Page 10

Even then, she only stared at me for a millisecond before looking back at the mop while noting, “Your pantry is huge.”

“What are you doing?”

“Cleaning up the mess I made. Well, attempting to,” she said, setting the mop down and pressing the button on the handle. When a spray of cleaner hit the floor in front of it, a triumphant smile lit her face.

God, that smile. It wasn’t even directed at me and here I was losing my mind.

Stay calm, Noah. You’ve been around beautiful women before.Stay fucking calm.

Unfortunately, calm was not a destination I visited often.

“I can do it,” I said, reaching for the mop.

“Don’t be silly, you just chased a bat out of my house and gave me clothes to wear. The least I can do is?—”

“It wasn’t a bat. It was a bird and I let it out of your bedroom window.”

She paused. Looked me over. Then moved around me to walk down the hall like I hadn’t said anything.

“Well, either way…” She made quick work of going back to my room and mopping over all the places she’d walked.

Next, she did the hallway and the trail she’d walked from the front door. I couldn’t take my eyes off her.

There shouldn’t have been anything mesmerizing about this interaction, but I was glued in place, unable to do anything but watch her move around my space like she belonged here.

And the fact remained, I still didn’t know this woman’s name.

“I’m Noah,” I shared when she emptied the disposable cleaning pad into the trash. My eyes followed her back into the pantry.

“Nice to meet you, Noah.” She didn’t volunteer anything after that and my brows slumped.

“And you are?”

“Leaving,” she said, reappearing with a lazy version of her previous smile. “But just in case I show up again, I’m True.”

True.

Everything in my head evaporated in that moment, and I stood there staring at her until she tilted her head with an awkward twist of her lips.

“Um, I’m gonna go. Thanks again, Noah.”

I found my voice and fell in step beside her. “Let me walk you back to your place.”

“I promise I won’t get lost,” she said with a teasing lilt to her words.

Then she met my gaze andIgot lost.

Invite her to stay for dinner so she doesn’t have to eat alone.

Tell her to take a pair of your shoes so she doesn’t have to walk barefoot.

Say…something.Anything, Noah.

But I couldn’t. The signal connecting my brain and my mouth was MIA, and I couldn’t even pretend to play it smooth.

The only thing snapping me out of my trance was the sound of Greyson’s tires rolling over the gravel on the side of the house.

Something about knowing he was here made the wires in my brain spark and start working again.