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DINAH
I grinned at Fi and we knocked back a shot together. It was such a small world that Riley of all people would know Fiona Gallagher and end up marrying her. I couldn’t believe the insane story she just told me. The publishing world was a bit small, so a lot of us in the YA world knew each other. I loved Fi’s sci-fi books, but I didn’t think I would have ever been a good sci-fi writer.
“So what are you gonna do?” I asked her.
She shrugged and then winced as the shot burned down her throat. “He wants to stick it out. I agreed to try it for a couple months, but I don’t know. Maybe it was a dumb idea?”
I rested my hand on my chin to think. Her situation was weird, but when I glanced over and watched Riley and Noah playing beer pong together, I saw the way he looked at her. “This sounds like the plot of a romance novel,” I mused.
She tipped back her head and laughed. “Shit, girl, you’re right.”
I smiled. “Course, I am!”
She nudged me as she caught me staring across the room at my boyfriend. Noah caught my gaze and his lips turned up in a smile before his attention went back to the game. Fi was pouring another round of shots for us, and Mia had walked back into the kitchen to do them with us.
“Missed you at the game today!” Mia cried when I handed her the book for her sister. She hugged me tight.
“I had to get work done. Noah insisted,” I explained with a smile.
“Ugh, they are so sickeningly cute,” Mia groaned to Fi with an eye roll.
Fi smiled. “So, Noah’s your boy, huh?”
I smiled back at her.
The three of us clicked our shot glasses together and took it together. I didn’t usually drink this much, but I was celebrating finally having finished my big picture edits. Plus, Fi looked stressed like she needed this too. I wondered if she was also on deadline, I kind of recognized that stressed out writer look on her face.
“You think he’s a bit young for me, don’t you?” I asked Fi.
Mia twirled her blonde hair around her finger and rolled her eyes at me. “Who, Noah? D, no one cares about that shit.”
Fi grinned and pointed at Mia. “She’s got a point.”
I frowned, but didn’t say anything else because Noah came into the kitchen to grab a beer out of the fridge. He eyed the vodka bottle in front of the three of us and the lined up shot glasses. “You okay, Lovey?”
My heart nearly melted when he called me that. God, he was so cute. I felt Fi pinching my side teasingly. Already I liked this brazen girl and I had a feeling her and Riley were going to make it. She seemed perfect for him. I batted her away with my hand, and smiled up at Noah. “Good. Just celebrating finishing those edits,” I explained.
He leaned down to my height and kissed my cheek. “I’m proud of you.”
I shooed him away.
He smiled and pulled away but very slowly. He was such a tease.
“Damn,” Fi breathed. “That boy loves you.”
Mia was nodding her head in agreement, but then she walked away when Hallsy came over. He wrapped an arm around her and said something in her ear that made her laugh. It made me smile to see two people who got together when they were just kids still so in love.
“So when can I get my hands on your book?” Fi asked.
I was shocked. “You want to read it?”
She gave me a confused look. “I love YA contemporary, of course! I don’t know if I’ll ever write in it, but it’s like my favorite thing to read.”
I laughed. “Oh my god, I feel the same way about sci-fi! When’s the last book in your trilogy coming out?”
She groaned. “Just handed in the first draft. Riley’s been begging me to read it. I think it’s a pile of garbage.”
“It’s a first draft!”
She nodded. “I know. I lost a lot of time with my wedding, but like the night before we came back I got inspired and Riley basically told me to go write. It was really nice of him. My ex would always complain I was more into my book than into him.”
I grinned at her. “Noah’s really supportive of my writing too. He forbid me from coming to the game today because he knew I needed to get work done.”
She put a hand on her heart. “Oh my god, girl! Did you build that man in a factory?”
I shrugged with a smile on my lips. “I’ve thought the same thing. He’s such a good guy.”
Then her eyes got a sparkle to them and she suggested, “We should challenge each other to write in the other’s genre. Maybe for NaNoWRiMO!”
“Oh! That’s an awesome idea!”
We clinked water glasses and lapsed into silence. I knew Fi was local, so we ran into each other at book events, but I had no idea that she knew Aaron Riley! I leaned across the kitchen island and saw Noah and TJ high-fiving, clearly they had won their game of beer pong against Riley and Metzy. Noah was grinning wide and TJ was laughing with his full body like he always did.
Riley crossed the room to come over to talk to Fi, and she teased him about losing. I side-eyed him as his hand came around her waist and he pulled her into his side. Yeah, they might have gotten married on whim and for a dumb reason, but the chemistry nearly sizzled off of them. Those two were so in it for the long haul, but I didn’t think they realized it yet.
I decided to get out of the way and go into the living room. I flopped down onto the couch, and wasn’t that surprised when Noah sunk into it next to me. He put an arm around me from behind the back of the couch and I slid down to nestle into his side. There was a buzzing in my head from all the shots I had done, it made my chest feel all warm and fuzzy.
I hadn’t even realized I had closed my eyes until Noah asked, “You tired, Lovey?”
I shook my head and slowly opened my eyes. “It’s just the alcohol.”
He chuckled, and scratched a hand through his growing beard. “How many shots did you have?”
I shrugged. “Too many!”
He squeezed my shoulder and pulled me closer. TJ came over to us and started chatting Noah up about how the team was doing. Talking about special teams and their penalty kill, most of which I agreed with, but my head was buzzing so I didn’t feel like agreeing with him.
TJ kicked my foot. “Hey, you alive?”
I shook my head. “Nope. I is dead.”
“Some writer you are,” he mused with a laugh.
I stuck out my tongue.
I felt Noah’s laugh bubbling up and vibrating in his chest next me, and TJ just shook his head. “You two are so sickeningly cute.”
I smiled. “That’s what Mia said.”
Noah’s smile was sheepish, and I got the feeling it made him a little embarrassed. Huh. Then he scratched his beard with his fingernails and just smiled wider and pulled me into his lap.
I laughed and leaned my head in the crook of his neck.
TJ made a gagging face. “Disgusting!”
Mia who was standing behind him talking with Hallsy shot us a grin. “Aw, they’re so cute. You’re just jealous, T!” she teased.
TJ shook his head.
Huh. I wondered if TJ was still broken up about that girl he had told us about the other night. He hadn’t said anything since, and I hadn’t seen any girl around here tonight hanging off his every word.
As the night went on Noah and I mingled with everyone else, and I helped him clean up as people started filing out. TJ had already passed out on the couch. I put a pillow under his head and a throw blanket on top of him.
“Aw, don’t baby him,” Noah scolded me.
I grinned as I looked over at him. “I can’t help but ‘mom’ him a little.”
He frowned a little at my choice of words. I walked into the kitchen and started helping with the dishes. “Oh, come on, don’t do that,” he groaned.
“Just let me.”
His warm presence came up behind me, his big hands running down my back and then up my arms. He pushed my hair away from my right shoulder and bent to kiss my neck. I leaned into it and probably purred a little bit too. “Come on, let’s just get to bed, you look really tired.”
“I am really tired,” I agreed.
I wiped my hands on the hand towel at the sink, and let him pull me toward his bedroom. It was different being in Noah’s bed with him, but I felt bad being here and bothering TJ if I had my whole condo to myself. Noah gave me one of his t-shirts to sleep in and I curled into his side on his bed.
“I think I like your bed better,” he announced.
I looked up at him. “Me too. Plus, I don’t have a roommate.”
“Ah, TJ doesn’t care.”
I glared at him. “I don’t think he wants to hear us having sex. Bad enough I live next door.”
He laughed and kissed my temple. I snuggled more into his chest. He stroked my hair and asked, “Are you too tired?”
“I think your cock might fall off if we have sex again,” I joked.
He pushed me down onto my back and leaned over me, kissing me long and hard. His kisses were aggressive and hungry, kissing me like he needed our lips fused together in order to breathe.
“Is that a challenge?” he asked with a devilish grin on his face.
I slipped my hands up behind his neck and threaded them through his hair. “Um...”
All thoughts seeped out of my brain when he started kissing my neck and his hands were slowly pushing my shirt up my torso. He was smooth as shit, and I kind of loved it. I felt the smile on his lips as he covered my body with kisses that sent tingles down my spine.
Noah’s cock did not, in fact, fall off.
Despite my best efforts to really put it to work.