Page 148 of After All This Time

“And I’m a proud member of The Idiot Club along with Xander. Grayson is the leader because he’s the biggest dumbass out of the three of us.”

Looking to the side, I close my eyes and get a very bad case of the giggles.

I love the way this man makes me laugh. He’s the king of distractions in all of its forms. Curse or a blessing in disguise?

I’d have to say both.

CHAPTER FIFTY-TWO

noah

She’s laughing.

It’s amazing to me how she can just sit there, laugh, and look so fucking beautiful. Her entire face glows like light does when it’s surrounded by darkness.

She’s the most beautiful woman I’ve ever laid my eyes on.

Dani keeps telling me how she worries about me all the time but what about the other way around? I worry about her too. All. The. Time. I knew something like this was going to happen. It was bound to happen. That’s what happens when you have anxiety. It’s always bound to explode out of you when you least expect it.

“You know what my favorite color is?”

Her lips struggle to form a smile. “What’s your favorite color?”

I lean closer to her.

Her freckles are prominent. Long, thick black eyelashes flutter upwards. Her pupils exist when I get this up close and personal. It’s hard to see them from a normal distance because her eyes are the color of dark chocolate, but without the bitterness.

“Dark brown,” I say with no hesitation.

“Hmm, really?” She smiles into my mouth.

“Do you know how gorgeous you are?”

“Enough with the compliments already.”

“It’s never enough. You’re going to be showered with a shit ton of compliments, whether you like it or not. Deal with it.”

Her lips graze mine.

It doesn’t even bother me that her breath smells like scallions and scrambled eggs because mine probably smells exactly the same way.

I cup her face and kiss her.

When I kiss Danielle Solomon, my heart rate increases tenfold. Adrenaline kicks into high gear. And the way my kisses make her breathless only makes me want to kiss her even more.

She makes me breathless.

Oxygen enters my bloodstream as I breathe out carbon dioxide.

When her tongue dances against mine, I groan hard and deep. “Don’t. Do. That.”

There’s a wicked look in her eye, telling me she’s not going to listen to me. She’s going to continue to torture me with her soft, pink lips and her dancing tongue.

Fine with me, but she’s going to regret it, especially after I’m done with her.

I get up off the floor with her hand in mine, taking her with me.

“Where the hell are you taking me?” She whines.