by V. Theia
I softened some towards him but steeled my accusing eyes when I looked up at him.
Noah wasn’t fazed one bit. He sipped and grinned.
I bet he thought standing there in fuck-me sleep pants draped so low on his valley deep V-cut would sway me from my questioning. I took a shuddering breath and dragged my eyes from his dick print trying to grab my attention.
“You were taking too long to decide to move in, kitten. So, I helped.”
“You helped…”
“Mmhm.”
“What about my furniture? It won’t all fit in here, nor will it go with what you have. We’d look like we lived in an oddball museum. Wayne Manor meets Target.”
My brow puckered in the middle.
I accepted the tea he handed off to me and didn’t say anything when he spanned my growing waist to lift me onto the counter. He stepped into the space my dangling legs made.
“Bring all your furniture, kitten, or none of it. Redecorate any way you want to, I’ll give you a credit card.”
I snorted with a mouthful of tea. “Calm down there, Christian, before you tell me about your red room.”
Noah looked at me like he had no clue what I was talking about and that was fine because I was only mildly affected by his oh-so-generous moneybags offer. Not that I was taking him up on it. It was just the realization he truly wanted to live together that addled my little fluttering bird heart.
“I just want you here. Everything else is just stuff.”
“My stuff. I’m attached to my stuff.”
“Then bring it all.” He stroked my messy bed hair, tucking it behind my ear, “is this really a problem for you?” He was a problem solver, he wanted to know what to solve if I was bothered by it. In truth I really wanted to live in Noah’s space. To be in his bed, his shower, on his uncomfortable sofa.
Where Noah was I wanted to be.
I was getting my dream come true and at odd times of the day I found it incredulous. To see all my clothes hanging with his was one of those moments I had to pinch myself I wasn’t dreaming.
“Not really. Just thinking of the logistics. I wouldn’t have my apartment anymore.”
“You’d have this one.” He explained slowly, “unless you want to move, then we’d need to get looking right away before the baby is here.” It was so easy for him. He showed me constantly he only wanted my happiness.
As he’d taken to doing, Noah sneaked one hand under my sleep shirt and palmed my thickening belly. I’d had my second ultrasound, but we’d decided to wait to find out the sex. I was plenty freaked out about my impending motherhood without thinking of a baby in a sleep basket on a moving truck. “No, I like your place.”
“Ours,” he amended pressing a kiss to my forehead, his hand continuing with his good morning caress for our baby. There was nothing to feel yet, unless he was rubbing my extra chunk I’d padded on, but he’d said he wanted to be ready when the baby did start to make its presence felt.
How could I not love that man? Adorable villain.
“I should finish getting ready. I’m out all day and then I’m meeting Gray Ellison for lunch.”
Noah’s brow arched. “Old guy making a new play for what’s mine?”
I know it should have sounded sexist, but I swear my heart happy sky-dived inside my chest at his possessive tone. I reached up around his neck and dragged Noah down for a kiss that was all bite and a little suck to round it off. “You know he’s not old. He’s distinguished, he might almost be as loaded as you, Bruce Wayne.” I winked at his scowl, “and I like him.” Again, his haughty brow popped high in a perfect masculine arch. “Not in that way. It’s business. He said he had a proposal for me.”
Noah made a noise in his throat that amused me. “I just bet he does. Maybe I should come with you.”
“Said my sugar daddy who just offered me his credit cards and a new house.”
“I’m allowed to take care of you,” his nose knocked mine back and forth in a gesture so sweet I melted like snow. “Flash old guys can’t.”
He made me crack up. “You’re the flashiest of all guys, lion. I like jealous Noah. Jealous Noah is hot as hell,” I told him.
Sweeping me off the counter, I was in his arms and Noah was striding back towards the bedroom. “I think jealous Noah needs to give you something big and unforgettable to think about when you’re having lunch with a flash senior citizen,” he declared attacking my throat with his mouth and more nuzzles than my system could deal with.
I groaned my agreement locking my legs around him.
His fuck-me pants won again.
I didn’t leave the apartment for another hour.
~*~*~
“I need you, Sena,” the very wealthy internet entrepreneur professed across the table in a little seclude alcove inside a brunch café.
I blinked at Gray. His stormy eyes lasered on me without blinking.
I’m not lying when I say his offer had taken me by surprise.
“I don’t think…”
“What can I offer you? I need you.”
With eyes the color of steel, unwavering on my face and a sandpaper rough voice, Gray Ellison was persuasive after he’d finished his speech not long after I’d joined him for lunch.
I was flattered and flabbergasted to say the least.
He’d been my best client for two years and I loved seeing his businesses thrive knowing I had a small hand in setting up the tech side and it was always fun going back to his building every few weeks or so to maintain his security and web presence with his online sites ... but this was huge.
“It’s already a big offer, Gray.”
“I’m ready to expand.” He’d told me he’d bought out four more floors in his building, before long I was sure he’d own all office spaces for his call center employees. He bought stock from all over the world and owned a huge warehouse not far from where we were for distribution. “I’m traveling more overseas and I need my best programmer on board full time. That’s you, Sena. You can bring on any staff you might need, I don’t expect you to work around the clock alone like I do, it’s a big job and I’m willing to pay. Plus, you get 5% share interest in Ellison Limited as a bonus right away. I need you.” He said again.
I couldn’t believe it. It was a huge job offer. A definite step up on my freelance ladder, but it would also mean I would probably have to give up all my other clients, my design work not included since I tended to do that at night or weekends, depending on how much work I got from indie-authors.
I couldn’t lie and say traipsing around Manhattan and the neighboring boroughs was altogether fun some days. I loved the freelance work, the freedom it afforded me, and no two days were ever the same, but I didn’t love trekking miles and taking me hours. It felt like wasted hours. Hours I could be earning money.
It was the whole reason I began designing on the side.
“I can’t refute it’s something that enthuses me. And I know a few people from college who might be interested in a job change…”
“But?” He filled in for me.
“I’m pregnant.”
He looked at me as if to say and?
“So, I wouldn’t be accessible as you needed me to be, Gray. As much as this offer is a great offer, a really fricking exciting and lucrative offer I’d probably bite your hand off any other time to accept, I need to factor in time off from working when the baby comes.”
He replied instantly. “We can work with that, Sena. I’m not an ogre boss who would keep you tied to a desk. You work remotely a lot of the time and what you don’t do you can delegate to who you bring with you. You know everything there is to know about my operating system. I want a tech mastermind for this position and that’s you. I’m willing to work around your home life as much as I can.”
Wow. I was super complimented now.
My feathers preened.
And beyond tempted.
Could I do this?
I can’t lie and say shares in his company wasn
’t a temptation either. It would be like getting in on Google on the ground up. With any career you want to climb the ladder, and this was something I never expected. To be on board full time helping build Gray’s company was not only beneficial to him but me as well.
“I’d need to talk to Noah about it, if I’m to have an office at home for remote work.”
Gray’s brow lifted. “Noah? Noah Fierro?”
“You know him?”
His lips quirked and for a second, I had a sinking feeling that Gray knew-knew Noah. Oh, shit.
“I’m acquainted with him. I’ve been to a few of his clubs. I hear he has a new restaurant.”
“Yeah.” I answered slowly. “Listen, if you and Noah were—”
Gray chuckled catching my dubious drift. “No, sweetheart. I’m completely straight.”
I scoffed amused, inhaling the waft of his caffeine for a quick fix. “That’s nothing when you consider how completely gay Noah was before me.”
“So, you and he….?”
I nodded.
“That’s great, Sena. Really. I’m happy for the pair of you and your new baby. I’ll have to send him a bottle of cognac as congratulations.”
How weird that Noah never mentioned he knew Gray, not all the times he’d teased about Gray being into me.
Either way, my mind now buzzed with this new opportunity.
We talked for a while longer, and the more we chatted the more I’m convinced it could be the right move for me.
I’d technically have a boss, something I’d shied away from intent on being my own boss, but to have a hand in branching out an already successful business with opportunities for new advantages had me excited to give it a go.
~*~*~
“That will take a lot of man hours, Sena. Are you sure you want that?”
It was over cartons of mushroom Chow Mein I discussed Gray’s offer. I was happy to slurp my noodles out of the dish, whereas Noah was plating his on china.
Such a snob.
I leaned a hip on the counter, chewed until my hunger was sated.
“If I wasn’t pregnant what would you tell me to do?”
“But you are pregnant, and I don’t want you so brain dead overworking yourself, kitten, that you neglect your health in the later months.”
He had a point. Dammit. And still. “I can have the start-up servers for what he needs for the expansion up and running within two months, and building the app is no problem, I already have ideas for it. It’s a cake walk in terms of time. I’m sure of it, that just leaves manning the firewalls and maintaining his websites. All of which can be done remotely wherever I am.”
“Shit.” He cursed and dropped his chopsticks, advancing around the island toward me. I frowned. “What? Not a good idea?”
“When you talk geek my dick hurts,” he rasped, making me blush to my earlobes. He grabbed me by the neck and kissed me softly, nipping my lower lip. I felt how hard he was against my hip, but he let me eat after a hot minute of wet kissing. “I didn’t understand a nerd-word of what you just said, but it sounds like you got it handled. You know I’m fucking proud of you, Sena. You and your huge brain. I want you to make millions if that’s what you want to do. Just know you don’t have to work.”
“Mister tycoon wants me to be a kept woman?” I grinned around a chopstick full of deliciousness. I had no grace when it came to eat daintily. Besides, it’s Noah. We’ve eaten together thousands of times. I’m more comfortable with him than I am with anyone. Case in point, I’m wearing a pair of his boxer shorts and one of his T-shirts.
We carried the food through to the living room where a movie was on pause.
“I’m a sexist bastard, I know.” He didn’t sound repentant at all. That sexy bastard. “I want you happy. And selfishly I want you around for more than an hour a day before our kid comes. But I support whatever you want to do, you know this by now.”
“This is all happening fast, Noah.” Legs tucked under me he handed me my food. We’re both ravenous. I caught the way he cast a side glance my way and the frown on his forehead. Blue eyes darkened.
“Us?”
“Us. Moving apartments. Life. The baby. Work. Everything. I feel like I’m on a runaway train and don’t know what to focus on first. And now this new job that I want to take but not sure if it’s best for me in the long run.”
Abandoning his plate, he took my legs onto his lap, stroking my calf. “Delegate to me. What can I take off your train?”
“You’re already doing it,” I smiled at him and meant it. Noah’s made my life one hundred percent easier. I’m still too much in my own head wondering when all this good is going to end, that surely, I can’t have it all without a price.
A few minutes of silence, I chow down until I’m full and called quits on what’s left. I placed it on the table and rested my head on the sofa.
Noah finished eating before I did. His plate was clean.
“I think I’m going to tell Gray yes, as long as we can work out logistics, so I don’t work constantly once I’m closer to my due date and then I work remotely for a few months afterward.” I went on. “If you can sort out the apartment switch that would be a big help, lion.”
“Anything, kitten. Just let me know what you want to bring, and I’ll get the movers into your apartment and cleared within the week and what you don’t like in here, we donate it.”
“You’re a perfect queer, you know that? I don’t know why I didn’t straighten you out sooner.” I joked climbing onto his lap. He answered my grin with one of his own. Hands pulled me in and settled me on his groin.
We were still so brand new that any intimate touch still fused a blush to my cheeks. A blush he reveled in by nuzzling my face with his jaw scruff.
But I knew, I’d never get used to Noah’s touch.
It would always feel like butterflies dancing in my belly.
“So, my girlfriend tells me,” he replied dryly nipping my ear. “I just want you happy.”
He made me happy. What was I saying? Most days I was deliriously ecstatic knowing I woke up curled in his arms.
“I love you, lion.”
“I love you, too.”
Within a few short weeks I was loving my new job and interviewing programmers to come on board with me and I’d fully moved out of my apartment and into the penthouse.
Life couldn’t get better than the happiness I was feeling.
TWENTY-ONE
“Don’t warn me to play nice.” I huffed with my stubborn nose firmly held in the air as I was helped from Noah’s Maybach outside his new restaurant investment that night. His hand squeezed mine before he raised it to his lips brushing it over my knuckles. It was officially opening night after being closed for three weeks until new management and kitchen staff was accumulated and the test nights for selected food critics went well.
Noah wanted to show his face for support.
And being the girlfriend to the King of Manhattan I was gonna be at his side regardless of my distaste for his business partner.
According to Tom via Noah he’d hired a fancy schmancy French chef poached from one of the top restaurants here in Manhattan. Well lah-de-dah. I still wasn’t being nice to Tom.
If I restrained myself from throwing up double middle fingers to his smug face I could call it a successful night.
“I wouldn’t dream of it, kitten.” His warm palm rested at the base of my aching back. Not only had I been sitting in an office chair for eight hours today sorting out a glitch with Gray’s new online app, thankfully fixed by the end of the work day, I was now packing on so much baby chunk most of my designer pieces no longer fit. Lucky for me I wasn’t such a designer hog that normal off the peg clothes wouldn’t do.
I’d chosen to wear a swishing summer dress in white and pale pink, longer in the back and knee length in front with spaghetti straps and paired with slut-red heels, because pregnant or not I was not giving up my 4-inch pumps. My aching body could just suck it up and deal with it.
Life as Noah Fierro’s girlfriend as opposed to his best friend sidekick was damn wonderful. I’d been living the life of riley for the past month and a half. Well into my third trimester it was easy to continuously fall in love with my best friend when he was as charming and chivalrous as he was to me every single day.
We had fun.
We laughed.
We talked.
We planned out the future we wanted for ourselves.
And every day was in a word; perfect.
Not to mention the way he fucked my brains out.
Fucked. Them. All. Out.
I was a woman in a sexy dress and slut-heels and no brain to speak of.
Man, oh man. The appetite of one straight-for-me nightclub mogul surpassed all the men I’d ever been with combined.
Noah was an insatiable animal.
My animal, and I loved keeping him fed.
His hand slid from my waist down to my butt.
I softened into his touch as his mouth brushed my ear, and he rasped. “As beautiful as you are in this dress, I’m looking forward to peeling it off you, kitten.” Oh, boy, that had flutters in my belly. Check please.
The first time seeing Tom since that night months ago didn’t go as bad as I expected. I know, shocking. I didn’t let my guard down, however.
He was easily spotted inside the restaurant when we walked in and he saw us immediately from his position at the bar.
Of course, I watch his heated then instantly masked reaction to Noah before noticing how his hand clasped around mine, and the way Noah leaned in and attentively kissed the base of my neck as he checked our coats with the clerk.
His face was envy as he perused a gaze over Noah. I couldn’t blame him for his lust, Noah is attractive to a lot of people. But he’s mine and Tom can just suck an egg if he thinks he can give my man the come-bend-me-over eyes.
And then his surprised eyes came to me and down to my rounded belly that no floaty loose dress could disguise before his stare was schooled into a blank smile a second later and he strode over in that model-esque catwalk way of having everyone’s head turn to watch him.