I floated through my day, trying to pretend to myself that I wasn't daydreaming about Noah. The night before had been . . . I have no words.

Familiar and yet new.

Back when Noah and I first started having sex, we'd been kids. Over the legal age, but not adults. Not really. What we’d lacked in knowledge, we'd made up for in enthusiasm.

I'd never been disappointed in Noah—not when we were in bed. Still, as good as it had been back then, now, sex with Noah was a whole different ballgame. I felt bad that the phone call had interrupted us that morning. I'd been treated to a spectacular orgasm thanks to Noah’s very talented mouth, and he'd been left with nothing.

I had plans to make it up to him.

He hadn't told me anything about where we were going, so I had no idea what to wear. I'd texted him that afternoon to ask, and his answer had been less than helpful.

There is no dress code. Wear whatever you want.

Noah was great in bed, but sometimes, I thought he didn't know much about women. I settled for a shift dress with spaghetti straps and a V-neckline. It wasn't short, exactly, but it hit a few inches above the knee with a swirly skirt that showed more leg when I moved my hips.

The dress itself wasn't a showstopper, though I thought I looked good in it. No, the real reason I chose it was what I was wearing beneath. I hadn't had much cause to wear lingerie in the past few years. What I was wearing I'd actually purchased a few months before Noah and I had split up, but because he hadn't had time to come home and I'd had a hard time getting out to California, he'd never seen it.

At the memory of our failure at long distance, I felt a twinge of unease.

But we were different people now, weren't we?

If we really wanted to, we could handle this. I needed to believe that was true.

I was touching up my lip gloss in the bathroom mirror when the buzzer at the front door rang. Tossing the lip gloss in a small purse, I grabbed my keys and hit the button on the intercom. "I'll be right down."

I opened the door to see Noah standing outside, wearing a navy blue suit and a blue- and green-patterned tie. Except for his college graduation, I'd never seen Noah in a suit. My mouth went dry at the sight of that lean, built body wrapped up in a perfectly tailored suit.

I liked Noah as he usually was, in his faded jeans and Converse high-tops, but I wouldn't complain if he wanted to dress up every once in a while. Not if this was the result.

I locked the door behind me and turned back to see him staring at me.

"What?"

He recovered himself and slid an arm around my waist to lead me to the car, parked just up the block in the entrance to the alley.

"You look beautiful," he said.

Warmth flushed my cheeks. "Thank you."

I let Noah open my door and help me into the car. As he pulled back out into the street, I asked, “Where are we going?"

"Not far," he said. Still being mysterious.

A few minutes later, we pulled into the lower parking deck of the Four Seasons Hotel. I expected Noah to head for the restaurant, not the elevators.

"Is there someplace to eat up here?" I asked.

Looking a little nervous, Noah swallowed hard and said, “There is."

I got it a few minutes later when Noah led me into his suite. I might have been annoyed at him for making assumptions, but we’d slept together the night before, and it's not like that was the first time. Besides, he'd gone to a lot of effort.

There were flowers everywhere, roses, lilies, and the Gerber daisies I'd always loved best. A bottle of champagne sat chilling in an ice bucket beside two crystal glasses. The desk had been turned into an elegant dining table, complete with a linen tablecloth, fine china, and a chair on either side. Tucked against the wall of the sitting room, I spotted a room service cart stacked with covered dishes.

In explanation, Noah said, "I wanted to be alone with you. I didn't want to share you with an entire restaurant, and room service here is very accommodating. But if you'd rather go out—"

“No, this is beautiful. Thank you."

"Are you hungry?" Noah asked.

Was I? I wasn't sure I could tell. My senses were so focused on his nearness, the scent of the flowers, and the effort he’d put into making dinner special. I shrugged one shoulder.

"If you’re hungry, I could eat."

"Okay. First, I wanted to give you this."

Noah disappeared into the bedroom of the suite and returned a moment later with an unsealed envelope in his hand. His shoulders were tense, his eyes flicking from the envelope to me and back again.

He was nervous. My stomach tightened in anticipation of bad news.

I opened the envelope and drew out two pieces of paper, the contents familiar but entirely unexpected. It was a course schedule for spring semester. The exact classes I'd been enrolled in before I'd been forced to drop out. I turned the class schedule over in my hands, trying to understand, and saw the sheet of paper beneath. A statement from the bursar's office showing the semester's tuition had been paid, including living expenses and a dining card.

I stared at the papers, my chest tight. Looking up at Noah, I asked, “What is this? What did you do?"

Noah shoved his hands in his pockets. "I enrolled you in school and paid your tuition."

"But . . . you can't do that. Why would you do that?"

"Because I love you, Ella. Because I can. I'm sure that you’re an amazing nanny for Vance and Maggie. But that’s not what you should be doing with your life. You belong back in school."

"I know that. I know, and I've been working on it. You didn't have to—"

"I know I didn't have to," Noah exploded, yanking his hands out of his pockets and throwing them out to his sides. "And I know you probably don't want my money. I don't care. This isn't a loan. This is a gift. For you. Because I love you and I want you to be happy."

"Noah," I said, and trailed off. I didn't know how to take it in. Ever since I'd dropped out, ever since I'd realized how hard it was to pay off the loans, getting back to school had felt like a pipe dream. No matter how determined I was, with every day that passed, it seemed further out of reach.

And now, Noah had handed me back my dreams.

"Look, there are no strings, okay? If you want to walk out that door, if you decide this isn't going to work and you never want to see me again, I still have your tuition paid until you graduate. You can throw it in my face and walk away if you want to. As long as you show up for school in January."

I stared down at those two pieces of paper covered in simple black and white print that changed the course of my life. Sometime between that morning and now, while Noah had been handling his own crisis with his company, he’d found the time to give me the one thing I wanted more than anything else.

More than anything . . . except for him.

Carefully, I folded the pages back up and slid them into the envelope. I folded the envelope in thirds and slipped it into my purse, zipping it closed. I knew later, when I was alone, I’d pull them out and stare at them to reassure myself that they were real.

"I don't know what to say. Thank you doesn't seem like enough."

"I thought you'd be mad."

"I'm confused. Not mad. That was a lot of money, Noah. The whole reason you're here is to try to get funding for your company, and then you go and spend all that money on me."

"The money doesn't mean anything, Ella, if I can't use it to give the woman I love her dreams back. Either things will work out with Vance, or they won't. There are other investors. There's only one you.”

I stared at Noah, taking in the sincerity in his eyes and the relief that I wasn't angry. We had a lot to work out between us, but right then, I knew what I wanted. I wanted to say thank you.

"Is dinner going to get cold?" I asked, eyeing the room service cart.

Noah shook his head.

I reached behind me and lowered the zipper on my dress, dipping my right shoulder until the narrow strap fell to my arm and the bodice sagged. As the zipper reached my hips, I dipped my left shoulder and the top of the dress slipped to my waist, revealing a black satin bustier trimmed in matching lace.

With a deliberate shimmy of my hips, I shook off the dress, stepping away from my discarded clothes. I stood there for a moment, loving the way Noah's pupils dilated and his breath grew shallow as he took in the sight of me wearing the black lingerie and spike heels.

I took a step toward him, reaching for the lapels of his suit coat. Before he had a chance to react, I pulled it down over his shoulders. He shook it off, leaving me free to go to work on his tie.

His dark eyes dazed, he said, "Ella, you don't have to . . . I didn't bring you here just so we could—"

"I know I don't have to, Noah. I want to. You had to leave this morning before we could finish. You took care of me, and I never got to take care of you."

He swallowed hard and went to work on the buttons of his shirt. It didn't take long, between the two of us, before he was naked. I looked around the room and got an idea. Noah reached for me, but I swatted his hand away and said, "Here. Come here."

I led him to the open space beside the couch, diagonally across from a full-length mirror. Pressing my hands up to his shoulders, I pushed him back, so he was half leaning against the wall.

Before he could protest, I dropped to my knees. Looking to the side, I saw us reflected in the mirror, head to toe. I knew Noah got it when he looked down at me and then over at the mirror, swearing under his breath.

I had to admit, we made a striking picture, me with my hair up, my lips glossy pink, my breasts spilling out over the black satin bustier, on my knees in front of Noah, his hard cock inches from my mouth.

I licked my lips, watching in the mirror as his chest hitched with a strangled breath and his eyelids lowered over his dark eyes.

Noah towered above me, his posture dominating but oddly still. He had me on my knees, but I was in control. And what a man to have before me, with his tall body, strong legs, defined chest, and the six-pack he'd somehow managed to acquire out in California.

I’d loved him when he was a gangly teenager. Seeing him like this made me dizzy with lust.

Turning my eyes away from the mirror, I put all of my attention where I wanted it. On the thick, very hard cock in front of my mouth. I'd heard girls say they didn't like performing oral sex. Maybe if it were another guy, I wouldn't either. But I'd always loved putting my mouth on Noah.

I started with a kiss. The head of his cock was dark red, a bead of pre-come already rising up to meet my tongue. His balls were drawn tight to his body. He wanted this as much as I did.

I didn't have it in me to tease. Not this time. This time, I just wanted to feel Noah come.

I was way out of practice, but I did my best, taking him in my mouth as far as I could and sucking hard, loving the taste of him, the earthy maleness all wrapped up in Noah’s sea salt and fresh grass scent.

He was mine. This cock was mine. I cupped his balls in one hand and wrapped the other tightly around the base of his cock, smoothing the moisture from my mouth up and down his length, so my hand slid easily as I sucked him.

Above me, Noah groaned my name and sank his fingers into my hair, sending pins flying. The long strands tumbled down my back. He held them out of my face, staring down at me with hungry, hot eyes.

I glanced to the side to catch sight of us in the mirror, and my pussy flooded with heat. He wasn't looking at the mirror. —he was looking down at me, his breathing ragged, his hips starting to jerk, thrusting his cock against the back of my throat.

I'd never been able to take him all the way, and I couldn’t do it now, so out of practice. Noah tightened his grip on my head and tried to pull me back. I sucked harder, refusing to be budged.

I wanted him out of control.

I wanted him overwhelmed.

I needed him to lose himself in me.

His cock pulsed in my mouth, spilling salty heat over my tongue. I swallowed hard, again and again, working his length with my mouth until he was done.

His breath was still short when I lay a last kiss on his cock and wobbled to my feet. I hadn't come, but I was seriously turned on.

I'd had more orgasms in the last twenty-four hours than I'd had in the previous twenty-four months, and I wanted more. I was greedy for Noah. I had been since that first kiss in Vance and Maggie’s kitchen. I was beginning to understand that I would always be greedy for Noah. His heart, his mind, and his body.

"Dinner?" I asked.

In a low voice, Noah said, "Only if you're wearing that."

"I'm definitely wearing this," I said.

I expected Noah to grab a robe or put on his boxers, but he did neither. Totally comfortable with being stark naked, he opened the champagne, poured two glasses, and sat me at the table, holding out my chair as if we were in a fine restaurant.

Dinner was sushi, and even after our distraction, it was at the perfect serving temperature. Just like he still knew my favorite coffee house drink was chai tea, Noah hadn't forgotten a single one of my favorite sushi rolls. He'd even managed to get Toro sashimi, the strips of fatty tuna an indulgent luxury we'd rarely been able to afford when we were college students.

The meal was a flashback, so much like all the other meals we'd shared before that I had the odd sense of being in a time warp. We ate off each other's plates and told each other about our days, laughing at stupid things no one else would find funny.

Noah was cagey when I brought up Philip Martin, insisting that he had the situation under control. When I asked him what he’d done, he admitted, "I'm not doing anything. If I protest or try to set the record straight, it just gives Philip more ammunition. I need to stay focused and not let him distract me."

"But will he stop?" I asked. “What will you do if all of this changes Vance and Maggie’s minds about investing in Endicott Tech?"

Noah shrugged and looked away. "It would be inconvenient, but not the end of the world. We'll figure it out. I don't want to talk about work tonight."

"Do you want to talk about us?" I asked, my heart pounding in my chest. I wasn't sure I was ready to talk about us, but if I didn't face reality, I was no better than the girl who let Noah slip through her fingers two years before.

"That depends on how the talk goes," he said, a hesitantly flirty glint in his eyes.

"I want to know how you see this working," I said. "It's going to be over a year before I can leave Atlanta for good. Your life is in California."

"It's not going to be easy," Noah admitted. "I already hate the idea of leaving you. But I can't abandon my people. We have too much on the line."

"Noah, I don't expect you to walk away from everything you've built out there. I guess I just want some kind of guarantee that you're not going to run out of here and forget about me."

"Ella, I could never forget about you. That's not what happened back then. I just did a shitty job of balancing work and you. I know better now. Whatever happens with the business, I can afford to travel back and forth. I’ll make the time. When you're on school break, I'll fly you out. If you think you want to relocate, you'll want to spend time out there anyway, get to know people, see if you like the house or if you want to move. We can start building a life together if that's what you want."

"It is what I want," I said, my heart in my throat.

Saying those words was a head-first dive off the side of a skyscraper, desperately hoping Noah would swoop through the air and save me before the concrete below smashed me to bits.

The last time we'd been here, he'd said all the right words, just like he was now. Then he'd gotten on a plane and gradually forgotten about me.

I wanted to believe that wouldn't happen this time.

I wanted to believe things would be different.

My heart trusted Noah, but my head was already having second thoughts.

I shoved those second thoughts aside for the rest of the night. Only time would tell, and doubting Noah now wasn't going to help.

He fed me half of the chocolate cake that was my favorite dessert before leading me to bed where he finally unhooked the bustier, stripped off the satin thong, and made love to me, thoroughly, twice. Like I had the night before, I fell asleep in his arms, lulled by the familiar comfort of his heartbeat.

And exactly like the morning before, the ring of his phone interrupted just as we were getting to the good stuff.

I had his cock in my hand, his fingers between my legs, and his mouth on my breast when his phone went crazy. Beeping, then ringing, then beeping again. He ignored it until the room phone joined in. Rolling away, growling "Fuck," under his breath, Noah snagged the phone off the bedside table and said, "What?"

Whatever he heard on the other end must have been bad, because his face drained of color and he sat up in a rush of movement that yanked the sheets from my body and sent his pillows flying to the floor. His spine was as stiff as his voice as he said, "Uh-huh. Uh-huh. Yeah, okay. Do what you can to contain the situation. I'll call you back later."

"Noah, what's going on? Is everything okay?" I asked stupidly since it was clear something was very much not okay.

Noah stood, not meeting my eyes, and strode for the bathroom. "I'm good. I need to take a shower. Everything's fine, but I'm going to have to get to work."

I pulled the sheet back to cover me. “What happened? Who was that?”

Noah stopped outside the bathroom door, his face blank, eyes shuttered. “It was Dave, the lead on the drone project.”

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing, Ella. Just a bug in the software.” He drummed his fingers against the door frame, impatient to get moving.

“He wouldn't have called that many times over a bug. Why are you lying to me?”

Noah flinched, fear flashing from his eyes before he got himself under control and said, “I’m not lying, Ella. Everything's fine. I just need to get to work, okay?”

I watched him disappear into the bathroom with narrowed eyes. He was lying. He knew it, and I knew it.

Noah had always been a shitty liar, not that he’d made a habit of being dishonest. He was one of the most moral men I knew, which was probably why he was so bad at hiding the truth.

Sitting in the middle of the big bed, holding the sheet to my chest, I felt dismissed. Unnecessary. In the way.

Whatever was wrong, it was obvious that Noah didn't want to talk about it. I didn't expect him to tell me everything. He had a right to keep things to himself. I knew that. That didn't help the sense that things were sliding out of my control once again.

This was how it had started before. Everything was good, and then Noah was too busy for me. Too busy to talk. Too busy to let me in.

Slowly, I got out of the bed and started pulling on my clothes. I had to have a little faith in him. I couldn't doubt him every time things didn't go perfectly or we wouldn't make it a month.

By the time he got out of the shower, I was dressed, my purse in hand, ready to go.

Noah barely looked at me. "Sorry about this,” he said in a rush. “I'll run you home."

"I can get an Uber," I offered, hoping he didn't take me up on it. It wouldn't take him long to drive me home, and calling for an Uber in last night's cocktail dress felt too much like the walk of shame.

I was already feeling pushed aside. I wasn't up to that.

"No, I've got you," Noah said.

He drove a little too fast on the way back to Vance's loft, clearly eager to drop me off and start dealing with whatever crisis had popped up, a crisis he was determined not to share.

His kiss goodbye was perfunctory and distracted. I tried not to take it as a sign of things to come, but it was hard.

My heart ached, and my head butted in, always eager to say, I told you so.