Page 72 of Catching My Dreams

Noah cursed, his movements becoming even faster. He pressed his face into the curve of her neck, his body covering her own, and when he went over the edge, his groan was muffled by her hair.

Most of his weight was on her, but Ella didn’t feel even a flicker of panic tightening her chest. There was only the heat of his slick skin against hers and the tired smile on her lips as he pressed a lazy kiss to her throat.

“Fucking hell,” he murmured. “You feel like heaven.”

She chuckled. “You took the words right out of my mouth.”

“How do you feel about staying here forever?” he asked, shifting onto his side and pulling her with him so their faces were a breath apart. “Right here in this bed?”

She hummed, draping her arm over him. “That sounds pretty good to me.”

“It’s settled then.” His nose brushed against hers, his breath a whisper of a touch against her lips.

She let her eyes flutter closed, lulled towards sleep by the pleasant ache in her muscles and the warmth of Noah’s body. Bliss wasn’t an emotion Ella was very familiar with. But she was sure this was it.

20

It was early on Saturday morning, which meant that Ella was at the nail salon with her gran. It also meant that there was a game that afternoon. But this Saturday was different.

Ella would still be cheering for the Hoyas like she had every game that season, but Ella hadn’t shown up to her grandmother’s place alone, and there was a very out-of-place person sitting a few feet away from them while their nails were painted a baby blue.

Noah had slept over at her house every night for the last three days, and when she’d told him she had a manicure appointment with her gran that morning, he’d surprised her by asking if he could go with her.

She’d said yes, of course. The chance to see Noah in a nail salon was too good to pass up, even if she felt guilty that her gran would be paying for her treatment.

“I think you found yourself a good one, Ella-Bella,” her grandmother said in a stage whisper.

Ella looked over at Noah to see he was biting back a grin as his pencil continued scratching at his open sketchbook.

“Ugh, he’s alright,” she teased, smiling when Noah’s grin escaped.

“Careful, Montgomery,” he warned, his eyes still on the page in front of him. “Or I’ll start to think my girlfriend doesn’t like me.”

“So, does this mean you won’t be in need of Bob anymore?” Penny asked, her eyebrows waggling as she briefly looked up from Ella’s nails.

“Who’s Bob?” Noah asked with narrowed eyes while Ella’s grandmother and Sophia cackled.

“No one,” Ella was quick to say.

“Oh, come now, Ella,” her grandmother said. “I’m sure Noah knows all about battery-operated boyfriends. You kids know just about everything these days, thanks to the internet.”

“Please stop,” Ella groaned, at the very least glad to see Noah’s cheeks had turned a lovely shade of pink to match her embarrassment. “Can we not talk about this in front of my new boyfriend, please? He’ll think we’re a bunch of miscreants.”

“But we are, dear,” her grandmother argued, sending a wink to said boyfriend. “There’s no use hiding it now when he’ll find out eventually anyway.”

“I can’t take you anywhere,” Ella said with a sigh, but thankfully, Noah was chuckling and not running for the door.

“What are you drawing, Noah?” her gran asked.

“It’s still rough,” he warned them before turning the book around so they could all see.

Ella’s throat tightened. He’d drawn her and her grandmother, their heads tilted toward each other, and shared smiles stretched across their faces.

“I love it,” her grandmother crowed.

“Good, because it’s for you,” Noah replied, and if Ella’s heart was capable of melting into a puddle of goo, it would have done just that.

“For me?” her gran said, sounding chuffed.

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