Louisa Heaton – One Life-Changing Night (страница 8)

They were off-limits. Even if last night he’d been plagued with thoughts of Naomi in the next room. He’d lied to her about getting that good night’s sleep. He should have had seven hours. But instead, he’d lain in his bed, thinking about her, seeing those long legs that had emerged after her bath, gazing into those eyes of hers that he couldn’t bear to look at for longer than a second in case she saw the interest in his own eyes. Oh, and the way that she laughed. The way her whole face lit up with genuine joy when she did.

So he couldn’t allow himself to think about Naomi. She was everything that went against his self-imposed rules. But he could help her with her living situation.

‘This is so unexpected.’

He nodded. ‘Yes. But expecting you to get your place sorted in one night seems both impossible and impractical. St Bartholomew’s Road? It’s not a nice place. I’m sorry. I’m not normally judgemental, but you seem to deserve … better.’

‘And I can stay at yours for the next few days?’

‘Yes.’

‘I can’t believe it! That’s so sweet of you. Are you sure? Don’t you want to know more about me? I mean, I could be a crazy axe murderer, or something.’

‘I know enough. And if you handled an axe on a regular basis, I’m sure you’d be missing a limb or something by now, from what I’ve seen so far. My place is big enough for us both to be able to do our own thing. We won’t get in each other’s way. And then, with a few days’ grace, you can find a better flat. Something more suitable.’

‘Less rough, you mean?’

‘Less … challenging.’ He smiled at her quickly, then looked away. He’d been thinking hard about this all morning. Did he really want to do this? Could he really open up his home to a stranger? It had already been odd having her there in Meredith’s old room. It had been strange knowing she was there doing whatever it was that women did when they spent ages in the bathroom, but … he could arrange it for them so they had different shift patterns so that they wouldn’t be running into each other all the time.

Naomi sat forward and this time sipped her drink, thinking carefully. ‘Why do you want to help me?’

Because I can’t get you out of my head and the idea of you living in that dump terrifies me.

‘Because I think anyone would deserve better.’ He couldn’t tell her it was because he’d actually quite liked seeing her there this morning. He’d liked having someone to talk to, even if it was only briefly, over breakfast. Normally, once he was dressed, he’d head straight out to work, not talking to another soul until he arrived.

This morning had been different and he’d found he liked it. It had been like it had when Meredith was around.

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