Noah
It had been nearly two weeks since I’d seen her. Two very long, very unbearable weeks since I’d taken Lanie back to Hillsboro. I was irritable at best. The absence of the girl he loves will do that to a man.
I’d talked to her every day, though. Some normalcy had returned to their household. Her mother was up and about and seemed to be faring well, her father was back at the factory, and that was a good thing. Even I had to admit Mack deserved the break. And, according to Lanie, he wasn’t nearly as grumpy, but he still hated to leave his wife. Although it was for different reasons entirely, I understood how the man felt; I hated not being by Lanie’s side.
As if the first week without her hadn’t been bad enough, I had been called out of town on business and had to miss our weekend together. I would’ve just said f*ck the whole son of a cock-blocking whore of a trip and gone to her anyway, but there was a board meeting coming up and I’d already missed so much work. And that didn’t look good for me at all, especially considering the intensity with which David Stone was breathing down my neck.
He had been acting even more arrogant than he normally did, if that was even possible, and I was beginning to get suspicious. It was like he knew something I didn’t. Something big. I chalked it up to his threat of tattling on me to the board about our little run-in the morning after the Scarlet Lotus Ball. I wasn’t concerned. The board members had a lot of respect for my parents, which trickled down to me by default. More than likely they’d say he deserved it.
I had half a mind to go ahead and sell my half of the company to the bastard so I could move closer to Lanie, but I couldn’t do that to my parents. Scarlet Lotus had been their dream, and although I knew my happiness would have meant more to them, I couldn’t be that selfish.
Yeah, I know; all of a sudden, I was a real saint. But since admitting my feelings to Lanie, I wanted to be the kind of man she deserved—a man who was just as self-sacrificing as she was.
Lanie was very understanding, insisting that I go on my trip and get my work done, but I knew it was all a fa?ade, one that she put up because she knew it was something I had to do. Still, the way she covered the heartbreaking crack in her voice with a perkiness that sounded more like Polly was a dead giveaway, proof that the hardship of our separation was affecting her the same way it was affecting me. It was torture. Pure, unadulterated torture. But the anticipation of how great it was going to be when we finally did get to be together again was enough to keep us both going.
I’d tried to busy myself with work to take my mind off the fact that she wasn’t there, but that hadn’t been successful, either. Admittedly, I was a bit snippy with my employees, Mason, Polly, and Samuel included. Polly snapped right back at me, which really wasn’t a very good idea, but I respected her for it. She wasn’t one to put up with my bullshit when she knew it was uncalled for. I granted her a reprieve because I knew she missed Lanie almost as much as I did. Her friend was gone, and she didn’t have many. Being an annoying pissant sort of limited the number of people who were willing to put up with her ass. Plus I’d sort of forced Mason to go along with me on my business trip. She really hated me for that, but she’d gotten over it. I think.
Two more days.
Two more excruciating, miserable days until the weekend, when I would get to see her again. Hold her in my arms, taste her luscious lips, feel her soft skin. It would be enough to get me through at least a few hours.
Yeah, I was an optimistic motherf*cker.
I finished looking over the reports Mason had prepared regarding the new clients I’d managed to sign on despite my preoccupied mind, and packed up my things for the day.
Mason came into my office with the agenda for the meeting. “You out of here, boss?”
“Yeah, I’m calling it a day. Good work on the reports, by the way. They look great.”
Mason drew his head back, eyes wide with disbelief at my kind words. The poor man had really taken a beating from me over the previous days, and it wasn’t right. He didn’t deserve it. So channeling my newfound theory about being self-sacrificing, I offered up an apology.
“Hey, I’m sorry if I’ve been hard on you lately, it’s just that with Lanie gone and all—”
“No worries, man. Polly has been the same way,” he interrupted, letting me off the hook.
“So you’re getting it from both ends, huh?”
Mason nodded. “I guess I never realized the effect that little gal has had on so many lives.”
I hadn’t, either, but he was right. Even Lexi had been calling me a lot more lately, which wasn’t at all like her, and it was always to see how Lanie was doing. I’d told her to call her herself, that Lanie would love to hear from her, but Lexi didn’t want to be intrusive. Yeah right, like that held an ounce of truth.
“Well, you don’t deserve all the shit you’ve been getting.” I shrugged my coat on and clapped him on the shoulder on my way out the door. “Have a good night, man.”
The weather had turned chilly over the last couple of days, which was right on time with the season, but part of me wondered if it hadn’t been more obvious to me because Lanie wasn’t there to keep me warm. Seriously, it was like all the warmth had been sucked out of the space around me. My own personal sunshine was miles away, and I was left feeling desolate and cold.
“Hey, Crawford!” David called out as I made my way toward the elevator. Speaking of cold and desolate …
I didn’t stop to shoot the shit with him because I really didn’t have anything to say. Besides, I had a telephone date with my girl, and I had no intention whatsoever of missing it.
“What do you want, Stone?” I snapped.
“I just wanted to make sure you’re planning on being at the next board meeting, that’s all.” David’s words were ones of casual curiosity, but it wasn’t hard to see the cutting look his dark eyes reflected, or the scornful sneer that played along his lips. My right hand started to close into a fist. I wanted to knock the f*cker out cold and wipe that butt-ugly mug along the floor to remove his cocky perma-grin.
“Why wouldn’t I be there?” I sighed in annoyance and punched the down button for my personal elevator, imagining it was his face.
“Well, since you’ve been MIA so much lately, I wasn’t sure. You don’t want to miss this meeting, Crawford. It’s going to be entertaining as hell.” He flashed his toothy grin and then winked at me before he finally got out of my face.
Entertaining. The asshat really thought I’d get ousted over threatening to kill him? People said stuff like that every day. And while it might not be appropriate for the workplace, it certainly wasn’t enough to make me lose my own company to the likes of him. Besides, it was his word against mine, and I highly doubted he was wired at the time.
I rushed home like a madman. Well, as much rushing as a madman could do in bumper-to-bumper traffic. Sitting in the back of the limo for so long drove me crazy. I swore I could still smell Lanie’s delicious scent from the trysts we’d had there.
Once inside the sprawling mansion I’d called home for all my life, the emptiness and longing set in yet again. Lanie had a way of filling the room with a presence that was larger than life, yet so intimate it felt like she and I were the only two people left on the planet. And I was really into the prospect of the two of us doing all we could to repopulate the damn place. You know, for the sake of mankind and all. And that was when it dawned on me: I wanted kids with her. Lots and lots of kids.
When Lanie and I last spoke, she had claimed she was going to give me a real workout the next time we saw each other. I had to chuckle to myself at the thought. She had become the insatiable one. Once a kitten that trembled under my stare, she had morphed into a lioness, a sleek predator whose need to satiate her hunger made her desperate and bold. The tables had turned—where she had become the predator, I had become the prey.
Well, not really, but I wasn’t averse to letting her think so if it meant she was going to be more adventurous. I admired her for knowing what she wanted and not being ashamed to take it, even if I was a willing participant.
I grabbed a quick bite to eat and a shower while I waited for her call. I had just stepped out of the bathroom when my phone rang. I dropped my towel to lunge at it from the other side of the room, completely naked as I crashed onto the bed in an awkward position. Damn, but that hurt.
“Oh, shit! Goddamnit!” Yes, those were the first words that came out of my mouth when I answered the phone. “Hey, kitten.”
“What’s wrong?” Lanie asked, worry lacing her tone.
“I think I broke my dick,” I told her as I rolled onto my back.
Lanie attempted to stifle her giggle from the other end of the line. “Were you doing your cockarobics?”
“Yeah,” I chuckled, playing along. “Only my dick refuses to bend that way.”
“Aw, poor baby,” she cooed. “Want me to kiss it and make it better?”
Had my cock not been on a perma-leash, I was sure it would’ve attempted to lunge through the phone to get at her.
“You’re an evil little minx. You know damn well I would love nothing more than to f*ck your mouth. Now I’m hard from the thought, and there’s not a goddamn thing I can do about it.”
“Oh, I don’t know about that.” Her voice was all deep and sultry and shit. Not helping matters at all. “What are you wearing?”
“I’m lying in bed. What do you think I’m wearing?” I asked in a husky voice, knowing damn well she knew I slept in the nude.
“Mmm, show me.”
“What?” I asked, confused.
“Look at your cell.”
My phone vibrated on my nightstand and I reached over my head and grabbed it. Sure enough, there was a text from my girl. When I opened it, I nearly fell off the bed. There she was, naked as the day she was born, leaving absolutely nothing to the imagination. She was propped up against her headboard, her luxurious hair cascading over her shoulders, her breasts full, and nipples taut. Her knees were lifted and spread to the sides, giving me a glorious vision of the tender pink flesh between her thighs. And her eyes. Dear Lord, her eyes were all hooded and she was biting down on that plump, bottom lip like she was craving my touch.
“I showed you mine. Now, show me yours,” she practically purred into the phone.
“Oh, so you want to play, do you?” I asked with a smirk I knew she could hear even though she couldn’t see it.
“Does this sound like I want to play?” I heard the click of a button and then the unmistakable vibration of the Crawford bullet I had gifted her. “I need you. I can’t wait any longer. Make me come, Noah.”
“Jesus Christ …” I was more than happy to make her come, even if it was going to have to be by a piece of goddamn metal instead of any real part of my body. “Is that my bullet, kitten?” I asked, already sure of the answer.
“No, but this is.” Another, higher-pitched vibration joined the low hum of the previous one, and I raised an eyebrow.
“So, what’s that other thing you got there, Lanie?”
She giggled. “Dez made me go to this little shop with her today. An adult shop. I never even knew it existed. Probably because it was tucked away in a back alley.”
“You bought a vibrator?” I hoped like f*cking hell she used my credit card to buy the best they had to offer, even though the motherf*cking thing was going in the trash as soon as I got her back in my bed where she belonged. No cock, real or fake, was going anywhere near my p-ssy when I was perfectly capable of taking care of her needs myself. The Crawford bullet was an exception only because it was an enhancer, not a cock replacement.
“Mmm-hmm. Of course, it’s nowhere near as big as the real thing, but since I can’t have you, it’ll have to do.”
Yeah, my head grew about ten times its normal size. Both of them.
“Tell me what to do with it, Noah. Tell me how to make myself feel good. What would you do to me if I was there with you right now?”
I ogled her picture on my cell phone and I knew exactly what I would’ve done. “I’d throw your ass on this bed and bury my face between those beautiful thighs to feast on you. That’s what the f*ck I’d do if you were here.”
She moaned into the phone and my dick twitched on my stomach. Goddamn, but that woman could turn me inside out.
“But since you’re not sprawled naked on my bed, we’ll have to make do. That vibrator will play the part of me for the evening. We’ll call it mini-me. I want you to put it to the side and get the bullet, kitten. Move it down your body and let it rest just over your *. Not on it. Above it.”
She moaned again, obviously approving of the light vibrations that were teasing her nerve endings.
“Leave it there. No matter how badly you want to move it down further, don’t,” I directed her. “Now, palm those beautiful breasts and massage them. God, they feel so good, don’t they? Lick your fingers for me, Lanie. Push your breasts together, and then use those wet fingers to pull and tug on those pert little nipples. That’s my mouth, hot and wet, sucking and teasing. I alternate between each one, my tongue flicking and circling, then both of them at the same time. Scrape your nipples with your fingernails. That’s my teeth. Damn, I want to bite them so bad. Do you feel me, kitten?”
“Oh, God, yes.”
“F*ck, when you say it like that …” I closed my eyes and could almost see her hands manipulating her own body. I made a mental note to make that a reality in the very near future. Maybe I’d even watch her pleasure herself with her little toy as well. I should reconsider letting her keep it after all.
“Touch yourself for me. Slip your fingers between your p-ssy lips and feel how soft and warm you are,” I continued to toy with her. “Are you wet for me, Lanie?”
She moaned. “So f*cking wet.”
My voice was deep and throaty to my own ears, blood pumping through my veins and going straight to my engorged cock. “That’s good, kitten. Take the mini-me and put it in your mouth. I want you to suck my cock. Get me wet and ready to slide inside that tight p-ssy.”
The hum that came from the other end of the line was muffled, and I could tell she’d done exactly what I’d asked of her. Wet, slurping sounds mixed with greedy moans of satisfaction, and I wanted to feel what the f*ck she was doing for real, not just imagine it.
“That’s enough, Lanie. You don’t want to make me jealous, do you?”
“Will it make you f*ck me hard?” Her voice was teasing, hoping my answer would be yes.
“You like it when I f*ck you hard?”
Lanie mewled on the other end of the line, and my breathing accelerated from the sound alone. My cock was about as hard as it could get and I feared I might seriously burst a blood vessel if I didn’t release some of the tension soon. My hand had a mind of its own at that point and I began to stroke myself.
“I love it when my p-ssy feels so good to you that you just can’t help yourself.”
When my girl said p-ssy, it just motherf*cking did things to me. A growl erupted from my chest and escaped through my clenched teeth. “Say it again.”
“Say what?”
She knew what the f*ck I wanted to hear. She was playing with me, and I was slightly annoyed by it. Mostly because she was there and I wasn’t, and I was hornier than a nymphomaniac on the set of a porno. “You know what. Say it again.”
“Puuuuusssyyyy.”
“Goddamnit, woman. If you were here right now, I’d have no mercy on you. I’d f*ck you so hard you’d be seeing stars.” And I meant every word of it, too.
“Now who’s the tease? Tell me what to do next, Noah.”
Oh, right. She was holding a dildo in her hands. So many places my mind could’ve gone with that thought. It was about to hit on at least one of those.
“Turn it on, kitten. Feel me vibrating in your hands. I want you to run the head of my dick up and down those wet folds. Soak me in your wetness.”
“Mmm, that feels so good.”
I shouldered my phone and reached behind me to fumble around with my hand until I found the lubricant in the drawer of the nightstand. Then I squirted a generous amount into my palm before throwing the bottle to the side so I could watch my hand go to work on my cock.
“Feel me there, teasing your opening with my cock. I’m ready for you. I want to f*ck you hard and fast. I want to make you scream my name.”
“God, yes, Noah,” she moaned, her breathing labored to match my own.
“Sit up on your knees, kitten. Can you do that for me? I want you to turn the speakerphone on, sit up on your knees and hold on to the headboard with your free hand.”
I heard a shuffling noise from the other end of the line, and then her voice again, a little more distant than before. “Okay, what now?”
“You’re going to ride my cock, Lanie. Put a pillow between your legs and prop that thing on it. Now spread your knees until you’re low enough that you can feel it at your opening.”
“I want you so bad,” she whined.
“Then take me. Lower yourself onto my cock and ride me hard, just the way you like it.” Wanting to feel the sensation with her, I squeezed the head of my dick between my thumb and forefinger before bucking my hips to push the rest of my cock through the grip of my hand.
My eyes shut as the mental picture of entering her mixed with the memory of how I knew it felt. “Oh, f*ck, Lanie. You feel so good. Do you like that?”
“You’re so thick,” she enunciated the last word.
“Kitten, you gotta stop saying stuff like that before I get in the f*cking car and drive my ass to Hillsboro to kidnap you.” And I was a ball’s hair away from doing it, too.
“Will you bring your thick cock?”
Her words sent me into a frenzied state. My hands tightened on my dick as I stroked it faster, the lubricant warming with the friction from my palm. I closed my eyes and imagined it was her p-ssy wrapped around me, constricting and releasing as she rocked her hips above me.
I wanted to see her looking down at me, her mouth slightly agape while her fingernails dug into the muscles on my chest. Her hair creating a curtain around us. Her hips undulating against mine as she stroked that little nub against my groin.
She moaned and groaned on the other end of the line, quietly so as not to disturb the rest of the household, but she was reeling and I could tell she needed more.
“Ride me, Lanie. Harder.” I imagined her ass slapping against my thighs as her tits bounced with her movements. My hand quickened and I bit into my lip so hard I thought for sure I had split it.
“Feels so good,” she moaned quietly. I could hear her breaths and the soft tap of her headboard as she rode the dildo beneath her.
“Hold on, kitten. Just hold on,” I urged her, almost there myself.
“Noah, I need you. Please?” she begged, seeking her release. “Give me more.”
“I promised to give you everything you need. Remember? Didn’t I promise you that? Let go of the headboard, Lanie. Use your fingers. Find the spot, the one that needs that little something more. Work it with your fingers and when I tell you to, I want you to pinch it.”
Her breathing was heavy, a keening sound building on the other end of the line until it went throaty.
“Now, kitten. Pinch it now.”
“Oh, f*ck!” she called out, her voice a husky whisper as she tried to be quiet. I could practically see her head fall back and her body go rigid under the power of her orgasm.
And that vision took me exactly where I needed to go as well. “Right there. Right … f*cking … there.” I growled out my release, my hips bucking into my fisted hand. Squeezing my cock tight and pressing the pad of my thumb to the tip, semen shot out like thick, molten lava from a spewing eruption and landed on my stomach. I milked my cock, my hips pumping in uneven intervals until the job was done.
“Noah, are you still there?” Lanie said, picking up the phone and turning off the speaker. She was still panting, but her voice was rich and smooth.
I threw my arm over my face and fought to regain my composure. “Yeah, kitten. I’m here.”
“I miss you.”
Yeah, I f*cking missed her, too.
It took about four hours to get to Hillsboro, eight hours round trip. Which meant I had enough time to get there and be back in time for work. I’d gone over the calculation at least a dozen times in my head as I lay there watching the minutes on the clock count down to midnight. Despite the release I’d had two hours prior, I found it impossible to sleep … yet again. There was a thin line between love and obsession, and I was afraid I was dangerously close to stepping over it (although it could’ve been a pesky little thing called sleep deprivation that made me think like that). I needed a cure, soon, and I knew I had two more days to wait for it. The problem was that I had absolutely no intention of wasting any of the couple of days I had with her on sleep, so the cycle was just going to keep repeating itself until we figured out some way to be together. Or I went crazy, whichever came first.
I climbed out of bed and slipped on a pair of jeans before I went downstairs to grab a glass of milk or a shot of Patrón—whatever the hell was going to work best to get me to fall asleep. Only I was distracted when I reached the bottom floor, because everywhere my eyes fell, I saw a vision of her. Lanie on her knees in front of the door; Lanie storming through said door after torching the lingerie she clearly didn’t want; Lanie descending the stairs looking like Cinderella on her way to the ball; Lanie on the stairs, tears streaming down her face after I’d just f*cked her there angrily. I closed my eyes to that image and was rewarded with one of Lanie in my shower immediately afterward, her beautiful body soaked and trembling as she held me under the spray.
I walked through the house until I reached the piano room, and she was there, too, splayed across my baby grand, cradled in my lap on the bench as we made love. In my office, there was Lanie wearing nothing but my silk tie as she stood in the doorway.
I missed her so much. My heart ached as my mind sifted through countless images of her, some innocent, some not so much: her beautiful smiles, the sexy little sneers from a time when she hated me, the erotic expression on her face as she came for me over and over again, the look of contentment when she told me she loved me—everything. Maybe I could survive without her by my side, but I sure as hell didn’t want to.
Distance be damned—I needed to see her.
With bare feet and no shirt, I rushed out to the foyer, grabbed my keys and wallet from the dish on the side table, and ran to my Lamborghini. A few sprinkles of rain dotted my windshield as I pulled out of the garage and made my way toward Hillsboro, toward her.
I sped like a maniac. Wet roads were not exactly prime driving conditions for a sleek sports car, but I didn’t care. I had to make it to her with time to spare to hold her in my arms before I had to turn back around and leave her again, and the Lamborghini was my fastest means of transportation at the time. I made a mental note to invest in a helicopter the very next day.
The rain started to fall harder along the drive, and with each slosh of water under my tires, with each swipe of the blade across the windshield, I lost myself further and further into thoughts of Lanie.
I was haunted by the dream of her, and by the reality that had unfolded the day I took her back to her parents’ house two weeks earlier. That cottage, the meadow, her laughter, the smile on her face—it was like the dream had come to life before my very eyes.
I could still hear the sound of her voice, sad and lonely as she said she missed me. It echoed through my mind and caused a tightening in my chest. I was sad and lonely for her, too. And I didn’t give a good goddamn if that meant I was p-ssy-whipped. I couldn’t think of any other p-ssy I’d rather be whipped by.
I stepped on the gas pedal, forcing the Lamborghini to speed even faster down the road toward my destination.
Night surrounded me as I sped along the empty roads, my headlights reflecting off the wet pavement before me. I was nearly there—just a few short miles and I’d have her in my arms.
By the time I pulled onto her street, the rain outside had already become a torrential downpour. I killed my headlights, not wanting to alert Lanie or her parents to my presence, and parked a bit down from her house. There was a dim, flickering light from Lanie’s bedroom window, casting shadows like dancing images across her wall—obviously a candle. The rest of the house was dark, and not a soul was stirring on the street.
I got out of the car and closed the door as quietly as I could, but apparently even that was too loud. First one dog and then another began to bark until it sounded like a whole pack of the f*ckers surrounded me.
Cold rain pelted my bare skin, the merciless wind whipping it into sheets. Within seconds I was drenched from head to toe and freezing my balls off, but I gave not a flying f*ck. My body began to shiver under the elements, but I only had one thing on my mind: my girl. Of course, if I’d used one ounce of that energy to think out my plan a little more thoroughly, I would’ve known what my next step was going to be. I couldn’t very well ring the doorbell because I’d be greeted by the barrel of Mack’s shotgun aimed at my boys.
I examined the tree that sprouted from the ground below Lanie’s window and calculated my odds of being able to scale it to make it to her room. There were a couple of low-lying branches, so I figured my chances were pretty good. That is, until I actually tried to climb it.
Thanks to bare feet and moss-covered bark, I couldn’t get a foothold on the damn thing. I grabbed the branch overhead and pulled myself up and was nearly close enough to straddle it when it broke under my weight, sending me thudding back to the ground. The wind was knocked out of me briefly, but I hadn’t driven four hours to give up that easily. Just as I stood to make another attempt, I saw the curtains shift behind Lanie’s window, and the sash rose to reveal her standing there.
“Noah?” Lanie’s confused voice called down, having apparently been roused by the sound of the cracking limb. “Are you crazy? What are you doing here?”
My face turned toward the darkened sky. Raindrops fell into my eyes and I blinked against them to keep her in my sights. I stared in awe, unable to take my eyes off the woman of my dreams. Her hair was in a messy ponytail, a few tendrils having fallen loose to cradle her face, and her eyes were slightly puffy with sleep. She looked perfectly imperfect, and I wanted to make her mine for all time. And then two little words tumbled from my lips, unplanned and unabated.
It wasn’t a question. It wasn’t an order. Hell, it was a plea.
“Marry me.”
Lanie
I stood there at my window looking down at Noah. He was half naked. No shirt, no shoes, just a pair of soaked jeans that were molded to his scrumptious form. His hair was plastered to his forehead, his long lashes batting raindrops away, his tongue darting out to capture one of the perfect beads that hung from his bottom lip precariously. And he was looking up at me like I was the second coming, even though I knew I looked like death warmed over.
“Marry me.”
His words drifted up to me, cutting through the unforgiving wind that threatened to pummel him until he was left beaten and battered.
My heart felt like someone had used defibrillation paddles on me. My knees went weak and the floor beneath my feet seemed to fall away, so I tightened my grip on the windowsill to try to keep my balance.
Tried and failed.
I teetered forward, nearly falling from the open window, but I caught myself on the branch before me just in time.
“Lanie!” Noah called up to me, fear evident in his hoarse voice.
I had to get to him, jump into his arms, and wrap myself around him. Taking the stairs would’ve taken too long, and hell, it was just too damned traditional for us. Screw it, I figured—since I was already halfway hanging on to the branch before me, I crawled out onto the limb, icy raindrops pricking my bare skin and soaking through the white shirt I wore—Noah’s, the one I had taken with me.
“Get back in that f*cking window, Lanie, before you break your goddamn neck!” Noah ordered. But since when had I ever listened to him?
I’d made it off one branch and down to another with only one more to go before I could jump down to him. And that’s when the klutz in me decided to wake up. Yeah, there I was trying to make some sort of grand gesture, and that psycho bitch decided to rear her ugly, deformed head.
“Oh, shit!” I lost my footing.
Imagine my surprise when my body met not the cold, hard ground but a wall of flesh instead. Noah had broken my fall with his body, but the impact sent us both tumbling.
I propped myself up and looked down at him, still amazed that he was there in the first place. A rumble of thunder sounded in the distance, but no words passed between us. We lay there in the mud looking at each other. His gaze was intent on mine, and I searched his eyes to see if I could find an ounce of regret about his unexpected proposal.
I saw none.
What I did see was a longing that matched mine, a certainty that dispelled any doubt, truth that mirrored my own. I loved that man, and he loved me, and it was right.
The muscles in his jaw tensed. He reached up and cupped my face in his hands. Then he exhaled a breath slowly and swept a wet lock of hair from my forehead. “I don’t ever want to be away from you again. I can’t do it.” His voice was broken, shaken.
I felt the same way, but the words were lodged in my throat, engulfed by a myriad of fathomless emotions. So since my verbal communication skill was clearly broken, I did my best to convey my feelings through other means. I kissed him like I’d never kissed him before. I was lost in Noah Crawford. Everything else in the world ceased to exist: the unrelenting storm, the fact that it was four o’clock in the morning, the barking neighborhood dogs.
Noah rolled us over until I was writhing beneath him, doing everything I could to get closer. Sensing my desperation, he hitched my bare leg over his hip. The soaked denim of his jeans pressed against my center and I moaned into his mouth. He always knew what I needed, and he would always take care of me like he’d promised.
My hands roamed over his naked chest, his muscular shoulders, his thick biceps, every inch of him wet and slick under my touch. I wrapped my other leg around him, holding him captive, unwilling to ever let him go again.
Noah cupped my ass in one hand and rolled his hips, his kiss hot and demanding. When his lips finally left mine, his talented mouth trailed along the underside of my jaw until he reached the sensitive spot below my ear.
And then he stopped, pulling back abruptly as he looked down at me. His brows were furrowed, his lips parted, and he just stared at me with a confused expression. Rain hung like teardrops from the tips of his hair, and one fell onto my cheek only to slide down the side of my face. Funny how a gazillion other raindrops were pummeling us, but that was the one that caused me to shiver and my skin to pebble.
“What’s wrong?” I asked, unsure why he had stopped.
“You didn’t answer my question.”
I giggled and rolled my eyes. “Noah, I climbed out a window and fell out of a tree, nearly breaking my neck, just to get to you. Do you really need me to say it?”
“Well, yeah, I kind of do.” The expression on his face was so sincere. “I’m asking you to be my wife, to bear my children, to grow old with me by your side. I’m asking you to marry me, Delaine Marie Talbot, for better or worse, in sickness and health, for richer or poorer, until death do we part. Does that sound like something you might want to do for the rest of your life?”
I bit down on my lip to stop the goofy grin that spread across my face and shrugged nonchalantly. “Maybe.”
He smiled down at me, his teeth all perfect and white. I wanted to lick them. “Just maybe?”
“I’m crazy about you, Noah Crawford. And I’m pretty sure that’s because I’m in love with you, and not because you actually do drive me crazy. So yeah, I think that sounds like something I might want to do for the rest of my life.”
“Is that a yes?”
I laughed at his persistence. “Yes, Noah.”
He looked relieved, and his smile became celestial. “Okay, good.”
I pushed my fingers through his wet hair. “Very good.” My eyes drifted over the features of his face. His hazel eyes held so much love and adoration. He was happy, and I did that for him.
I traced his prominent jaw, feeling it tense beneath my touch until I moved on to feel the softness of his lips. Noah closed his eyes and kissed my fingertips, his neck arching as I continued down his chin, and further still, to lightly caress his Adam’s apple. His neck was thick and muscular, the artery that resided beneath the skin throbbing with the life essence that flowed through his perfect body. It almost wasn’t fair how beautiful the man was. But I wasn’t complaining, because he was going to be mine forever.
“Make love to me?”
Noah opened his eyes, and with unquestionable certainty, said, “Always, but we need to get you out of the rain.” He stood and pulled me up with him. “Mack’s probably going to have my nuts for this.”
Despite my protests, he wrapped his arms around my shoulders so that I was huddled into his side, and he led me to the front door. And then it dawned on me as he tried the handle: I’d climbed out of the window and the front door was locked.
“Um, it’s locked,” I told him, stating the obvious.
“Well, you’re not climbing back up the damn tree, that’s for sure.” He looked around again to find another avenue. “Back door?”
“Locked.”
Noah looked back toward his car. “You’ll have to call them to let you in then. I’ll go get my phone …” His voice drifted off and he swore, running his hands through his wet hair. “Shit! I’m such an idiot. I left my phone at home.”
“You drove all the way here without your phone?”
“Without my phone, my shoes, my shirt,” he said with a devilish glint in his eye. “If I hadn’t already had my pants on, I would’ve left those, too. See how crazy you make me?”
I stood up on my tiptoes and kissed the tip of his nose. “Okay, so let’s survey the situation. We’re both half naked, it’s dark, it’s raining, we have no way to get inside, and I want you … now. Come with me.”
I took his hand and pulled him down the porch steps and toward the small grove of trees next to my house.
“Where are we going?”
“You’ll see,” I said, giving him an impish grin.
Once we stepped through the threshold of the thick trees, I led him to a clearing in the center. I stopped and looked up, drawing his attention to the lush canopy of trees overhead that formed a barrier against the elements.
“What now?” he asked as I stepped close to him.
“Now,” I said, tugging at the button of his jeans, “we get you out of these wet pants before you catch your death of cold.”
Noah sighed and reached for the top button on my shirt. “Well, we can’t have that, now can we?”
I shook my head and then leaned up to suck on the skin over the throbbing vein in his neck as we both worked to rid each other of the remainder of our clothes. Once all barriers had been discarded, Noah picked me up so that I could wrap my legs around his waist while our lips found each other again. He slowly lowered us down to the ground until his back rested against the trunk of a tree and I sat comfortably in his lap.
As my tongue sought out his, my hand traveled down his chest and abdomen to find his cock wedged between our bodies. He hissed and threw his head back when I finally touched him, giving me ample access to his neck and shoulders. I didn’t waste a second of time, bathing his delicious skin with my tongue, my lips, my teeth. His cock was titanium smoothness in my palm, and I pressed him against myself, coating him in my wetness.
Then his hands cupped my ass, and he lifted me as I guided him to my opening. Noah filled me completely, just like he’d always done, just like he always would. We both moaned at the sensation of our bodies coming together like puzzle pieces perfectly matched to each other. For the first time in a couple of weeks I could ride the real him and not just some synthetic version that could never really compare.
Noah released my hair from the band holding it in place, and then he dipped his head to capture one of my nipples with his mouth. His teeth scraped the hardened peak as his lips sucked and his tongue flicked back and forth at a maddening pace. I arched my back and took him in fully, riding him. Slowly, tenderly, we made love as we each whispered words of forever.
It didn’t take long for either of us to reach our climax. Having spent so much time away from each other had both of us wound pretty tightly. Plus, the turn our relationship had taken—the promise of many years spent in the company of the one we loved, our soul mate—had driven us both to such a point that we only wanted to be consumed by the other.
Consummation had its perks.
Before long, I was cuddled in his arms, the heat of our bodies providing all the warmth we needed. We were completely spent, undeniably satiated.
“I have to go.” Noah’s voice was a reluctant whisper. “I don’t want to, but Stone is up to something, and I can’t risk missing another day of work before the board meeting on Monday.”
I straightened and gave him a soft kiss. “It’s okay. I understand.”
His hands brushed my damp hair from my shoulders, and then he cupped my face to kiss me more deeply. I actually whimpered when he pulled away.
“How are we going to get you back inside?”
I shrugged. “You leave, and I’ll bang the door down.”
“And what, pray tell, are you going to tell Mack when he asks how you got locked out in nothing but my shirt? Which looks so very f*cking good on you, by the way.”
“Don’t worry about my dad. I can handle him,” I said, having no clue whatsoever how I was going to explain it to him, but I’d come up with something. “Hey, I’m the future Mrs. Delaine Crawford. Some of your ingenuity has to have rubbed off on me, right?”
Noah bit down on his lip, his eyes fixated on my mouth. “Jesus, that sounds good.” He hugged me close and then stole my breath away with a hungry kiss.
Moments later, after much prodding to make Noah get his Ridonkabutt in gear so that he wouldn’t be late for work, I found myself standing on the front porch of my parents’ house, my fist banging on the door. As I expected, Mack sleepily wrenched the door open. His eyes widened when he saw me standing there.
“Lanie? What the hell are you doing outside in the rain in the middle of the night?”
I pushed past him and he closed the door, turning toward me for an answer.
My mother appeared from the hallway, obviously having been roused from her sleep as well. “What’s going on out here?” she asked, wiping the sleep from her eyes. Standing there against the door jamb, she looked the picture of perfect health.
“I was just about to find out the answer to that myself,” Mack told her, his stare never leaving me. “Lanie?”
So I told them the truth.
“Noah showed up, and asked me to marry him.”
“He what?” Faye’s eyes went wide with excitement, and a huge smile spread across her face.
“He what?” my dad also asked, his voice not sounding near as pleased as my mother’s.
I turned toward him and set my chin in determination. “He asked me to marry him, and I said yes.”
“That’s wonderful!” my mother squealed as she came to hug me.
Mack raked his hands over his face in exasperation. “And how the hell did you end up locked outside in the rain?”
“I climbed down the tree to get to him,” I said matter-of-factly.
“Oh, that is so romantic.” My mother had a dreamy tone in her voice.
“That is so stupid!” Mack countered. “You could’ve broken your neck, young lady. Where is he?”
“Oh, stow it, Mack,” my mom said, coming to my rescue. “This is great news, and I’m not going to let you ruin it for us.”
I knew that my mother had never really had what you’d call a romantic proposal. The way she told the story, Mack had picked her up for a date, turned to look at her, and said, “So you wanna get hitched?” She told him sure, and he said, “Well, all right then,” before turning back to start the car. She hadn’t been complaining; it was just the way they were. Exactly like how Noah’s proposal, and my acceptance, was the way we were.
“Let’s grab some coffee,” my mother said, dragging me toward the kitchen. “You have to tell me everything.”
My father sighed in resignation and rolled his eyes. “I’m going back to bed.”
Faye and I were still sitting in the kitchen when the storm finally subsided and the sun peeked over the horizon. I told her the whole story, even the part where we made love under the canopy of trees next door. She hung on my every word like she was a kid and I was telling her the story of Santa Claus.
“Let me see the ring,” she said, lifting my hand up to see none there.
I shrugged. “It was sort of spur-of-the-moment. Besides, I don’t really need a ring.”
“Lanie, he’s Noah Crawford. He’s going to make sure you have one.”
“Either way, it doesn’t matter. Just to know he loves me is enough.” And it was. I’d never been the flashy type, but my mother was right: Noah was going to make certain I had a ring. I only hoped it wasn’t going to be something huge that cost way too much. Heck, he could give me a secret decoder ring out of a Cracker Jack box and it would suit me just fine. Polly and Lexi would probably go batshit over it, but I wouldn’t care.
“Baby,” my mother said with sincerity as she took my hand in hers, “you have to go to him. You can’t stay here.”
“Mom, he’s cool with it,” I said, cutting her off. “When you’re better, that’s when I’ll go.”
“Now you listen to me, Delaine Talbot,” she said, her voice taking on that motherly tone. “I’m doing just fine. In fact, I’ve never felt better. It’s time you stop living your life around me and your father and go live your own. That man is crazy about you, and you’re just as crazy about him. Go. I insist.”
“You’re kicking me out?” I asked in mock outrage.
“Yes, I am,” she said, playing along. “Get your shit and get the hell out of my house.”
We had a good laugh and hugged. I was all kinds of giddy inside, knowing that Noah and I would finally be together without anything keeping us apart. The Cooch was mighty excited about that prospect as well. She and the Wonder Peen were going to be reunited, and the only thing that stood in the way of their happiness was the Cooch’s obsession with the Ridonkabutt. However, I didn’t doubt they’d somehow work things out so that she could enjoy the best of both worlds.
Noah had called to let me know he’d made it back okay and was on his way into work. I decided not to tell him I was coming home to him, or that I had told my folks about our upcoming nuptials. I wanted to see the look of surprise on his face when I showed up and made the announcement.
I called Dez at her parents’ house and woke her lazy ass up to tell her the good news. After about three straight minutes of listening to her bitching about me waking her up, I finally cut her off and just blurted the words out.
The first thing she said to me was, “And I suppose you want me to be your maid of honor?”
I laughed at her nonchalance. “If you’re not too terribly busy, I’d love that.”
Dez sighed. “I guess I can do that, but you better know now that there will definitely be strippers at the bridal shower.”
“You mean the bachelorette party?”
“Yeah, that too.”
I laughed. “Hey, do you get a discount since you’ve slept with all of them?”
“F*ck you very much, and I damn well better.” She laughed with me, and then she got serious. “I’m really happy for you, Lanie. But I’m still going to set his balls on fire if he f*cks up.”
“Aw, you’re so sweet. Now get your butt over here. I need you to drive me to Chicago.”
“You’re lucky I don’t have to work until tonight,” she huffed. “I’ll be there in two shakes of a donkey’s dick, trick.”
I had just finished packing my things and stacking them by the front door when I wandered into the kitchen and saw my father sitting there having his lunch. He glanced up at me, his eyes full of sadness, and then returned his attention to his sandwich.
I knew he was upset but holding his tongue for my mother’s sake.
“Dad?” I said, walking into the kitchen and taking the seat next to him.
He cleared his throat and sat back in his chair, attempting to look nonchalant. “What’s on your mind, baby girl?”
“You know I’m going to be okay, right?”
“Let me tell you what I know,” he said, crossing his arms defensively over his chest. “Nothing, that’s what I know. You go off to college, money shows up out of nowhere in our account, your mother gets the best heart surgeon in the state—hell, in the country, for that matter—you show up with this bohunk who has more money than he knows what to do with, and all of a sudden my baby girl is running off to marry him. Hell, he didn’t even ask me for your hand in marriage. Now you tell me, Lanie, what’s there for me to be worried about?”
“You have to trust me. I’m not a little girl anymore. I know what I’m doing.”
He turned his head to look out the window and then sighed again. “Do you love him?”
I laid my hand on his shoulder, and he turned to look back at me. “More than I ever thought possible. And he loves me, too, so much.”
Silence stretched between us before he finally said, “You know, when I first held your tiny body in my arms, I swore to protect and keep you safe from everything this cruel world has to offer. But I also promised myself that I wouldn’t be so over-protective that I keep you from being happy.”
“Noah makes me happy, Daddy,” I told him, trying to convey my sincerity through my eyes. “I’m miserable without him. I want to spend the rest of my life loving him and letting him love me. But I can’t be truly happy without your blessing. I want you to walk me down the aisle and give me away to Noah, knowing I’ll be safe with him. So do we have your blessing?”
Mack looked down at the table as he picked up a potato chip and shrugged. “I guess. But if he steps even a millimeter out of line, I’m going to be up his ass like a pogo stick,” he said, and then popped the chip into his mouth.
I threw my arms around his neck and hugged him tightly. “Thank you, Dad! I’ll always love you best.”
“Holy torpedo in a Speedo!” Dez gasped as we walked through the front doors of Scarlet Lotus.
“Wow, this is … impressive,” I said, looking around at the ornate fixtures of the lobby. “The man I’m about to marry is doing very well, indeed.”
“I really hate you right now,” Dez said, her eyes narrowed at me in jealousy. “Just remember that what’s yours is mine.”
“This won’t be mine, Dez.” I spotted Polly and she waved us over. “I don’t want anything from Noah other than his love. And maybe—no, definitely—his body.”
“Congratulations!” Polly squealed when we reached her, and then she threw her arms around me for one heck of a bear hug. She sure was strong for such a tiny little thing. I guess it was true what they said about ants being able to carry fifty times their own weight.
I thought Dez was going to pull a knife on Polly when she did the same to her, but luckily Polly was too quick. When she pulled back, she got that excited look in her eyes. “Come on. Let’s get you upstairs to your fiancé.”
She led us to an elevator and we stepped inside while she punched the button for the floor with Noah’s office. The entire ride up, she kept asking about the wedding; who was going to plan it, who was going to cater, the date, and the list went on and on. I could see the aggravation on her face when my answer to every question was, “I don’t know.”
“Polly, he just asked me to marry him a few hours ago. When did I have time to plan a wedding?”
“Pfft,” she said with a dismissive wave of her hand. “Honey, I had my wedding planned since I was, like, three.”
Somehow I didn’t doubt that.
The elevator dinged, signaling our arrival to our destination, and the doors pulled back so we could step off. We followed Polly down a hallway, and I noticed that everyone stopped and stared after us like we were on display. I recognized some of the faces from the ball, but it still made me feel slightly uncomfortable.
“Hey, wifey! What are you doing here?” Mason asked in surprise when we walked into his office. And then his eyes nearly bugged out when I stepped out from behind Polly. “Holy shit! What are you doing here?”
“Shh,” Polly said, cupping her hand over his mouth. “Is he in?”
Mason only nodded because that was all he could do. “Well? What are you waiting for? Go get him,” Polly directed me with a nod toward Noah’s office.
I walked over and cracked the door open. He was sitting at his desk, his back turned toward the door as he looked out his window like he was a million miles away. His hair was disheveled and his jaw was slightly scruffier than normal. Apparently his little impromptu trip to Hillsboro had left him with no time to shave.
I closed the door behind me. “Having second thoughts?”
Noah swung around in his chair, his brow raised and eyes wide.
“Surprise,” I said, walking toward him.
“Lanie? What are you doing here?”
“I figured two can play the whole surprise-visit game,” I told him as I took a seat in his lap. “Only I’m not leaving. I’m here to stay. My mother swears she’s fine, and my father … well, we have his blessing.”
I felt his whole body relax around me, as if every ounce of tension that our separation had caused him had suddenly melted away with my words. His hold tightened when I leaned in and nuzzled his ear. “Looks like you’re stuck with me,” I whispered.
Noah cupped my face in his hands, his lips brushing against mine when he said, “Welcome home, kitten.” And then he gave me a searing kiss.
I melted against him, into him, as his words permeated my skin and became a part of me. I was back where I belonged, in the arms of the man who’d captured my heart for an eternity. My mother was healing, my father was back to work, and all was right with the world. Nothing could penetrate the happy little bubble I’d found myself in.
“Yo, Crawford!” The door to Noah’s office swung open, disrupting our happily-ever-after moment as a voice I wished I could have forgotten tainted our pure air with obnoxygen.
Noah growled, ire thick in his voice, “What do you want, Stone? And what the f*ck are you doing barging into my office unannounced?”
“Oh, wow. Were you two about to get it on in here? Because I’m pretty sure that’s against company policy. We can always ask the board at the meeting on Monday to be sure.”
I turned the full force of my glare on him, and he actually took a step back. “Come in search of your dinner, crumb snatcher?” I asked.
“Delaine!” he said, smiling widely in greeting. “Slumming it again? When are you gonna drop Crawford and give Big Daddy Dick a go?”
Noah attempted to lunge from his chair, but I managed to hold him in place, barely. As much as I’d have loved to see Noah beat the crap out of the man, David Stone simply wasn’t worth losing Scarlet Lotus over. “Let it go, baby. He’s not worth it. He’s just suffering from penis envy.”
“Ouch, my feelings,” David whined with his hand over his heart and his bottom lip out in a pout.
I ignored him and stood, turning to face Noah. “I’m going to the house to unpack. I’ll see you when you get home.” Intent on making sure David knew who was buttering my bread, I gave Noah a kiss that was so hot it made my own toes curl. “I love you,” I told Noah, and then walked toward the door.
“Move,” I told David.
He was smart enough to step to one side, but not without giving me a sarcastic grin. “I love you, too, sweetums.”
Dez, Polly, and Mason had just walked back into Mason’s office, all three carrying fresh coffee.
Mason sighed when he saw David’s back before he closed the door. “Oh, shit.”
“Hold the phone. Who is that piece of tall, dark, and ooh-la-la?” Dez asked, checking him out.
“He is what we like to refer to as pathetic scum,” Polly answered.
“No, seriously. Who is he?” Dez asked again. “I think I know him.”
“Let’s hope not,” I said. “He’s David Stone. He owns the other half of Scarlet Lotus.”
“Are you sure? Because he looks awfully familiar.”
Mason sat on the corner of his desk and pulled Polly to stand between his legs. “No offense, Dez, but I hardly think he’d be running in the same circles as you.”
“Well, never mind. It doesn’t matter anyway,” she said, shrugging it off. Then she turned toward me. “You ready to go? I don’t have much time before I have to be at work.”
“Yeah, I’m ready,” I told her, and then bid farewell to Polly and Mason. Of course Polly promised she’d be over first thing the next morning to start wedding preparations. I shuddered at the thought.
Dez and I made it back to the mansion and, with Samuel’s help, got all my things unloaded and stacked in Noah’s bedroom. Shortly afterward, I saw Dez off for her shift at Foreplay, the meat market where Noah and I first met. I had just gone to the kitchen to pour myself a glass of ice water when the doorbell rang. As I walked back toward the foyer, I spotted Dez’s scarf where she had discarded it earlier.
Snatching it up because I knew it was the reason Dez had come back, I opened the door to hand it to her. “Forgot your sc—” My voice caught in my throat when I realized it wasn’t Dez on the other side of the door.
“Honey, I’m home.” David Stone stood there with a slimy smile on his mug.
“Noah’s not in from the office yet.” I attempted to slam the door in his face, but he stuck his arm out and kept it from closing.
“I’m not here to see Noah. I’m here to see you,” he said, forcing me to back up as he pushed his way inside.
“You just don’t take a hint, do you?” I asked, enraged by his relentlessness. “I don’t want anything to do with you, a*shole.”
David kept advancing on me until my back was pressed to the wall and he had cornered me. He caged me in with his body, his grotesque hand pushing a lock of hair out of my face while he smiled down at me.
“What do you want, David?”
“I want you.”
“Well, I don’t want you, so you can leave now.”
“I think you might want to hear my proposal before you openly reject me, Lanie.”
I bristled at his familiarity. “What did you just call me?”
He smirked, but he was clearly confused. “What? I called you Lanie.”
I pushed my shoulders back and straightened to my full height as I took one purposeful step toward him followed by another. “I only allow those I consider my friends to call me by that name. And you, sir,” I said, poking him in the chest as he backed up, “are no friend of mine.”
He gave me a broad smile that was more creepy than friendly. “Babe,” he crooned with his hands up in surrender, “why are we always making war when we could be making love?”
I shook my head. “Boy, you are really dumb, aren’t you?”
“Hear me out,” he said. “We don’t have to be enemies. I know what you women really want, and I’m positive we can work out a deal where we both come out on top.”
I crossed my arms and raised an eyebrow at him.
“Okay,” he said with a shrug. “If you prefer to be on top, that’s fine by me.”
“You’re disgusting.”
“Can I finish?”
“I’m really not interested in hearing anything you have to say.” I walked toward the door, but before I could open it to kick him out, David was there with his shoulder pressed against it. I looked at him like he was crazy because obviously he’d lost his mind, but he just flashed that toothy grin again.
“So here’s the deal. You partner up with me, but stay here with Crawford for the time being as if nothing has changed. Let the sappy bastard fall in love with you, and then once you’ve snagged that magic lasso around your finger, you and I take everything. You help me get Scarlet Lotus, and I’ll take care of you for the rest of your life. You’ll never want for a damn thing again. Including the best cock in all fifty states.”
I couldn’t help myself. I laughed. Loudly. I don’t think David appreciated the humor of the situation quite as much as I did because his face contorted into something that didn’t look altogether human.
“What the f*ck are you laughing about?” he asked.
“You,” I said, pointing and still laughing at him. “You said that with such a straight face that it’s almost like you actually believe I’d leave Noah for someone like you. But of course you couldn’t really believe that.”
His expression changed again, the angry furrow of his brow replaced with a knowing smirk on his lips. “Aw, I get it. You want your money up front. That’s how my partner paid you, right?”
There was an abrupt halt to my giggling. I could feel all the blood in my face drain with his words, and I was suddenly paralyzed with fear.
“How much will it take? A thousand? Ten thousand? A hundred grand? Oh no, that’s right. The going price is two million dollars, right? Damn, that p-ssy’s gotta be lined in gold.”
Oh, God. He knew.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I said, my voice sounding unconvincing even to my own ears.
“No?” Judging by the look on his face, it was safe to say he knew for sure that I knew what he was talking about. “Let’s see if this rings a bell. Noah made a trip to a little club called Foreplay and then slipped in through the back door to attend a secret auction where he bought you for a cool two mill … to be his sex slave. Sound familiar?”
My whole body shook with trepidation.
“How did you know?”
David chuckled. “I might have access to a certain contract.”
He found the contract? But how?
“What do you want?” I asked, ready to hear his demands.
He wrapped his arm around my waist and pulled me against his body. Then he leaned down and whispered into my ear. “I already told you. I want Scarlet Lotus. And I want to sample the golden p-ssy for myself.”
“No!” I said, shoving at him, but he was too strong and I couldn’t make him budge.
“Ah, why be so stingy? It’s what you’re paid to do, right? The difference is I’m offering you so much more than the measly amount my partner paid. You can have it all, including me. At least then you’ll get to know what it’s like to be with a real man,” he said, and then he licked the length of my neck from my collarbone to my earlobe. “You do this or Noah’s ship is sunk. I’ll go to the board and the press about your little deal, and he’ll lose everything; his company, his dignity, his standing in the public eye. Plus your folks will know their daughter is nothing but a common whore. So what’s it going to be, Delaine?”
He palmed my breast and began to take liberties, squeezing it like it was a stress ball. I felt so completely vulnerable, and I was scared out of my wits. His hot breath fanned out over my skin, and he started to plant slimy kisses along the length of my neck.
My heart pounded furiously in its cage and I willed my mind to think of a way out of the predicament that I’d found myself in. Noah. I wanted my Noah. He’d be home shortly and then he’d …
And then it hit me. That was exactly what David was counting on. He wanted Noah to walk in and see him f*cking me, just like when Noah had walked in and found him f*cking Julie. David meant to destroy him completely.
So the decision I was left with was to either let him have what he wanted and break Noah’s heart, or to refuse him and watch helplessly as Noah handed his company over to David Stone—a company his parents had built from scratch. Noah would be ruined, and my parents would know what I had done. But if he walked in and saw us together, it might do far more damage. Could Noah still love me after all that? Either way, it seemed there was no easy answer.
Images of Noah’s face flashed across my mind: the anguished expression when he first told me he’d fallen in love with me, the light in his eyes when I finally got a chance to say it back, the desperation as he stood in the rain half naked and asked me to marry him. I couldn’t rip his heart out. I refused to put him through the same thing Julie had.
Material things could be replaced. Noah was smart enough and had the talent to rebuild. As for his damnation in the public eye, people were bloodthirsty and ruthless when it came to celebrities, but as soon as the next star fell from the sky, his sin would be forgotten. And yeah, I would forever see the disappointment in my parents’ eyes after they learned their daughter had sold her body for two million dollars, but the loss of their respect was a fair price to pay when I thought about the alternative. It was much more difficult to mend a broken heart, and Noah couldn’t take much more heartache. It took a lot for him to finally trust someone else, and he’d put everything he had left in the palm of my hands. No way was I going to destroy a gift that precious.
“No,” I answered David. “I belong to Noah, and Noah alone. I am his.”
I felt every muscle in David’s body tense as he registered my words. A low growl rumbled from his chest and he pulled back to glare down at me. “I will have you. Willingly, or not.”
Before I had a chance to react, he grabbed my shirt and ripped it apart, sending buttons flying across the floor.
“No!” I screamed, and then I gathered every ounce of strength I had in my body and pushed against him.
It was enough force to make him stumble back, giving me room to get out of his clutches. I made a run for the door, but David was quick on my heels. Just as I reached for the door handle, he grabbed my arm and yanked me back, sending me sailing across the floor until I hit my head on the wall.
David stalked toward me, undoing his pants in the process. I scrambled, trying to get away, but he was on me in a nanosecond. So I did the only thing I could do: I fought. If he was going to take me, I wasn’t about to make it easy for him. He hovered over me, and I kicked my foot out, nailing him in the balls.
“You bitch!” He doubled over, but the kick hadn’t been enough to stop him. With renewed determination, he grabbed at my flailing arms and pinned me down to the floor. I was trapped under his weight, unable to move as he wedged his knees between my thighs and forced them apart while fumbling with my pants.
“Please! No!” I cried out. Tears streamed down my cheeks.
I squeezed my eyes shut to block out the horrific image of the disgusting man on top of me. He was a f*cking animal; a panting, feral beast that was out of control with determined lust. The stench of his sweat burned my nostrils, and scalding tears ran freely down my face, their saltiness leaking past my trembling lips. At that moment I hated David Stone enough to want to kill him.
His hands went to the button on my jeans and I struggled to break free of his unyielding strength, determined not to let him touch me.
I was not a whore!
Just then, the front door flew open.
“Get the f*ck off her!” It was Noah’s voice, and he sounded demonic, as if he were possessed by Satan himself.
My bare skin felt an unexpected chill before I realized David was no longer on top of me. Instead, he was flying through the air, his body crashing into the side table with a sickening yet pleasing crack as its wood splintered under his weight.
Noah gave me a fleeting glance before he went after David, and I saw the rage that flamed behind his darkened eyes like red serpents licking a velvet sky. His shoulders heaved with angry breaths, his body tensed and ready to strike. I had never seen him look so fearsome.
He stalked toward the place where David lay among the debris trying to regain his bearings, but before he could get to his feet, Noah was there. Noah grabbed David’s collar and drew his fist back, and then a loud crack echoed through the room when he landed the first blow to David’s face.
David retaliated by grabbing Noah and throwing him back far enough to allow himself time to get to his feet. Blood spilled from his lip, and his face was swollen and discolored to an angry red. Then a battle cry clawed its way out of David’s chest and he ran full force toward Noah, hooking him around the waist and driving him into the wall behind him.
“Noah!” I screamed as I got to my feet. I ran at them and jumped on David’s back, wrapping my arms around his neck to put him in a choke hold. Admittedly, I probably didn’t pose much of a threat. David proved that when he grabbed me and pulled me off his back to throw me back onto the floor.
It was the distraction Noah needed. He threw another punch, this one striking David’s rib cage. David doubled over and Noah took the opportunity to land an uppercut to his chin, sending him flying back again.
When he crashed onto the floor, David’s head lolled to the side and his body went limp. His face was bloodied and bruised, but that didn’t keep Noah from continuing his attack. He straddled David and kept pummeling him over and over again. When he was satisfied David had no more fight left in him, he shook out his swollen hand and stood, looking down at his foe with disgust.
He turned toward me, his face quickly morphing from anger to heart-clenching concern, and then he knelt beside me. “Are you okay, kitten?”
Everything, the whole weight of the situation, finally hit home and I sobbed uncontrollably. David knew everything, and that still wasn’t enough. No, he hated Noah so much, he was going to rape me just to destroy him. He was going to rape me.
I clutched Noah’s shirt in my fists and pulled him to me so I could bury my head in his chest. “He wanted me to … And I couldn’t do that to you, and he was going to …”
“Shh, shh, shh,” Noah said, cradling me in his arms. “I know, kitten. It’s okay. I’m here now, and I won’t let anyone hurt you.”
Oddly, it wasn’t the fact that I had nearly been raped that had me so upset. Sure, that had a lot to do with it, but David hadn’t gotten the opportunity to follow through on his threat. Noah had protected me, just like he had promised he would. What was most upsetting was the fact that David knew everything and would stop at nothing to see Noah a broken man.
It wasn’t fear for my own well-being that had me so distraught; it was fear for Noah’s.
I saw movement out of the corner of my eye just before heavy footsteps made a mad dash for the door. It was David, and he was running away. Noah turned me loose and made to go after him, but I pulled him back.
“No, you can’t!” I yelled, holding on to him with all my might.
“He’s getting away,” Noah said, trying to pull my hands loose.
Grabbing his face, I forced him to look at me. “He knows, Noah. He knows everything.”
And just like that, our perfect little bubble had popped.