"Oh hey, Mr. Tiefenbacher."

"Luke," he acknowledged with a small nod, but his eyes were still glued on Jess. "What's your plan for today?"

"My plan?"

"Yes, other than taking a shower, of course." A mischievous glint danced in his blue eyes.

Luke sneered from the living room. The jerk was definitely eavesdropping on her conversation with Noah. A shadow of a smile tugged at the corner of her mouth as she bit the inside of her cheeks, taking in a deep breath and slowly releasing it.

"Luke and I would go furniture shopping." she declared loud enough for Luke to hear.

"Are we?"

"Yes, we are! So, why don't you haul your ass and prepare to go out."

A smile started to bloom in Noah's lips, he shook his head in amusement at how Jess was still trying to avoid him. "Have a good time." he decided to let her get away - for now since his daughter was waiting for him at home and he intended to focus his attention on her solely during the next two weeks.

He felt a tad guilty that he was here, clearly flirting with Jess when his daughter was waiting at home. Nicole told her that Jess said they could keep the basket but he insisted on returning the damn basket, for he was worried that Jess would get the wrong idea of seeing Nicole in his house.

Now that he was inside her apartment, he doesn't really know how to open the conversation about the presence of his ex-wife in his house. He sighed in frustration.

That's why when he heard Jess and Luke's bantering about Jess playing with herself in the shower, he couldn't help himself but teased her about it.

The thought of her under the cascading water with her eyes closed, as she plays with herself, excites the shit out of him. His member stirred in his slumber with the vivid image of Jess in his head. It would be better if she would call his name when she reached her peak. He smirked.

"Nice seeing you again, Noah, I'll leave the two of you to 'talk'. Don't worry I won't get out of my room." he winked at Jess who was blushing like a teenager in front of her crush.

An image of Noah and her making out and being caught by Luke flashed in her mind and turned crimson red. She threw Luke a warning glance.

The jerk, however, ignored her angry gaze and just laughed before disappearing to the guest room.

There was an uncomfortable silence in the living room when they were just the two of them. Noah was silently holding her gaze, and she couldn't find a way to start the conversation. She simply lost the ability to think. But, who could blame her, if she was still embarrassed that Noah heard her talking about taking her sexual urges, in the shower.

"I would be busy for the next two weeks that Lucille is with me," he informed her when he realized she has no plan to start a conversation.

"Hmm," was all she said. She couldn't see why Noah thought she would find it important if he talked about his schedule. However, if she were honest with herself, she would admit that she felt good about it.

If only she was unaware that it was not just Lucille, who he would be spending time with in the next two weeks but his ex-wife as well. For two weeks, he would play happy family with his wife and his kid. She hated the idea of Noah being with his ex-wife.

"You know my number. Call or text with whatever."

"Sure," her eyebrow ever so lightly twitched with the idea of her calling or texting Noah with whatever. She was not insane yet to do those things when she knew he was in the company of his ex-wife.

She had forgotten that she was still holding the rattan basket in her hand until she had to open the door for him. Almost as if it were a lifeline, she clutched the basket to her chest.

Noah followed her to the door but stopped at the threshold and faced her, "Jess, don't be comfortable leaving your door unlocked. The building has tight security measures and we were the only people occupying this floor, but I still want you to be cautious. Especially since Luke is moving out and you'll be all by yourself."

"I know," she mumbled. His warm words enfolded her heart like a warm blanket. A small smile played on her lips. "I will be careful," she replied when Noah didn't leave the foyer and was still waiting for her to answer him properly.

She pursed her lips, "I can take care of myself. "I had been living on my own for several years before you appeared in my life."

"I didn't say, you can't handle yourself. All I'm saying was, please be careful." Watching her starting to get pissy, he couldn't help but pull her into his arms and soothe her lips that have been pouting.

She was surprised to find herself being kissed less than a minute after being scolded! Not that she's complaining. The kiss was so gentle that she was surprised to hear herself moaning under his lips, as her arms went up to hug his neck.

"Hmm, I would take it that we agreed on it," he said as he gave her butterfly kisses. His arms snaked around her waist and kept her pressed against him like they were one.

She nodded for there was nothing else she could say when she dangled onto his neck like a monkey. It would sound ridiculous for her to pretend anger towards him. Instead, she buried her face on the crook of his neck for two reasons: First, she was damned embarrassed. Second, she wanted to take advantage of him without worrying about being called a pervert.

She inhaled his scent like she was taking all she could get for the two weeks she won't be able to get this close to him. Which was funny, she never realized how she got addicted to Noah's scent.

"By the way, Lucille loves the mango. She said it was the sweetest mango she has ever eaten in her life." he chuckled, remembering his daughter's message that he almost failed to deliver just because he heard Jess talking about pleasuring herself in the shower.

"I'm glad. I would tell my father that his mangoes got a fan." she stepped away from Noah's embrace because every time his daughter or his ex-wife came into the conversation. Those two women in Noah's life were like cold water that would always wake up Jess back to reality.

"Your father planted those mangoes?", he asked because it was the first time Jess spoke about something personal. He did a thorough investigation about her, and he knew that her family owns not just one farm in her home country. He also knew from those files that she only has her father now, for her mother died in a car crash when she was the same age as Lucille.

With the notion that Jess has lost her mother at such a young age, his heart hurts in his chest for the young Jess. He wanted to take her back to his arms, but she was standing three feet away from him with her arms crossed over her chest. She was clearly no longer open to hugging.

He ruffled her hair before he finally left her apartment to go home to his waiting daughter.

He was actually thinking of asking Jess to have dinner with him and Lucille, but it seems like she was not yet ready for that kind of commitment.

And the last thing he wanted was to put her in an uncomfortable situation. He quickened his steps because her daughter asked him to go shopping, just like what he promised.

After Noah left, she made her way to the guest room to talk to Luke about furnishing his new apartment.

She wasn't really just making an excuse to Noah about buying furniture with Luke because in actuality she was looking forward to helping him with his new house. She was going to suggest looking for furniture even before Noah dropped by.

She knocked on the guest room door and said, "Luke, I will just change my top and I will be ready to go."

The guest room door flung open with Luke still wearing the same clothes he was wearing. There is no indication that he was preparing to get out of the house.

"Why aren't you ready yet?", she asked with furrowed eyebrows.

"I thought you were just making an excuse to avoid Tiefenbacher."

"I really wanted to go furniture shopping with you."

He arched his thick brow and said, "Well, if that's the case let's hit IKEA."

"Forget IKEA, I will bring you somewhere with real furniture and not those cute cardboard furniture of IKEA."