Page 26 of The Marriage Mission

"I don't need to ask your permission. This is my dream."

There went that smirk again. "I'm in your dreams?"

"Yes. This is my dream."

The smirk widened. She didn't like that look on his face. She needed to rearrange it. She willed her mind to paint a different picture of her dream man. But that knowing grin wouldn't leave his face.

That wasn't normally how things happened in her lucid dreams. And when had his hands gone back behind his head? And when had his shirt gone back on?

Jacqui blinked. And blinked again. But she didn't wake up. Because she was already wide awake.

She looked down to find that she'd been the one to breach the barrier she'd made between them. She was the one snuggled up against him. She was the one who had touched him, was now leaning over him for a kiss.

She scrambled off the bed so fast the sheets tangled around her legs. She managed to hop free without falling flat on her face. With her feet and legs free, she dashed into the bathroom and locked the door behind her. Because she lived in there now.

ChapterSeventeen

Noah had barely slept all night. He'd lain awake for hours listening to the soothing sound of Jacqui breathing. Her little snores were adorable. The snorts and gurgles settled him because he knew that she rested deeply with him beside her. That kind of deep sleep only came when someone felt safe and secure.

The other soft sounds of night hummed around the edges of Noah's consciousness. His gaze rarely strayed from his bedmate. He was captivated by the rise and fall of her chest. The flutter of eyelashes against her cheeks. The way her hair spilled over the pillow like a cascade of sunlight in the dark. It grounded him, this knowledge that she rested so deeply with him by her side, in her space, in her sanctuary.

Throughout the night, he had felt Jacqui shifting closer to him, her movements slow and languid, like the soft tide of an ocean inching its way up a sandy beach. Noah remained still each time, his body tense due to his earlier insistence on boundaries. With every unconscious advance she made, his heart raced faster, the beat echoing loud in the silence of the room.

It was her fingers that broached the divide between them. When they came to rest on his chest, Noah surrendered his heart to her. The touch burned through the fabric of his shirt, imprinting itself directly onto his skin. He kept his hands up and behind his head, not touching her as he promised. But he clutched at the white cotton of the pillow like a white flag.

Jacqui's fingers curled slightly, possessively, as if in her sleep she claimed him as hers just as much as he silently claimed her. She wanted him. Just not consciously.

That was fine. All the fun would be in making her admit the truth. So when her eyes opened hours later and she found herself flush against him, the games had begun.

"Are you going to kiss me, Jacqui? You can if you want. You don't need to ask my permission."

"I don't need to ask your permission. This is my dream."

"I'm in your dreams?"

"Yes. This is my dream."

The early morning light filtered through the curtains, casting a soft glow across the room. It was one of those rare, still moments that pressed pause on the world outside. The rising sun slowly came up like a dimmer. He could almost hear the sunbeams scrambling up the walls.

Jacqui's movements were unhurried, and that was good. Noah wanted to stay in this moment forever. She was sleep-addled and a bit confused, but she was still the most beautiful thing he'd ever seen in his life.

Her head lifted from the pillow, and the sunlight caught in her hair, turning it into a halo of golden strands that fanned out around her like rays of sun. It was as if she carried her own sunrise, a personal dawn that brightened the space around her.

Her eyes, dark and deep, opened slowly, the sleepiness still clouding them like the soft fog of early morning. Gradually, as she blinked away the remnants of dreams, her gaze cleared, becoming sharp and vivid, grounding her back in the reality of the new day. Even disheveled, with her hair tousled and her nightclothes slightly askew, she looked breathtaking—raw, real, and radiant.

Noah watched, almost holding his breath, as the transformation took place. There was an undeniable beauty in Jacqui's unguarded moments, in the honesty of her sleep-softened features and the unselfconscious way she greeted the morning. To him, she seemed more herself than ever, stripped of any façade, existing purely and simply.

She blinked a few more times, coming to realize that she was not dreaming. She scrambled off the bed, but not before Noah got a sight of toned legs and toes painted a fiery red. At that moment, he developed a foot fetish.

Seeing as she was not coming out of the bathroom anytime soon, Noah decided to take pity on his wife. He got out of bed and headed down to the guest room. He got dressed and headed into the kitchen, turning that phrase over and over in his head.

My wife.Jacqui was his wife. He'd slept next to his wife. And she'd sought his warmth in the middle of the night. She'd dreamed of his kisses. Noah was going to make his wife's dreams come true.

"What are you doing?" his wife demanded a half hour later.

"I'm trying to work your fancy toaster."

"Why?" Jacqui's voice was all suspicion and accusation.

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