"Too good?"
"Too good," he repeated, nipping at the flesh and then immediately soothing it with his tongue. His fingers ghosted over her hip and then between her legs only for a moment. Just enough to make her crazy with need. "I didn't want to be selfish and make this all about me. I have things I want to do, too."
Who am I to object?
His head dipped and he nuzzled at her breast before lapping at an already hard nipple, taking it into his mouth and running his tongue around it before lightly scraping the sides with his teeth. He repeated this on the other side until she was writhing on the sheets, twisting underneath him and digging her fingers into the muscles of his back.
"Now," she whispered, hooking her leg around his waist to pull him closer. "Now, Noah."
The world was still spinning as Noah reached into the drawer next to the bed and rolled on protection. She'd barely noticed but then he was pushing inside of her, sinking deep and rubbing all the little sensitive spots that made her gasp and moan.
All of their couplings had been quick and frenzied, their desire too out of control to be tamed. Not this time. Noah languidly fucked her like he had all damn day to do it, slowly pulling out and then thrusting back in, their gazes locked together the entire time. His pupils were blown wide and his jaw tight, holding himself in check.
They moved together, finding the rhythm that would send them both over the edge. Each stroke drove Liz's arousal higher, heat pooling in her lower belly. When her climax hit, it was as if the world splintered apart and whirled around her in shiny pieces before coming together again. Time seemed to slow down as she watched Noah fall over the cliff as well, growling in pure male satisfaction.
Eventually they collapsed together, neither able to speak yet and both sucking oxygen into their starved lungs. Noah pulled the sheet over their rapidly cooling bodies, and Liz cuddled closer, resting her head on his chest. Under her ear she could hear the rapid beat of his heart, so strong and solid.
Was this love?
And if it was, was she ready to love? Could she do this?
She had a funny feeling that her answer didn't matter in the least.
Ready or not...here she was. She wouldn't blow this second chance.
19
A week later Liz couldn't believe how different her life had become. She was happier, more relaxed, and less vigilant. She wasn't constantly checking the cameras around her house in Denver or looking over her shoulder when walking down the street. She didn't immediately assess danger when walking into a store or restaurant.
She still did all of those things, but much less often. It was a start.
Part of it was the news about Kenneth McGuire, but it was also the way Noah and the small community of Tremont made her feel.
There were few secrets in a town this size. People she'd never met smiled and waved at her. They asked her—by name—how the wedding preparations were coming. She might not know them but they knew her. While it took some getting used to - everyone knowing her business without her having to say a word - it also felt sort of warm and cozy. Friendly, and completely different than how she felt in Denver.
She had lovely neighbors at home but the whole darn city didn't know what she was doing and who she was doing it with. Here in Tremont, it was clear that everyone had already paired her up with Noah. They all seemed happy about it too, which was a plus.
"Stay here awhile and you won't think this is so cool," Noah warned her over a shared piece of apple pie at the diner. They didn't have much time together today as the bachelor and bachelorette parties were tonight. They'd been trying to spend as much time together as possible but with the wedding coming up, it hadn't been easy. "What you call small town curiosity, I call nosy neighbors."
Liz had learned a great deal about this man in the last week. She'd learned that he loved a juicy steak cooked medium rare. He loved classic rock from the seventies and he thought watching baseball on television was boring. He much preferred attending a game in person. He loved to wear his blue jeans, and he had a wicked sweet tooth. He adored being outside and hated being cooped up in the house for too long. He was energetic but could veg out watching a movie in the evening. He liked to read mysteries and he loved roller coasters.
She'd found that out by accident when they'd talked about perhaps taking a short vacation together. It turned out he was a roller coaster aficionado, and had ridden most of them all across the country. It had been with a heavy heart that she'd told him she was afraid of heights and he'd drag her dead, cold, lifeless body on a coaster. She wasn't going. Period. End of subject. But she'd happily find a shady bench at whatever amusement park they were at, sit her ass down, and wait for him while he rode.
He'd simply laughed and told her that riding wasn't mandatory, although she was really missing out. As long as she didn't mind waiting, they could ride the merry-go-round when he was done.
She'd also learned that while he might complain about living in a small town in the middle of nowhere, he loved it. He'd never live anywhere else.
"Those nosy neighbors care about you," she pointed out. "Right now, I'm not at home and while my neighbors might have noticed, I can assure you they're not all that concerned. If your neighbors didn't see you for a few days, they'd be worried that you had the flu or something. They'd be sending soup."
"Did you tell your neighbors that you were going on a trip?"
"I would have if I'd seen them before I left. I didn't so...no. I did have my mail and newspaper stopped."
"I think you underestimate your neighbors. They might worry. You're a woman living alone. I'd worry about you if I lived next door."
Liz shrugged. "That's the difference between small towns and big cities. I love my neighbors. They're really wonderful people and we get along great, but they tend to keep to themselves and I do, too. It's not a bad thing, it's just different. They probably think that it's a sign of respect not to be all up in my business."
Noah grinned wickedly. "Tremont is all about being all up in your business. Everyone in town knows even the most minute details about this wedding. It's crazy."
"From what I've been able to see, when an Anderson gets married it's almost like a royal wedding. Prince Carter is taking a wife and all of Tremont is going to celebrate."
A flush stained his cheeks and he rubbed at his stubbly chin. "Shit, I hate it when people talk about us like that. We're just like everyone else's family."
Right... Liz wasn't about to argue with him about this topic.
"Is the whole town invited to the wedding? I asked Mallory that question and she just groaned and hid her head in her hands so I took that as a yes."
"The whole town is not invited, but a good portion of it is as they're family friends."
"I'm not sure I'd be on board with that if I was the bride. I'd rather have something much smaller and more intimate."
Realizing what she'd just said, Liz snapped her mouth shut.
Don't talk about marriage and weddings. Too soon. Far too soon. Awkward.
If Noah thought she was being pushy, he didn't act it. "I agree. I'd want something small, maybe just my family and a few friends. I think that Carter and Mallory let the pressure get to them and they finally threw up their hands and basically invited everyone my parents had ever met. I think this is the biggest Anderson wedding in our generation. Even Travis didn't have this big of a wedding and he has friends all over the world. Shane and Arden had a huge wedding a few years ago though, and I didn't think I'd see anything bigger until this one."
"What about Easton and Dizzy?"
Noah's smile widened. "They had a pretty small wedding actually, but it was easily the best one I've ever been to. Dizzy's family had some sort of shaman come in and bless the couple, which of course my twin hated, because he hates everything that he didn't write down ahead of time. For food, they had an international buffet which was some of the best cuisine I'd ever eaten in my life. And the reception had a seventies disco theme which was a hoot and a half
. If you haven't seen Dizzy's mom and dad getting down to ‘Staying Alive’, you haven't lived."
"Video or it didn't happen."
"I can dig the video out," Noah laughed. "But I warn you, it's not for the faint of heart. At least they didn't try nude yoga at the reception. You can ask the neighbors about that. They're still talking about it."
Holy shit.
"I'm terrified but I still want to see it. It sounds like the wedding this weekend is going to be a hell of a lot more boring than that one."
"We can only hope, but you never know what can happen at a wedding. Maybe one of my relatives will get drunk and jump in the cake."
Liz had a vivid image of a man in a tuxedo doing a swan dive into a five-tiered confection.
"Did you have anyone in particular in mind for that?"
"My cousin Trey has been known to do some wild shit. He'd been double-dog dared into more stupid things than all of the rest of us combined."
"Wait...there are more of you? I thought I'd met all the Andersons. Do they have a ranch, too?"
There were more? Holy hell.
"There are more," Noah confirmed with a grin. "My dad and uncle have an Anderson cousin. They don't have a cattle ranch, though. They own a chain of hotels in the Southeast and Midwest, although they're looking into expanding throughout the United States and eventually overseas. They flew in this morning so you'll get to meet them. Not tonight but definitely at the rehearsal dinner."
More Anderson men... It was an intimidating thought.
"So are you looking forward to the bachelor party tonight? Are there going to be strippers there?"
"I don't know. Are there going to be strippers at the bachelorette party?"
"I can safely say the answer is no. It's just a bunch of women going out to dinner, having a few drinks, and then some dancing. No hijinks of any kind. Mallory was adamant about this and frankly, we agree with her. We're all a little old to be getting drunk and doing things we wouldn't want on YouTube."
"I doubt Carter is going to have strippers, either. He made a remark not long ago that his entire twenties were one big bachelor party so I think he's also going to try and keep it low key. I'm guessing pizza, beer, and poker."
"Aren't you the best man?"
"Yes, but Shane wanted to take lead on the party, and I was happy to let him." Noah leaned forward, his eyes twinkling. "And baby, I am the best man."
"You certainly don't lack self-esteem, Noah Anderson."
"It's one of my better qualities," he boasted, his chest puffed out with pride. "I think you like it."
She was sure he was right. She was beginning to like every single thing about this man.
It should have scared her, but it didn't.
It felt...perfect.
"If I have a stripper Mallory will kill me," Carter declared with a laugh. "She'll enjoy every damn minute of it, too. That was our one agreement. No strippers for either of us."
Shane had surprised them all and rented out the local watering hole for the bachelor party. There was food from the barbecue joint down the road and all the alcoholic beverages they could drink. Most of the men had broken off into groups to play poker while a basketball game played silently on the televisions around the room.
Their cousin Ace - his real name was Alden but he hated it - tossed down three cards. They were playing five card stud. "It wouldn't bother me if my woman had a stripper. I'm secure. Don't you trust Mallory?"
Noah was dealing and he dealt three cards to Ace. "I don't think it's a matter of trust so much as I wouldn't want some guy's junk all up in Liz's face, either. I trust that she wouldn't do anything but I can't say the same for him."
"I trust Mallory," Carter replied. "Totally. But like Noah said, I don't know if I trust the stripper in the scenario. Plus, he's right. I don't want some guy all up in Mallory's business."
Shane tossed down his cards. "I'm out. This hand is too rich for my blood, but for the rest of you, I think Noah is bluffing."
Noah flipped his brother the bird. "Fuck you, brother. You don't know when I'm bluffing. You only wish you did. You are without a doubt the worst poker player in the history of the Anderson family. Bar none. You're terrible."
Shane didn't look too bothered by his older brother's accusation. If anything, he appeared amused, his smile almost mocking.
"That's because I have better fucking things to do than to hang out in honky-tonks drinking whiskey and playing cards."
At one point in Shane's life he had been considered the wild one in the family, so that statement from him had everyone at the table rolling with laughter.
"I know why he's a terrible player," their cousin Trey said with a smirk. He was younger brother to Ace, and they were brothers to Grant and Justin who were at another table playing poker with West, Travis, and Zach. Easton wasn't allowed to play poker with the family anymore because he was really good at it. As in really, really good. He couldn't help it. It was simply how his brain worked. "Because he can't concentrate on the game. His mind is wondering what Arden is doing."
"I think we're all wondering what our women are doing," Carter admitted. "Leanne said that she was taking them out for a nice meal and then they were going to go dancing."
"But she didn't say where she was taking them," Noah added. "Where are they going to go dancing around here?"
That had sort of been bugging him all evening. He couldn't imagine where they had gone. There weren’t that many places in Tremont to party, and Shane had already rented out the main one. Where were the ladies?
"Do you think they went to Billings?" Ace asked. "There's places to go dancing there."
"Maybe Leanne rented one of those party buses," Trey offered. "That's what we should have done."
Shane poured them all another shot of whiskey. "What's wrong with this place? Are you saying that you're not having any fun?"
"I'm having fun," Trey protested, throwing back the shot. "Jesus, you're uptight since getting married. You used to be a hell of a lot more relaxed. In Florida we're not this tightly wound."
"I am not–"
Ace held up his hands and shook his head. "Do not engage with him, Shane. He can do this all fucking night. He'll make you crazy if you let him. Trey likes to fuck with people just for laughs. If he gets on your nerves, just do what I do. Punch him. He can take it."
Noah's cousins were known to be rowdy and loud, especially with one another. His mom had always said that they were just born a little a wilder than most, but that their hearts were twice as big.
"I am not wound tightly," Shane muttered, pouring Trey another shot of whiskey. "Have a fucking drink, asshole."
Out of the corner of his eye, Noah saw Jason at the bar filling his plate with food from the buffet. He wanted to thank his cousin again for getting the information about Kenneth McGuire. While Liz had been angry at first, she'd been visibly more relaxed in the last few days since hearing that the man responsible for her trauma was dead.
"Excuse me, gentlemen. I need to stretch my legs for a few minutes."
Noah pushed back his chair and headed for Jason, who was now sitting on a bar stool and enjoying a pulled pork sandwich.
"Hey, I just wanted to say thank you again for digging into the bank robbery. I do think she feels better knowing he can't get out and hurt her."
Wiping his hands on a paper napkin, Jason took a drink of his beer. "It wasn't any trouble. I'm glad that it helped. Liz seems like a nice woman, and what happened to her was particularly nasty. She's obviously a strong person to go through that and come out the other side."
Noah couldn't help but think that Jason was pretty damn strong, too. After all, he'd survived being a prisoner of a deadly drug cartel. He didn't talk about it but he was definitely a changed man, and in many of the same ways that Liz had changed.
They were both quieter, more watchful, more alert. They were cautious, not jumping into anything right away until they had the lay of the land. Like Liz, Jason assessed every buil
ding or situation he walked into for danger. Perhaps they always would. They'd been through something that Noah would never completely understand.
"She is a strong woman, and she's come a long way since she was taken hostage. I just want to do all I can to help her."
"Just let me know if you need my help again. I'm happy to do it." Jason nodded toward the table Noah had just vacated. "How's your luck tonight?"
"Ace is taking all of our money and I swear Trey is in on it, trying to distract us. Does he ever shut up?" Noah chuckled.
Jason barked with laughter. "He does, but it wouldn't surprise me if they were working together. The one you have to watch out for is Justin. He never says a goddamn word but all of the sudden your pockets are empty, your girlfriend is sitting on his lap, and you're left wondering what in the fuck just happened."
"I take it this is from personal experience?"
"It was spring break my junior year in college," Jason explained with a grin. Whatever memories he had certainly weren't painful. "Like all us Montana Andersons, we traveled down to Florida for some sun and warm weather whenever we could and my girlfriend at the time came with me that year. Like always, we stayed with our aunt and uncle and the first few days it was great. We were having fun and everything was fine. Then Grant decides he wants to throw a party and there must have been about a hundred college kids in that backyard. We were shoulder to shoulder. I went inside to grab some food in the kitchen and when I came out my girlfriend was slow dancing with Justin. At first, I didn't think much about it but as the night went on it was clear that she preferred him to me."
Noah had never heard this story but it was clear that Jason didn't harbor a broken heart. He was having a hard time telling the story because he was laughing so hard.
"So what did you do?"
"What could I do? I yelled at Justin and took a swing at him, of course. Then he took a swing at me, too. His dad came out and separated us while his mom put ice on our matching black eyes. Then his dad took us into his den and laid some major wisdom down on us. He said that any girl that would jump from one guy to another in one single evening probably wasn't anyone that either one of us should be thinking about long-term. Damn, he had a point. So I broke up with her the next morning and Justin didn't pay her any more attention. She sulked for the next few days, and during the entire flight back home she kept trying to tell me that she was sorry but that Justin was just so charming and funny. He made her feel special, she said. Since then I've never underestimated the power of your cousin Justin with women. He doesn't even try. It's really something to see."
Dancing With Danger (Danger Incorporated Book 10) Page 13