Page 42 of The Getaway
Noah steps into the room then, his body filling the doorway as he leans against the frame holding two cups of coffee and smiles at me.
“Merry Christmas, Sugar.”
“Merry Christmas.” I smile, sitting up fully and letting the sheet pool around me. Before this trip, I’d never been one for sleeping naked. But falling asleep after getting fucked until my entire body feels like jelly means pajamas are easily forgotten.
Noah groans, pushing off the frame and moving closer with his eyes on my chest.
“So beautiful,” he says softly, leaning down to kiss my forehead before handing me one of the mugs. “And so very tempting.”
I wrap my hands around the mug, smirking at him with a grin.
“Tempting enough to get you back into bed?”
He shakes his head, stepping away.
“Almost. If it weren’t for the fact that I have something to show you, neither of us would be getting out of bed for the rest of the day.”
“Something to show me?” I question, perking up at his words. He holds a hand out to me but only offers me a strained smile in response that has my gut twisting with nerves. Hesitantly, I take it, letting him help me up and keeping a close eye so that my coffee doesn’t spill.
Noah squeezes my hand once and starts leading me out of the bedroom. We’re both silent, and I watch him closely, following him into the main part of the bungalow.
His shoulders are tense and if I didn’t know any better, I’d say he was blushing.
“Noah, what’s wrong?”
“I, uh, I got you something,” he says, pulling his hand from mine as we stop in the middle of the living room and grips the back of his neck.
I blink up at him, “What?”
He doesn’t meet my gaze, looking toward the back of the house while answering me.
“It’s nothing major, and I didn’t actually buy you anything. It was just something I thought of, and it might be stupid but…” He pauses, finally facing me as he offers a small smile. “I’m sure it’s nothing like the ones you put up back home, but it’s the best I could do on an island.”
Noah motions with his free hand, pointing toward the coffee table. I stare at him for a long moment before finally looking.
I almost drop my coffee when I see what he’s talking about. Tears gather in my eyes as I move closer.
On the center of the coffee table is a dried-up piece of driftwood from the beach, it has a few branches stemming off the main branch, and some of them have even smaller shoots. He propped it up with a white sheet wrapped around the base, holding it in place.
Each branch has seashells of all different shades hanging from them. Some have holes through them and dangle from the limbs, while others are whole and rest on the ends of the branch. At the very top part of the wood, rests a perfectly put together light pink conch shell that is much bigger than all the rest.
“You made me a…” I trail off, placing a hand on my chest and shaking my head while trying to wrap my mind around what’s in front of me.
“It’s supposed to be a Christmas tree. But I was limited on the “tree” options, so I had to improvise. I thought about waiting until the shop opened up but didn’t know how early you would be waking up and didn’t want to risk you waking up alone on Christmas,” he rambles, and the uncertainty in his voice has me tearing my attention from the tree.
“Noah,” I say his name softly and his head snaps to me. Holding his gaze, I close the distance between us, wrapping my arms around his neck and pushing onto my tip toes. When our noses skim together, I pause. “This is the best thing anyone has ever done for me. And not just for Christmas.”
Unable to put to words how much this actually means to me, I kiss him, hoping to convey through my actions just how much I appreciate what he’s done. Noah hesitates for a heartbeat before pulling me into his embrace and kissing me back.
“So, you like it?” He mumbles against my lips, and I chuckle, leaning back to look at the seashell Christmas tree he made for me.
“I don’t just like it, Noah. It’s absolutely perfect, I love it.”
* * *
“Tell me again what we’re supposed to be seeing in the dark?” Noah asks, keeping his voice down just like everyone else does as they step onto the tour boat.
“It’s the Luminescent Lagoon!” I whisper excitedly and Noah just raises a brow at me in question. “Basically, there’s stuff in the water that makes it light up at night.”