Nothing Less

done anything wrong. I fuss with the bottom of my shirt, trying to cover at least some of my body.

“If I didn’t think you were sexy, I wouldn’t be here, on my knees in front of you. You don’t have to be whatever version of sexy you think I want. You just have to be here, with me. Do you want to be here with me, right now?”

I nod.

“I need words, Landon.”

Of course she does. “Words aren’t real until you say them.” “Yes, yes, I do. More than anything.”

“Okay.” Nora lowers herself back to the floor.

As sexy as she is in front of me, it seems wrong that she’s kneeling before me.

Ishould be kneeling before her.

I grab her hand and pull her up. The confusion is clear in her eyes as she stands.

“Come to my bed. I want you in my bed.”

“Is that so,” she says with a wicked smile.

Without thinking, I scoop her into my arms and move toward my room. My pants are at my ankles, so I pull one foot free. It’s still difficult to walk, but I would rather spend a year in Azkaban than drop Nora or have to put her down. Nora buries her face in my neck, and I love the way she feels in my arms.

When I reach the hallway, I kick my pants off the rest of the way, and she giggles against my neck. I try to open my bedroom door with one hand, and Nora realizes that I’m struggling and reaches out to open the door for me.

As I walk over the threshold, I hear the sound of her foot smacking into wood.

“Ouch!”

Shit.“Sorry!” I take two quick steps forward and drop her onto the bed as she untangles her arms from around my neck.

“I think my foot is broken.” She laughs, holding on to the red mark on the top of her foot.

I don’t even remember her taking her shoes off. Then again, I’m not great at focusing on the details when she’s around. “See, this is why I’m nervous.” I move up on the bed and sit down next to her. Nora extends both legs. When I look at her, I’m distracted by that dang shirt again.

Nora leans her head onto my shoulder. “I missed you while I was gone, too,” she says, finally responding to my words from a few minutes ago.

I stay quiet for a moment before asking, “Where did you go?”

She turns to me and shakes her head. No response.

“Are you cheating on me?”

I mean it as a joke, but her back goes rigid and the energy between us shifts. Nora smiles, but it’s faker than a plastic doll’s. “I wasn’t aware that I was in a position to be cheating on you.”

Now the tables have turned. She’s nervous; I can sense it. There’s something else, too, and I can suddenly feel a great pain inside her.

I lean up and study her face. “Would you like to be?”

Her lips shake and she opens her mouth, then closes it again.

Guess not.

“Don’t look at me like that,” she mumbles. “I’m thinking.”

“You’re always thinking.” I ignore the probing ache in my chest at the idea that she could possibly want to be more with me.