She poured herself another glass and peered at the black wine bottle and saw that she drank most of it, yet the person she's waiting for hasn't come. She sighed and hugged herself. The ocean breeze felt colder tonight.

As she sipped the wine, she wondered if it was a mistake to stay in. She should have joined Luke than wait for someone that maybe won't come.

The last time she checked the time, it was thirty minutes past nine. He said his daughter goes to bed at eight.

Watching the lights from down below, and listening to the ringing of laughter somewhere, she felt pathetic waiting for Noah. She downed her glass in one go, then poured the remaining wine in the bottle. She would finish this one drink and just go to bed.

She is still feeling the hangover from last night. She has no plan to drink and get drunk again tonight. She was thinking of one glass as she waited. And yet, she already is on her last glass of that bottle and she has no idea if Noah was still coming.

She sighed and leaned her head on the sun lounger. She closed her eyes and wondered what Noah might want to talk about.

The effect of the alcohol, the gentle breeze, and the murmuring of the sea waves in the distance, lulled her to sleep. That she didn't hear Noah when he knocked.

His eyebrows furrowed. Jess agreed to talk, but did she change her mind. He has been knocking for about five minutes on her door but he didn't hear any movement from inside the house. He knocked one last time and pressed his ears on the thick oak door. A soft humming of the air conditioner was all he heard.

He eyed the keypad on the door frame, next to the doorknob, and pressed the number 1225 on the keypad.

'1225. December 25?' He remembered Jess saying she has the same birthday as Lucille. He pushed the door open and called her name softly. The living room was flooded with bright lights for both the lights from the living room and the kitchen area were opened. But he didn't see anyone.

The room was too quiet. "Jess?" he softly called her name again. Standing in the middle of the living room, he cocked his head to her bedroom. He was about to take a step in the direction of her room when he heard a crash from the balcony.

"Jess?" his steps quickened when he heard a soft voice.

"Baby, are you there?"

"Fuck," she muttered under her breath. She didn't know that she fell asleep and dropped the wine glass that she was holding in her hand.

"Baby?" He saw Jess bending over her side while cursing under her breath. He stepped back inside and switched on the light in the balcony that she intentionally left off.

She looked up and squinted her eyes when the balcony lights up, "You're here."

"Sorry, Lucille asked me to read more pages of her book than the usual...and I had to make a call." his voice trailed off seeing that the dress she was wearing was a wrap-style dress and the belt of it came loose. He could see the length of her toned, and smooth legs when she swung her legs off the sun lounger.

"Mnn…" she absentmindedly picked up the broken glass and winced when she felt a prick of pain in her palm.

Noah noticed when she bit her lip and her shoulder jerked off. "You okay?"

"Yeah, just got a cut...I think." She knew she got a cut. She felt the pain and the warm blood that was oozing from the wound. She didn't know why she felt the need to hide it from Noah that she was in pain.

"Let me see."

Before she could say something and move her hand, Noah was already sitting on the edge of the sun lounger, grabbed her hand to check. "This is not just a cut, Jessica!" he said in clenched teeth. The cut on her palm was already pooling blood.

Holding her wounded hand, he pulled her up and gently pushed her inside. He brought her to the kitchen and had her hand under the warm water to wash the blood. He ran his thumb on the cut to feel if there was any fragment buried on the skin and felt none. He sighed with relief.

"Keep your hand under the running water, I'll fetch the first aid kit."

"Uhm,' she grunted and nodded. Her body felt so lethargic, yet warm. She couldn't understand herself. She discreetly bit her lower lip when Noah's thumb ran across her palm for a small amount of electricity shot up her body from that simple touch.

She turned off the faucet and grabbed a handful of paper towels on the kitchen counter, and pressed them to her wound. She made her way to the living room and dropped herself to the sofa.

Noah saw her as he came out of her bedroom and glared at her with disapproval. It must be the alcohol or the lingering annoyance for the fact that he made her wait; she scoffed when their eyes met.

"You have some problems following orders, Little Miss Jessie." His voice was laced with a mixture of annoyance and worry.

He sat down on the coffee table, "Hand," he snarled at her who was glaring at him.

She gave her hand to Noah as she yawned. The wine made her really sleepy. She wanted him to fix her hand so she could go to bed now. After seeing his face, she doesn't feel like talking anymore.

She lay down on the sofa with her other arm draped over her eyes. She flinched when she wiped her palm with some cotton pad soak in alcohol.

"Is it painful?" he asked in a gentle voice.

With her eyes tightly shut, she felt like crying with his gentle voice and how gentle he was tending her wound. 'Why Noah can't just be an asshole? It would be easier to flush him out of his system if he's a jerk. But no, he is just… so nice.'

When she didn't answer, he took it as she was in pain and just hiding it from him again. He lifted her hand to his face and blew on the wound that he wiped with alcohol. He then put a thin layer of petroleum jelly on the cut and covered it with bandages.

He pressed a kiss on her bandaged hand, "All good." he murmured before gently dropping her injured hand on her stomach.

She removed her arm from her eyes and glanced at her newly bandaged hand on top of her stomach, "That's it?" she glanced at Noah, puzzled.

"Why? Is there anything more you want me to do with your injured hand? I cleaned it up, bandaged it up, and kissed the booboo away." he lifted his brow on her puzzled face, "Oh, you want me to draw a heart on it?"

She pursed her lips as she pushed herself up from the sofa. Noah quickly supported her back, grabbed a throw pillow from the next armchair, and put it behind her as he gently laid her head on the sofa's armrest.

Her heart warmed up like it was being bathed by the early morning sun. The spot below her lower abdomen was a different story; Noah's gaze was so intense that it made her squirm on the sofa.

"You will be a good nurse," she blurted out of nowhere.

"A nurse?" he smirked. "Are you sure about that? You want me to be a nurse and not a doctor?"

She knitted her eyebrows in question, "You are good at taking care of patients, I don't think you have to be a doctor… to do that…" her voice dropped when she realized why Noah was asking about doctors.

When he saw the realization dawned on her, he added, "I look good in a lab coat, in case you didn't know." The corners of his lips were curled in mischief. His blue eyes were dancing in mischievousness.

"Y-you --" she was lost of words with what Noah was suggesting. Nonetheless, a mischievous smile tugged her lips, "Well, Doctor --" she lifted her injured arm towards him, and in a sultry voice said, "I'm sick."

Noah accepted her hand but instead of kissing the part that had bandaged, he gave her wrist an open-mouthed kiss, swirling his tongue on her pulse, and sucked.

Her breathing hitched when she felt him sucking her pulse, electricity cruised through her body and she pulled her hand away from him. But he gripped her wrist tightly in his hand, and instead of letting it go, he pulled her up from the sofa and ran his tongue on the curve of her mouth.

She moaned, "Noah we are going to talk." her brain was panicking, for she knew from past experience that when it comes to Noah, her body is a traitor!

"Baby, we are already talking," he drawled in his sexy accent before he took her mouth in a kiss.