He stopped mid-rant. ‘I want you, Lila. I want you and our baby.’
Lila closed her eyes. She had dreamed of hearing these exact words – just not like this. ‘Noah, I can’t. I just can’t. I’m scared that if we try – and fail – losing you would break me. And, even though I feel something real and tangible for you, we still don’t know each other that well.’
‘Bullshit,’ he said fiercely, ‘I do know you. I know you love with your whole heart. I know that when you sleep, you favor your left side, sleep with one hand under your face. I know you like orange Jello and also the lime. I know that I would walk through fire to see you happy and safe…’
Lila gave a sob, and in a flash, Noah had locked the door to the shop and pulled down the shade, coming to take her in his arms. She didn’t resist.
‘Lila, sweetheart, I can’t get you out of my head. I had to find you, tell you how much you mean to me. Try to see if we could make a go of it together. It wasn’t a one night stand for me, Lila; it was the beginning of something else. And now I know that’s true. Look, I’ll transfer to the medical center here, rent somewhere, so that if you need me, I’ll be here. Always. I won’t ask you to make a commitment to me, just let me be around, involved.’
She looked up at him through tear filled eyes, searching his clear green eyes for clues to how he really felt. All she saw was hurt – and love.
‘Noah…’
His lips crushed against hers, hunger, pain in his kiss and his arms wound tightly around her body. Her hands slid onto his face as she responded to his kiss, fingers knotting in his hair.
Noah’s hands slid under her dress, caressed her swollen belly, then his hand slipped between her legs, stroking and touching through her underwear. ‘I want you so badly,’ he murmured against her mouth and she moaned softly as his fingers snagged in her panties and slid them down her legs.
Somewhere in her hazy, lust-delirious mind, it registered that making love to this man here at her workplace, in the middle of the day, was insane. But she couldn’t stop. God, the sweet taste of his mouth on hers, his eyes sweeping all over her, making her sex tremble and dampen, his big hands on her skin.
He lowered her to the floor and covered her body with his own, kissing, nibbling at her earlobes, pulling the straps of her dress down so he could take her nipples into his mouth, sucking on them, teasing them into a frenzy. His mouth moved down to her belly, his hands gentle, his lips against it, tender as he stroked it.
‘I want you inside me,’ she managed to gasp, smiling, Noah kicked his jeans off, his cock rising, hard and huge against his stomach. The sight of it made her cunt pulse with desire and when, at last, for only the second time, he entered her, she sighed with happiness and content.
I’m being fucked by this beautiful man, whose baby I’m carrying inside me. In this moment, I have everything I’ve ever wanted…
As they made love, Noah, tender to the last, kissed her softly, passionately, gazing into her eyes. His cock drove her onto almost unbearable pleasure, her rounded belly hard against his, her nipples brushing against his hard chest.
She gazed up at him and thought, oh how I love you, you beautiful man and for one blissful moment, she imagined what it might be like to imagine a life together, here on this island, anonymous and peaceful.
Her orgasm dashed any thought of anything from her mind and as she came down from the high, she heard Noah groan and his seed spilled out of him into her belly.
‘Lila, Lila, Lila…’
His plaintiff whisper made her want to cry but instead she fixed her mouth on his. Noah stroked her face as they embraced, then as they broke for air, he gazed down at her.
‘Lila…please, can’t we at least try? To be a family? You, me and the little one? Let’s at least, try.’
Hope sprang in her for the first time and she nodded, her eyes filled with tears, seeing the joy started to flood into his eyes. ‘Yes,’ she said simply. ‘Yes.’
Manhattan
Tinsley was shaking. Never, never, had she seen Riley so worked up. Yeah, okay, his partner had been shot, but to attack her for protecting Lila’s privacy. Something was going on with Riley, something other than Charlie getting shot.
Tinsley sighed, trying to calm herself. The Riley she knew and loved – he was nowhere to be seen in the angry man who had just left. ‘Jeez,’ she said to herself.
Later, when Mikey had come in for his shift, Tinsley took off, and, still pissed at Riley, had ignored his entreaty to stay away from the hospital. She was in luck; the cops there let her in with no argument.
Charlie was sitting up in bed, staring at a ballgame on the TV. His left shoulder was heavily bandaged, his arm in a sling. There were patterns of cuts and bruises all over his handsome face. He looked tired but his eyes lit up when he saw her.
‘Hey cutie pie, what are you doing here?’
She rolled her eyes, kissing his cheek. His stubble tickled her lips and she felt a pang of nostalgia when she would wake up to him kissing her awake. Water under the bridge, kiddo.
‘Riley came to see me, told me you’d gotten yourself beaten up. I heard by an eighty-pound elderly nun. With a limp.’
‘More like sixty four-hundred-pound sumo wrestlers. With actual hammers like in the cartoons.’
Tinsley laughed, glad that Charlie retained his sense of humor. She touched his injured arm lightly. ‘How bad is it?’
He shrugged – then winced at the pain. ‘Couple of chipped bones, hairline fractures. Should be fine in couple of months.’
Tinsley nodded. ‘Good thing it’s not your jerking off hand.’
Charlie gave a bark of gruff laughter. ‘Yes, it is. Although, you know you can always help me out with that.’
As he laughed again, she swiped at him, blushing. ‘Filthy boy.’
‘Talking of which, how goes it with Harry? Those Carnegie boys do like to mess with my women,’ he grinned to show he was joking.
‘Just fine and dandy,’ Tinsley felt weird discussing her relationship – if she could call it that – with her ex-boyfriend but Charlie to her now was a good friend – her best friend, if she was being honest. She grinned wickedly at him. ‘Anyway, a little birdy told me that you had your own fan in that family – a certain little redhead?’
Charlie had the grace to look sheepish. ‘It’s just a crush; she’ll get over it. Cora just needs some looking after, is all. I’m old enough to be her dad.’
Tinsley smirked. ‘That’s true, granddad. Hey, listen…Riley came to see me, to tell me about you and I’m afraid we got into a bit of an argument and I wanted to come explain myself to you.’
Charlie held up his good hand. ‘Hey, I’m staying out of any arguments between the two of you. That’s a lose-lose for me.’
Tinsley frowned. ‘But it does kind of involve you – well, Lila, at least.’
‘How so?’
‘He asked me if I knew where Lila was, that if I knew, I should tell you because you needed her, you asked for her when you were hurt.’
Charlie stared at her. ‘Tins, I did no such thing. Lila is where she needs to be right now; I would never intrude on that for a few cuts or bruises. You sure he said that?’
‘Well, seeing as it was the crux of our argument, I’m pretty sure. I told him I didn’t know where she was and he kinda freaked out on me. Big time.’
Charlie looked astonished. ‘Riley? Riley freaked out?’
Tinsley nodded. ‘Yup, that was pretty much my reaction. Listen, you sure you didn’t ask for her when you were brought in, maybe you were out of it?’
He shook his head. ‘Nope, absolutely positive.’
She looked at the bruising on his head and wondered if he had concussion. ‘How can you be so sure?’
Charlie sighed. ‘Because, Tins…I already know where Lila is.’
San Juan Island
He drove them across the island in his Mercedes, back to the home she had found for herself. Shyly, Lila took Noah’s hand and he loo
ked over and smiled at her. ‘Hey, beauty.’
Lila shook her head, smiling. Something had to give. Something would go wrong. If she’s learned anything from the past year, it was that no-one got everything they’d ever dreamed off just like that. There had to be catch, a pay-off, a twist in the tale.
But right now, for once, she let herself believe. After making love in the shop, they’d dressed, tidied the place up, and re-opened but the rain kept the shop empty and so instead, they talked.
‘Why did you keep the baby?’ He asked gently. ‘You could have just had it…dealt with, and no-one would have known.’
‘Because it was yours,’ she whispered softly, earning herself a passionate kiss.
They’d talked practicalities. ‘I could just resign,’ he said easily, ‘but I have patients that I want to see through their treatments. So, for now, I’ll commute. I’ll get a place near you so I don’t crowd you.’
She shook her head. ‘No, don’t. Just stay with me, don’t make this more complicated than it is. And sometimes, if you’ll have me, I’ll come into the city.’
Noah was clearly delighted. ‘We’re going to do this, Lila, all the way. We’re going to make it, I swear.’
She wanted to tell him she loved him in that moment but she funked it. It was too soon; she thought to herself, it was just lust. Well, she thought with a half-smile, lust – and a baby on the way. But if she was honest, she didn’t want to say it yet. She wanted to say it in a moment where it wasn't being swayed by sexual arousal, or panic, of fear, or anything. She would know when the moment was right.
Her home came into view and Noah whistled. ‘That’s nice,’ as he pulled up to it and she was surprised.
‘It’s just a cottage, pretty scrappy too,’ she smiled as he helped her out of the car. She opened her mouth to continue but then saw he was gazing down at her, his eyes intense. ‘What is it?’
‘Pregnancy suits you,’ he said softly, ‘you’re even more beautiful than I remember.’
Lila flushed with pleasure and embarrassment. ‘I’ll remember you said that when you’re holding my hair back because I’m throwing up everywhere.’
‘You’ve had sickness?’
Lila grinned at him switching automatically to doctor mode. ‘I have a great OBGYN, relax. You can just be the Daddy.’ She flushed again and her eyes filled with tears and it was Noah’s turn to ask what was wrong.
‘Nothing, these are happy tears. I never thought this – us – would happen.’
Noah wrapped his arm around her. ‘Well, then, show me to your castle.’
Manhattan
Tinsley had to wait to find out how Charlie knew where Lila was because no sooner had he dropped that bomb on her than the doctor had arrived to check him. She hovered impatiently outside his room until the doctor, shooting her an amused glance, left the room, then when she went in, she saw Charlie was up and getting dressed.
‘Doc says I can go home,’ he said cheerfully. Tinsley gaped at him.
‘You’re not going anywhere until you tell me how you know where Lila is,’ she said, gently pushing him back on the bed. Charlie sighed.
‘She wrote me, remember, when she left? She asked me not to tell anyone where she was but, of course, she was going to tell me, wasn’t she? So, that’s how I know and no, I’m not going to tell anyone, not you, not the Carnegies, and certainly not damn Riley.’
‘What is his problem, then? Why does he want to know where Lila is so badly?’
Charlie’s face set in its grim expression. ‘I don’t know, but I’m going to find the hell out.’
Harry Carnegie read through his emails hurriedly, not really taking much notice of them until he reached the last one. Then he cursed loudly and grabbed his phone.
‘Yeah, what?’ Brent, his associate back in Melbourne, mumbled into the phone and too late, Harry realized the time difference. It was four am. in the Australian city.
‘Brent, look, man, I’m sorry to wake you but I just got the email about the Landecker deal. To renew the contract, they want a price cut of seventy per cent….are they kidding with this?’
He pictured Brent sitting up, rubbing his bearded face and by the grunting noises he heard, he was doing just that. ‘Look, mate, things have been screwy here ever since you left. I can’t do it all on my own. Yeah, we dropped the ball on that contract and they snuck in with a last minute renegotiation. We need you back, man.’
Harry sighed. ‘Yeah, I know. Look, I didn’t mean to stay here so long…listen, I’ll get my stuff in order here and I’ll come back early next week. Can you hold on signing anything until then?’
‘I’ll try.’
Harry said goodbye and ended the call. ‘Damn.’ He had known that postponing and postponing his return to Melbourne would come back to bite him in the ass eventually, but he was having such a good time here. And yeah, that was entirely down to Tinsley. They had stuck to their agreement – fun, no commitment, easy come, and easy go. But, despite himself, he’d grown attached. His spirit lifted every time she smiled at him; his entire body worshipped hers when they made love. She fit him.
Not only that but during the time home, he’d reconnected with his family – each of them: Delphine, Richard and Cora – and felt a closeness to them he’d never felt before. Yet Australia was calling him home. It was his home. All of his friends were there now, the friends of his youth in Westchester all scattered and gone.
His sister, still reeling from Rich’s murder and Lila’s disappearance, had been leaning on him and he had to admit, she was a really good kid with a lot of potential – if she could keep it together. Tinsley had equally taken the young woman under her wing.
Tinsley Chang…darn it if she hadn’t gone and gotten under his skin. Harry shook his head. This was exactly what he’d tried to avoid his whole entire life.
Falling in love.
Tinsley’s cell phone buzzed just as she was climbing the stairs to her apartment. She had insisted on getting a cab with Charlie to his apartment and cooking for him. He had rolled his eyes but she knew he was grateful. Despite his protestations, his injuries had made him ache and she fussed over him, feeding him pasta and making him promise to take aspirin and go to bed.
Before she went, he’d called her back. ‘Tins…don’t mention our conversation to Riley. Let me look into it a little.’
She smiled ruefully. ‘I don’t think me and Riley will be talking about anything much for a while so I think I can promise. Look, I have to go into work for a couple of hours…sure you don’t want me to come back and check on you later?’
Charlie chuckled. ‘No, Mom, I’m good. I’ll call you tomorrow.’
Now, she took out her phone and checked the caller i.d. and smiled. ‘Harrison Carnegie, you won’t believe the day I’ve had.’
‘Bad or good, sweetheart?’
She balanced the phone between her ear and neck and she dug in her bag for her keys. ‘Um, I’d say, a bizarre day. You okay?’
‘Oh yeah, yeah…listen, can you meet me for drinks?’
‘When?’
‘Um, kind of now? I‘m outside.’
She laughed, letting her front door close again and turning back to the stairs. ‘You doofus, why didn’t you just catch up with me?’
‘Didn’t want to intrude.’ There was a chuckle in his voice. Tinsley jogged down the stairs and out onto the street.
‘You mad man,’ she said into the phone as she saw him. He was leaning against a very nice Porsche.
‘A loaner from my dad,’ he grinned as he held the door open for her. He took her to a quiet bar on one of the side streets.
‘The amount of time I spend in bars, I should just put a bed in the corner of mine and have done with it,’ Tinsley said as they found a quiet booth. The waitress came over and took their orders.
‘You know, Melbourne had a wealth of bars just crying out for a manager like you,’ Harry smiled but she could see wariness in his eyes.
‘I love New Yor
k,’ she said, gently. ‘Melbourne will always be home for me, but my heart is here now. What’s up, Carnegie? You look squirrely.’
He grinned wryly. ‘You know me too well. I have to go back to Melbourne. Next week. I’ve been neglecting the business and I’ve exhausted my partner’s patience.’Tinsley found she couldn’t speak for a moment but then she nodded. ‘We knew this wasn’t a forever thing, Harry. We said it wouldn’t be.’
He nodded, somberly. ‘We did.’
They sat in silence for a few minutes, the atmosphere between them awkward. Harry sighed and took her hand. ‘Look, truth time. I didn’t want to get involved. But something happened when I met you – ‘
‘Don’t say it, please,’ Tinsley begged him suddenly, ‘don’t make this harder than it has to be. We’re both adults, and this is the real world. A long distance relationship isn’t what either of us want or need. Let’s just…god, Harry don’t look at me like that…’ She broke off and looked away.
‘I’m sorry. But I’ll miss you more than you know,’ his voice was gruff.
Tinsley half-smiled at him. ‘I never said I wouldn’t miss you like crazy. You’d better stay in touch.’
‘I will.’
‘When do you leave?’
‘Monday.’
‘God, so soon.’ Another silence.
‘Tinsley, would you spend the weekend with me? I mean, I have a family thing on Sunday, and I’d like you to come with me to that too if you would like, but the rest of the weekend…’
‘Me, you, my bed and food delivery,’ she said firmly and grinned. Harry laughed softly.
‘Well, that sounds about perfect.’
Tinsley gazed at him. ‘For what it’s worth, these past few months with you? Best of my life.’
Harry leaned forward and brushed her lips with his. ‘Ditto.’
Much later, they walked hand-in-hand to her apartment, stopping every few minutes to kiss. As she slid her key into the door, she stopped and frowned, pushed on the door without turning the key. It opened. ‘Shit.’
His Sweet Torment: A Bad Boy Billionaire Romance Page 90