by Amelia Wilde
This is not what you're supposed to be thinking about. There was something wrong with her. He was a perfectly nice guy wanting to rock her world. And she was thinking about her damn blinds and groceries.
I bet you wouldn't feel this way with Noah.
And just like that, heat raced through her bloodstream and her breath caught. Just thinking about him was enough to make her skin tight and itchy. Those butterflies she’d been concerned about, there they were, fluttering rapidly inside, making something deep in her core pull tight.
Still, Lucia fought it. There was no way she was going to think about Noah at a time like this. But, maybe that wasn't the end of the world. It was just a fantasy. Her brain latched on to what her body was craving. And the image of him in her mind formed and solidified.
Suddenly, it wasn't Brent kissing her throat, it was Noah. But his lips weren’t quite as soft. They were firm. Sure. Knew exactly what he wanted and exactly how to get the right response from her.
There was no thinking about anything else when she was with him. Only the sensation of being in his arms. The sensation of her heart hammering so fast it nearly beat out of her chest. The feeling she sometimes got when he looked at her and all her bones felt like jelly. That was how it was meant to be with Noah.
A little dangerous. Definitely bad for you. But oh so good.
Lucia slid her hands into Noah's hair, tugging a little. He muttered a soft curse against her throat, his hands holding her flush against him. Through his jeans she could feel the pulse of his erection against her center.
Yes. This was much more like it.
His kisses grew more frantic. His hands less patient. They skimmed over her hips with a strong grip. Before sliding his thumbs up over her belly and over her ribcage, just under her —
“Okay, Romeo. I think that's enough."
Lucia squeaked, then jumped away from Noah — err, Brent. Right Brent. Her date. Noah, the idiot, was on her bed.
"Wha–What the hell are you doing here, Noah?"
Noah lay back against her pillows. His feet were on her bed with his shoes on, she noticed with irritation. He looked comfortable. Completely relaxed, as if he belonged there. Wouldn't you like that?
"Well, it looks like I'm just in time to interrupt."
Brent stared between her and Noah, then back again. "I thought you said you didn't have a boyfriend."
Lucia turned her attention to him and placed a reassuring hand on his arm. "I don't. The intruder on my bed is my wannabe big brother. And he was just leaving."
Noah shook his head. "No such luck, princess. You don’t know this dude from a can of paint. We had a deal. You let me check out anyone you want to go out with. You seem to have forgotten that deal."
"We never had a deal. You just seem to think that you can dictate to me. You can’t!"
Brent interjected. "I should probably be going."
Lucia gripped his forearm harder. "No. Stay. Noah is going. Aren’t you Noah?"
Noah grinned, his devilish smile bringing a mischievous twinkle to his eyes. Looking at the two of them in close proximity, Lucia could see clearly that there was no competition. Noah had dark sooty lashes that framed those intense whiskey-colored eyes, high cheekbones, a straight Roman nose, and full lips that tilted crookedly when he smiled. The man was gorgeous and he knew it. Which was a problem, because he often used it to get what he wanted.
Brent, in comparison, also had dark hair, but not as dark as Noah's. It also didn't fall in disarray where some parts looked styled and other parts unkempt, but mostly looking like he’d just rolled out of bed. Or he'd rolled out of bed with someone. Brent’s eyes were a pale blue. Kind. He was cute in that boy-next-door, all-American kind of way. He didn't look like he belonged in a fashion magazine, not like Noah did.
Feeling a little uncharitable for comparing Brent so unfavorably with Noah, she had to concede that he was at least tall. Not as tall as Noah, but few men could compare to Noah’s towering height. Besides it wasn’t about looks, or height, or charisma, anyway.
Annoyed with herself, Lucia closed her eyes, hoping maybe this was all a bad dream, but when she opened them again he was still there. With Noah in the room, it was hard to breathe. He dominated everyone and sucked up all the air, silently pulling her towards him with his gravitational force alone. It was like poor Brent wasn't even there.
"Now, Lucia, I know you'd like to think you're in charge right now. But you're not. You don't know this guy. And you invited him back to your place? I thought I taught you better than that."
Brent tried to make an escape again. "Lucia, why don’t you deal with this guy? And we’ll try this again later."
"No. You're not going anywhere."
Noah pushed himself to a seated position on the edge of the bed. "Oh yes he is. Because you and I need to discuss what the hell this is for." He held up the party gift from the bachelorette party.
Oh no. Oh no. Oh no.
In that moment, Lucia prayed to every saint her grandmother had ever forced her to pray to. Prayed to the Virgin Mary then to Jesus. Heck, for good measure she added Buddha in there too. Just in case. But nothing happened. The ground did not open and swallow her.
Instead, she stood with her hand on Brent's arm, staring at Noah as he held up the largest purple dildo she'd ever seen in her life.
Brent’s mouth fell open but no sound came out. As mortified as she was, Lucia couldn’t really blame him. The stupid thing was over a foot long, and thick. Really, really thick. Like thicker than a cucumber. She'd certainly never used the thing. It was a gag gift.
"How dare you go through my things!" she squeaked.
Noah shrugged. "I didn't go through your things. The drawer was open. The thing was practically sticking out of it. Making its escape."
Next to her, Brent shifted his gaze to her.
"That's not mine," she whispered. "I m-mean it is but I've never used it. It’s a gag gift from a bachelorette party." She swung her gaze to Noah. "Put that down."
"Not a chance. I mean, this thing is fascinating. I'm no stranger to toys myself. As far as I'm concerned, they can always enhance the situation. I'm not one of those guys that feel jealous or threatened. Matter of fact, I'm all for a little solo play. But this thing…" He held it up and shook it around. "Even I've never seen anything like it. And I've had a lot of practice."
He turned his attention to Brent. "No disrespect to you, but I don't think you can live up to this. It vibrates and rotates! Even I feel a little frightened by this thing."
Screw the ground opening up and swallowing her whole. Just shoot her now. That would end this quickly. Shoot her. Send her little behind to heaven. Because she was done. Noah was bending the dildo around as it wiggled in his hands. He pushed the button, and the damn thing rotated on its own, making a whirring sound. Oh God. Could this get any worse?
Brent fixed his gaze on her. "I'm going to go."
“No, please don’t go.”
She lunged and grabbed at the dildo, tugging when Noah refused to release it. The silicone material bent in ways Lucia was sure weren’t intended to as they fought over it. This was easily one of the most undignified moments of her life, but she just couldn’t take it anymore. Noah’s smug face as he watched her struggling to get a better grip on the wiggling, gyrating piece of plastic only made it worse.
“Ugh, let go!”
In a fit of sudden anger, Lucia kicked him in the shin. And in his surprise, Noah let go of his end of the toy. The next few seconds would forever play in her mind in slow motion as she watched the toy fly end over end and hit Brent directly in the face.
“Ouch!”
Lucia covered her mouth in horror as the toy fell to his feet. The silence that followed was only broken by the sounds of the still-running toy, wiggling over the carpet.
Noah guffawed. “My bad. Did I get it in your mouth? Don’t worry, it doesn’t mean anything. What’s a little dick in the mouth between friends, am I right?”
&nb
sp; “I have to go.”
“No, wait!”
But Brent didn’t wait. All she could hear were his footsteps as they echoed on the hardwood floors, down the hall, into her living room, then kitchen, and then the front door opening and slamming shut behind him.
With a deep breath, Lucia whirled on Noah.
"I swear to God I will make you pay if it’s the last thing I do. You are going to pay so hard. What the hell is wrong with you? You are completely shameless!"
He grinned as he stood and then knelt to grab the toy, pushing the button on the dildo again. "I'm looking forward to it. This is the best laugh I've had in months."
He moved towards her, his gaze locked on her, his gait smooth and predatory as he stalked towards her. He paused about a foot away from her, and she could smell the scent of sandalwood. She fought the urge to inhale deeply.
When he leaned close, Lucia held her breath.
"Next time, I check out the guy. And pick somebody tougher. If he’d stood up to me, I would have respected him more."
Lucia couldn't help it. Frustration was taking over as the blood boiled under her skin. And the urge to hit him overwhelmed her.
“I hate you.”
He took a step, bringing them so close they were almost touching. When he leaned over her again, she nervously licked her lips as her belly flipped.
His voice was low and sultry as he whispered. “No. You don’t.”
3
It shouldn’t have hurt so much to hear her say those words. I hate you. Especially when he knew it was just a reaction to finding him in her room. But even knowing that, it cut through him with all the precision of a knife and he was left with the curious sensation of a widening in his chest.
“You could never hate me, Princess.”
Lucia’s eyes flashed and he would have laughed if he wasn’t afraid she might actually try to attack him. There wasn’t much she could do to him, but more than likely she’d harm herself in the attempt and he couldn’t allow that. Despite what she thought, everything he ever did was to protect her. Especially keeping her away from guys like the one he’d found her sucking face with just now.
Disgust had him glancing down at the monstrously large dildo in his hand.
“Did you really think that guy was going to get the job done if you’re used to this?”
Lucia screeched and whacked him right in the middle of the chest. “I told you it’s not even mine! Not really. It was a gift.”
“What the hell kind of friend gives you a dinosaur dildo as a gift?”
“None of your business.”
She tried to grab it, stretching on her toes as he raised his arm overhead. The position put her off balance and he instinctively held out an arm to steady her when her legs gave out. Her breasts crushed against his chest, and the soft curves he’d tried so hard to ignore were suddenly front and center in his brain, along with the enticing summer scent of her hair. She placed a hand on his waist as she straightened, and Noah knew a solid sixty seconds of true fear as all his blood shot below his belt.
He could not throw wood around Lucia.
Stand down. Stand down.
He chanted the order, praying the relevant pieces of anatomy would get the message in time.
Lucia took advantage of his distraction and jumped, managing to snatch the dildo from his hand while simultaneously fulfilling every late-night fantasy he’d ever had about her.
“And for god’s sake put it down!” She threw the still-rotating dildo on the bed before turning back to him, murder in her eyes.
“Okay, okay. I was just playing around.”
Lucia pointed to the door. “Outside. Now.”
He backed up, allowing her to push him out of the room and into the hallway. The evidence of what he’d only been able to hear earlier was all around them. The sky-high stilettos she always wore kicked off by the front door. Her jacket was discarded in the middle of the floor, torn off in a fit of passion, perhaps? Noah ground his jaw at the reminder of that guy’s hands all over her. He wasn’t anywhere near good enough for her.
And you are?
He shook off the thought. No one was good enough for Lucia, especially not him, but it was the least he could do to help her weed out the obvious losers. It was what Rafe would have done.
Hell, Rafe probably would have thrown that guy over the balcony for pawing his sister that way. Seriously, it was their first date and that asshole had actually thought a rushed screw was appropriate? Lucia was the kind of woman who deserved flowers and chocolates and candlelight. Not some frantic fuck against the wall. Though shit, just the idea was fucking hot: Lucia, sweaty and panting, him behind her lifting her skirt—oh and what do you know, his erection was back in full force.
Noah was so caught up in his thoughts, he barely noticed where she was pushing him until she had the front door open and he was in the hallway.
“Give me back my key.” She held out her hand, her lips pursed into the most adorable pout.
He knew she was really pissed but couldn’t resist tormenting her a little bit.
“Do you really think I need a key to get in here?”
Her deep breath told him how close he was to getting smacked again. But then suddenly her face changed and she shook her head sadly.
“You just don’t get it, Noah. This is my life and no one is going to stop me from living it. Not even you. I have to grow up sometime.”
“I’m not trying to stop you from living. I’m just trying to keep you safe.”
“Safe, I understand. But this…this is too much. You’re out of control. I have the right to my privacy and having you show up in the middle of my bedroom is kind of a buzzkill to my sex life, you know? So maybe next time we’ll go to his place.”
The fuck there would be a next time. He’d kill the asshole first. There you go with your killer instinct again. “Lucia…Don’t do anything crazy.” The thought of her at some guy’s place, possibly somewhere he couldn’t get to her if things went wrong, made him feel like he was having a heart attack. He put a hand over his heart to make sure it wasn’t actually going to jump out of his chest the way it felt.
“Crazy like showing up in someone else’s bedroom holding a dildo? I don’t think you should be giving me advice in this particular situation. Although, I suppose I should thank you for finding that for me. Since Brent and I were interrupted, I guess I’ll need it tonight.”
Before he could process her words, the door was coming at him. He took a step back mere seconds before it would have hit him in the face.
He stood there for a few more minutes, listening to the sounds of her moving around the apartment before he finally left. She was upset right now, but she’d come around. She always did. Although he couldn’t deny that something about tonight felt different. Not only that she’d actually stood up to him and thrown him out, but what she’d said about using that sex toy later. She had to have been joking about that, right? There was no way Lucia was that kinky. And, oh so helpfully, his brain offered an image of her, on her bed, legs splayed, head thrown back in ecstasy as that dildo worked its magic. His dick throbbed.
Fuck. I wish his cock seemed to say.
As he was descending the stairs, he hit the first speed dial on his cell phone. Matthias answered immediately.
“Hey, did you kill the surveillance on Lucia’s place yet?”
There was a moment of silence before Matthias responded. “You mean did we just see you get your ass handed to you? Nope, no idea what you’re talking about.”
Noah cursed. He could hear the muffled laughter coming through the line which told him Matthias wasn’t alone in the office. Great. This was what he got for hiring a bunch of anti-social loners just like himself. They didn’t have anywhere else to be on a Friday night either.
There was no way Jonas was ever going to let him live this one down.
“Whatever. I’ll be in the office in a few.”
He hung up and shoved his phone back in his
pocket. Once he reached the parking garage, he looked up to Lucia’s window. He watched as her shadow moved around the apartment before the light in the front went dark. Over the years, he’d been so many things to her as she grew up. Surrogate big brother. Protector. A shoulder to cry on.
But he’d never felt like he was on the outside looking in to her life.
He’d spent years knowing this time was coming. That there would be a day when she’d meet someone, a man without screwed-up ethics and a boatload of secrets. Someone who could love her the way she deserved and give her the things she needed. All the things he couldn’t do. Noah had thought he was ready for when that day approached, but he’d had no idea how fast the years would go by.
I have to grow up sometime, she’d said, with no idea what those words meant to him.
Yeah, he thought, but not yet. He couldn’t bear to lose her yet.
Lucia stood in the middle of her living room for a moment, trying to process what had just happened. She rubbed her temples. Maybe if she pretended it hadn’t happened this would all go away. But the evidence was all around her: her jacket on the floor and her lucky shoes by the door, the ones she only wore when she had a date.
Her lucky stilettos hadn’t been so lucky tonight.
She groaned before stooping to pick up the shoes. Things had definitely not gone the way she’d expected. Poor Brent. All he’d done was have the misfortune of asking her out. How was he to know she had a crazy, over-protective pseudo-stalker who’d show up and cock-block him before he even got to second base?
She winced, imagining what he must think of her now. She hadn’t even wanted to go on the date at first so she couldn’t consider it too much of a loss, but damn, it was still embarrassing. Well, at least she didn’t have to figure out a way to let him down easy.
Noah had taken care of that for her, she thought bitterly.
She cleaned up the living room and cut out all the lights before heading back to her room. Her face flamed at the sight of the large purple dildo on the bed. It was still running, the lights on the base blinking furiously as it moved around on the comforter. Lucia picked it up, and after mashing a few random buttons, she finally managed to turn it off.