by Danica Flynn
Mia grabbed my arm. “Come on, girl!”
I stood up and followed her to her car, where she drove us to the bar they usually went to for drinks after the game. It was a local place, and I think it was owned by an ex-Bulldog because there was a ton of hockey stuff along the walls. A lot of it for Philadelphia.
“I have to ask, do you not have feelings for Noah?” Mia asked.
I took a sip of my beer. “Honestly? I don’t know.”
She cocked an eyebrow at me. “How come?”
“I never did the whole dating thing before,” I explained.
“What do you mean?”
“I met my husband in college, we dated for years before we got married and then he died. I’ve only been on one date since then. I’m not sure how this goes.”
She surprised me by hugging me. “Oh, I had no idea. But I get it, Adam and I have been dating since high school. I would be just as clueless if we broke up.”
I almost didn’t know who she was talking about, because I only ever knew her boyfriend as Hallsy. I guess it was the same for me since Noah was Kennedy or Kens to the guys, but he always wanted me to call him by his first name.
I couldn’t really say anything because then I heard. “Hey, you came!”
I looked up and saw Noah, TJ, Hallsy, and Riley all coming over to us. Noah leaned down to hug me and he kissed me on the cheek. It made me feel all warm inside, and that’s when I knew I was in deep trouble. I didn’t even notice if he was looking at me the same way, I just knew that I wanted something more with Noah, and I didn’t know if that would ruin our friendship. But he had told me he liked me, so what was the worst that could happen?
Chapter Fourteen
NOAH
God, she was so cute when she blushed. I hadn’t even thought about it when I kissed her on the cheek, because we hadn’t really talked about if I was allowed to kiss her in public. I wanted to, I wanted to show the world how much I loved her, even if she didn’t love me. She didn’t flinch away or laugh it off, she just blushed and hugged me back even tighter. I shamelessly nuzzled her neck and breathed in the vanilla scent of her perfume. I had missed that when I was on the road, so when I woke up in her bed this morning I realized I was in way deeper than I realized. And we hadn’t even had sex last night, even though I knew she wanted to.
From behind her back I saw TJ making the motion of a “V” with his two fingers over his mouth and he waggled his tongue in-between them. Riley laughed and I gave TJ the finger.
“Hey, I saw that,” she called him out for it. I loved that she didn’t take any of our shit.
I pulled away from her. TJ laughed and gave her a hug too. “Hey, D. You see this guy’s sick-ass goal?”
I ran a hand down my face and blushed now.
She nodded at TJ. “It was awesome. And here I thought I was such a jinx.”
Hallsy was in deep conversation with Mia now, and Riley had sidled up to the bar to talk to some leggy blonde. I turned back to my two best friends in the entire world, who were now looking at me expectantly. “What?” I asked.
They both just laughed.
“Nothing,” Dinah said with the shake of her head.
“Hey, how’s the editing going?” I asked her.
She groaned and dropped her head into her chest. “Don’t remind me. I have a lot of rewriting to do.”
“On your book?” TJ asked. “Will you let us read it?”
I bit my lip, and she just stared at me. TJ looked back and forth between us. He put a hand over his heart and looked offended. “You wound me, D. You gave it to this dummy, before me?”
She waved her hand at him. “You wouldn’t like it.”
“Why not?”
“Not enough sex in it,” I joked.
Dinah laughed that hearty laugh of hers and tipped her head back. Her long dark hair whipped back and forth in the ponytail she had put it up in tonight. My eyes roamed over her outfit, she looked way too good in that tight striped dress, black tights, and heeled boots. She must have come straight from work, but I didn’t mind because she looked good. I had showered after our game and was back in my suit. I straightened my tie nervously. She glanced up at me with a questioning look, and I realized I had been staring.
TJ jabbed me in the elbow. “Dude,” was all he said.
I shook my head, my long hair getting messed up. TJ shook his head at me and went over to talk to Riley. Dinah wrapped her arms around herself.
Nervously I pushed my hair out of my eyes, and she smiled up at me sweetly. This woman had no idea what she did to me. “I’m really glad you came,” I told her.
“Me too. It was a really good goal.”
I eyed her suspiciously. “But?”
She sighed. “You guys kind of pulled that win out of your asses.”
I barked out a laugh and she just shrugged. “What? Am I not supposed to tell you the truth anymore?”
I just shook my head. “No, you can. I like when you call me on my shit.”
She smiled and sipped down the rest of her beer. She checked the time on her phone and stifled a yawn behind her hand.
“You look really tired.”
She nodded. “I am. I should have taken tomorrow off, but now I have a meeting first thing. COOL!”
“Why don’t I take you home?” I offered. I waved TJ over, but he shook his head. Now he was talking to the leggy blonde at the bar. More power to him. I wondered what happened with Riley, she seemed like his type. He was a little too engrossed in his phone, so maybe he was just oblivious.
She paid out her tab, and I slipped my hand in hers while we walked out the door. When she had looked at me when I got to the bar, her eyes had this shining look in them. Like they had lit up when she saw me, but maybe it was just the alcohol. Maybe she didn’t feel about me the way I felt about her. Because as much as I wanted to take her to bed again, I also wanted to just hold her in my arms and tell her I loved her.
She ended up falling asleep in my car on the way back home. I had to shake her awake in the parking garage. “Hey,” I said softly.
Her eyes fluttered open sleepily. “Hmm?”
“Come on, you fell asleep in the car. Let’s get you upstairs and to bed.”
Her lips curled into a smile. “Is that the line you use on all the girls?”
I laughed and ran a hand through my shaggy long hair. “Why, did that work on you?”
She laughed, but let me put my arm around her shoulder as we walked to the elevator that took us to our floor. We stopped at her door where she fished around for her keys in her purse.
I put my hands in my pockets nervously, and then removed them, pushing my hair out of my eyes again. After I took her to lunch, we hadn’t had a chance to go on another date, and I wanted one so badly. I had to push down my nerves and just ask her out again. But then she smiled at me and was pulling on my tie to pull me down to her level, and the next thing I knew we were making out against her front door. My hands were gripping her waist, and her small hands were threading through my hair. I kind of liked how aggressive she got and pulled my hair to get me closer to her.
“Ew, get a room you two,” I heard TJ say from behind me.
We pulled away suddenly. I straightened my tie, and Dinah smoothed down her hair, but the blush wasn’t leaving her face. TJ just laughed and shook his head before heading into our shared condo.
“Do you want to come inside?” she asked.
The tightening in my pants was screaming yes, but my heart was screaming no. I had stayed over her place last night, but we just talked and held each other until I passed out from jet lag. She must have snuck away when I fell asleep because when I woke up an hour later I pried her away from her desk and made her go to sleep.
“Um, it’s late,” I explained.
Her face fell, and the look of disappointment nearly broke my heart in two.
“I mean, you have work in the morning. I don’t want to keep you up late.”
She nodded and smil
ed, but it didn’t quite reach her eyes, so I knew she was faking it. I saw the turmoil in her eyes.
“What’s tomorrow like for you?” I asked.
She checked her phone. “You mean after I get done work?”
“Yeah, I want to take you out to dinner.”
“Like a second date?”
“Yes, that’s exactly what I mean.”
Her cute mouth made a little “O”. Oh no, she was going to say no, she just wanted this to be physical. She was going to tell me she didn’t feel the same way I did, even when I had laid all my cards on the table for her to see.
But then she smiled big and nodded. “Okay.”
“Okay?” I asked surprised.
She rolled her eyes at me. She leaned up and I bent my head down again so she could kiss my cheek. “Yes, Noah. I am saying yes to another date with you.”
I moved my mouth, so it was on her’s again. She sighed into the kiss, and I just wanted to pull her legs around my waist and ravish her right here, but I could wait until tomorrow night. She said yes! She actually would let me take her out again, that had to mean something. That had to mean that she liked me more than she liked my dick. At least I hoped so.
She pulled away from me, her hands pushed lightly on my chest. “You better get out of here now, or else I’m going to drag you into my bed, and as much as I want to do that, I’m really tired.”
I smiled down at her. “Goodnight, Dinah.”
“Goodnight, Noah,” she called back as she opened her front door. I waited for the click of the lock before opening my own door.
I walked inside and TJ was sitting on the couch with a beer in hand and a game controller in the other. He looked up at me with a confused look. “The sex must be bad if you’re that quick.”
I gave him the finger, and flopped down on the couch beside him. I loosened my tie enough so I could take it off and threw it on the couch next to me. I kicked off my shoes and watched him play on our gaming console.
“So, this thing with D, is it serious?” he asked.
I shrugged. “I want it to be. I asked her to dinner.”
“She said yes?”
I nodded.
“Where are you going to take her?”
I leaned my head back on the couch and stretched out my impossibly long legs. “I hadn’t even thought it through yet. I was more worried she would say no. I should call Rox, she’d know what to do.”
He raised an eyebrow at me. “Aren’t you two already fucking? Why would she said no?”
“Yeah, but I don’t want it to just be physical. I want her to know that.”
He shook his head at me and rubbed his two fingers between his eyes. “Kens, you’re so done for.”
I punched him in the shoulder. “Is it so wrong to want love?”
He shrugged. “I don’t think I’m wired that way.”
I clapped him on the shoulder. “Maybe one day. How are things with Taylor?”
He groaned. “Don’t change the subject!”
“I’m not, just how are things?”
“Done with her.”
“Why?”
He shrugged. “She wants what you want, and I don’t want that. Unlike you, I don’t want to be tied down.”
I ran a hand down my jaw at the beard that was starting to come through. I was debating if I should shave it off tomorrow, but Dinah did like beards. “You think I should shave?”
He eyed me. “I was kind of wondering why you hadn’t in a few days. Is it because D likes beards?”
“Yes,” I grumbled under my breath.
He cackled. “Then keep it. I have to ask, what’s she like in bed?”
“NOPE! Some secrets belong behind closed doors,” I urged and stood up from the couch.
I heard him still asking inappropriate questions as I walked into my bedroom and started getting ready for bed. I couldn’t believe it, Dinah was actually going to go out with me again.
Chapter Fifteen
DINAH
My knee bounced up and down underneath my desk. Matt looked around his monitor to glare at me.
“Did you have too much coffee today or what?” he seethed.
I shook my head. Not enough. I was nervous. Noah was taking me on a date tonight. A DATE! Okay, technically it was a second date, since we went to lunch before his last road trip. However, a dinner date was completely different from a lunch break date. A dinner date meant we were probably going to have sex again, and I was super nervous about that. Sex with Noah the first time had been great, he was gentle and tender in bed and I was itching to do it again. But since we were going out for a second time, I knew it was time to woman up and tell him that I liked him too and I wanted this to be a real thing. I had no idea what I was supposed to wear!
Matt threw a pen at me. “What’s with you today? I thought you would have been in a good mood today?”
I shook my head and threw the pen back. “What, why?”
He stared at me blankly like I was an idiot. “The hockey team won. I figured that meant you got it in last night.”
“Nope!”
Matt’s eyes narrowed to slits. “What do you mean ‘no’?”
“I mean, I didn’t get laid last night, if you really needed to know.”
“What, why not?”
“Becauseheaskedmetodinnertonight,” I rushed out in one breath.
“What?” he asked, completely confused. I spread my fingers across my face to peek out from them, and Matt had the biggest grin on his face. “Get it, girl!” he exclaimed. His reaction was kind of a relief, because I had been worried he would feel some protectiveness about his late best friend.
“Oh, I intend to.”
I felt like the hours were going by so slowly, but maybe it was just because I was too excited about going out with Noah. He wouldn’t tell me where we were going, so I had zero clue what to wear. It was super frustrating, but he wouldn’t tell me even when I begged. I even tried to get TJ to coax it out of him, but TJ hadn’t answered any of my texts.
Dick.
At lunch, I went down into the courtyard and I called my sister-in-law Chloe. Chloe was my best friend in the whole world, but she lived across the country, so we didn’t get to see each other much. Chloe was also Jason’s younger sister.
“Hey, girl!” she exclaimed.
“I’m on my lunch break, is this an okay time to talk?” I asked. Chloe worked from home, so I knew my lunch time was usually an okay time for her to talk.
“It’s fine. What’s going on?”
I chewed my bottom lip. “Why does something have to be going on?”
“I already finished reading your book, so that’s not it. Come on, girl, spill!”
“Um…” I trailed off not sure how I was supposed to start this conversation. “Do you think it’s too soon for me to start dating again?”
“Wait, what?”
“Oh…” I trailed off. This was probably a bad subject to broach with her.
“No, girl, yes! You should be happy. Just because my brother’s dead doesn’t mean your love life has to be too. Is there a guy?”
“I have a date tonight,” I admitted.
I had to pull the phone away from my ear from all her squealing. “Oh my god! I’m so happy for you. Anyone I know, not that guy who—”
I cut her off, “Oh god no.”
“Dinah, have you already fucked this guy?” she accused.
Shit, she did know me too well.
“How did you know that?” I demanded.
She laughed. “Because you got this dreamy sound in your voice. You have to tell me who it is!”
“No! You will judge me.”
“Girl, no judgement here.”
I paused a beat. “He’s younger.”
“No!” she exclaimed in disbelief. “Did you fuck Noah Kennedy?”
“Um…” I trailed off not sure how to answer that.
Chloe just laughed on the other line. “Your brothers told me that you two had
a cute little lunch date at Frankie’s shop.”
I groaned. Ugh, I was so going to kill Frankie. Good lasagna be damned, he was a rat bastard.
She laughed some more. “Girl! Good for you. How was it?”
“That’s not why I called you!” I scolded.
“Oh right. No, it’s not too soon. Do you like Noah?”
“I think so. He told me he likes me, but left things up to me.”
“Then go for it. You should be happy.”
I paused for a moment, letting it all sink in.
She sighed on the other line. “You shouldn’t feel guilty because Jason’s gone. I don’t know how he would feel about you dating a hockey hottie, but he wouldn’t want you to be unhappy.”
“I have no idea what to wear tonight!”
“Let me think about it, and I’ll let you know. I got to jet.”
I hit end on my phone and slid my phone back into the pocket of my dress pants. She was not helpful at all. I walked back up to my building and got back to work. I had digital reporting to get done, so I put my headphones on and buried myself in the very boring numbers. Which was hard to do when I was just daydreaming about what Noah was going to do to me tonight. Maybe we didn’t even need the dinner. Could I just ask him to skip it so I could drag him into my bed instead and do dirty things to him? I clenched my thighs just thinking about his head between my legs again. God, how could anyone ever tell him he was bad at going down on them? That boy had a magic tongue. Plus he knew how to use his stick.
Chloe made good on her promise to help me, telling me to go with the classic black dress and heeled boots. I had to wear a cardigan over it, because the only black dress I owned was sleeveless, but I thought it was okay. I was just finishing up applying red lipstick when there was a knock on my door. Noah was nothing if not punctual.
I opened the door, and he was standing there leaning up against it, wearing a nice gray suit. His long hair was pushed back behind his ears, but it hung loose. He hadn’t bothered to shave, and he looked so sexy with that scruff around his face. I kind of wondered if he remembered that I liked guys with beards. He had to, because he always complained that facial hair was so itchy. He eyed me up and down with a smile.
