He stared between her thighs. “Spread your legs.”
Without a thought in her mind, she spread herself wide, showing him what he wanted to see. His low groan made the hairs on her arms raise. He stroked himself harder now, definitely faster, and with the flogger thrown over his shoulder, her fantasy came to life.
Noah had it all. But more than his gorgeous body, or his seductive confidence, or even his skill with a flogger, his hunger when he looked at her was the best aphrodisiac out there.
He wanted her. Badly. And it felt good to be wanted again.
She was reveling in that awareness and happiness when he moved back to the leather case. He returned with two clothespins. His fingers came down onto her nipple where he tweaked the bud, and her moan sounded distant to her ears.
“Give me a deep breath.”
She sucked in slowly and then blew it out, and he added the clothespin to her right nipple.
The bite of pain was quickly followed by a rush of pleasure and she hissed against the sensation.
He slid his hand over to the other breast. “You like this, hmm?”
It wasn’t really a question. She couldn’t answer him anyway. He waited for her deep inhale before he clipped the next clothespin on her other nipple. A sudden surge of euphoria filled her, taking her places she’d never gone before. But then there was him. This man.
The side of his mouth curved as he dragged his hand down her chest. “Yeah, angel, keeping looking at me just like that.” With his gaze locked on her face, he moved to the side a little then reached for the flogger resting on his shoulder.
This time, she saw his connection to the flogger. There was something beautiful in the way he spun the leather in his hand. Like a dance almost. One that was intimate and personal between him and her. She relished that when the tails hit her thigh, and then all thoughts slowly drifted away. She watched him closely, unable to take her eyes off him, consumed by the way he moved from foot to foot. He slid the tails of the flogger through his hands before sending them toward her thigh.
Hot pleasure pulsed through her veins, making her want more. Until she felt the tails slap against her sex. And then there was nothing but sensation and pleasure and things she never knew before. A steady stream of flicks smacked against her clit, like a vibrator hammering pleasure into her, only better.
Higher and higher she went, until there was nowhere else to go but over the edge. She parted her lips to fall into her orgasm, but then her eyes snapped open when Noah entered her in one swift stroke. She screamed, arching her back, the cuffs pulling against her wrists while he rode her hard.
Dear God, it was heaven.
She wrapped her legs around his waist as his cock drove into her. Her screams of pleasure mingled with his deep grunts. And the weight of his body against hers pressed her into the mattress. Her breath caught, her body tensing with pleasure that had no beginning and no end, only a middle where she never wanted to return from.
Only then she did return.
A sharp sting blasted her into awareness as his hand brushed the clothespin off her nipple in one swift stroke.
After that, there was nothing but pure pleasure and his answering roar as he followed her.
Many, many minutes later, she could move again.
She found herself cradled in Noah’s arms, her head on his chest. He had somehow removed the chain, and she had a soft thin sheet over her, but she didn’t remember any of that. Holy shit…his pleasure had come with mind-numbing orgasms, and even a quivering body to boot.
When she finally had the strength to open her eyes, that claw thingy was in her line of vision. “Do you really use those things on women?” she asked with a scratchy voice.
He laughed softly, trailing his fingers gently along her back. “No, I got them from the garden shed while you were waiting.”
She slowly lifted her head and leveled him with a hard look. “Why would you do that? To scare me?”
“I would never purposely scare you.” He chuckled and kissed her forehead. “But I’m not above having a little fun with the fact you gave me a list with no limits.”
“Oh my God.”
“That’s a little formal,” he said with another laugh. “Noah will do.”
Charming or a man looking to die? She hadn’t decided just yet. “You’re lucky I didn’t run out of here.”
One second, she was looking down at him. The next, she was staring up at all his magnificent sexiness, with his hair dangling down and eyes simmering with heat. “You’re forgetting one important fact there, angel.”
“What’s that?”
He nipped her lip. “You might have tried to run, but I would have caught you.”
And her shiver declared she would have liked that.
Chapter 7
Later that evening, and on the drive down the narrow, winding two-lane highway, Olivia chatted about her happy childhood growing up in the Country Club neighborhood of the Bronx. Noah sat silently behind the wheel, taking the drive slowly and not rushing to get anywhere. He liked listening to her talk, finding her voice melted away the tension across his shoulders. More and more, he found the way she saw the world infectious. She only grew quiet when they reached the corner of Hook Road and Cantitoe Street.
“That’s the Bedford Oak,” he explained when he caught her staring at the tree. “It’s a five-hundred-year-old white oak tree, one of Bedford’s many landmarks.”
“Can we stop?” she asked with excited eyes.
He smiled and pulled over. She was out a second later with her camera in hand, which she always seemed to carry with her. Noah stayed put, watching her photograph the tree with a beaming grin on her face. He’d never met anyone like her, of that he was certain. And he wasn’t questioning why he was intrigued by Olivia anymore. He went with his gut. Something was there between them. He felt it down to his bones. The unusualness of their connection. The difference in her that made her stand out like a rare jewel. And the very fact that he kept wanting more of her. She was uniquely special.
Ten minutes later, they were back on the road and she stared out the window, a comfortable silence between them. When Noah slowed his car before reaching Bedford Village, he regretted the drive was over. Boutiques, with their redbrick buildings and green awnings, lined the main drag and mature trees hugged the road.
He found the first empty parking spot and then they began strolling the streets with minutes passing that Noah didn’t care to count. Hand in hand, she walked next to him past the county’s oldest surviving government building, originally built in 1787 and restored to its full glory between 1965 and 1970. With each step forward, her fingers dragged across the white picket fence in front of it.
“Have you always been so aware like you are?”
She glanced sideways with surprise in her eyes. “You think I’m aware?”
“Incredibly aware,” he stated with a firm nod. “You are tuned in to the world in a way I’ve never seen before. You touch things you pass, paying attention to how things feel. You look deeply at things that you find beautiful.”
She scrunched her nose. “Is that weird?”
“Weird?” he repeated with a dry laugh. “No, Olivia, you fascinate me.”
“Oh.” She gave a sweet smile before averting her gaze. “And yes, I’ve always been that way.”
When they reached the street’s corner, stopping beneath the deep oval green of the Hartley Cheese Shop signage, she turned to him and said seriously, “If that fascinates you, there’s something else you should know about me.”
“What’s that?” he asked.
Her eyes twinkled as she gestured at the redbrick shop. “Some women like purses. Other women like shoes. I love cheese.”
“You like cheese?” He laughed, so perplexed by this woman.
She nodded with a dead serious expression. “No
t like. I looooove cheese.”
His mouth twitched. Christ, she was cute. “Well then, let’s give you what you love.” He opened the door and she quickly entered.
“I’ve up and died and gone to heaven,” she practically purred, taking in the shop around her.
Deli counters lined the small store and black bookshelves held the store’s products. Behind the counters were rows upon rows of bread.
Olivia beelined straight for the counter, and without pausing asked the employee, “Can I please have a few slices of your oldest white cheddar?”
“Most definitely,” the gray-haired woman wearing a white apron replied. “We’ve got some five-year-aged white cheddar. Will that do?”
Olivia rubbed her belly. “Oh yes, that will certainly do.”
Noah chuckled.
While the woman took a block of cheese out from the display case, he went to the till, where an older gentleman worked, and paid for the cheese.
“You didn’t have to do that,” Olivia rebuked from behind him, a white paper bag in her hand.
Noah shoved his wallet into his back pocket. “I want to be the one responsible for putting that smile on your face, so yes, I did.” He guided her toward the door with a hand on the small of her back and paused while another couple entered the shop.
Back outside, Olivia smiled. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.” Again, they strode forward side by side. He studied her as she opened the paper bag and offered him a piece of the cheese. He peered into the bag. “It doesn’t look like anything special.”
“Oh, but it is so special,” she countered.
He reached in, grabbed a piece, then bit half of it. Olivia stared at him with big excited eyes. It tasted like cheese to him but those eyes…“You’re right—it’s delicious.”
She gave him a huge smile and nibbled a piece, her eyelids fluttering. “I know, right? So good.”
He held back his laugh and finished off the piece of cheese, nudging her toward a bench. “Let’s sit here for a while.”
“Perfect.” She followed him to the bench and sat down.
After he joined her, he tipped his head back, inhaling the fresh air. The comfortable silence between them settled in while Olivia ate her cheese and Noah absorbed a moment that was entirely foreign to him. Nothing motivated the passing minutes. They held no purpose. He wasn’t working. He wasn’t sleeping. And yet, he wouldn’t change a damn thing.
For years, he knew his every step in his life. He had a singular goal: Win one of the New York senator seats. From day one, he had known that dream meant he had to sacrifice a personal life. He’d always been okay with that sacrifice.
Though in only days of knowing Olivia, she had shown him the life he had thrown away for his career. He studied the pedestrians strolling the streets enjoying the evening. With their relaxed postures and slow gaits, they had nothing to do but spend time together. For the first time ever, he saw what he had given up. “This feels good,” he told her.
She stopped chewing. “What feels good?”
Wanting her closer, he slid his arm behind her on the back of the bench and stroked her soft shoulder. “Doing nothing at all but sitting beside a pretty lady.”
He thought that might stir a smile. He was wrong.
She studied him intently. “Has it really been that long since you’ve dated seriously?”
He nodded. “I’m thirty-five now. I’ve been a senator for four years, so I’ve been single for five years.”
“Five years?” Her eyebrows shot up to her hairline.
“That surprises you?”
“Of course it does.” She gave him a very through once-over. “I mean, look at you. And you don’t seem to be emotionally unstable or anything.”
He arched an eyebrow.
She laughed softly. “That came out all wrong. I just mean, why has there been no girlfriend? You’ve got it all together. I’m sure in your inner circles you’re a huge catch.”
He winked at the compliment, which earned him a cute grin, before he explained his past. “Relationships tend be hard when you’re career-focused. They were hard even before I became a senator. My family…there’s expectations, there are parties, appearances…I simply didn’t have the time to date anyone properly.”
“I guess I can understand that.” She paused, smiling at the little girl walking her fluffy white dog down the street. She turned to him again and nibbled her cheese. “How long did your previous relationship last?”
“A year,” he answered. “Her name was Colette, and she got tired of being put second. She gave me an ultimatum.”
Awareness filled Olivia’s expression. “I take it that was that then.”
He nodded, knowing full well that his admission did not put him in the best light. “Becoming a senator had been my sole focus after Harvard. First, the goal had been to be elected to state office, then I took on becoming a congressman before moving into the Senate.” A bird landed on the sidewalk in front of them before quickly flying away. He glanced at Olivia again. “The only thing that mattered during those years was mingling with the right people, showing my face where I needed to show it, and working long hours. Colette knew all this going into our relationship, but I’m sure the reality wasn’t as pretty as she thought it’d be. Because when the parties and events were over, she was alone.”
Olivia’s eyes saddened. “I can only imagine how hard that would have been. Being alone all the time would be awful.”
“You’re right—it would be terrible,” he agreed. He recalled when Colette had approached him and told him he was just like his father. A man who was never there for his family, always working, always mingling. And Noah remembered the sadness his mother endured. “That is precisely why I haven’t had a girlfriend since Colette. It’s unfair to ask anyone to join in my life because I will always break promises and commitments, and there is nothing I can do about that.”
At that, her head cocked. “Is your life still like that?”
He wanted to say no, but that wasn’t entirely true. “My hours are not as long as they once were. But I travel often, so in that regard, nothing has changed. I had to give up a lot for my career, and a personal life was part of that sacrifice.”
Her focus turned to an elderly couple walking down the street before returning to him. “Do you ever wonder if you took the wrong path in life?”
“Never.” He didn’t even need to think about it. “Working for the people gives me purpose.” He paused at the emotion crossing her expression, sensing she felt very differently. “What about you? Have you ever faced a fork in the road like that?”
“Not really.” She sighed and gave a small shrug. “Or maybe I have, I don’t know.”
Odd. “You’re unsure if you’ve ever faced a big decision like that?”
Her eyes were sad and so was her voice. “I might be aware of some things, but with other things, I’m totally clueless. I never really think things out, like I’m sure you do. I just always do the smart thing, the right thing…or what I think is the right thing, I should say. Which I guess is maybe why I’ve been so blind to so many things.”
Now that made him curious. “Blind in what way?”
She averted her gaze again. “To Cameron not loving me.”
That single statement told him so much. Like he’d told her, Noah had felt purpose many times in his life. First, at Harvard. Second, to become a senator. Now that same sense of purpose pulsed through him so he could fix her wounded soul. Because of Cameron, this woman had no idea how amazing and unique she truly was. That needed to change.
“Oooh!” She gasped.
Noah snapped into focus as she rose. She lifted her camera to her eye, aimed at a couple across the street who were smiling at each other. Her camera clicked with each photograph. He stayed put, realizing that while h
e would not change anything in his past, today had been his happiest day in as long as he could remember. Because fate, it seemed, had led him to exactly where he needed to be.
Right here. Right now. With her.
* * *
—
Back at the house, Olivia passed the scattered clothes in the hallway, carrying two glasses of water. Clothes that she and Noah had practically torn off each other on the way to the bedroom a couple of hours ago. Apparently, fresh air and a romantic dinner had done them good. She wore nothing now but Noah’s button-down shirt, the first thing she’d found on the floor. The worn hardwood floors creaked under her bare feet as she padded her way down the hallway, passing the bedrooms and main bath on the left. She entered the room ready to ask Noah about all the paintings lining the hallway but suddenly was failing to come up with a coherent thought.
He lay sprawled in the bed, stark naked with the sheet covering him from his hip down. The lights were all off except for the small lamp on the end table next to him. My God…The strength and masculine beauty took her breath away. Her gaze fell to the table next to her and her camera. The flutters of her belly drew her forward. She gently placed the glasses down, quickly snatching up her camera and taking the shot. Again and again, she pressed the button, not wanting to miss this moment. Hell, wanting to forever encapsulate this minute in time.
When she moved closer, Noah’s low voice filled the room. “Are you taking my photograph, Olivia?”
She lifted her head and discovered his heated smile. “Not of your face. Don’t worry.”
He tilted his head to the side a little, giving her a long gaze. “You have my permission to photograph me, if you’d like.”
“Are you sure?” she asked.
He nodded. “Quite sure.”
He tucked his arm behind his head when she came a little closer to the bed. This couldn’t have been easy for him, allowing her to photograph him half-naked, considering how much he valued his privacy. Maybe that’s what made Noah so amazing. He took that leap sometimes, no matter how risky it was. Of course, maybe he trusted her by now, knowing that she’d never sell him out, and because of the nondisclosure. But still…this had to push his limits. And yet, he looked completely unafraid in the face of that fear.
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