Chapter 5: Harder to Pretend

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Maya spent the entire next day telling herself she would lock the door.

She unpacked the last of the boxes. She answered three client emails. She went for a run that did nothing to burn off the restless energy under her skin. By the time the sun started dropping, her resolve was already thinning.

At 9:30 she showered, pulled on an old sleep shirt that barely covered the tops of her thighs, and left the door unlocked.

Noah showed up at 9:51.

He didn’t knock. He stepped inside, closed the door, and just looked at her for a long second like he was memorizing the sight. Then he crossed the room, slid both hands into her hair, and kissed her like he’d been thinking about it since he left the night before.

Maya melted into it even as she hated how easy it was.

When they finally broke apart, Noah rested his forehead against hers. “You left it unlocked again.”

“Don’t read into it.”

“I’m reading into it.” He kissed the corner of her mouth. “You hungry? I brought food.”

She blinked. “What?”

He held up a paper bag she hadn’t noticed. “Thai. You still like the drunken noodles with extra spice, right?”

The fact that he remembered made something dangerous flutter in her chest. Maya stepped back, arms crossing over the thin shirt. “You didn’t have to do that.”

“I wanted to.” He set the bag on the small kitchen counter that still only held a coffee maker and a single cutting board. “We can eat. Or we can skip straight to me being inside you again. Your call.”

Her body voted for the second option immediately. Her brain tried to hold the line.

“Food first,” she said.

Noah’s smile was slow and knowing. “Food first.”

They ate sitting on the mattress because Maya still didn’t have a table. Noah sat with his back against the wall, long legs stretched out, and watched her more than he watched his own food. Every time their knees brushed, heat sparked up her leg.

“You’re staring,” she muttered.

“You’re worth staring at.” He took another bite, unbothered. “You always ate like you were in a hurry. Still do.”

Maya slowed her chopsticks deliberately. “People change.”

“Some things don’t.” His voice stayed light, but his eyes were serious. “You still get that little crease between your eyebrows when you’re overthinking.”

She forced the crease away. “I’m not overthinking.”

“You’re already planning how to kick me out the second we’re done.”

The accuracy of it stung. Maya set her container down. “I told you what this is.”

“I know what you told me.” Noah put his food aside too and reached out, brushing his thumb across her lower lip. “I’m just not sure you believe it anymore.”

She could have argued. Instead she leaned in and kissed him so she wouldn’t have to answer.

Noah let her take control for exactly ten seconds. Then he rolled them, settling between her thighs, and the kiss turned deeper, filthier. His hand slid under the sleep shirt and found her bare. No underwear. His low groan vibrated against her mouth.

“Fuck, Maya.” He dragged two fingers through her wetness. “Already like this for me?”

She arched into his hand. “Shut up and take your clothes off.”

He did. Hoodie and joggers gone in seconds. Maya pushed him onto his back and straddled him, dragging her wetness along the hard length of his cock without letting him inside yet. Noah’s hands gripped her hips hard enough to bruise.

“You’re playing with me,” he said, voice strained.

“You can take it.”

She kept teasing until his jaw was tight and his fingers flexed restlessly on her skin. Only then did she reach for the condom he’d tossed onto the mattress, roll it on him, and sink down in one slow, controlled slide.

Both of them exhaled like they’d been holding their breath.

Maya planted her hands on his chest and started to move. Slow at first, rolling her hips the way she liked, taking him deep every time. Noah watched her face with an intensity that made her feel exposed. His hands slid up to cup her breasts under the shirt, thumbs stroking her nipples in time with her rhythm.

“Look at you,” he murmured. “Riding me like you own it. So fucking pretty like this.”

The praise made her clench around him. She moved faster. Noah’s hips rose to meet her, matching every downward stroke until the wet sound of their bodies filled the room. One of his hands dropped between them and found her clit, rubbing tight circles.

“Come on,” he urged, voice rough. “I want to feel you. Give it to me.”

Maya’s rhythm faltered as the orgasm crashed over her. She dropped forward, forehead against his shoulder, moaning into his skin while she pulsed around his cock. Noah held her through it, then flipped them in one smooth motion without ever pulling out.

He hooked her legs over his elbows and drove into her hard and deep. The new angle made her cry out. He didn’t slow down. Every thrust was deliberate, powerful, dragging against the spot that made her see stars.

“One more,” he gritted out. “You’re going to give me one more.”

She shook her head even as her body tightened again. “I can’t—”

“Yes you can.” He dropped his head and bit gently at her neck, then soothed it with his tongue. “Come for me, baby. Right now.”

The second orgasm hit harder than the first. Maya’s back arched off the mattress as pleasure tore through her. Noah followed almost immediately, burying himself to the hilt and groaning her name like it hurt.

Afterward he didn’t pull away right once. He stayed inside her, weight carefully braced on his forearms, and pressed soft kisses along her jaw, her cheek, the corner of her mouth. The tenderness was more dangerous than the sex.

Maya turned her face away. “You should go.”

Noah was quiet for a moment. Then he carefully pulled out, dealt with the condom, and stretched out beside her instead of reaching for his clothes.

“In a minute,” he said.

“Noah.”

“I know. No feelings. Just this.” He traced a lazy circle on her bare hip with one finger. “Doesn’t mean I have to run out the door the second I come.”

She didn’t have a good answer for that, so she stayed silent. The ceiling fan turned slowly above them. His body was warm along her side.

After a while Noah spoke again, voice softer.

“You used to fall asleep on the roof sometimes. Remember? When both our parents were working late. I’d stay up and make sure you didn’t roll off.”

Maya’s throat tightened. She remembered. The rough shingles under her back, the smell of his hoodie when he covered her, the way she used to pretend she was already asleep so he would stay a little longer.

“That was a long time ago,” she said.

“Yeah.” His fingers kept moving on her skin. “Still remember it like it was yesterday.”

She should have told him to stop. She should have gotten up and handed him his clothes. Instead she let the quiet stretch, let his hand keep tracing idle patterns on her hip like he had every right to be there.

Eventually Noah sat up and reached for his joggers. Maya watched the muscles in his back flex as he dressed. When he was done he leaned down and kissed her once, slow and lingering.

“Same time tomorrow?” he asked.

Maya looked up at him. The smart answer was no. The safe answer was no.

“Maybe,” she whispered.

Noah’s smile was small and real.

“I’ll take a maybe.”

He left quietly. Maya stayed on the mattress long after the door closed, staring at the ceiling, the phantom weight of his hand still warm on her hip.

She was in trouble.

And she already knew she would leave the door unlocked again tomorrow.

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