Page 53 of Before We Break

I feign a gasp. “Wow. My daughter, the traitor.”

“Well, we know I don’t get my acting skills from you.”

No, that would be her father. He did a great job pretending he liked me just to get in my pants. A little late-night internet stalking says he’s still living in our hometown, still working for his parents, and divorced from his second wife. He knows Lexi exists, but he’s never wanted anything to do with us, and that’s how I like it.

“You’re all a bunch of… meddling meddlers, and I hate you.”

Quinn scoffs. “Rude.”

“Something tells me, with a man like Noah, you won’t need any acting skills,” Callie mutters, nudging me with her elbow.

Lexi grimaces. “Ok. Gross.”

My cheeks heat at the reminder of what happened last night.

“You’re blushing!” Callie steals a chocolate chip cookie from the tea tray and takes a bite. “You like him. Like… really like him.”

“And judging by last night, he likes you too,” Quinn says under her breath. She does a weird, suggestive eyebrow raise twice in quick succession.

I shake my head and motion for her to stop talking, but it’s too late.

Callie’s already poised and ready for me to spill the beans with her head propped in her hand, her eyes wide with anticipation. She pops the rest of the cookie into her mouth and swipes the crumbs off her hands. “Lexi. Out.”

Lexi rolls her eyes and sets Annie on Quinn’s lap, leaving the room. I grab the playpen from the closet and set it up for the twins with a few toys and their favorite blankets. Alice fusses when I put her down, but then she lies on her blanket and closes her eyes. A few minutes later, Annie lies next to her.

When I slump back on the sofa, Callie says, “Tell me everything.”

So, I do. Once I start, I can’t seem to stop. I tell her about my new vibrator—with the clit teaser and multiple vibration settings—I splurged on after I almost kissed Noah, and then I tell her about the way he called out my name at the end of it all, like he’d been doing exactly what I had only seconds before.

After all of that, nobody says a word.

I gape at her. “Well?”

“That’s it? Mutual masturbation? Me and Jaxon do that all the time. I thought you were going to tell me you two fucked or something. I was waiting for the part of the story where he stormed into your apartment and asked you to sit on his face. Honestly, it was a bit anti-climactic.”

I open my mouth to speak, but there’s a knock at the door.

As I stride to answer it, Callie calls out, “Congrats on the orgasm, though.”

I swing the door open, and Noah appears. My eyes widen, and I go stock-still.

Don’t move. Maybe he won’t see you.

He glances past me. “Am I interrupting something?”

“What? Oh. Uh. No.”

“Hey, Noah,” Quinn calls. “You’re just in time.”

I turn and give her a warning glare, gritting my teeth and drawing a sharp line across my neck with my hand.

“In time for what?” he asks, following me farther into the apartment.

“Settle a debate. Sex toys. Friend or foe?”

My cheeks heat, and I wish I could disappear.

Noah leans against the wall between the kitchen and living room, looking effortlessly sexy in his usual jeans and tee. The sound of his gruff voice calling my name replays in my mind, and my stomach swoops.