Getting Lucky (A Lucky Novella) by Karina Gioertz

started walking toward the stairs that led to my front door.
    I held the door open while Noah struggled to fit himself and our luggage through the narrow frame. Once inside he barely walked two steps before dropping everything he was carrying on the floor and then walking on without the load that had been weighing him down. He had just made it into the living room when I heard him chuckle.
    “I can’t believe you kept this couch!”
    I strolled in after him and said,“I can’t believe you ruined my other one!”
    There was a moment of silence as we both stared at each other, both mentally contemplating how far we would take this and if it would be worth it. Apparently, Noah realized pretty quickly that it would be in his favor not to pursue the matter because he started moving forward again, gently tapping the armrest as he went by and mumbling, “Enjoy it while you can, your days are numbered.”
    I grinned, but left it at that. If Noah wanted to buy me a new couch, who was I to talk him out of it. And if he succeeded in finding another couch as perfect as my old one, all the better. After all, from here on out the only person he would be having sex with on any couch would be me. Or, at least that’s how it would be if he knew what was good for him.
    Noah didn’t waste much time touring the kitchen or dining area, but headed straight for the loft which doubled as my bedroom. I was in the kitchen getting a drink when I heard him.
    “Are you coming up here or what?”
    I gulped down the swig of water I had just chugged and called back, “What do you need?”
    “You,” he answered simply. I put the bottle of water back into the fridge, a smile stretched so far across my face it hurt. Who would have ever thought the sound of one word could have made me so ridiculously happy. Come to think of it, it would probably be the same person who could have predicted Noah would be the one to say it. And that person had to be one in a million, if they even existed at all.
    I lightly threw the refrigerator door shut as I hurried from the kitchen and back out to the hall toward the stairs. Unfortunately, I was far too distracted to take note of the bags that Noah had so carelessly dropped on the floor upon entering the apartment. My foot caught on one of the handles and before I could stop what was happening, I fell face first into the hallway, landing rather unceremoniously on my hardwood floors with a loud thud.
    “Son of a bitch,” I cursed under my breath as Noah came flying down the stairs to see what had happened.
    “Are you alright?” he asked, reaching for my arm and helping me back up. He had already stripped down to his boxer briefs, an all too pleasant distraction from the stinging pain in the palms of my hands from where I had tried to break my fall.
    “I’m okay,” I nodded, feeling a mixture of foolish and flattered. However, feeling like a fool faded all together when Noah slid his other arm under the back of my thighs and lifted me up. He then proceeded to carry me all the way up the stairs and to my bed, where he carefully tended to my wounds…and let’s just say he tended to some other stuff as well and leave it at that. The point is, that being with Noah was already exceeding any and all expectations I might have had, and if it meant tripping over a little bit of baggage from time to time, well, it would be worth it.

Chapter 6
    Making Moves
    First thin g the next morning, Noah and I took off in search of some moving boxes. Unfortunately, the U-Haul place was sold out of the size we were looking for. They had several smaller sized boxes in stock, as well as, mattress packaging, but Noah and I both decided that neither would suit our needs. Having just been down this road not that long ago, I still had a pretty good notion of how much stuff I had and how many boxes it had entailed to contain it all. The smaller ones would have required us to more than double our packing efforts and the prospects of that