"So that's where you got the tattoo."
It was day nine of our hiatus and Noah had just finished giving me a detailed description of Lucky's makeshift tattoo parlor in prison.
I was still clutching my ribs like I was the one he had butchered and not Noah.
"You were lucky you didn't get septicemia," I told him as I lay on my stomach, watching Noah work out on the floor below.
All he had on were a pair of white fitted boxer shorts, and it was taking everything I had not to leap off the bed and grab his hard tight ass.
"Trust me, Thorn," Noah said, breathless as he continued to punish his body with brutal sit-ups. "Septicemia was the last thing I had to worry about in prison."
"Were you afraid in there?" I asked, resting my chin in my hands.
"It wasn't so much fear as it was it was a sense of impending doom." Noah laid flat on his back for a moment before letting out a sigh and flipping onto his stomach.
Immediately, he started into a set of push-ups.
"Every night I closed my eyes not knowing if I was going to open them in the morning." He tucked his left arm behind his back, and continued to do push-ups using only his right. "I'm a southpaw," he explained, panting slightly. "My right's a weakness in the cage. I need to change that."
"Max is left handed, too."
"You heard from him lately?"
"Not a word." Rolling onto my back, I folded my arms behind my head and sighed. "Last time we spoke, we got into a huge argument. I haven't heard from him since."
"Tell me about it."
"He's always hated my dad," I found myself explaining. "Long before my mother died. Patrick Connolly was never good enough for the good doctor's sister."
"I know that feeling." Noah grunted breathlessly. "Your uncle is a dick, Thorn," he added. "Seriously."
"He's just set in his ways," I replied. "The last time we spoke he told me that loving you was going to get me killed. He refused to make any effort of repairing our relationship because, in his eyes, the moment you were released from prison I was going to fall into your arms and he would rather say goodbye to me then." Sighing, I added, "It was our worst fight. I've never heard him so mad."
Noah was silent.
"Of course, I told him he was wrong," I quickly reassured him.
Rolling back onto my stomach, I watched Noah as he continued to do push-ups.
"Say something," I whispered, noticing his darkened expression.
"He's right," Noah growled. "I've always been the worst kind of wrong for you."
Climbing to his feet, Noah stretched his huge arms over his head and I had to force myself not to drool at the sight of this beautiful man.
Reaching up over our bed, Noah caught ahold of the one of the beams joining the four posts of the bed together and hoisted himself up.
"Hit me."
"What?" I settled on my knees, watching Noah pull himself up with his legs tucked behind him, ankles lock together.
"Hit me," he repeated, tone serious. "Every time I lower myself down, I want you to hit me in the stomach."
"And why on earth would I do that?"
"Tightens my core."
Lowering himself back down, he dangled in front of me until I gave in and lightly slapped his stomach.
"Harder."
I slapped him again, much harder this time.
Noah's response was a grunt of approval.
For the next fifteen minutes, Noah continued to do chin ups and I continued to slap him in silent harmony.
"I was late," I blurted out, breaking the contented silence between us.
Noah's brows furrowed but he didn't stop moving.
"When I got home to Ireland, I missed a period." Resting back on my knees, I felt my cheeks turning a deep shade of red.
I had no idea why I was talking about something that had happened so many years ago, only that I wanted him to know everything about me.
I wanted to fill him in on every single detail of my life from the moment we parted to the moment we reunited.
"Thought I was pregnant." Pulling at an invisible thread on the bedspread, I looked up at his face and said, "Turned out that I wasn't, but I got one hell of a fright."
"Because you thought you were pregnant with my baby?" He froze midair, eyes locked on mine, giving nothing away. "Because you thought you had a convicted felon's seed growing inside you?"
"Because I was eighteen and terrified," I corrected him. "And you weren't with me."
"Fair enough." Dropping onto his feet, Noah cracked his neck from side to side before walking over to the window sill. "But I thought about you all the time."
I swallowed deeply. "You did?"
"I did." Pressing his hands against the sill, Noah stretched himself out. "Before I got up. After I went to bed. When I showered. During mealtimes." A popping noise filled the room and Noah groaned loudly. "I thought of nothing else." He twisted his neck from side to side. "Only you."
Sighing heavily, I rubbed the skin over my heart. "I missed you so much."
He turned his face to look at me. "How much?"
"Enough to lose my inhibitions when you finally came back for me and not take precautions," I admitted guiltily. "I should probably go about getting put on something," I offered lamely. We'd taken too many risks as it stood. "You know…for safety's sake."
Noah's eyes were blazing with sincerity and heat when he said, "I'm clean, Thorn."
Walking over to where I was kneeling, Noah tossed himself down on his back.
"We're given mandatory three-month blood tests because of the amount of blood we shed in the cage." He turned his head to look at me. "And I've never been with a woman bareback before you or since you."
"I'm not talking about preventing STI's." Turning onto my side, I cupped his cheek with my hand and smiled. "I meant preventing little Noah and Teagan's running around the place."
"What were you thinking of getting?"
"I don't know," I confessed, feeling stupid for being a twenty-five-year-old woman and clueless.
Aside from one regrettable night with Liam in which I knew for a fact we'd used a condom – I'd seen the evidence the following morning, tossed carelessly on his bedroom floor, not to mention the dreadful latex rash that had followed – Noah was the only man I'd ever been with.
Back when we were in high school, Noah had always taken care of it. He'd bought the condoms. He'd disposed of them afterwards. He'd kept me safe. We'd only ever had one close call and even then he'd protected me.
It was during Christmas break of senior year. I had snuck out of the house behind Max's back to be with him. We'd taken Noah's car up to our usual make-out spot on South Peak Road.
Things had gone a little far and before we'd known it, we were having sex right there on the mountain side in his Lexus.
The condom had broken and I remembered saying, in my orgasm induced frenzy, to keep going.
But Noah had immediately pulled out of me. Even though it must have killed him to do it, he stopped and told me that he wasn't going to risk my future by being selfish with me.
"I've never been on birth control. I've never had to…" My words trailed off as I pondered the notion. "Hope takes the contraceptive pill – for menstrual cramps - but it wrecks her cycle. And I really don't like the thought of putting a rod in my arm or having bimonthly injections."
"Then I'll take care of it," Noah offered after a long pause. Leaning closer, he brushed his lips against mine. "First thing tomorrow, I'll run out and grab a pack of condoms."
"And tonight?"
"I've already had you twice today." He smirked. "What's another night?"
"Okay," I teased. "Make sure you read the label when you're buying them tomorrow." I waggled my brows. "But don’t forget to buy the…"
"Latex free ones," Noah filled in. "The blue box – not the green." Smirking he added, "Yeah, I remember, Thorn."
"I was going to say don’t forget to buy extra-large," I shot back, blushing, feeling both embarrassed and aroused that he remembered something so intimate about our past.
Noah frowned. "What color box are those?"
"I don’t know." I shrugged. "Just read the label."
"If there's reading involved then you better come with me."
"Why so?"
"Because I can't read good," he replied with a yawn. "I'm dumb, babe, you know that. All I'm good at is using my fists."
"No you're not," I all but roared. "Don't you dare call yourself dumb."
"Calm down," he chuckled. "This isn't a new thing. I've always been like this."
"Why didn't you tell me before?"
"I guess it never came up before."
"What about school?"
"In case it passed your attention, Thorn, I didn't do too good at school." Chuckling, he added, "I missed a lot of school. Hell, I didn't even go to mainstream school until I was seven, and even then we moved around so much I never really got a chance to settle down and get my teeth into it. I didn't have time to learn. I was too busy training to fight. I was fifteen before we settled down long enough for me to actually spend an entire year in one school, and by then I didn't care. I was hooked on the gym. I thought school was pointless, and I only went for a break from George and his shit. I was every teacher's worst nightmare."
"Noah, you're not stupid."
He shrugged. "Yeah, well, it doesn't matter now. I have the basics – and it's not like I'm gonna need books or anything in my career."
"I can help you," I offered.
"No thanks," he snorted.
"Noah, I'm serious." Kneeling on the bed in front of him, I pitched my plan. "I want to do this for you. You deserve better than this. You are one of the smartest men I know. You can do anything you put your mind to. Come on, I have faith in you. You're badass."
"Fine," he grumbled. "Get the fucking kindle."
Noah read exceptionally slow.
He paused.
He fell over his words.
He threw the kindle down more times than he held it, but he didn't give up.
He kept going, and I found myself having to suppress the urge to jump on him every time he sounded out a word that he wasn't familiar with.
And that's how we spent the rest of our day; taking turns reading passages from Hope's raunchy novel.