Part 120

The moment Noel shifted the car into drive, Caro slumped against the passenger door, fixing him with what she clearly thought was a terrifying death stare. The dramatic effect was entirely ruined by the fact that she was swimming in his jacket and her voice cracked like a pre-teen boy's.

'For the record,' she rasped, pointing a shaking, accusatory finger at his nose, 'that I am formally protesting this literal kidnapping. We shook on a legally binding oral contract on your brother's countertop. The terms were explicit: your bed, no clothes, and immediate tactical execution. You are currently in gross breach of contract, boss.'

Noel let out a low, booming laugh, keeping his eyes on the road while his hand reached across the console to snatch her finger, wrapping his palm completely around her hand. 'Oh, I remember the terms, counselor. My body is fully on board with your contract. But as your boss, your lover, and the guy who currently has to look at your neon-red face, I am officially declaring a health and safety intermission.'

'A health and safety intermission?!' Caro erupted into a fit of breathless, raspy giggles, her head dropping back against the headrest. 'That is the least sexy sentence ever uttered in human history. I just destroyed your ex-one-night-stand's legal team with bulletproof spreadsheets, Noel. I am a tactical goddess. I can handle a tiny, microscopic temperature without you turning into a mother hen!'

Noel couldn't help but giggle himself, a rare, relaxed sound that rumbled deep in his chest. 'You almost face-planted into Debbie's kitchenfloor, your goddess-ship. And while I am highly invested in the 'fun' part of our agreement, I am not starting our victory lap while you're hallucinating. If we do this right now, you'll probably look at me and think you're sleeping with Julian Cornwell.'

Caro let out a dramatic gasp, snorting a little as she giggled, opening one heavy eye to glare at him in mock outrage. 'First of all, yuk! Second of all, Julian wears tweed three-piece suits to breakfast. I have excellent taste, which is the only reason I tolerate your bossy, overprotective attitude.'

'Hey, my bossy attitude gets things done,' Noel teased, squeezing her hand and bringing it up to his lips to press a warm, lingering kiss to her knuckles. 'Like getting you home to force-feed you horse-pill-sized aspirine.'

'Ugh, stop, you're ruining the romance,' Caro whined playfully, a fresh wave of giggles bubbling out of her as she squeezed his fingers back. She opened her mouth to fire off another sharp, brilliant retort, but a massive, jaw-cracking yawn completely hijacked her face, cutting her off mid-syllable. She blinked sleepily, looking utterly betrayed by her own anatomy.

Noel snickered, turning the truck onto his street. 'Case closed, babe'.

'Fine,' she muttered, her voice trailing off into a sleepy, content murmur as her eyelids grew impossibly heavy. She snuggled deeper into his jacket, a faint, stubborn smile stuck on her face. 'But I'm charging you a hundred percent late fee on that counter strategy. And I expect full payment the second my fever drops.'

The car came to a halt in the driveway, Caro was already fast asleep, her breathing shallow and raspy, her face still flushed a stark, feverish pink against the dark fabric of his jacket.

Noel killed the engine. The sudden silence in the car was heavy, instantly swallowing the lingering warmth of their laughter. He looked at the house through the windshield, and the familiar, tightening knot in his chest returned.

This was the house he had shared with Sara and the kids.

The joking was over. The playful banter that had filled the car just moments ago evaporated, replaced by the crushing weight of reality. For months, this place had been a limbo of unresolved grief and anger and stagnant decisions. Every time he walked through this front door, he was forced to confront the same agonizing question: What do I do with this place? Sell it and erase the final physical anchor of their marriage? Keep it and continue living among ghosts? He still didn't know.

Moving carefully so as not to startle her, Noel unbuckled his seatbelt and climbed out into the warm afternoon air. He walked around to the passenger side, gently opening the door. Caro didn't stir, completely spent by the fever and the adrenaline crash of her legal victory for Noel and Bowie.

The click of the car door opening broke through Caro's heavy sleep. She blinked against the dim afternoon light, her movements sluggish as she shifted against the passenger door. By the time Noel leaned into the car to reach for her, she was already pushing herself up, blinking away the fog of her fever.

'I'm up, I'm up,' she muttered. Noel hovered close, his arms extended just in case, but he let out a soft huff and stepped back. Caro swung her legs out, she swayed for a second but she braced her hand against the car and stabilized herself.

Hugging his oversized jacket tightly around her shoulders, she made her way up the porch steps, her steps slow but determined.

Noel followed a pace behind her, his eyes locked on her posture. He reached past her to slot the key into the deadbolt.

The click of the lock turning changed everything.

He stepped into the hall and the stale silence of the house rushed out to meet him

In the dim light of the hallway, the space felt less like a home and more like a time machine. His eyes automatically tracked the details: the family photos on the walls, the furniture she had picked out that now just felt like expensive clutter. Sara was locked in a jail cell miles away, but her choices still held this entire property hostage.

Caro stepped inside behind him. She halted in the entryway, looking around. Even through her fever-induced haze, she could feel the immediate shift in the atmosphere. The easy, teasing warmth Noel had carried all afternoon had completely evaporated. He stood frozen in his own hallway, clearly fighting a lot of demons that waited here for him to haunt him.

She rubbed her burning forehead with the back of her hand, her eyes shifting back to Noel's tense profile.

The heavy silence of the hallway seemed to press in from all sides. Caro took a slow, deliberate step closer to him on the hardwood floor, her movements quiet and entirely fluid. The playful energy from the car was gone, replaced by a deep, wordless empathy for the storm raging inside him.

'Noel?' she asked softly. Her voice was incredibly raspy, cracking on his name.

Seeing him completely paralyzed by the ghosts of the entry way, Caro didn't try to force him into a conversation. Instead, she stepped right into his space, closing the distance between them. She reached around his waist.

Slowly, tenderly, she began to caress his back, her palms moving in long, soothing circles through his shirt. She could feel the iron-hard tension in his muscles, with a soft, tired sigh, she let her heavy, fever-warm head rest against his shoulder.

For a long moment, Noel just kept staring down the hall, his breath shallow. But the intense, burning heat of her body pressed against his, combined with the gentle, grounding sweep of her hands across his back, slowly began to cut through the ice in his chest.

A deep, ragged breath finally shuddered out of him. The rigid line of his shoulders gave way, and he slowly turned his head into the curve of her neck, his arms coming around her to pull her impossibly close, burying his face in her hair as he finally let the house fade away.

'Do you want to go back to my place?' she whispered against his collarbone, her voice barely a breath. 'We don't have to stay here, Noel, if you're not ready yet..'

Noel squeezed his eyes shut, his arms tightening around her instinctively. The temptation to just pull the door closed and flee back to the sanctuary of her apartment was massive. But the intense heat radiating from her body through his shirt reminded him exactly why they were here, and he wasn't about to make her endure another trip just because he was afraid of his own hallway.

'No,' he murmured into her hair, his voice deep and rough with an emotion he couldn't quite name. He inhaled deeply, letting the scent of her, vanilla and the faint, unmistakable heat of a fever, crowd out the stale, locked-up smell of the house. 'No, babe. You're burning up. I'm not putting you back in that car.'

Slowly, reluctantly, he loosened his grip just enough to pull back and look down at her. The haunted, distant glaze in his eyes had completely vanished, replaced by a fierce, protective focus. He brought his cool hand up to gently cup her flushed cheek, his thumb sweeping over her cheekbone to brush away a stray lock of hair.

Caro didn't try to deflect with her usual defensive wit. Her usual sharp armor was entirely gone, replaced by a quiet, fierce tenderness. She leaned her face deeper into his cool palm, her hand rising to rest over his wrist, her thumb tracing the steady pulse there.

'I mean it, Noel,' she whispered, her raspy voice dead serious as she held his gaze. 'You don't have to be strong in this house just because I'm feverish. If it hurts too much to be here, we go. I don't care about the bed, and I don't care about the trip in the car. Your peace of mind matters more to me than a fever.'

Noel stared down at her, a profound weight lifting from his chest. Hearing her validate the pain of this place, without judgment, without expecting him to just get over it, was the closest thing to peace he had felt in months. He leaned down, pressing his lips to her burning forehead, holding the kiss there for a long, silent moment.

'We're staying' he murmured, his voice dropping to a rough, honest whisper. 'The boys and Bowie need to come back to their real home tomorrow..but right now, you're heading right for that couch, no protest!'

Caro let out a soft, tired breath against his chest and nodded. She didn't have the energy to argue anyway.

'Deal,' she rasped as he guided her to the massive sectional sofa, instantly curling her legs up the minute she sat down, sinking into the pillows and pulling his oversized jacket tight up to her chin. Her heavy eyelids were already dropping.

'Don't move,' Noel instructed softly, tucking a throw pillow under her head.

'Physically impossible,' she murmured back into the fabric, he quickly went to the kitchen to get her some water and paracetamol, but the minute he got back into the living room, she was already out like a light.

When Caro opened her eyes, the heavy afternoon light had completely died out, leaving the living room in the deep blue shadows of the evening. She blinked, stretching her limbs under the heavy fleece blanket, and realized the suffocating, bone-deep chill of the fever was entirely gone. Her skin felt warm, slightly damp, but the fog in her brain had cleared.

She shifted on the cushions and saw Noel sitting on the edge of the sectional near her feet. He had a small lamp on, quietly typing something on his phone, likely coordinating the boys' and Bowie's return for tomorrow. The sharp, tense line of his shoulders from earlier had completely smoothed out.

'Look who's back from the dead,' Noel murmured, tossing his phone onto the coffee table the second he heard her move. He leaned over her, pressing the back of his large, pleasantly cool hand to her forehead. 'Skin feels much cooler. How's the head?'

Caro pushed herself up onto her elbows, the oversized jacket sliding off her shoulders. 'Sticky' she admitted, her voice still a little husky but much stronger. She looked down at herself, then back up at him with a slow, wicked spark returning to her eyes. 'I need a shower.'

She swung her legs out from under the blanket, her feet hitting the floor. She still felt a tiny bit wiped out, but the adrenaline of seeing him relaxed completely overrode it. She stood up, shedding his heavy jacket onto the couch, and slowly headed out of the room.

Just as she reached the doorway, she paused. She turned back, leaning her shoulder against the frame, her dark eyes locking onto his with zero subtlety.

'You coming?' she asked, a small, knowing smile playing on her lips.

Noel didn't hesitate. The last of his restraint snapped, a low, rough chuckle escaping his chest as he tossed his phone aside and stood up, following her upstairs.

Within minutes, the bathroom was thick with heavy, rolling steam. The spray of the shower beat a steady, rhythmic pattern against the glass.  When Noel stepped in, the hot water was already cascading over Caro's skin, turning it a flushed, vibrant pink.

'Come here, I missed you so much', he muttered, his voice deep and raspy over the sound of the rushing water.

Caro didn't wait. She stepped right into his space, her hands sliding up his wet chest to wrap around the back of his neck. The contrast of the hot water beating down on them and the slick, friction-less slide of their skin made everything feel incredibly heightened. Noel's hands came down to anchor heavily on her hips, pulling her flush against him until there wasn't a single inch of space left between them.

He leaned down, his mouth devouring hers in a deep, bruising kiss that completely swallowed her breath. It wasn't gentle, and it wasn't hesitant; it was the raw, explosive release of every ounce of tension they had both been holding onto all this time.

Caro let out a soft gasp against his lips, her fingers tangling tightly in his wet hair as she arched her back, pressing herself harder against him. Noel's hands slid down from her waist, gripping the back of her thighs to lift her effortlessly against the slick tile wall.

She locked her legs around his hips, her breath coming in short, ragged pants against his neck as his mouth trailed down her jaw, biting gently at the sensitive skin of her shoulder. Every touch felt electric, amplified by the heavy steam and the rhythmic roar of the water surrounding them.

He finally entered her, hard and raw, the sudden, solid feel of him filling her to he hilt drew a sharp, breathless gasp straight from Caro's throat. She buried her face into the crook of his neck, her teeth catching the damp skin of his shoulder as her fingers clawed into his back, while he thrusted hard and deep inside of her, showing no mercy.

The hard, unyielding tile behind her did nothing to cushion the force of his rhythm. Noel drove into her with a fierce, demanding intensity, his fingers digging bruisingly deep into the flesh of her thighs to hold her exactly where he wanted her. Every thrust was deep, heavy, and visual proof of all the anger, frustration, and absolute relief he had been locking down inside his chest for months.

Caro wrapped her legs tighter around his waist, riding out the sheer force of him. She tilted her head back against the wet wall, a shaky, unraveled moan echoing over the roar of the running water. The heat in the small glass enclosure was stifling, thick with steam, but it was nothing compared to the absolute friction of their skin sliding together. She didn't want him to be gentle; she needed this raw, consuming reality to completely wipe out the residual chill of what had happened to her.

He shifted his grip, one hand leaving her thigh to press flat against the tile right next to her head, bracing his weight as he picked up the pace. His mouth slammed back down onto hers, swallowing her breathless gasps into a dark, bruising kiss that tasted like pure desperation mixed with a hint of anger. He was hitting her deep, matching the chaotic beat of her heart, pushing her further and further to the edge. It was like he was fucking all the anger and the loss and the frustration of the last months out of his system and she was his victim.

'Noel,' she choked out against his lips, her hips snapping back against his in a desperate bid for friction.

He didn't speak. He just let out a low, ragged growl against her mouth, his body shuddering as he drove inside her one last, punishing time. The sudden, intense wave of his climax triggered her own, and he locked his arms around her, pinning her chest completely flush against his as he poured himself into her, his breath hitching hard into the crook of her neck.

Noel's chest heaved violently against hers, his forehead resting heavily on her shoulder as his breathing gradually slowed from ragged gasps to deep, exhausted inhalations. The explosive release had cleared the air, leaving a profound, quiet stillness in its wake. The anger and frustration that had held him hostage for weeks had finally burned itself out, replaced by the simple, grounding weight of the woman in his arms.

Slowly, reluctantly, Noel allowed her to slide down the slick tile wall until her feet touched the wet floor. He didn't let go; his hands remained anchored firmly on her hips to brace her, knowing her legs had to feel like jelly after both the fever and the intense release.

Caro let out a long, shuddering breath, her head dropping forward to rest against his wet chest. She felt completely spent, but the lingering ache in her body was a welcome distraction from the fever that had ruled her for days.

Noel reached up, his hand slightly trembling as he pushed his wet hair back from his forehead, and then reached for the faucet. He dialed down the heat, letting a cooler spray wash over them both to clear the remaining steam. He looked down at her, his eyes soft, clear, and completely present for the first time since they had pulled into the driveway.

'You okay?' he murmured as he slowly bit her bottom lip, his voice deep and slightly rough.

Caro bit softly back, her teeth catching his wet lower lip just long enough to draw a quiet, sharp breath from him. She didn't let her eyes drop; she kept her gaze locked directly on his, her fingers sliding up the damp nape of his neck to hook firmly into his wet hair, pulling him down until their lips were almost touching again.

'I'm okay,' she whispered, her voice incredibly husky, dripping with a low, heavy promise. She tilted her hips just a fraction against his crotch, a slow, deliberate rub that sent a clear message that she was looking for 'round two'. 'I'm definitely ready to get out of this shower..but I am nowhere near finished with you yet.'

Noel's eyes flared, a sudden, dark heat taking over his gaze. A low, rough sound rumbled deep in his chest, part chuckle, part possessive growl. He gripped her waist tighter, his thumbs digging into the curve of her hipbones before he leaned in, his lips brushing against hers in a slow, torturous tease.

'Is that right?' he murmured, his deep voice vibrating right against her mouth.

'I need more, Noel, more of you..just get me to a real bed. Right now.' she hissed, a sharp, wicked little smile finally breaking through her exhaustion as she tugged his head down to close the distance while her hips rubbed against him once again.

Noel didn't waste another second. He reached out and twisted the faucet, cutting off the roaring water. He didn't say a word. Instead, he hooked his hands firmly under her thighs and hoisted her right back up around his waist again, lifting her effortlessly until her chest slammed flush against his.