Page 31 of The Workaholic Down the Hall

He cut me off by pressing his lips to mine. His hand slipped down over my butt, pulling me still tighter against him. I moaned, because it felt so good, and he took the opportunity to slip his tongue into my mouth and kiss me like he'd been starving for me. I kissed him back, because I couldn't not kiss him, no matter how many warning bells were going off in my brain.

He slipped his hand under my shirt and traced circles on my skin as he moved around to my belly and started working up toward—

The doorbell rang and we both froze. I pulled away first, feeling dazed and lost. “Who?”

Noah didn't seem to need a moment. He hoped out of bed and pulled on his jeans and t-shirt over the boxers he'd worn to bed. I sighed wishing I'd been awake for that. “I'll get rid of them,” he said. He didn't look at me and I knew he regretted kissing me, was probably relieved we'd been interrupted.

I got out of bed. At least last night, I'd had the foresight to change into a t-shirt and pajama pants before he'd started the movie. I pulled a sweatshirt on over the t-shirt and followed Noah downstairs. Even if he did get rid of whoever was at the door, we wouldn't be going back to bed.

***

I walked into the living room and Noah's gaze landed on me, his smile widening. “There she is,” he said. “The lady of honor.”

“What?”

“May and Mom are throwing you a baby shower. Sounds like it'll be a real blow-out.”

“You'll find out,” May said from her seat on the couch. “You're invited, too.”

Noah's smile fell. “What? Baby showers are for women.”

“Not this one,” May said. “Bart and Cody and Mom's boyfriend will be there.”

“I'll be there, too,” George said. He was standing near the front door and the look he gave May held some meaning I couldn't decipher. She studiously ignored him.

“Will I have cell phone access?” Noah asked.

May nodded. “You each will be given thirty minutes of unrestricted cell phone access.”

“I'm in,” Noah said.

All eyes turned to me, as though waiting for a response. “I didn't realize I had any choice about this.”

May grinned. “Oh, no. You don't. We're just trying to be polite. Maybe act a bit more excited, though, since this party is for you.”

“Yay,” I said, deadpan.

May and George gave me and Noah time to shower, dress, and eat a quick bowl of cereal, and then we all piled into May's car.

We didn't go to the bed and breakfast, as I'd expected. May parked in front of a lovely Craftsman-style home. “The party's not at Nora's Inn?” I asked.

“We've got guests at the bed and breakfast,” May said. “Cody and Carrie agreed to host the party here.”

I walked with Noah to the porch and the front door swung open to reveal Carrie, holding a phone out to each of us. “Nora's not here, yet, so we might be able to get you a little extra time to connect to the outside world.” She handed us the phones and paused. “How are you two doing?”

“We're—” I was interrupted by the sound of a child's scream and a door slamming.

Carrie sighed. “I should probably make sure no one is bleeding.” She looked over my shoulder at May. “Can you get them set up in the guest room?”

Carrie disappeared inside. Noah stepped to the side to let May go in first and she led us through a lovely home, decorated with cozy furnishings and kids' toys.

May took us downstairs and opened the door to a small, but tidy guest bedroom. “You should be safe down here for a while. We smuggled you in a laptop, too.”

“Thanks,” Noah said. His eyes were already on the laptop as he hurried into the room. May left us and shut the door as she went.

Noah sat at a small desk and turned the computer on. I got cozy on the bed and looked over my emails. I hadn't missed much in the day and a half since I'd last checked. I answered a couple and then I clicked over to a stock market app to check on my stocks.

“Do you need the computer?” Noah asked.

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