Page 92 of Treacherous

With you, of all people…

"Why?" I asked in annoyance. "Am I not privy to that sort of information because his sister has decided to hate me?" I let out a heavy, defeated sigh.

"No one's privy to that sort of information, Teagan," Cam replied softly. "And indifference is worse than hate," Cameron pointed out. "Personally I'd rather be hated than not cared about at all."

"That's comforting," I muttered sullenly.

Cam shrugged. "There's emotion in hate – a lot of feelings go into hating someone."

I shook my head in confusion. "Okay, that makes no sense, Cam. How does any of what you've just told me have anything to do with Noah's family?"

"It doesn’t," he said with a cocky grin. "I just said the first thing that popped into my head – which was more than likely complete bullshit."

"Well thanks for your bullshit advice," I grumbled as I stood up and placed my mug on the draining board.

Cam stretched his arms above his head before getting up and walking over to the door. "Sorry, Galway girl," he chuckled. "But if you wanna know about Noah's personal life then you're gonna have to put your big girl pants on and ask him yourself."

The sound of Cam's footsteps descending down the hallway made the thought of Noah sleeping in the next room a sudden and huge temptation.

Crap… I wanted to see him.

Oh god, I was so screwed.

Shuffling out of the kitchen I tiptoed down the hallway and placed my hand on the door handle, turning it ever so slowly. Pushing the door of the lounge inwards, I held my breath and allowed my eyes to adjust to the dimly lit room.

The television was on mute but the light coming from the screen and from the lit up Christmas tree standing in front of the bay window was enough to illuminate Noah stretched out on the Carter's couch with one arm resting over his face and the other placed atop his bare chest.

A navy afghan was pooled around his hips and I couldn’t move my eyes from the spot. There was something incredibly stunning about Noah's hips – his whole body in fact. I would never admit it to another soul, but I was pretty sure his was the most beautifully sculpted male body I'd ever seen in real life.

I felt an intense urge to trail my finger over the grooves on his stomach just to check if they felt as hard I remembered.

Dammit, stop thinking about him like that…

Closing my eyes I turned my head and urged myself to calm the hell down. One more look and then I would go back upstairs and pretend to sleep. I was veering dangerously close to stalker-central but I figured one more peek wouldn’t hurt. Then I'd go to bed.

I'd have to.

Because what was the alternative? Wake Noah up and ask him to take up we're he left off in the elevator? Yeah, I had bigger issues than Hope had. At least she wanted to sleep with her loving boyfriend. I wanted… I wasn’t sure what I wanted.

"Thorn."

Holy shit.I let out a startled cry and clutched the door handle with both hands.

Moving his arm away from his face, Noah stared at me, his dark brown eyes roaming shamelessly over my body. "You gonna stand by the door all night or are you gonna come in?"

He's bad news wrapped in beautiful packaging, Teegs,I chanted in my head as I ogled his magnificent body.Be wary. Keep your guard up…

Noah pulled himself up to rest on his elbows and I swallowed deeply when the afghan moved lower on his waist, revealing white boxer shorts – fitted and extremelysnugwhite boxer-shorts. "You're letting the heat out, Thorn," he husked, twisting his neck from side to side. He dropped his feet to the ground and sat up before patting the cushion beside him. "Decision time."

Did he just…

How did he…

Hang on, why were my feet moving towards him?

Against my better judgment, I trotted over to couch and lowered myself down.

"Why are you sleeping on the neighbor's couch, Noah?" The question just burst out of me and I worried my lip as I looked at his injured face.

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