His foggy brain still laded with sleep, knew that Jess was no longer in the bed with him. Her weight was no longer in his chest, his arms were empty, the space in the bed next to him was cold.

"Jess," he called her name, eyes half-closed.

He heard the creak of the door opening, and then, her voice followed.

"Good morning."

He snapped his head in the direction of her voice and when he opened his eyes, he was greeted by her in one of his shirts - and he supposed nothing else.

A satisfied smile tugged the corner of his lips, "Good morning, baby," he greeted her back in his bedroom voice, not intentional. It just happened that his voice was still hoarse from sleep.

She walked towards him and put down the breakfast tray on the bed and kissed the corner of his mouth with a chaste kiss.

His hand cupped her jawline and caught her mouth in a deep kiss, chaste kisses were meant for kids. His desire for this woman has never been chaste. It raged!

"Payback," she murmured against his lips. Her eyes were still closed, relishing the fervent good morning kiss she received from Noah.

"No need for payback, baby." He darted his tongue playfully on her still agape mouth. He wanted to do more but then, she prepared breakfast for him and brought it to bed.

Today would be one of those mornings in the future that he would want to keep in his memory forever. It took a lot of willpower not to throw the breakfast tray off the bed and throw her in the bed instead.

If there was something he wanted to eat for breakfast - it would be her. She looked delectable in his shirt. And he knew how she would look with his shirt off her lithe body.

"I wanted to," she said, sitting down next to him.

He tore his eyes off her face to look down at the breakfast tray that she prepared. She made a ham and cheese sandwich for him, a bowl of cut fruits, and coffee. There were two cups of steaming black coffee on the tray.

One for each of them. And judging by the amount of food on the tray, she prepared enough for two.

"Thank you," he picked up the steaming cup of coffee and inhaled its delicious aroma. "Baby, this is the time where you ask me anything you want and I would be glad to give them to you," he said after taking a sip of the hot coffee.

"Is that how it works?" She asked with sheer disappointment in her voice. "Can't it be as I just wanted to share this breakfast with you?"

He squinted his eyes on her and realized that she misunderstood what he just said. "Baby," he ran his knuckles on her flushed cheeks. "If you are thinking that I offer the same thing with any other women other than my daughter, Lucille, and now you - you are wrong."

Jess watched Noah's face under her lashes. She knitted her brows and pouted her lips, and said something that she thought she would never ask any man, "Promise?"

She averted her gaze the moment she uttered the word, she felt ashamed that she had been asking Noah to promise her when she promised herself never to ask any kind of promises from any man.

"I swear on my daughter's name." He raised his hand, pledging for the truth of what he said.

Jess shook her head in amusement, "Your daughter's name, huh?"

"Well," he smiled sheepishly.

"Usually, you swear on your mother's name."

"I never knew my mother. I can't swear on her name," he said nonchalantly, picking up his fork and knife, cutting the ham and cheese sandwich, and offering a bit to Jess.

Jess opened her mouth with a frown. She watched Noah's face as she chewed on her food. Once she swallowed it, she cleared her throat, "Can I ask why?"

When he glanced over his shoulder he saw the guilt on Jess's face. He leaned to her side and kissed her cheek. "No need to be sorry. It is what it is."

Jess held in the other questions she wanted to ask. It was the first time she heard something about Noah's family. All she knew about was his ex-wife and his kid. The small bits of information she knew about his grandfather were from Ellise and the information she got when she asked Jace to find something about Noah was mostly about his resume. Not much personal information.

However, from Noah's tone of voice, it was clear that he doesn't want to talk about it, hence, she kept her mouth shut even though she was itching to ask. She wanted to know more about him.

Things that make him happy or sad, things that make him angry, his dreams, the food he doesn't like or likes...even the cringy things such as his favorite color. She wanted to know all of them.

She sighed softly. A bit disappointed but she turned her attention to her coffee and let the sore topic die down.

"What's your schedule for today?" She asked with a smile on her face.

Noah noticed the change of tone in Jess's voice. He put down his fork and knife and turned sideways to face Jess. She was looking down on her cup of coffee that she was holding tightly with both of her hands.

"Baby, it's not that I don't want to tell you about my mother." He waited for her to lift her face and when their eyes met, he added, "I truly don't know anything about my mother. According to my father, she left me to my father a few days after she gave birth to me."

He chuckled wryly when he saw the sadness that crossed Jess's eyes with his shitty life story. "Don't pity me, Jess."

"I don't pity you," she raised her hand and caressed his jaw. She tilted her head and gaze at his eyes, "I don't. I'm sad for the boy that had no memory of his mother, but I admire the man that you became."

"How so?" He raised his eyebrow at her.

"Because you are an amazing father," she leaned forward and kissed his jaw.

"Why do I feel like you wanted me to be your father, Little Miss Jessie?" A crease formed in between his eyebrows, and the crease deepened when Jess threw her head in laughter.

"Ellise and Luke said the same thing. They said I have some kind of daddy issue," she replied, still giggling.

"Do you?" he asked, teasing. "Just say yes, and I don't mind having you on my knees and spanking your pretty little ass."

"Pervert!" she snorted, trying to suppress her laughter. Though the idea of being in Noah's knees as he spanked her ass was something that she wouldn't mind.

His hand stretched out to hold the back of her head, he leaned towards her and kissed her temple and murmured against her flushed skin, "Miss Zimmerman, why do I have this feeling that you don't mind being spanked?" His fingers raked her hair and glided down to the base of her neck and stayed there.

Jess audibly gasped when the heat from Noah's fingers seeped to her spine from at the back of her neck, her skin was peppered in goosebumps from his touch, and his warm breath fanning the side of her face.

"Jess, just say the word and you'll get what you want," he murmured in his throaty voice.

She pressed her thighs together and her eyes widened in shock when she felt hot liquid from her core. Noah is a dangerous specimen.

As she leaned back, she strained her neck to see his face, "Why Mr. Tiefenbacher, do you expect me to say - spank me, daddy?"

"Will you?"

She let a few seconds pass of silence between the two of them, then a shadow of a smirk slowly appeared at the corner of her lips. "I won't," she mouthed at him.

Noah roared in laughter. He dropped himself on the bed, pulling her with him.

"Noah the breakfast tray!" she shrieked.

With her laid on his chest, his fingers caressing her face, lightly treading her forehead, down to her cheek.

Jess folded her hands, put them on his chest and propped her chin on them, and followed the movement of his pupil as they gaze on her face.

"Jess, it is too much to ask if I wish for us to be like this forever?"

"Hmm," she murmured, meeting his intense gaze. "I guess not. Because if I would get a single wish right at this moment, I would wish for the exact same thing."

Noah's eyes dilated in desire, he expelled a deep breath before covering her mouth with a kiss.

Jess was surprised when Noah kissed her ever so gently when she was expecting a crushing kiss. She closed her eyes and sigh softly against his lips. She meant what she said with all her heart. She would wish for this moment to last forever.