Chapter 173

Hannah

I awoke with a start, the warm sun against my cheek doing little to quell my sudden jolt. The white sheets against my skin felt soft and warm but unfamiliar, and for a moment, panic gripped me.

This wasn’t my bed. These pillows, though plush and stuffed with down, weren’t mine. The curtains hanging from the windows were sheet, not thick and heavy with velvet and tassels.

And then it hit me.

Slowly, memories of the previous night trickled back. The gala, the nightmare, and then... Noah.

My cheeks flushed as I remembered the way he had carried me up the stairs, the feel of his lips on mine, the heat of his body against my flesh. His taut muscles as he moved above me. His long fingers gripping the headboard. His tousled hair falling into his eyes.

My name on his lips.

The scent of him still lingered on the pillows, indicating that he had only just recently left the room, although I was mercifully alone now.

Alone in the wake of a night of passion that I had never meant for.

A profound feeling of guilt immediately washed over me, my wolf whining softly in confusion. What had I done? This was only going to make things more complicated between us. We were supposed to be getting divorced, not... whatever this was.

My hand unconsciously drifted to my stomach, where our child was growing—still unbeknownst to Noah, even though we had made love just hours ago. The secret felt heavier than ever. Liar, a little voice in the back of my head seemed to say. Manipulator.

I sat up, making sure that Noah really was already gone. His side of the bed was cold, the sheets neatly tucked. Always the early riser. It used to drive me insane back when we still slept together every night, but it felt like a mercy this morning.

I slipped out of bed and quickly skittered down the hall to my room, which was not far. Once inside, I showered in too-hot water, almost as if it would wash away what we had done the night before, make it unreal, clean.

Finally, I got dressed, and my fingers fumbled clumsily with the buttons of my blouse. The mirror reflected a woman I barely recognized anymore, a woman who I hadn’t seen in a very logn time—flushed cheeks, tousled hair, eyes bright with lingering pleasure.

Down below, in the pit of my stomach, there was still a pleasant emptiness lingering—like a weight had been lifted off of me. My inner thighs still seemed to burn with the sensation of his touch, my knees blissfully weak and soft.

It had, of course, been like heaven. It was the first time we had made love outside of our monthly intimacy nights in… Well, I couldn’t even remember. A long damn time. But it would be the last time. It had to be.

As I made my way to my office, I tried to focus on the tasks ahead. Luna duties, paperwork, anything to take my mind off the night I had spent with Noah. But my thoughts kept drifting back to him, to the way he had touched me, the way his green eyes grew husky and his eyelids drooped as he looked at me.

Did he think about Zoe the entire time? I didn’t think so; it was my name he had said, after all.

But then, he had gotten up and left before I even woke. Maybe it was all routine to him; a quick release, something to quell the urges of his wolf. Yes, that was what it was for me, too. Relief.

My office was a sanctuary of order amidst my chaotic thoughts. I settled behind my desk, determined to lose myself in work. The expense reports Scott had completed lay in a neat stack, demanding my attention.

As I pored over the numbers, however, I frowned. Something wasn’t adding up. I double-checked the figures, my irritation growing as I lifted the page to the light to ensure that I hadn’t missed anything.

Scott had messed up. Again.

“Dammit, Scott,” I muttered, reaching for a pen to make the corrections. This wasn’t the first time he had made mistakes like this in recent history, and the incidents were growing more frequent.

Noah needed to know about this; Scott’s errors could cost us dearly if left unchecked.

With the corrected report in hand, I made my way to Noah’s office. My heart raced as I approached his door, memories of our night together flashing through my mind for the millionth time.

I didn’t want to look him in the eye right now, but this was important; so, I took a deep breath, steeling myself before knocking. Part of me hoped that he wasn’t there and that I could just drop the papers on his desk.

“Come in,” Noah called, his voice muffled through the heavy wood.

I stepped inside, and immediately felt his eyes stick to me like my skin was made of glue. His gaze seemed to caress my body, and I felt a blush creeping up my neck. Our eyes met, and for a moment, neither of us spoke. The tension in the room was palpable, thick and heavy. I couldn’t decide whether I wanted him to throw me down on his desk and take me again or if I wanted to chuck the papers in his face and run like a coward.

“Hannah,” Noah finally said in a surprisingly even voice, seeming to compose himself. “How did you sleep?”

I swallowed. “Your bed is very comfortable,” I replied, then winced at how that sounded. “I mean... I slept well. Thank you.”

Noah’s lips quirked into the smallest half-smile, a glint appearing in his eye. “I’m glad. What can I do for you?”

I held out the expense report, trying to ignore the way my hand trembled slightly as I walked up to him. “Scott made some errors in his calculations. I’ve corrected them, but I thought you should know. It’s not the first time this has happened.”

Noah frowned as he took the papers, his fingers brushing mine. The brief contact sent a shiver down my spine, my wolf yearning for more. I quickly stuffed my hand into my pocket as if that would somehow help.

“I’ll speak with him,” he said, glancing up at me over the report. “Thank you for catching this. You have excellent attention to detail.”

I nodded, turning to leave. But as I reached the door, I paused. My wolf urged me to stay, to go back to Noah, but I pushed the feeling down.

“Noah,” I said, not turning around. “About last night…”

“Yes?” His voice was carefully neutral, but I could hear the tension underlying it.

I took a deep breath, my hand resting on the doorknob for a moment before I turned. “It was... nice. But don’t you think that it could make things…”

“Complicated?” Noah finished for me.

I paused, blinking in surprise, then nodded. Noah sighed and leaned back in his chair.

“What was last night to you?” he asked.

“What was it to you?” I responded, not wanting to answer just yet.

Noah looked at me for a moment, and it felt as if those green eyes of his could see right through me. Despite my attempts to appear confident and collected, I felt like my chest was on fire and his gaze was the fuel.

“I think… we both needed that,” he said simply.

“A release,” I replied carefully with a nod.

Noah blinked at me again. He didn’t seem to have an answer for that; I couldn’t tell if he agreed or not. Finally, I muttered, “Maybe, if we’re going to get a divorce, we shouldn’t be so quick to jump into bed whenever we need to let off some steam.”

There was a long pause. Then: “Is that what you still want, Hannah? A divorce?”

My heart clenched. I dropped my gaze to my feet, unsure of what to say. Part of me wanted to run into his arms, to forget about the divorce and try to make things work—for us, for our baby.

But the logical part of my brain reminded me of all the reasons we had decided to end our marriage in the first place. The lies, the distance, the years of feeling unloved and unappreciated. The fact that he had never truly, wholly, moved on from his ex.

We were incompatible in all ways other than sexually. Or at least, that was what I told myself in that moment. Anything to keep myself from going back on my decision.

“Yes,” I finally said, carefully lifting my gaze to meet his. “I do.”

Noah’s eyes seemed to flash with something—pain, or maybe anger, or both, or something else entirely—before his face settled into a mask of indifference. “I see,” was all he said about the subject. “Did you want to talk about anything else?”

I shook my head, unable to speak past the lump in my throat. Without another word, I left his office, closing the door behind me. The sound echoed in the empty hallway, final and ominous.

As I walked down the hallway, my mind reeling, I nearly collided with Leonard. His eyes narrowed as he took in my disheveled appearance, his nostrils flaring slightly as if trying to catch Noah’s scent on me.

“Morning... Luna,” he said, his tone dripping with disdain.

Before I could respond, he brushed past me, his shoulder bumping mine hard enough to make me stumble.