by Ali Parker
“You really live there now?” She arched a brow. “The houses there cost a couple of million a piece. I’ve always wanted to go into one, so don’t kid around with this.”
Just like that, I saw my opening in how to spend just a little bit more time with her. “I really live there now.”
“I want to see your house.” She batted her eyelashes all innocently, but I saw the laughter hiding in her eyes. “Can I come home with you, Noah?”
“I thought you’d never ask.” I laughed, pulling out my wallet and leaving some cash on the table. “Let’s get out of here.”
“I didn’t mean it that way,” she said, but she was already accepting the hand I held out to her and getting to her feet. Turns out, I am taking her home, just not in the way dates usually end.
“I know.” I kept her hand in mine as we made our way out of the restaurant. “Neither did I.”
Chapter 16
Maggie
“This is huge.” My eyes had to be at least twice their usual size as I stood in Noah’s entrance hall and looked around.
The guy had an actual chandelier hanging over our heads, tiles so polished I could practically see myself in their reflection, and glass doors stretching from one side of his house to the other, opening up into the massive backyard.
All the furniture in the open-plan living and dining area that spread out from his entrance hall was dark leather and stained wood, masculine to a perfect tee. Framed black and white art hung on the walls. Nothing Marilyn Monroe-esque, though. This was abstract, classy, expensive stuff.
Noah’s lips curled into a smirk. “Do I even need to point out the obvious? With a statement like that, you’ve basically just begged me to make a comment about how every guy wants to hear that, just not about his house.”
I laughed, but I felt my cheeks growing warm. “You didn’t have to point it out, but thank you.”
“You’re welcome.” He grinned. “Want a drink?”
Without waiting for an answer, he walked in the direction of his modern kitchen, all gleaming marble countertops and stainless-steel appliances. Lights hung above the counters, interspersed perfectly so that there wasn’t an inch of darkness on the workspace.
“Sure.” I followed after him, but I wasn’t gaping at his house anymore. Instead, I was thinking about his comment, wondering how many times he’d heard girls tell him how huge he was.
I’d certainly gasped the first time, and the only time, that I’d seen his dick. The man was well endowed, I could admit that.
What I’d never admit to anyone but myself was that I wanted to see it again, maybe even get to touch it this time. I’d been too shy, too inexperienced, and too intimidated the first time, that night that he’d snuck into my room.
Spending this evening with Noah had proven to be an exercise in trying to stay in the present. With him no longer being the asshole version of himself that I’d found out his family referred to as “Conference Noah,” it was far too easy to remember why I’d fallen for him in the first place.
He was attentive, sweet, and kind with just enough bad boy thrown into the mix. It was there in the brief heated looks, in how he could toss out dirty comments like they were nothing, in the ink I couldn’t see but I knew was there under his clothes. I couldn’t help but wonder if he’d added any new markings to his skin since I’d last seen him half naked.
There was this easy confidence and grace in everything he did, that alpha male thing that made most women lose their heads. Again, I was no exception.
But underneath it all was a friend. A friend who was so intelligent that he used to downplay it in high school just to fit in. A friend who I had spilled all my deepest, darkest secrets to and who had kept them to himself to this day. A friend who was assertive, protective, and above all, had a really good heart.
The friend who had cried on my shoulder in the dark of night because he missed his dad was still in there, as was the one who had spent his lawnmowing money to take me out on a date and donated the rest of it to an abused animal shelter. He didn’t know I knew about that, though.
Noah started to uncork a bottle of wine, the muscles in his forearms rippling as he screwed the cork out. I couldn’t take my eyes away from him, from the cut of his broad shoulders in his black shirt and humor in his eyes as he talked to me.
I had no idea what he was saying, though.
Not only was it the boy I remembered that I had spent the evening with or the friend I had missed so sorely for such a long time. In front of me was also a man I’d wanted more than half my life, and as crazy as it was after all that had happened between us, all the moisture in my body traveled south as I thought about what it might be like to be with him now.
Because it was all still there. Every feeling I’d ever had for him, every dirty dream, and teenage fantasy. I’d been denying myself anything I wanted for a long, long time.
And granted, this wasn’t the same as wanting a pair of shoes that were too expensive. It was much, much bigger than that.
But this was also the first date I’d been out on since the night I’d met Lydia’s father. It was my first night out at all in almost as long, and tonight, it didn’t feel like I had to deny myself.
This was Noah. If I couldn’t give in to what I wanted—just this one night with him—what good did my vagina do me anyway?
“Are you listening to me, Mags?” Noah frowned, his hazel eyes flicking between mine. “Don’t take this the wrong way, but you have this really weird look on your face right now.”
My tongue darted out to lick my lips. Nothing ventured, nothing gained, right?
“I wasn’t listening to you.” I took a deep breath, prayed to the gods of sexual satisfaction that I would have at least one real orgasm that wasn’t self-induced, and walked up to Noah.
The V between his eyes deepened as I approached, then disappeared completely as his eyes grew wide when I put my hands on his chest and looked him right in the eyes. “I want you, Noah.”
He made a choking sound, but his eyes didn’t leave mine. “Are you serious?”
“As a heart attack.”
“What about...” He trailed off.
I brought a finger to his lips to silence him. “Let’s not think about any of that right now, okay?”
He nodded before putting his hand on my wrist and pulling my finger away from his mouth. “You’re sure about this?”
“Yes,” I breathed.
Noah held my gaze for another beat before his lips crashed down on mine. It wasn’t the sweet kiss I remembered getting from him. This was the kind of kiss that branded your soul and made your heart forget that it had ever been broken.
It was a searing, all-consuming kiss that made me forget everything that had gone wrong between us and all the reasons why this was a bad idea. Almost like that moment in a movie when time stopped and only the main characters were still moving, there was nothing that could shatter this moment.
All I could think about, all I could taste and feel, was Noah. There were faint traces of the red wine we’d had at dinner on his tongue, but the rest of it was all Noah.
The slide of his tongue against mine was magic. Every second of his lips on mine made me feel like I was the only girl in the world, like he’d happily kiss me for the rest of his life.
I knew it wasn’t like that, but I refused to let even that knowledge touch this moment between us. I sighed into his mouth, savoring every second of this incredible kiss. Our lips glided together, our tongues touching and exploring.
Noah groaned, a primal and masculine sound that made my legs wobble and my clit throb.
He steadied me with a hand on my hip, his other sliding into my hair as he deepened the kiss before nipping at my lower lip,
I let out a moan I couldn’t hold back as our kiss became more.
Harder.
Faster.
Our bodies pressed closer together. I could feel his hard length pressing into my stomach. My breaths came as pants by the
time he pulled away from me.
“Come with me,” he said against my lips, taking my hand and leading me up the stairs to his bedroom. I wanted to take in the rest of his living space that I’d never seen before, but I couldn’t focus on anything other than him.
Ambient light shone into his room from outside, enough for me to see the neatly made bed and all the clothes lying on top of it, but then Noah tugged me into his arms and kissed me again.
Being with Noah, not that I’d ever been with him been with him, but just being around him, being kissed by him, and being touched by him had always felt good. But now it set my blood on my fire and melted my panties.
With his arms around me, he lowered me to his mattress and covered my body with his. His hands came up to cup my face, kissing the living daylights out of me before he lifted his lips from mine again.
“I want this, Mags.” He ground his hips against mine to let me know just how much he wanted me. “But I don’t want you to regret it tomorrow.”
Looking up into his eyes, I stuck to the vow of honesty we’d made all those years ago. “I could never regret you, Noah. I might have felt a lot of things for and about you over the years, but regret was never one of those things.”
He held my gaze as his hands dropped to the hem of my dress, pausing as he gripped it between his fingers. I nodded at the unspoken question. Noah sat back on his knees while I lifted my hips first and then my shoulders.
My dress came off fast and easy. Then his hard body was against my soft one. Item by item, our clothes were tossed to the floor until we were finally, gloriously naked together. For the first time ever. And it only took us thirteen years.
I wanted to look at him, to touch every inch of him and taste him. But what I wanted didn’t matter. What I needed did.
What I needed was him. Plain and simple. And not really simple at all.
Urg. I shut my brain down and let my hands slide over the ropes of muscle in his back, angling my hips up until the tip of his cock was positioned at my entrance. He hissed at the contact, his hips bucking before he lifted his thick cock away.
I whimpered, but the pained look he gave me promised he was feeling the loss as acutely as I was.
“I want to taste you,” he whispered into the darkness of his room, beginning to kiss a path down my neck and to my chest.
I grabbed onto his shoulders, and when he looked up, I shook my head and pulled him up again. “No, not now. Please, Noah. I need you inside me. Everything else can wait.”
My heart thundered when he didn’t do or say anything. Then my clit throbbed when he nodded. “I just need to grab a condom.”
He reached into his nightstand, withdrawing a box that was still sealed. After cracking it open, he ripped out a foil packet and had himself covered in latex in no time at all. A real pro, this one.
Ignoring the errant thought that could do nothing but ruin this moment, this one stolen night in time that we had together, I slid my fingers into his hair and pulled him to me.
Noah kissed me fervently, hungrily, and when he finally pushed his long, thick cock into me, I didn’t know who moaned the loudest. I’d never been with a man who made a lot of noise, but I could tell that was about to change.
“Christ, Mags,” he whispered against my lips. “Do you have any idea how good you feel? Can you feel how slick and hot your pussy is for me?”
“Noah?”
“Yeah?”
“Stop talking.” My hips arched into his as my entire body trembled.
A soft, knowing smile tugged at his lips. “Why?”
“You know why. It’s too soon. I can’t.” I squeezed my eyes shut and curled my fingers into his hair.
He started setting a delicious pace, pulling out slowly before thrusting back in like he couldn’t stand to be away. “You gonna come for me?”
I nodded, my teeth biting into my lower lip to stop myself from screaming out.
Noah pulled it free, his eyes burning into mine. “Don’t hold back on me. Please, Mags. I need to feel you and see you and hear you. I’ve wanted this for too long to have you worrying about anything while it’s happening.”
When he thrust back into me, I did as he had asked and let him hear me. In fact, for the rest of the night, I let go of everything I’d been holding back and just let myself feel.
Noah was a master at self-control. Despite no other guy getting me quite there before, he got me there three times before he finally moaned loudly through his own release.
There was something so sexy about his eyes screwing shut and his throat working as his low moans reached my ears that I trembled through a powerful aftershock right along with him.
When we were finally done, he wrapped me in his arms and rolled onto his back. My head was on his chest, my limbs jellylike and tangled with his.
I snuggled into his side and yawned, letting my eyelids droop before the weight of the implications of what I had just done hit me. I’d slept with Noah fucking Sims.
I knew that I’d promised him I wouldn’t regret it, and I didn’t. I simply didn’t want to fall into the same trap I had years ago. Lying here now, I could feel one foot already stepping into it.
Sitting bolt upright in bed, I dragged the sheets over my body and looked down at him. “I should get home.”
He gave me a long look but didn’t argue with me. “Sure. Yeah. Okay. I’ll take you.”
“You don’t have to. I can—”
“I’m taking you,” he growled, then let out a deep sigh. “Please don’t tell me you’re regretting this already?”
“I’m not.” I was questioning my sanity, sure, but that wasn’t the same as regret. “I just need to get home.”
His lips set in a thin line, and his jaw worked, but he nodded and got out of bed. Still naked. “Give me a second to grab some sweats.”
“Yeah. Okay.” I averted my gaze from his bare ass, which was more difficult than it sounded, and returned my attention to my inner freak out.
Neither Noah nor I said a word as we got dressed. I didn’t kiss him when he dropped me off at home. All I could do was offer him a weak smile. “Thanks for the ride.”
It was a sign of his mood that the comment didn’t even bring a smirk to his lips. “Any time. Call me, okay?”
I nodded, but I didn’t know when I’d be making that call.
There was too much water under the bridge, wasn’t there? To add to the already overflowing river, I’d just dumped another ocean-load of water right underneath that freaking bridge.
Oh, holy moly. What in the world had I just done?
Chapter 17
Noah
Who were those people who gave out the idiot of the year awards again? Because if I entered myself today, I’d win at least one category for fucking sure. I clenched my hand into a fist so hard my nails dug into my palm, and I shook my head at myself.
I’d fucking known I was making a mistake. I’d known Maggie was going to regret sleeping with me. In all my life, I’d never wished to be wrong more, but I hadn’t been. Fuck.
With a sigh so deep it came out stuttered, I set my cup of coffee down on the table and looked up right as Jordan walked into the coffee shop we were meeting at. He quirked a brow at me before taking his seat and picking up the coffee I’d gotten for him when I arrived.
“Do I even want to know why you look like someone stole the moon and bashed you over the head with it?”
“I slept with Maggie.” The words came rushing out of me. I couldn’t stop them, just like I hadn’t been able to stop myself last night.
Last night, when she’d looked up at me with so much need in those green eyes. Christ, I’d have agreed to jump off the Eiffel Tower if she’d asked me to while looking at me like that. I’d been absolutely, totally mesmerized by her.
It definitely didn’t help my resolve, determination, or self-control that I’d wanted her just as much. How was I supposed to turn her down? How was I supposed to reject her when I’d never wante
d anything more in my life?
“You did what?” Jordan snapped, his brows pulling together. “Please tell me you’re not serious.”
“I’m serious.” As a heart attack, I repeated the same words she’d said to me in my head and groaned. “I fucked up, Jordan. Big time.”
“Why?” Genuine confusion darkened his eyes. “How is sleeping with the only girl you’ve ever been in love with fucking up?”
“If it wasn’t, why did you react the way you did when I told you just now?” I took a long sip of my piping-hot coffee and relished the burn on my tongue. Good, I deserve to be in pain right now.
“Because I was surprised.” He blew on the surface of his drink, watching the steam spiraling before he set the mug down again. “Why do you think you fucked up?”
“Pretty sure she regrets it.” Wasn’t that usually what it meant if someone literally couldn’t wait to get their breathing back to normal before bolting out the door? “Nah, she definitely regrets it.”
“Why do think that?”
“I’ll spare you the details, but suffice it to say, she didn’t really stick around.” Like, at all.
Ironic that the first time I actually wanted to fall asleep with a woman after sex, hold her all night, and cook her breakfast in the morning, she couldn’t wait to get away from me. Jeez. Karma really is a bitch.
Yeah, but you’re an asshole. So you deserved it, a snarky voice in my head retorted. If that was Karma, she wasn’t wrong.
Jordan watched the conflicting emotions playing out on my features with concern in the tight set of his jaw. “Okay, so she didn’t want to cuddle with you. Let’s backtrack a little. I’m assuming she wanted it too, right?”
I scoffed, unable to do anything but blink at him for a long minute. “Of course she did. Jesus, is that what you think of me?”
“No, I was asking the question to make a point.”
“Make your point then,” I grunted before taking another scalding sip of coffee. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to take my mood out on you. It’s just—”