“It’s not the amount of years in between, it’s where the two people are in their lives when they meet.” She didn’t even know why she was arguing anymore she was so close to giving this a go anyway. Any argument she made now would be negated soon enough. “When Derek and I met we were at a place where we both knew what we wanted.”

“So that made him a sure thing?”

“No. Nothing’s a sure thing.”

“Exactly.” He smiled but there was still some fire behind that smile. He’d won the argument but he was still peeved. “And for the record,” he leaned in close enough to kiss her. “Its not written anywhere that everyone reaches that place at the same age. Seems to me Derek and your friend Nellie’s husband are prime examples of this.” He leaned in closer and kissed her softly on the lips. “So you’re done with this guy and want nothing to do with him anymore right?” His words were self assured but she could still see the uncertainty in his eyes as he waited for her response.

She nodded amazed at how readily she’d given into him. He smiled satisfied and pecked her one more time before pulling away. “Then you’ll have to be a little more specific about what I can and can’t do the next time his ass shows up. Because I tend to have selective hearing and I’ll tell you right now the only part I’m gonna remember is you not wanting to anything to do with him.” He smirked before picking up another slice. “I’ve already blocked out the no-kicking-anyone’s-ass part.”

About to reassert her no-kicking-ass rules, Hector interrupted her thoughts.

“Yo, Noah!” He called from the front room, holding out a controller. “C’mon it’s halftime. Let’s go again. Abel says we got lucky. Lemme just beat your ass one last time.”

Noah smirked at her shrugging as he began to walk away. “This conversation isn’t over, Noah,” she warned.

He put his hand to his ear as if he hadn’t heard a thing, mocking her with that sexy smile of his before turning his back to her on his way to the front room.

“For f**k’s sake can you pay attention?” she heard Abel mutter as Noah took the controller and sat down on the floor.

Gio and Hector laughed and the television was suddenly booming with machine gun fire and bombs. Hector yelled out something about that not being fair while the others laughed. Abel threw a pillow at him. Missing, it hit Gio instead who protested loudly. In the midst of the chaos Noah suddenly turned and glanced at her. He smiled so tenderly her heart turned over and she swore she felt it swell.

Who would’ve thought just a few months ago when she was moping all alone in this silent house, feeling fat and completely uninspired that she’d be here with all these new friends.

This day might’ve gone entirely differently had it not been for Noah and the guys. She still hadn’t heard from Nellie since the day she left her place in tears and her anxiety about that was beginning to really get to her. Noah and the guys, but mostly Noah had really gotten her through today. For an instant the fear was back in her heart—fear that one wrong move, one hasty decision could make this all go away.

Then they all laughed loudly again and she decided to let the fears go for now, already anxious about tonight’s friendly kiss.

CHAPTER 23

Last night’s kiss had gone on extra long. Noah could see he was making progress in breaking through Roni’s defenses. He understood why she was still hesitant to go any further. He wasn’t without worry either. The possibility that something could go wrong was too real. But there was no way he couldn’t try. It was a huge risk but one he felt was absolutely worth the reward should it all work out and he was certain it would.

For now he’d take what she would give him, knowing they had somewhat of an unspoken agreement. Getting her life back to what it used to be was important to her and he’d respect that. She did say she wanted to deal with that first before making any major changes in her life. So he’d be content knowing she wasn’t considering anyone else either. Most importantly although she set down the law that she would handle Kratz and there would be no ass kicking should he ever show up again, she did once again mention she had no interest in reconciling with the guy, not even in friendship terms.

The fight Friday night was only four days away. He’d focus on that instead. Last week Abel’s fight had been a huge hit. They had a full house at the gym and Abel said he’d actually held off a little longer before knocking his opponent out just to give the spectators who’d lined up hours before the fight a longer show. But he warned Noah not to even think of doing the same since not only was his a rematch, he also needed to send out a message to his much tougher opponent in the following fight.

Noah waited in the ring for Abel who’d jumped out for second to take a call. He turned to check on Roni. He’d done such a good job impressing her with his phone it might’ve backfired. All that time she spent snuggling with him on the sofa every night while she played with his phone might be out the door. She was now saying that as soon as she was up for an upgrade on her phone plan she was getting herself one. In the meantime she used his during her workouts which this week had come in handy because with his fight this week he was training even longer which meant he had less time to train with her. Not that she needed him anymore. Most of her workouts consisted of her doing an hour on the treadmill then some weights for toning. But she said listening to music made that hour on the treadmill go by so much faster.