior seemed unusually possessive, but Kit couldn’t bring herself to believe Terrence was her stalker. Still, she’d be extra careful around him, especially since Jade was still excited about Kit doing the project with the two of them. Kit had expected Terrence to veto it, but according to Jade, he wanted Kit for the role.
Not that she’d know it from his personal treatment of her.
“Hey.” Noah rubbed the lines between her eyebrows. “Why the frown?”
Kit shook her head, not wanting to bring up Terrence. She’d sensed the animosity between Noah and the writer, figured they must’ve run into each other when she wasn’t around. “I’m glad you and Becca are getting along.”
Taking her hand, he tugged her to her bedroom and leaned in the doorway while she slipped off her heels. “Yeah, dodged that bullet. Phew.” He pretended to wipe his brow. “Any guy worth his salt knows you’re toast if you get on the wrong side of the girlfriends.”
Kit laughed. “How did you do it?”
“Told her I was crazy about you.” Smiling lips, dead serious eyes.
Her heart squeezed so hard she could barely breathe. “I have to change,” she said, the words coming out husky.
Stepping inside the room, he braced his back on the wall by the door. “Can I watch?”
Kit’s breath froze in her throat at the unexpected question, the heat in Noah’s gaze searing. “I… Okay.” Gripping her nerves in a tight fist, she walked over to him and, turning to give him her back, swept her hair over one shoulder. “Unzip me. Please.”
A rough breath, his lips brushing her nape before he began to tug down the zipper slow and easy. He touched her nowhere else, but by the time he’d finished, she had goose bumps all over her body. Keeping her back to him, she returned to her original position beside the bed and slid off the long sleeves of the midthigh-length black dress.
A single push at the hips and the soft fabric fell to pool at her feet.