That made me laugh and broke some of the tension I was feeling. Thing was, I didn’t want to go, either. Leaving him every night was easily the worst part of my day, too.

“Plus,” he added, “we can eat cake for breakfast.”

“You had me at cake,” I said, smiling shyly at him, my mind made up.

He grinned and stepped back, pulling me toward him as he walked backward to his room. When we walked in, he let go of my hands to walk around and turn off the lights, leaving on a single lamp on the nightstand. He grabbed a blanket and a couple of pillows from the bed and made himself a makeshift bed on the floor.

I’d thought he was kidding about the sleeping on the floor thing, but apparently he wasn’t. “That can’t be comfortable.”

“Ever sleep in a cot? This is about the same,” he said.

He came over and pulled me in close. “I’m going to kiss you now.”

“I know,” I said and let him make all the rest of my anxiety disappear.

When things started to get heated, he stopped the kiss, shaking his head ruefully. He stepped back and lay down on the floor.

I climbed into the very soft and very comfortable bed and immediately felt guilty. He was paying so much money for me and my best friend and her new husband to sleep in these amazing rooms, and he was going to sleep on the floor. He was willing to forsake his own comfort just to be close to me.

It says something about how he feels about you, an inner voice whispered, and I didn’t know whether to trust it. I’d spent so much time ignoring the voices in my head that discouraged and disheartened me that I wasn’t sure what to do with one that told me there might be something more here.

I pulled the leftover blanket up over my shoulders and tugged at the corners. I hated when they were all tucked in. I needed my feet to hang out. I turned onto my side to face him and felt my phone in my pocket. I took it out and placed it on the bed next to me. Then I reached over and turned out the last lamp.

“Try not to snore too loudly,” he teased as the darkness descended, and I threw one of the pillows at him, which he easily caught while laughing.

He put the pillow under his head and said, “Good night, Juliet.”

“Good night, Noah.”

“I’m glad you stayed.”

“Me too.”

I watched him, the way his chest expanded in and out, how his breathing started to slow, and I wanted to reach out and touch him. To have his warmth envelop me and spend the night in his arms.