“Stop.” I whisper against his heaving chest. I rest my head where his heart is galloping like a stampede of wildebeests escaping a hungry lion. I lift my head and cup his beautiful, flawless face. “We have to stop.”
After a long pause, Noah lifts his head, his emerald green eyes penetrating through me. “You’re killing me, Mia.” He whimpers a sigh of resignation. “But you’re right.” He brings his hands to my hips and lifts me off him, placing me next to him on the couch. He rakes a hand through his now messy hair, scrubs his hand down his face and gnaws on his bottom lip. “Fuck, I’m sorry. I just got caught up.”
“No, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have...”
Noah shoots me a worrisome glare. “Please don’t say you shouldn’t have come here tonight, Mia. I get it. It’s all too fast. I’m sorry. We can take it slow.”
I stare at him in astonishment. Can I really expect him to wait until I iron out all my personal—and complicated—qualms? “Really? You mean that?”
He gets up off the couch, trying to conceal his hand in his pants, readjusting himself. What I wouldn’t give...
“Yes, Mia. I don’t want to screw this up. I know this isn’t conventional, and I know you have things to think about...your kids, your...” I don’t think he actually wants to say the word ‘husband.’ “We have all the time in the world. We’ll take it slow. It might kill me, but I can respect that you might not be ready for a while.”
I feel a little ridiculous. I’m a grown woman, not some adolescent virgin. Women my age probably have double digits under their belt. Noah might have even more than that, for all I know. Am I ridiculous for not being ready?
“God I feel so dumb.” I hide my head in my hands.
Noah sits down next to me, removing my hands from my mortified eyes. “You’re not dumb. You’re far from it. In fact, you’d be dumb if you let it go any further. You’re a good woman, Mia. A good wife and mother. It takes a strong woman to think with her brain in a moment like that.” I liked what happened in that moment. I wasn’t ready for it to go further, but that was one fine moment.
“That was quite a moment. Wasn’t it?” I arch my brow and bite my lower lip.
Noah flops back against his couch, gripping fistfuls of his dark blond hair now. No doubt, reverting back to the idea of me on his lap.
I have a momentary lapse of all that’s right and just. “Would I be a total cock tease if I asked you to just make-out again?”
Noah sits up, stiff. His eyes wide and concentrated. “Is this some kind of test, woman?”
I giggle, resting my head against his rock hard chest again. His heart beat has steadied, no longer rapid and thundering. “You’re a good kisser, Noah. And if we’re going to date, ease our way into this, we’ve got to do this the way we would have done this if you hadn’t ignored me back then.”
“Ignored you?” His fingers twist themselves in a small section of my hair.
“Yes! Blatantly ignored me. I wanted you then and I want you now. And what I really want is my fair share of the Noah Matheson dating experience. Are you going to deny me?”
In one swift, effortless movement, Noah swoops my legs up over his and pushes me down onto his couch. He hovers over me and I squeal when he catches my wrists and pins my arms above my head. He flashes a mischievous grin. “You’re sending me mixed signals, Mia Page.”
When he says my name like that I’m reminded that that isn’t me anymore. As much as I wish I could revert to the eighteen year old Mia Page who would give anything to be pinned beneath Noah Matheson, I am a twenty-eight year old Mia Murphy who has a lot to think about before running her mouth. My mouth is going to get me in a lot of trouble. Trouble I’m not ready to face.
Noah must sense the shift in my playful mood. He releases the grip on my wrists and extends a hand to help pull me back up to a sitting position. “Seriously, Mia. I’m all about slow and steady.”
I look into his eyes, sheepishly. “Slow and steady wins the race.”
He dips down, planting a soft kiss on the tip of my nose. “Exactly.”
“Stop staring at her, bro. You look ridiculous.”
“Oh shut up, Carl. Like you don’t look ridiculous kicking around that fucking hacky sack, waiting for someone to come over and play with you.”
Carl continues bouncing the bead-filled ball off his foot. It’s so goddamn irritating. In ten seconds I’m going to chuck it across the lawn and into the huge fountain next to that gorgeous blonde. Maybe that’ll get her attention.