He was tired of fighting. Tired of living alone.
Tired of being scared.
And whenever he was with Ziggy, all of that went quiet. It didn’t disappear. It just went still.
Her fingers dug into his shoulders, and she kissed him back like she meant it. Like she had no intention of going anywhere.
Knock. Knock.
“Noah? Are you in there?” Henreitta, Ziggy’s mother’s voice rang out.
Ziggy buried her face in his neck.
“Yeah. I’ll be out shortly,” he managed.
“I was just looking for Ziggy. Is she with you?” Henreitta asked.
“Yup. Give us a couple of minutes. Just discussing a work thing.”
A few seconds later, the sound of heels clicking down the hallway echoed off the walls.
He rolled to his side, offering Ziggy his hand.
She pinched his side… really hard.
“Ouch. What did you do that for?”
She jumped off the bed and slipped her feet into her heels. “You understand how my mother can be. Knowing that I was in your bedroom, with the door closed, and didn’t answer? That’s just going to give her all the reasons she needs to shove us at each other.”
“You were just in my arms in my bed.” He winked. “And is it so bad to be pushed in my direction?”
“I’m confused, conflicted, and too old for your games.” She stepped around him and headed toward the door.
He moved in front of her. “I’m not playing anything. Letting you walk out that door five years ago was a mistake. I thought I was protecting you from my past, but I’ve never done that, now have I?”
“I didn’t need you to protect me then, and I don’t need it now. Not from that anyway.” She side-stepped him and curled her fingers around the door. “As far as us goes? I won’t deny I still care about you. That’s obvious. But there’s been too many what’s her names in your recent history for one kiss to let me forget that you’re a player with more commitment issues than either of my brothers ever had.”
She closed her eyes for a moment and sucked in a deep breath. “You give me whiplash, especially this time of year and honestly, what happens when we get past it? Because the last time I let you in, you broke my heart.” She opened the door and was out of his room faster than he could make his lips move.
Not once in the last five years had she ever mentioned he’d crushed her that way. Sure, he wasn’t a total asshole. He suspected it was more than she’d let on because it had killed him. But they’d muddled through it and remained friends.
Good ones.
But he hadn’t simply hurt the woman who’d just left his bedroom. He’d taken a piece of her heart, and she’d never fully recovered. It would take some doing to show her he was man enough to make it right.
3
Ziggy squeezed the folder under her arm against her ribs. Damn thing was going to leave a mark if she held it any tighter. But it was better than spilling one of the coffee mugs in her hands.
She looked through the glass panel, like she'd done a million times before. Only this morning was different because Noah had gone and changed everything.
Again.
He sat at his desk, jacket on, his gaze fixed on his laptop with that razor-sharp focus he had. Noah had two speeds.
Work and sleep.
The floor-to-ceiling bookshelves behind him were lined with titles she'd watched accumulate over the years—organized in whatever system lived in his head and nowhere else.