by Rachel Cade
“We can leave first thing in the morning so you can get back to Max.”
“Thank you.”
They sat there quietly waiting to commit to each other in front of God and a minister.
“The dress and the ring are beautiful.”
Noa’s eyes scaled up the gown. “Not as much as the wearer, but it works.”
Lyndie tried to grin at the compliment. “No suit for you, huh?”
The work that was put into his arm tattoo could have easily been made into a painting.
His voice distracted her from the pillar drawn on his bicep with a huge figure peeking behind it.
“It’s against the rules.”
“Really?”
Noa smiled at the same time the hostess called them.
“Sweetie? You don’t even have flowers?” The older lady with high white hair chewed heavy on her gum as she asked. She could easily blend in with the pink walls behind her.
“No. I didn’t have time.”
“I got you.” She gestured to Noa. “You head on up, rock star, and wait for your woman.”
The taped “Here Comes the Bride” hit over the speakers and Lyndie came down the white aisle in her dress. Noa couldn’t take his eyes off her even as she stood in front of him, holding a small bouquet of red roses.
The Elvis impersonator informed him he was actually Buddy Holly before they started the vows.
“Do you, Noa Callas, take Lyndie Hargood as your lawful wedded wife?”
“I do.”
“And do you, Lyndie Hargood, take Noa Callas as your lawfully wedded husband?”
“I do.”
Noa reached for her hand and placed the silver wedding ring above her engagement ring.
Lyndie broke their eye contact, taking his large hand into hers and added the matching band to his bare ring finger.
“Then, by the power vested in me and the State of Nevada, I pronounce you husband and wife. You may kiss your bride.”
Noa leaned forward before Buddy finished “bride,” taking Lyndie’s mouth swiftly.
He wrapped his hands around her waist and drew her to him, tasting the breathless moan at the back of her throat.
Lyndie’s arms wrapped over his shoulders and their lips tightened over one another each time they caressed.
Buddy cleared his throat, and Lyndie pulled back her head slightly, but Noa ignored him. His kiss slipped off her lips to the groove above her chin.
Noa didn’t let her go. He couldn’t. He just stared down into her deep brown eyes and felt the weight of her body in his arms.
“I got the kiss,” the hostess said between gum smacks. “You want one more?”
Noa didn’t look away from Lyndie. “Yes,” he replied before bending down to take her lips again.
Chapter Nine:
Body & Soul
“You feel different?”
Lyndie almost didn’t hear him. She was staring at the stretch of lit up fountain that must have been dousing water fifty feet in the air. The hotel where they were staying was glowing in the night behind it.
The cab pulled away from the curb as she spoke. “Different? Um, I don’t know yet.”
Half of Noa’s mouth lifted. “Are you nervous?”
“About?” She was still holding the bouquet and her veil caught on a heavy breeze.
“Congratulations!” a group passing by called to them.
“Thanks.” Noa lifted his hand. “About being my wife.”
Wife.
“I agreed to it, right?” Probably a shitty answer, but it was the best she could do on the fly.
Noa watched his bride shift her stance. Her lips still tasted like candy apple.
The chilled night air barely phased him.
His bride. Even as he tried to gauge what was going on in her head, he felt a possessiveness creeping up. And he knew he had to watch the way he was looking at her or she would see it.
“Do your feet hurt?” he asked.
“A little. I can get my sneakers out of my bag.”
Noa was wearing her backpack. Bending down, he scooped her up in his arms and started walking toward the hotel.
Her arm around the back of his neck was tight. “Noa, you-”
She cut herself off to laugh. Then buried her face against his neck to chuckle some more.
Noa wasn’t sure if there was anything better than the feel of her in his arms.
“This is where we’re staying?” Her head snapped around as he carried her through the lobby of Caesar’s Palace, which was appropriately named. “We’re staying here?” Her mouth and eyes were wide with shock and Noa didn’t put her down even as they went to the desk to check in.
“How long are you planning on holding me?” she asked as the gold elevator guided them up to their suite.
“As long as you want me to.”
The elevator was empty. He would have said it regardless because it was true, yet he wasn’t sure what he was doing. He knew he wasn’t the good guy. The fingertip that stopped an inch below the swell of her breast itched to move higher. The full reflection of them in the gold polished elevator door made him see them for what they truly were: an angel and a devil.
“I gave you the keycard,” Noa pointed out as they stood at the door to their suite.
“Oh.” Lyndie shifted as she twisted in his arms to slide the card so they could get access to their room.
Noa had to kick the heavy door a bit with his foot to get it to open, but walked over the threshold properly with her as husband and wife.
He tapped the door closed with his booted heel.
“Noa,” she said as he set her down.
Lyndie shook her head as she stared around the suite. The killer view of Vegas wasn’t the best part to him.
“Shit.” Lyndie bent down to take off her shoes. “This is amazing! I just… I’ve never seen stuff like this in real life!”
Noa stared down at her exposed shoulder, and the cleavage not far from it. “You want to order room service?”
She looked up at him suddenly, her feet bare, smiling wide. “Sure, husband, why not?”
The menus were near the mini bar. He grabbed one for her to look at.
She accepted it, quickly flipping it open. “Are you hungry?”
Noa opened his mouth to answer, then shut it without saying a word.
The mini bar was likely going to be his salvation tonight.
“I’ll get access to your cash tomorrow.” Noa read the vodka label and silently approved before searching for a shot glass.
“Okay,” she answered softly. “Are you hungry though? This menu doesn’t have any prices.”
“Bride’s choice. I’ll have whatever you have.” The small glass he found hit the bar harder than he intended.
“Okay,” she said it again, her voice was just as soft.
Noa poured the vodka.
As he tossed his head back to drink, he heard her dress rustling over the ground.
“Are you sure you want what I want?” she asked.
Setting down the glass so it didn’t make a sound, Noa swallowed the shot in one gulp.
“We should get steak. Look, they have cake. Do you like chocolate? I don’t think we ever had any at the diner.”
Noa paid no attention to the menu. “Yes.”
“Me too. We should have wedding cake then.”
“Perfect. I’ll order it, you relax.” He pointed at her. “Tonight, I’ll serve you.”
Her hand was over his, the sudden touch holding all his attention.
“You’re so sweet.”
“No.” Noa let the word hang on the air before repeating himself. “No, I’m not sweet.”
“Noa…”
“I’m not, Lyndie. I’m everything you were scared of when you got out of that cab downstairs.” Despite his words he didn’t pull back from her touch. He couldn’t.
“You want me to be afraid of you?” she asked.
“No,” he answered honestly. “We�
�re in a fake marriage but I don’t want to be unrealistic.”
Lyndie let go of his hand, then moved away from the bar.
The quiet in the room was only broken up by her movement.
She stopped in front of their sparkling view of Vegas.
“Did you mean what you said before? About it being my choice?” Her voice was soft, almost dreamlike. The glance she gave him tugged at him.
Noa pushed away from the bar and made his way over to her, still captivated by the she way she looked in the dress. He didn’t stop until he was standing behind her.
“Of course.”
His fingertips skimmed the edge of her veil.
“Can you help me take this off?” Lyndie’s hands were at her crown, trying to unpin it.
Noa immediately followed her request and their fingers slid over one another and between her hair strands as they removed the veil.
As Lyndie held the sheer fabric in her hands, Noa was close enough to see over her shoulder, to inhale her soft scent: the rose bouquet she’d been given.
“I haven’t – been with anyone since I found out I was pregnant with Max,” she confessed.
And that should have cooled him off.
But it didn’t.
The air in the room was weighing on his skin. His awareness of the nearness of her body was draining blood from his brain.
“Can you unzip this for me?”
Her dress. Noa lifted his hand to the back of her gown. The cold metal was smashed between his thumb and forefinger.
With a good deal of restraint, he eased it down, exposing more of her bare skin, not stopping until the zipper did, just past the small of her back. The fabric covering her chest loosened.
The sounds of their breath mingled in the quiet.
She wanted him to touch her. Thoughts had to work hard to piece themselves together in his head. But once it all clicked, his first move was to slip his hands inside the opening. His palms rounded her ribcage beneath the fabric.
Noa took a hard step forward, molding her backside to him before smoothing his hands up the soft skin of her stomach.
Capturing both her breasts, he buried his face in the side of her neck.
Lyndie turned her head to the side as a sound escaped. Noa’s warm hands and mouth on her at the same time was enough to buckle her knees. Somehow she stayed upright, sighing into the air as he massaged the underside of her breasts, holding them up so the cool air hardened her nipples while his lips played with her earlobe.
Her back pressed into his chest.
Noa’s hands used the perfect amount of pressure on her before his fingertips began teasing her nipples. Lyndie slid down his chest an inch when he vised them simultaneously and began twisting them between his fingers.
When she cried out, he held on a moment longer before releasing them, then went back to massaging gently. His mouth’s kiss deepened against her neck.
Lyndie could feel the wetness forming between her legs.
Why did she think she was ready for him? Why did she think that?
Pressing back against him, she could feel his hardness. The coils of his hair kept swiping her shoulder in contrast each time his head moved as his tongue roamed the side of her neck.
“Tell me what you want tonight.” His voice was like another caress, and his palms didn’t stop moving against her. He kneaded her skin, easily holding all of her in his large hands.
Lyndie felt like she was going to drop into her gown, and it took her a second to realize she was holding her breath.
She pulled out of his hold, stepping forward.
Immediately she covered her breasts with her arms, shivering when her skin touched the sensitive tips.
“I told you… I’m not nice,” he said behind her. “But I can try for you. And I know you want it,” he added.
Lyndie shut her eyes against the blinding skyline.
Did she actually trust Noa?
Trust that whatever they did together in this marriage he wouldn’t use to hurt her one day?
Lyndie knew there was no clear answer to that. All of this was a risk. But she couldn’t keep letting what happened with Will haunt her.
With her body still vibrating, she began to speak. “I want your mouth on me.”
Her face heated with the confession, which made her feel more vulnerable than standing there topless.
“Everywhere?” Noa asked.
He kept his distance, but it didn’t matter. Between her legs was the throbbing ache she first felt after they left the Ferris wheel.
“Yes.”
The pads of his fingertips gently grazed down her spine. “You have to take everything off in order for me to get my tongue everywhere.”
Lyndie smiled, lowering her head as she turned around to face him, arms still over her chest. The only thing holding her dress up were her hips.
Noa’s eyes were blue flames set on her. Her bare toes crinkled against the carpet.
She licked her lips, holding her bottom one briefly. “I need a few minutes to get ready.”
Confusion passed his face. “Lyndie…”
“Just a few minutes,” she added. “I promise.”
Noa didn’t know shit about being romantic. That was a fact.
As Lyndie was in the shower, he looked over the bedroom.
Cream carpets and furniture with a white four-poster bed dominated the room.
Noa stared at the bed for quite a long time.
Then he pulled his shirt over his head and tossed it into a random chair. After that he kicked off his boots.
“Wife,” he said under his breath. Then he chuckled.
Covering his mouth, he took a deep breath. It made him realize he was kind of nervous.
There were definitely things they couldn’t do… yet.
His hand wrapped around one of the posts.
He didn’t have access to any equipment, but he could improvise.
Noa chastised himself for the thought that tightened his hand around the wood.
The shower was still running. That gave him a few minutes to try to figure out how to be romantic.
Lyndie looked over her bare face. She stood at the mirror in the tan marble bathroom, looking at herself in the white nightie she brought from home.
It barely covered her hips since she bought it before she learned she was pregnant.
Her body had changed.
Everything had changed.
When she opened the door to go back into the bedroom, the first thing she noticed was that the lights were dim. The second thing was that rose petals were strewn across the bed.
The plush cover gleamed like silk and as Lyndie leaned over the high bed to touch the roses, she couldn’t figure out which was softer.
“You broke the rules.” Noa stood in the doorway. “But I approve of the view, Mrs. Callas.”
Lyndie’s eyes drifted down his chest, not realizing she was openly ogling him when she began to straighten.
“No. Don’t move.”
Lyndie’s chest hovered the bed as Noa entered the room.
“I think the vodka is kicking in.” Air hissed through his teeth as he came closer, stopping at her side.
“You broke the rules with this.” His fingernail pressed into her hip, right below the hem of the nightie. He used it to lift the fabric, letting his nail trace the side of her hip until the silk bunched the small of her back, exposing her lower half.
All while he touched her, Lyndie’s breath mixed between being deep and shallow.
“How can I break a rule I didn’t know existed?” Her voice was light.
“We agreed you needed to take everything off.”
Lyndie turned her head to look at him. But he was eyeing her ass instead of her face.
“I wanted to look nice for you.” Her hands flexed against the roses that had filled the room with their fragrance.
He didn’t respond.
Instead he walked behind her.
Hands were on her hip
s while his thumbs moved along her skin. His bare foot was against hers in the next instant, shifting them over the carpet as he widened her stance.
“Wet little Lyndie.” His voice vibrated between her legs and she realized he was kneeling behind her now.
“I need another nickname for you when you’re like this for me.”
Lyndie pulled her lips into her mouth to keep from making any noise as the tiny nub between her legs pulsed.
Noa didn’t ease any of the tension by smoothing his hands up her legs. Starting at her calves, he roamed up the back over her thighs, smoothing his thumbs up the curve of her ass before continuing up. He used the caress to push the nightie up her torso to her armpits. At some point, he began standing behind her.
While he pulled the silk over her head, the pressure of his body pressed against her backside.
Lyndie couldn’t help but gasp for air as she felt his erection pressed between her cheeks.
She thought his jeans didn’t leave much to the imagination, but… Jesus.
Her spine curved forward, pressing her closer to him.
Noa backed out of her touch. “On the bed.”
A sting followed, and she realized he’d smacked her ass.
Brows lowered, Lyndie scrambled onto the bed. It wasn’t painful, really, but it surprised her. Then everything started tingling worse.
“Shit,” she whispered.
When she turned over in the bed to face him, she noticed rose petals were stuck to her body.
He raised a brow. “Are you okay?”
“Mmhmm.” It sounded like a bird chirp. Lyndie tried to distract herself from embarrassment by brushing the rose petals off her stomach.
“I’ll get them.” Noa spoke while pulling his hair back.
Lyndie stilled, and a moment later, he was climbing onto the bed.
She held her stiff legs open as he worked his way between them.
Hovering above her with his hands braced on the sides of her shoulders, his eyes held her completely captive. “Thanks for trusting me, Lyndie.”
She tried to smile, but didn’t quite make it, saying, “Mrs. Callas.”
Amusement crinkled his face right before he took her mouth.
This kiss was different from the one they shared at the carnival.