My nipples were rock hard and almost hurt. I brought my free hand up and began to pinch them. They were coated in my natural lubricant and I groaned. I smelled the musk of sex, and I wished Noah was there.
I wanted to suck his cock. I’d seen him in tight jeans and knew he was big. I’d have to work at swallowing him all. Even then, I didn’t know if it’d be possible. I ran my tongue over the roof of my mouth and licked my lips.
I moaned and pushed the vibrator firmer against my clit. I didn’t know how long I’d be able to last. It was the most stimulation I’d had in a very long time.
“Come for me, Jenna.” I heard Noah’s voice echo in my ear. He’d bite my nipple and I could feel his throbbing cock twitch inside me.
I came with a cry. My whole body tensed, and I was overcome with pleasure.
I got up on shaky legs. I barely made it into the bathroom. I washed my hands and my new best friend. I also gave my body a once over with a washcloth and threw on a tank top and shorts.
I crawled under my covers and fell into a heavy sleep.
Chapter 11
Noah
I was at home on my laptop when I noticed another email from the elusive LM. I growled and clicked to open it.
You have 10 days. - LM
I didn’t know who this LM bastard was, and I didn’t know what he wanted. I told him as such as I typed my own email. His email address was encrypted, so it gave no clue as to who he or she could be. The initials were too vague, and this fucker was annoying me.
I have no idea who you are or what you’re talking about. Leave me alone or I will call the cops.
I hit send and closed my laptop. I didn’t want to deal with this right now. I set my laptop to the side and pulled out some mixing bowls to make pancakes for Tess and myself. She had mentioned last night that she’d been craving them the last couple of day.
As I suspected, Tess wandered into the kitchen with a skip in her step. Jenna had been working on her room for a couple of days, and the walls had been painted their new creamy color. Tess was sleeping in the guest bedroom for a couple of nights to air out the room. Thankfully while we waited for the room to air out, furniture began to pile up. Tess’s new mattress and frame were leaning against the wall in the spare room.
Her new table was already in the room, and I had to admit that it looked good. Her old desk was donated, and now we had to wait for Jenna to stop by again. She said there was still more to do, but the bed was really important.
I decided to give her a couple of prepaid gift cards so she could shop for stuff on her own. Tess was excited for this to be a surprise, even if the makeover was a process.
Hey Papa. Are those pancakes I smell?
I grinned and showed her the pan with a large flat cake cooking, then set everything down to sign. You know it.
Oh! Can mine have chocolate chips?
You’re gonna have a massive sugar high if you do.
Tess didn’t seem to care as she rooted through the pantry to grab a half-used bag of chocolate chips. I rolled my eyes and let her add her desired amount of chocolate to her food.
She pulled me into a quick hug and began to devour her food. I finished cooking mine and sat down across from her.
So Tess.
She glanced at me, eyebrows raised so I knew she was focused on me.
I wanted to let you know that I’ll be going to a wedding this weekend.
With Jenna?
Yes. How did you know?
Tess laughed and waved her fork at me before putting it down to sign. She’s one of the few people you actually talk to right now. And Uncle Eric isn’t getting married.
I hope you’re ok with this.
It’s ok. I like her. You should go have some fun. I can probably stay with Kaylee.
Ok, I’ll give her mom a call.
We finished breakfast with little talk as Tess inhaled her food. I escorted her to the front of our building and kissed her cheek goodbye. When the school bus pulled away, I dialed Kaylee’s mom as I went back upstairs, and she agreed to keep Tess overnight for the wedding. After thanking her, I hung up the phone and sighed, cracking my neck before I made another phone call to Jenna.
She thankfully didn’t take as long to answer. “Hello?”
“Hi Jenna. I was wondering if we could meet for lunch and talk about the wedding.”
“Oh yeah, of course. There’s a cafe over my way if you don’t mind coming here.”
“Send me the address and I’ll be there in twenty minutes”
* * *
I was able to find a little parking lot behind the cafe Jenna sent me the address to. I parked and walked around to the front and found Jenna at a two-person table with her hands laced together.
“Hello, Jenna,” I greeted.
She smiled and returned the pleasantry. “Hi Noah. So what did you want to talk about?”
I sat down and noticed a menu on the table. “My tux is pressed and ready to go, and I’ve arranged for Tess to stay the night at her best friend’s house.” I spread my hands. “I’m all set to accompany you to your sister’s wedding.”
“That’s great!” she gushed. “I really appreciate you helping me out like this.”
I nodded and picked up the menu. “Have you ordered yet?”
“No, not yet. I was waiting on you.”
It was difficult to be around Jenna throughout lunch. My mind kept racing with things I wanted to do to her and the guilt that followed each and every dirty thought. She grabbed the menu from me and our hands brushed. Hers were cold, and I wanted to hold them in mine. I wondered what she was thinking as color rose to her face.
I tried my hardest not to stare, but I found it difficult. She was a beautiful woman, and as I watched her, I found more things that woke the beast inside of me. Her hair was pulled back so I had a perfect view of her neck, which was pale and slender. I wanted to nip and suck at it.
After ordering, I asked, “So, what can I expect at this wedding?”
Jenna sighed and told me about her family, about how her mother was holding this wedding date over her head. She explained that even though she knew she legally was supposed to get her grandmother’s studio, she didn’t have it in her to fight her mother in court. She didn’t think that’s what her grandmother would want. And though I had to disagree with her, I didn’t say so. I actually thought it showed a lot of class that she wasn’t ready to just rush headlong into a legal battle with her remaining family. But I could see the stress and frustration it caused her.
I sighed and lifted my hands to hers without thought. My fingers skimmed the back of her hand and I froze. I pulled my hand back and prayed that she didn’t say anything about it. That wasn’t the first time I had reached out to her, or she reached for me. We kept brushing one another as time went on, and I was beginning to feel my jeans tightening in the crotch.
“Thank you for inviting me out to lunch.” Jenna smiled at me as the check came out.
“It’s not a problem.” I snatched the check before Jenna could try.
“Hey!”
I quirked a brow at her and smirked as I handed the waiter my card. “I invited you, remember?”
She frowned and crossed her arms over her chest. “Yes, but I can still pay my own way.”
“Not necessary,” I said as my card was returned to the table. “Did you walk here?” I glanced out the window and saw dark clouds rolling in.
“Yeah, but I’ll be fine.”
“Nonsense. Those clouds are moving in fast. You’ll probably get drenched before you get home. Let me drive you.”
“It’s really not necessary,” she promised. “I’m really close.”
I continued to push, and she eventually gave in. I led her around back to where my car was parked. I held the door open for her and the scent of her shampoo caught in the air as she lowered herself into the car. She pulled the seatbelt across her body and folded her hands in her lap, biting her lower lip in what I read as a sign of nervou
sness.
I hurried around and climbed behind the wheel, turning to look at her before I started the car. “There’s one thing we still haven’t talked about.”
“What’s that?” she asked, her eyes wide.
“The other night when we –”
“Oh that,” she cut me off. “It was nothing, a crazy misunderstanding. Don’t worry about it.”
“I just want to make sure you aren’t uncomfortable.”
“I wouldn’t have agreed to meet you for lunch if I was uncomfortable, Noah. Really, it’s nothing.”
I nodded and turned back to the steering wheel. Part of me was glad she wasn’t creeped out, but another part was disappointed to hear her say it was nothing. It hadn’t felt like nothing. As a matter of fact, it had felt like a whole lot of something.
We drove to her place in silence, and as we pulled up to the curb, she unbuckled her seatbelt and watched as I hurried around to her door. I opened her door as I heard the beginnings of thunder in the distance.
“Thank you for driving me home.”
“Any time,” I said as I walked her to the entrance of her building.
Jenna put one foot past the door and paused as though she wanted to say something but thought better of it. She smiled and waved as she scurried up the stairs to her apartment.
Chapter 12
Jenna
Stay calm, I ordered myself. Just stay calm.
It seemed like an impossible task. For one thing, I’d just zipped myself into my bridesmaid dress. Jessica had chosen royal purple with pink accents for her wedding colors, and while that might have made her feel like a princess, it made me feel tacky as hell. The idea of standing up in front of my entire family in this dress was enough to make me want to get back into my pajamas and spend the day in bed.
Combine that with the prospect of spending the day with Noah, and my stomach was all aflutter.
I glanced out my bedroom window. His car wasn’t there yet, so I had a minute. I would have splashed some water on my face if my makeup hadn’t already been done. Just thinking of him made me feel hot all over. I would have expected that introducing a man to my family would be the most stressful part of the day—they weren’t likely to handle it with any kind of subtlety or tact—but now that I was facing it, I was a lot more worried about how I would manage to spend the whole day in his company without losing my composure and jumping him.
I would just have to put that out of my mind and stay calm. This was just a performance, an act. I was bringing Noah to the wedding so my mother could give Jessica the perfect fairy tale wedding she wanted, so the photos would be evenly balanced, and all the bridesmaids would have handsome men by their sides. That’s what this was about. It was about living up to my family’s expectations so I could claim my inheritance from Grandma Susie. This is what she’d want me to do, I reminded myself. She would want me to have my studio. She would be proud of me for pursuing my dream.
It was just about the studio.
It definitely wasn’t about Noah’s big hands, the taste of his lips, the masterful way he seemed to dominate me when we’d kissed, and how that dominance might translate to the bedroom—
Christ, Jenna! Stop it! Stay calm!
I looked out the window again. The car had arrived. I grabbed my things and hurried downstairs. He was waiting at the curb to open the door for me. His eyes scanned me from head to toe, a smoldering gaze that increased the heat in my veins.
“Nice dress.”
I darted a look at his face to see whether he was making fun of me, but he didn’t seem to be. “It’s a bit much.”
“You wear it well, though,” he complimented.
I felt myself flush. He closed the door and meandered around the car. He looked so hot in his tuxedo, I thought I might melt. I was already worked up, and all I’d done was sit down next to him. How were we going to get through a whole wedding together? There would be touching and dancing and lots of wine…
Suddenly I had a whole new reason for wanting to take my dress off.
* * *
“Who is he?”
I jumped. Jessica had snuck up behind me. It seemed impossible that she should be able to sneak anywhere in her decadent white ball gown, but I’d been watching Noah at the bar grabbing us another round of drinks, and I wasn’t exactly hyper-aware of my surroundings. The way he looked in his tux was sinful.
I fixed my attention on my sister. “Hey, Jess,” I said, nudging Noah’s vacated seat out with my toe. “Have a seat. It was a really beautiful ceremony. You look amazing.”
She dropped into the chair and waved a hand dismissively, as if she was tired of hearing how beautiful she looked. “Who is that guy?” she asked, pointing.
“That’s my date,” I said.
“You brought a date?”
“You...wanted me to bring a date,” I replied. “Remember?”
She watched Noah with narrowed eyes. “He’s really hot,” she announced.
“He’s just a friend,” I said. “I had to find someone on short notice, so I asked him. His name is Noah.”
“Noah.” She sounded like she was tasting the name, rolling it around and seeing how it felt in her mouth. On one hand, I couldn’t judge too harshly, because I’d done the same thing myself more than once. But on the other hand… “Jess, you just got married!”
“Huh?” she blinked.
“Never mind.” I laughed.
The band began to play a slower song as Noah returned to the table with our drinks and smiled at my sister. I made quick introductions after he set our drinks on the table.
He smiled at my sister, turned, and held out a hand to me. “Dance?”
“I’m going to dance,” I told my sister, who eyeballed my date like he was on the menu.
I rose and crossed the room with Noah’s hand in mine. He twirled me expertly and pulled me flush against his chest. Immediately, I felt full of heat, lit up from within. I melted into him, and he began to lead me carefully through the steps of a dance.
“So,” he said.
“So.”
“You were awfully quiet in the car on the way here.”
“I was thinking about my stupid dress.”
“It’s really not that bad,” he assured.
“It has puffy sleeves and a bow on the butt, Noah.”
He grinned down at me, and my stomach clenched. “Okay,” he allowed. “It isn’t great. But it’s nice of you to wear it for your sister. Are you guys close?”
“Not really. She just wants the fairy tale, you know? Prince Charming. Ladies in waiting.”
“And that’s where you come in?”
“That’s where you come in, really. I wouldn’t be a perfect lady in waiting if I didn’t have a perfect escort, would I?”
“And I’m just an escort?
I looked up at him with a question in my eyes. “Yes. You’re a client. I don’t cross that line with clients.”
“I won’t always be a client,” he pondered. “And you did ask me to your sister’s wedding. Do you do that with clients?”
“That’s different.”
“Why is that different?”
“It’s strictly a business deal. We agreed. Remember? That was your condition, not mine.”
“I think it might be too late for that,” Noah murmured, his green eyes staring with intention into mine.
I felt a shiver crawl through me. How easy it would be to give in to him, and how delicious! But I had to stay in control. Something told me that giving my heart to Noah would end badly. “You can’t change the terms of our agreement on the fly like this,” I warned. “We’re here so I can show my mother that I brought a date like she requested and so you can get a recommendation for Tess to get into the school she really wants to go to. Nothing else.”
“Jenna?”
Speak of the devil. I turned away from Noah. My mother had come up behind us and was standing in the middle of the dance floor, hands planted on hips, watching as Noah s
teered me carefully around.
“Hi, Mom,” I said. “The wedding turned out really great.” Maybe all she wanted was a few compliments on all the work she’d put in and she’d move on. The one good thing about today was that Jessica was supposed to be her focus, not me. She wasn’t supposed to have time to critique anything I was doing. Wishful thinking.
“Who’s this young man?” she asked, looking Noah up and down like he was a piece of livestock in a fair.
“This is Noah Clark,” I said. “He’s my date today.” There you go, Mom. I brought a date. Are you going to hold up your end of the deal?
“Enchanté,” my not at all French mother murmured, holding up her hand in a position that made it clear she was requesting that it be kissed. Noah cut his eyes at me briefly, then took my mother’s hand and touched his lips to it. She giggled like a schoolgirl.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Mrs. Robertson,” Noah said. “Congratulations on the marriage of your daughter. It really is a lovely event.”
“Oh, you’re too kind,” she schmoozed. “What do you do, Noah?”
“Mom!”
“That’s all right,” Noah said quickly. “I’m the CEO of an investment company.”
“Oh, that sounds lucrative.” She waited, clearly expecting an answer as I wished for the floor to open and swallow me whole. Noah just smiled, and after a moment my mother spoke. “Jenna’s very smart, of course, very well educated, could have done anything she wanted, but…” She hesitated and lowered her voice. “Well, you know how it is.”
“Do I?” Noah asked, his eyes narrowing a tad.
“She wanted to become an artist.” Mom said this as if she was confiding to Noah that I’d wanted to become a heroin addict. “Won’t accept any of our hard-earned money. Too stubborn and prideful.”
“I’m not an artist, Mom,” I grouched. “I’m a designer. And Noah knows that already. We met through work.”
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