Smitten Kitten

chapter nineteen

     "I TOTALLY GET IT NOW, you're right, these are amazing."

Noel looks up from behind his thick frames, a coffee hovering just below his lips and his dark hair still tousled with sleep. It's the first time he's torn his gaze from his phone screen since he'd sat on the couch twenty minutes ago, despite all my very convincing calls for him to come back to bed.

He tilts his head. "Are you wearing my boxers?"

I beam and continue strutting around the room, the silken black boxers I'd pulled from the bedroom floor brushing against my bare thighs. I'd considered going for the entire ensemble and grabbing his dress shirt to finish the outfit, but figured I'd more likely catch his attention with more skin than less, and swiped up my bra from the floor instead.

And judging by the way his eyes linger, it works.

I grin. "I mean, they're still super pretentious, don't get me wrong. But I also feel like a high-power CEO in these things. Get my faxes! Karen, make me an appointment! Tell the queen I must reschedule!"

A small smile curves on his face, lighting up all the way to his eyes. "I'm not a CEO, that's my uncle, remember? I do get to sit on the board, though."

I stop in my tracks, frowning. "Shit, really? Damn, bamboozled again. Could you be a darling and pass along his number to me, then?"

When his face immediately falls, I'm laughing. He smooths out his brows with a dry look, and I take this moment of distraction to cross the room and gently steal away his coffee cup, still chuckling. I'm surprised with how easily he lets me.

Instead, he arches his brow. "You know, I said I could make you a cup. You don't have to take mine."

I nod, taking a small sip before setting it down on the tempered glass and stainless steel end table. Noel is quick to lean over and slide a coaster underneath the mug, to which I roll my eyes. Still, I'm undeterred as I steal his divided attention and crawl into his lap, each leg on either side, caging him in underneath me. He's wearing just a soft cotton t-shirt and sweatpants, a side of him that excites me more than any pressed Armani suit, leaving little layers between the two of us.

"You know when a lady calls for you to come back to bed, you should listen to her," I say, reaching to grab his phone with little resistance on his part.

"Where's the lady here?"

"Noel!" I gasp, slapping his chest with the back of my hand. "Is this what you do? Trick girls into bed with you and then be mean to them?"

He tilts his head back. "Wasn't it you who tried to drunkenly grope me from the beginning?"

"Looks like it worked, so whatever." I shrug my shoulders.

His reply is only a muted smile, and a dip of his gaze from my eyes to my cupid's bow, communicating more than words ever could. I take his face in my palms and pull him close to me, already missing the warmth of his mouth on mine despite the night's worth of kisses we'd already shared. His lips are soft and familiar in an oddly comforting way, moving against mine with a natural sense of style that's too easy to get lost in.

Meaning, I'm surprised when he pulls away, eyes wide. "Cleopatra."

I crinkle my nose. "Listen, I'm a pretty open-minded person, but I don't think this is the type of roleplay I can get behind."

His eyes immediately re-calibrate into a deadpan. "If we're both here, there's no one to feed Cleopatra. We have to go back to Mark's."

"Isn't she smart enough to feed herself? Isn't that why you bought one of those fancy leopard cats in the first place?"