Living with Her One-Night Stand (The Loft, #1) Read online

  “I think we covered that point. Didn’t we agree that, if I want to have sex with someone, I tell you.”

  “Yes, but I didn’t think it would be me.”

  “Why not?”

  Why not?

  Why not?

  “You really want to have sex with me?” My voice isn’t as controlled as I’d like it to be, but I’m having another hot flash I definitely don’t want him to see.

  He gives a half shrug. “We’re married. We’re in bed together. We might as well have a little fun.” His tone is as light and cool as it always is—with absolutely no sign that he’s invested in the outcome of this discussion.

  Maybe he really thinks about sex as a minor, recreational activity that can be performed in any context without affecting anything else in his world.

  But that’s not how sex has ever worked for me, and I’m still having trouble articulating my response.

  And he’s lounging there against his pillows, waiting for me to answer.

  “I’m not having sex with you, Trevor,” I finally manage to say. “I don’t even really like you.”

  I’m not trying to be mean. He knows perfectly well how I feel about him. He feels the same way about me. I’m trying to explain that I have to at least like someone to have sex with them.

  “What has that got to do with it?” He turns slightly toward me. “You’d enjoy it.”

  “I would not.”

  “Yes, you would.” His eyes suddenly take on a smoldering heat that makes my breath hitch, that makes every cell of my body scream about how much it wants Trevor to touch it. “Don’t pretend you haven’t thought about it.”

  “You—you—ugh! You have no idea what I’ve thought about. I can’t believe how appallingly arrogant you are. I’m telling you straight out that I don’t want to have sex with you.”

  “All right. You can change your mind whenever you want.”

  “I’m not going to change my mind.”

  “We’ll see.” When he sees my face at this, he raises up his hands in mock surrender. “Don’t bite my head off. It was just a suggestion. No need to be so prickly.”

  “Prickly? You’re actually calling me prickly?”

  “Aren’t you?”

  “No! I’m behaving the way any woman with a brain would behave when faced with a man as smug and obnoxious as you are. It doesn’t mean I’m prickly. I’m just not going to melt into a puddle of goo because you give me a sexy look. Believe it or not, every woman in the world isn’t waiting with bated breath for you to deign to take them to bed.”

  His eyes aren’t sexy anymore. They’re laughing, although his mouth is perfectly composed. It’s an irresistible expression, and I have the worst time not smiling back.

  I manage to maintain a disapproving frown. “I’m not prickly.”

  “Fine. For the peace of our marital bed, I’ll agree that you’re not prickly.”

  “And even if I was prickly, you deserve to get stuck a few times.”

  He laughs. Not his low-key chuckle, which is all the laughter I’ve ever heard from him in the past. He laughs for real.

  Listening to it, I’m washed with the strangest flood of feeling. Pleasure. Satisfaction. Amusement. Pride.

  I really can’t believe I made Trevor Bentley laugh that way.

  “Okay,” he says at last. “No sex. At least not tonight. Do you mind if I turn on the TV?”

  “That’s fine. The TV doesn’t bother me at all.”

  So I read my book, and he flips between the news and sports. When I put down my book, he clicks off the television.

  Then it’s dark in the room, and I can hear him breathing. I can feel every adjustment of his body.

  At one point in the dark, I mutter, “I can’t believe you asked if I want to have sex with you.”

  He just laughs again.

  YOU CAN FIND OUT MORE about Part-Time Husband here.

  About Noelle Adams

  NOELLE HANDWROTE HER first romance novel in a spiral-bound notebook when she was twelve, and she hasn’t stopped writing since. She has lived in eight different states and currently resides in Virginia, where she writes full time, reads any book she can get her hands on, and offers tribute to a very spoiled cocker spaniel.

  She loves travel, art, history, and ice cream. After spending far too many years of her life in graduate school, she has decided to reorient her priorities and focus on writing contemporary romances. For more information, please check out her website: noelle-adams.com.

  Books by Noelle Adams

  One Fairy Tale Wedding Series

  Unguarded

  Untouched

  Unveiled

  The Loft Series

  Living with her One-Night Stand

  Living with her Ex-Boyfriend

  Living with her Fake Fiancé

  Tea for Two Series

  Falling for her Brother’s Best Friend

  Winning her Brother’s Best Friend

  Seducing her Brother’s Best Friend

  Balm in Gilead Series

  Relinquish

  Surrender

  Retreat

  Rothman Royals Series

  A Princess Next Door

  A Princess for a Bride

  A Princess in Waiting

  Christmas with a Prince

  Preston’s Mill Series (co-written with Samantha Chase)

  Roommating

  Speed Dating

  Complicating

  Eden Manor Series

  One Week with her Rival

  One Week with her (Ex) Stepbrother

  One Week with her Husband

  Christmas at Eden Manor

  Beaufort Brides Series

  Hired Bride

  Substitute Bride

  Accidental Bride

  Heirs of Damon Series

  Seducing the Enemy

  Playing the Playboy

  Engaging the Boss

  Stripping the Billionaire

  Willow Park Series

  Married for Christmas

  A Baby for Easter

  A Family for Christmas

  Reconciled for Easter

  Home for Christmas

  One Night Novellas

  One Night with her Best Friend

  One Night in the Ice Storm

  One Night with her Bodyguard

  One Night with her Boss

  One Night with her Roommate

  One Night with the Best Man

  The Protectors Series (co-written with Samantha Chase)

  Protecting His Best Friend’s Sister

  Protecting His Enemy

  Protecting the Girl Next Door

  Protecting the Movie Star

  Standalones

  A Negotiated Marriage

  Listed

  Bittersweet

  Missing

  Revival

  Holiday Heat

  Salvation

  Excavated

  Overexposed

  Road Tripping

  Chasing Jane

  Late Fall

  Fooling Around

  Married by Contract

  Trophy Wife

  Bay Song

  Her Reluctant Billionaire

  Second Best