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Except she wasn’t his, that was the problem.

Nevertheless, he couldn’t stop smiling. Claire Bennett had trusted him enough to let her guard down, and Noah understood what a rare thing that was.

He resisted the urge to tuck the strand of hair falling in her face behind her ear. He couldn’t risk waking her up. And that would be too much.

He considered waking her and walking her across the hall. But Claire had been running herself exhausted for weeks, and this was the most peaceful he had seen her.

He left a glass of water on the table, made sure the blanket covered her shoulders, and quietly went to his room.

Maybe he should have woken her. He knew he probably should have.

But he liked having her there far too much to make her leave.

CHAPTER 11

The Offer

The next morning, Claire woke up completely disoriented.

She sat up, memories of the night before hitting her. She had fallen asleep on Noah’s couch. And apparently, he just let her sleep there all night.

She realized she was wrapped in a blanket she knew she didn’t have when they were watching the movie. Biscuit was curled up at her feet.

She looked around. No Noah.

It was then she noticed the glass of water and the note on the coffee table. “Didn’t want to wake you. Coffee in the kitchen. Be back soon. -Noah”

“Biscuit,” Claire groaned, “I’m going to need your dad to stop being so good to me. He’s making this too hard.”

Biscuit said nothing. Of course he said nothing, he couldn’t talk. She really had been spending too much time with Noah.

She let out a small laugh and went to the kitchen to get a cup of coffee. This was getting out of hand. Noah wasn’t even here, and she was casually moving around his kitchen to get her morning coffee.

Next to the coffee pot was a mug waiting for her. Still hot. He couldn’t have been gone long. Of course he made her a cup of coffee.

“This is way too domestic,” she muttered.

Then the door opened. “Good morning, sleepyhead.” Noah grinned at her.

“Where did you go?”

“I got us bagels from the place next door.”

“Noah.” She turned to look at him. “You could have woken me up. My home is literally across the hall.”

“I didn’t want to disturb you.”

“I can’t believe I fell asleep.”

“I told you that you were falling asleep.”

“I was trying to prove you wrong.”

He handed her a bagel. “And how did that go?”

“Shut up,” she mumbled. “Thanks for breakfast. And leaving me coffee.”

“Of course. If there is one thing I know about you, it’s that everyone you encounter is better off when you’ve had coffee,” he teased.