---

Savannah led Noah into a spacious guest room. The walls swam in seafoam green paint. A field of green and pink flowers overran the bed. Gracious dancers gestured in grotesque positions adorned by antique white frames. How could he sleep surrounded by that? And all that white furniture with its spindly bars and swirly gold handles – well, one tug and he’d probably collapse the entire set.

Noah took it all in. His mouth opened in protest. “Do you have anything less girly?”

She tapped her fingers on a dresser, amazingly it didn’t fall apart. “It’s this or the couch, Bub.”

Noah smiled. “Okay. I guess I’ll get in touch with my feminine side.”

Her eyebrows arched. “Good luck with that.”

She walked past him. Noah caught her hand, pulling her closer than he’d intended. She looked up at him with large, dark eyes, her small hand warm and inviting where it cradled against his palm.

“I’m not putting someone else out of a room, am I?” he asked, his breathing strangely erratic. “I realize I’m an inconvenience to you and I don’t mind the couch.”

Savannah’s eyes trailed up and down his frame. She didn’t take her hand away. “I don’t think you’d fit on the couch.”

“You’d be amazed at where I can fit.”

She raised one eyebrow. Her mouth quirked. “I’m sure I would.”

She took a step closer and he found he couldn’t catch a breath. He lowered his head toward hers. Her soft, vanilla scent flooded his receptors. He could almost taste those rosebud lips.

“There are four guest bedrooms down here,” she said, her breath hot against his lips. “This one has the best mattress. Enjoy it.” She pulled away from him and breezed toward the door.

Noah gasped for air. He straightened in an attempt to appear unfazed. “What time do we need to go in the morning?”

She whirled to face him. “Do you have to be with me every second?”

“That’s my job.”

Her face fell. Noah wished he could have said something nicer: maybe, ‘I want to be with you every second,’ but that wouldn’t be him.

“Be ready at 5:40. It takes less than ten minutes to get to the gym from here, but I like to be early.”

“See you in the morning,” he said.

She didn’t budge. “You don’t really think I hurt my sister, do you?”

Noah rotated from her dark gaze. He hoisted his bag onto the bed, undoing a zipper. “What I think doesn’t matter.”

“What if it matters to me?”

Noah’s head swung up. He released the bag and crossed the distance between them in two long strides. He forced himself not to gather her lithe form into his arms. “Well, that would be a completely different subject.”

She placed a delicate hand on his chest. Noah took a quick intake of breath. He reached up and cupped her face with his palm. She leaned into his touch.

“It doesn’t matter to me.” Dropping her hand, she pivoted on her heel and flew down the hallway.

---