Page 118 of Who's Afraid of the Big, Bad World

Annabelle sank back onto the bed, gasping as Noah collapsed beside her. A faint sheen of sweat covered both of them, glistening in the dim lamplight. The dull ache of her bruises mingled with the much more delicious ache of a body well loved. And that’s what she felt—loved.

Her aunt often quoted an old Chinese proverb that said if you sat in one place long enough, the whole world would pass by. Or something like that. Well, Annabelle had sat in her warehouse for ten long years, and eventually, it had paid off because herworld had come to her in the form of Noah. Her lips curved into a smile as she realized how soppy her thoughts were, yet they still felt true.

“What are you grinning about?” Noah asked breathlessly.

“I’ve just realized that I connived to have your business in the building so I can keep seeing you. It’ll be kinda awkward if we ever go our separate ways.”

He propped himself up on one elbow, looking intensely serious. “Is that what you think will happen?”

“No.” She ran her fingertips down his brutish face. “But we’re still so new. Only crazy people make plans to spend forever together after just a few weeks. Right?”

“I’m okay with being crazy,” Noah said. “The building, the office, has nothing to do with us.”

“But, Noah, I’m not normal. If you weren’t around here all the time, I’d never see you. It’s not like we can go on dates.” She scoffed at herself. “Unless you want to hang out on the roof, near the door. I can just about manage that.”

“Bella”—his expression softened—”I thought we were way past dating.”

“Then what? I can’t move in with you.”

He ran a fingertip from the hollow in her throat, right down the center of her body to circle her belly button, and she shivered with an overwhelming awareness of all that was him.

“We could move in with you,” he said evenly.

A surge of hope crashed through her like a tsunami. “But the boys hardly know me.”

“Then we let them get to know you.” He moved closer. “Before or after we move in is totally up to you.”

She reached for him. “Are we insane? I mean, normal people don’t move this fast, do they?”

“Bella.” His smile was filled with humor. “You can’t leave this building, and I spent years talking to my dead wife. There’snothing normal about either of us. And if we can’t follow the normal pattern of things, then I say we make up our own.” He leaned over and pressed his lips to the spot above her heart. “We do things our way. To hell with how the rest of the world does it.”

“You say the most romantic things,” she said, pulling him close.

“I’m much more of a doer than a talker,” Noah said.

And then, he proved his point.

Epilogue

It’d been four months since Noah and the boys moved into Annabelle’s loft. And she’d loved every single minute of it. They’d had the back of the apartment renovated, turning the guest bedrooms and shared bathroom over to Jacob and Sammy and building a new bedroom—with walls—where her old one used to be. The panic room had been converted into a closet, and a new panic room built on the second floor for everyone to use. All the new walls were now soundproofed, at Noah’s insistence, and a small guest bathroom had been installed in the area where the gym equipment used to be.

It surprised Annabelle how easily they’d all adapted to living together. The boys loved the warehouse and hanging out with their dad’s security team, and Annabelle loved having a huge extended family close by. No matter the time, there was always someone around to talk to, although everyone had moved out into other accommodation now, except for her and her boys. But there was always someone on duty, day or night, and even when Noah was out of town for work, the building was never empty.

The Benson Security team had renovated the first floor, turning the shop into their street-front office and the back area into a gym, training space, and storage. They were stillrenovating the second floor, but there were plans for a proper open-plan office space and a couple of small breakout rooms.

The triplets, meanwhile, had talked her into adding a climbing wall in the alleyway between the buildings, and that was next on the list for the builders. Rochelle had put her foot down about the inter-floor slide idea, saying it was a security risk. However, Annabelle suspected Rochelle just didn’t want the triplets playing all day long. Not a good look for security officers.

“I’m getting fed up waiting,” Annabelle called from where she sat at the kitchen island as she’d been ordered by Jacob and Sammy.

They’d run off, saying there was a surprise, but they needed to do some last-minute prep. She wondered if they’d finished the comic book they’d been working on.

“Right.” Sammy ran back into the room and screeched to a halt beside her. “You can come with me now. I wanted to put a blindfold on you, but Dad said that would freak you out.”

“I said”—Noah appeared in the doorway between the kitchen area and the boys’ bedrooms—“that it might not be the best idea.”

“Whatever.” Sammy grabbed Annabelle’s hand. “You need to come see.”

“Yeah,” Jacob called from beside Noah. “Hurry up.”