by Annie Rains
He grabbed the hem of her shirt and yanked it over her head.
Helping him, she lifted one arm, getting her elbow caught in the fabric. She hung there for a moment—so not sexy, Krista—before Noah peeled the shirt off her elbow and tossed it to the floor below.
He was quiet for a moment.
A wave of nervousness crashed over Krista. What if he rejected her? What if he looked at her and realized he could do better?
“You are the sexiest thing I’ve ever seen, Krista Nelson,” he finally said, laying to rest her fears. Before she could respond, he reached behind her and unclasped her bra. It fell to the floor below and suddenly she was topless, her breasts bare for him. His gaze lowered, sweeping over her along with an electric current of white hot desire to be touched. He palmed one breast in his hand, moving his thumb over her nipple. Then he bent and put his mouth on her. She moaned in satisfaction as his tongue flicked and swirled around her. She could easily feel his erection pressing into her as she straddled her legs around his waist. She wasn’t his best friend tonight. Tonight she was his lover.
“Your turn.” She opened her eyes and reached for the hem of his shirt, lifting it overhead. Unlike her, he didn’t get stuck in the fabric. Her hands traced the hard lines of his body, perfected by the sun and work on the boat. His body was absolutely perfect. He was perfect.
“Your turn. Take off those jeans,” he said in a rough voice, edged with sex. Not waiting, he reached for the button at her waist and effortlessly flicked it open.
Krista stood for a moment and pushed them off, leaving her in nothing but a pair of red lace panties.
“Those, too,” he said, watching, which both thrilled and made her nerves return in full force. If she got her foot stuck in her underwear while taking them off, she was going to slink out of this bedroom and cut her losses. She gave her panties a shove and they hit the floor. Then she stood there for a second longer, naked and shivering as his eyes seemed to soak her in. Her body trembled. Reaching for her hands, he pulled her back on his lap, straddling her legs around his waist, pressing his hard erection into her soft spots.
Noah groaned deep in his throat. His hands ran up her bare body, settling on her breasts again, squeezing, massaging until she tipped her head back and moved like a woman out of her mind. And she was. Her mind was gone, floating somewhere in the clouds, and her body was in control, fueled by pleasure. She rocked her hips, pressing her good parts with his very good ones. She ached to feel him inside her. Couldn’t wait. But foreplay had always been her favorite part of sex. It was the thrill before the deed, which in her very limited experience, never came close to being as good.
Noah’s hand ran down her body and slipped between her legs. His finger moved along her most sensitive areas with a rhythm that matched her hips. Digging her nails into the backs of his shoulders, she held on as his finger pushed deep inside her. “Yes.” She tipped her head back and emitted a soft moan. One finger wasn’t going to cut it, though. Not when she’d felt how hard and big the alternative was.
“Do you have a condom?” she asked in a breathless whisper.
Noah froze.
She opened her eyes and looked at him. “What? Why’d you stop?”
“I don’t have a condom.” His hand retreated from between her legs as regret cast shadows over his features in the dark. “Sorry.”
Her body went limp against his. “What do you mean you don’t have a condom?”
He ran both hands through his hair, tugging softly. “Why would I? I didn’t come here expecting this to happen.”
Krista rolled off him and onto the bed. She pulled her tossed shirt back to her. In the heat of the moment, she didn’t mind being naked, but now that the moment had come to a sudden cooling, she felt like she should cover up. He wasn’t rejecting her, but this wasn’t going to happen, tonight or probably ever again. This was their one chance and it was gone. “Shouldn’t you always have something on you? Just in case?”
“In case I meet some random chick and decide to hook up?” he asked. “That’s not how I work, Krista.”
“It’s not?” She had no idea.
“Not these days.”
A weight lifted off her chest. She’d just assumed that Noah took half the girls he dated to bed. She was pretty sure the women wouldn’t refuse. He was funny, charming, sexy. “Well, um, maybe we shouldn’t have been—”
“Whoa.” Noah leaned in and kissed her shoulder. The feeling sent a swarm of butterflies through her belly. “Don’t start backtracking on me now, sweetheart. I was enjoying what we were doing.”
She adored the word “sweetheart” on his lips. He’d never called her anything but Kris.
She tipped her mouth to his and kissed him, her body easily heating up again. She wanted Noah. Needed him and that orgasm his body had all but promised her. “Wait. What about the box of condoms we bought for Grace and Jack?”
Noah’s brown eyes darkened. “The spiked ones?” he asked in a low voice. The corner of his mouth drew up, and it was maybe the sexiest thing she’d ever seen combined with his naked body.
She pulled her lower lip between her teeth. “Well, they’re condoms. We can replace them later.” That was plural because maybe they’d need more than just the one.
Noah practically jogged to the drawer with all the Sugar and Spicy items. He yanked it open and pulled out the box, holding it up like a trophy. Ripping the top off, he pulled out a foil wrapper and returned to her at the bed. “But first…” He dropped to his knees in front of her as she sat on the bed’s edge. His hand curled around one of her feet, lifting it up to his mouth so he could press one kiss against the inside of her ankle. Electricity zipped through her at lightning speed. He continued to kiss along her inner leg, her calf, her thigh, higher, higher, urging her to lie back with the weight of his body. “First, I want to do other things.”
His deep voice and rough unshaven cheeks brushing against her sensitive skin set off an explosion of fireworks inside her. She wasn’t sure what other things Noah was talking about, but it didn’t matter. She trusted him with the night and her body.
With everything except her heart.
Chapter 11
Krista yawned as she rolled over in her bed, drawing her covers more snugly to her body. Or trying to. The cover pulled back, which caused her to crack an eye and blink into the dark room. She could see from the casts of shadows that this wasn’t her bedroom. Memories of the night before slowly slipped into the forefront of her mind. She was in the Sawyer cabin. With Noah. And…
Oh, my God.
Krista rolled over to see that Noah was the one pulling back on the covers. He was asleep, breathing heavily beside her. She went up on one elbow to see him better in the dark. Her heart pitter-pattered forcefully against her ribs. She couldn’t bring herself to regret anything they’d done only a few hours ago. She glanced at the clock blinking in the dark. Actually only two hours ago. They’d had sex—lots of sex—and it’d been amazing and incredible and completely unexpected. Then they’d fallen asleep in each other’s arms.
Feeling the pressure of her bladder, Krista quietly rolled out of bed, surprised at how cold the cabin was at night. The mountains were a few degrees cooler than Blushing Bay, but it felt like tens of degrees cooler. She tiptoed down the hall in her bare feet to the second bathroom, not wanting to wake Noah. She needed a glass of water, too. Their nighttime activities had made her more than a little thirsty. And hungry, she thought, as her stomach clenched. They’d never gotten around to having dinner. Not that she’d minded. No, she’d preferred what they’d done instead.
After relieving herself, Krista made her way back to the kitchen to get a glass, then screamed as she went plowing into a hard body standing in front of her.
Noah’s arms gripped her as stumbled backward. “Sorry. Didn’t mean to scare you,” he said in a whisper, even though it was only the two of them in the cabin. “I heard you get out of bed and came to make sure you were okay.”
<
br /> Terror melted into this warm, fuzzy, gooey feeling inside her chest. “I’m okay. And I’m the one who woke you, so I’m the one who should be sorry.”
He was only a dark shadow in the kitchen. But with her visual sense masked, her other senses awakened. He smelled like sex. It was an unmistakable scent. They both did, matter of fact. And there was a heat radiating off his bare chest. She could feel it, was drawn to it. “I’m thirsty. I was going to get a glass of water,” she told him.
“I’ll get it for you.” Noah reached for the switch on the wall and they both grimaced at the sudden blinding light. “Sorry,” he said again, heading to the cabinet. He pulled down a glass and opened the fridge to pull out a bottled water.
“I’m actually starving,” he said, reading her mind. “Want me to warm up my stew that we never got around to eating?” He glanced over his shoulder and winked at her.
She didn’t see any signs of regret on his face, which was a relief. She didn’t want him to regret what they’d done. They’d been two consenting adults and they could deal with the ramifications. Hopefully. “Yeah. I’m hungry, too.”
She watched him move, shivering as she sat in a chair at the kitchen table with her knees curled to her chest. All she was wearing was Noah’s oversized T-shirt. All he was wearing was his boxers. She shivered again.
A few minutes later, he placed a steaming bowl of soup in front of her. His brows knit with concern. “You’re freezing. I’ll build a fire.”
“No, you don’t have to. You’re hungry, too.”
He shrugged. “I can wait. I’m used to being on a boat long past hunger. I’ll go grab a few logs that I chopped earlier.” Without allowing her time to respond, he disappeared out the back door.
Is he concerned or avoiding me? she suddenly wondered, feeling a little panicked.
A moment later, he returned, placed the logs in the fireplace, and started a fire. Heading back to the table, he wore an easy smile and sat beside her instead of in front this time. He pulled his bowl close to him. “There. Now we’ll be warm and satisfied.” A mischievous little spark lit his brown eyes. He’d made sure she was fully satisfied earlier in the night, but that didn’t keep her from hungering for him again. If the look he was giving her was any indication, he was hungering for her as well.
They ate their bowls of soup quietly. Or not so quietly. Noah had an annoying habit of slurping his soup. He always had, and it had always driven her batty. She tried to tune it out. It was a good distraction from wondering if he was going to return to her bed, or if they’d take separate beds this time. If they were going to be digging into that box of condoms again—the ones that had fully delivered on their promise to add to her pleasure.
Krista’s cheeks heated at the memory.
“Warmer now?” he asked.
She must have had a blush crawling over her skin. “Yep. Much.” She set her spoon down and watched as he picked up his bowl and drank the last remains. Just like a big kid. Or a caveman, she thought, unable to keep from laughing.
“Don’t laugh. I was raised in a house full of men. There were no women around to tell me that it was rude.”
“But yet you seem to know it. Otherwise, you wouldn’t be defending your behavior.”
Noah winked. Then he wiped his mouth with his napkin and stood. He tipped his head toward the living room. “Wanna go sit by the fire?”
She nodded, disappointed a little bit that he didn’t reach out and grab her hand. But why would he? They weren’t a couple. She wasn’t even sure what they were anymore.
She followed him and sat a comfortable distance away from him on the couch, unsure of whether their usual friendly distance applied out of the bedroom.
“Why are you way over there?” he asked, reaching for her and pulling her to him.
Those warm, gooey, feelings returned in full force. Her body pressed against his and his hand settled on her mid-thigh. He squeezed lightly as they stared into the fire. Then his hand inched upward. She sucked in a sharp breath, held it, waiting to see what happened next. His movements were slow, deliberate, almost as if they were asking a question.
Turning her head, she looked up into his eyes. Earlier had been a mistake. Right? Or maybe it was the first time in a while that they’d gotten things right between them. Her breath seemed to suspend inside her. Then, disregarding all her contradictory thoughts, she leaned in and pressed her mouth into his, answering that unspoken question in the air between them because oh, yeah, she wanted him again. It wasn’t even midnight yet. If this were a Cinderella story, she wanted to squeeze every drop of pleasure out before the clock struck twelve and she turned back into just “one of the guys.”
—
Noah got up with the sun. Even on a kind-of vacation, he couldn’t ditch the early fishermen hours. He glanced over at Krista and watched her for a moment with the sun spilling in through the window, casting a golden hue on her face. Her dark hair fanned out along the pillow beneath her.
God, this woman is gorgeous. More than any woman he’d ever been with, and she had no idea. Which only added to her beauty.
Rolling away from her, he draped his legs off the king-sized bed that he was never supposed to have slept in last night, stood, and headed to go shower in the guest bathroom on the other side of the cabin. He was never fully awake without a blast of hot water on his face and body. Or without a cup of joe, which he set to making right after he toweled off. His gaze cast longingly at the bedroom where Krista was still sleeping. If he were still treating her as a best friend, he’d step in and pull her out from under the covers. He’d tease her for sleeping in. Things had definitely changed between them, though, long before last night. Long before that drunken kiss she’d laid on him a few weeks ago.
He sipped his coffee, hot and bitter, the way he liked it. He and Krista were in unexplored territory, which was something that usually excited him. He’d seen couples go from love to hate in a flash, though. That was something he never wanted to happen with Krista. It was the reason he’d always kept his attraction to her locked away.
The bedroom door opened and she shuffled out in socked feet, looking absolutely adorable with her sleep-tossed hair. He set his coffee cup down and waited for her to find him.
“Coffee?” she asked, eyeing his mug.
“Of course. Want some?”
“Do I? I don’t know what happened last night, but I’m tired and hungry.”
A grin settled on her mouth right along the same time his lips pulled up. “Don’t tell me you forgot. You barely drank a glass of wine.”
She continued shuffling toward him and sat on a stool as he moved to make her a cup of coffee. “No, I haven’t forgotten.”
He loved that melodic tone to her voice. It was especially beautiful this morning. Placing a mug and a container of sugar in front of her, he said, “Almond milk and four sugars.”
She smiled shyly as she met his gaze. Was she thinking about last night? About the things he’d done to her and wanted to do again?
“So, uh…” he said, then paused. He had no idea what to say to Krista these days. “How was last night?” A grin spread through her cheeks and he couldn’t help catching it. “Get your mind out of the gutter. I’m talking about sleep. How did you sleep?”
She shrugged her shoulders lightly, cupping her mug close to her mouth. “Perfect.”
“Good.” He cleared his throat. Why was he so awkward with her this morning? “I was thinking we’d grab breakfast on the way into town this morning. We can buy some nonperishables for the cupboards and a few cleaning supplies, and then get started making this place a honeymoon cottage.”
“Sounds like a plan.” Krista took another sip of her coffee, then hitched a thumb behind her. “I’ll just go get dressed.”
And if he were dating her, he’d follow her back into her bedroom and help with that. But they weren’t dating. He had no idea what they doing. Last night had been so easy and this morning things were…different. Maybe h
e should just proceed with the day as if last night had never happened. Which wasn’t at all what he wanted to do. Hell, he didn’t know what to do anymore. Perhaps they’d gotten whatever that was out of their systems and last night didn’t need to mean anything.
He chewed on his thoughts until Krista came back out of the bedroom, fresh-faced with her hair pulled neatly back into a low-hanging ponytail. She looked just like the girl he’d grown up with, only curvier with hips and breasts. And he never would have looked at the girl who’d grown up down the street from him the way he was looking at this woman now. He’d seen this woman naked, and he’d be replaying that image until the end of time.
Shit. This was Krista. Kris.
Noah turned away and grabbed his keys, jiggling them in the air. They had a job to do. Hopefully that would distract them both until he could figure out what the hell he was supposed to do now.
—
Krista couldn’t help feeling disappointed. Noah was treating her no differently than normal. Tears threatened behind her eyes, but she wouldn’t let him see her cry. First off, he was a man and, just like her brother and father, he got all squirrelly when tears were involved. She wasn’t sure what she’d expected this morning, but it wasn’t walking beside each other with a two-foot distance between them and barely being able to make eye contact. Or, if she was honest with herself, this was exactly what she would’ve expected from Noah. Last night had been just sex, a casual occurrence for him. It didn’t mean anything and he obviously wasn’t going to pursue anything further.
“So you don’t have any suggestions for stocking the pantry?” he asked, turning to her in the grocery store aisle.
“Well,” she said, trying to push her emotions back. “We want to get romantic foods.”
Noah lifted a brow. “Food can be romantic?”
“Of course it can. I don’t guess you’d know that, though.” She heard the insult in her tone, but couldn’t help it. Her feelings were hurt. Last night had been off-the-charts amazing. She’d woken with a skip in her step and a smile on her face. And now what they’d shared was little more than a dream. Part of her wondered if that’s exactly what it’d been because there was no evidence that it’d actually happened.