This was all moving too fast, in a way, and Noah feared it, but that wasn't enough to stop him from doing what he knew was right. He hadn't intended to hurt Vienna by keeping her out, keeping her at an emotional distance; it had only been for self-defense purposes. But maybe it was time to trust her enough to drop the defenses. Nothing could grow with walls too high to let in any sun, to put it in a poetic sense.
Noah busied himself lifting his hands and undoing the band that held her hair up, trying to be very careful so he didn't pull it. This felt like a time to be gentle in all senses of the word. By the time she asked if she could call him her boy toy, he had all that gorgeous dark hair loose and spilling around her shoulders. "Not if you want me to acknowledge you," he teased in return, tossing the band to the floor and wrapping one arm around her again. The other idly rubbed at the back of her neck, beneath her hair.
His expression flickered into something unreadable for a few seconds when she said she wasn't going to do whatever his exes had done to hurt him. How do you know? You don't know what they did. It wasn't even as simple as that, because he'd been in the mix, too. It took two to tango, and it took two to ruin a relationship most of the time. "Okay," he said quietly, his eyes focusing fully on her again. He pressed her closer with the arm he had around her and lowered his head until his mouth was right over hers. "It's okay," he whispered, his lips brushing hers. Noah thought he might burst into flames if he didn't kiss her, even if it might not have been the best moment, during a semi-serious conversation. But he'd been without her for a long run of totally celibate days by now, and he couldn't stop himself from licking at her lower lip until she opened her mouth for him.