Nine
Noah
As I stoodin front of Alex’s door, I waited before I rang the bell, remembering the first time I’d been here.
Dominic had come to me and explained what had happened with Birdie, and seeing his heartbreak had tugged on a protective instinct I hadn’t known I’d had for him. I’d sought out Birdie, determined to get the truth—and to make her pay if she’d fucked over my brother.
Alex hadn’t entered into the equation, but my first glimpse of her had knocked me on my ass, and the way she’d stood up for her friend had only made her that much more intriguing.
Then, I hadn’t paid too much attention to her place, but I did now, looking left, then right down the hallway.
A hallway that was currently lined heavy plastic sheeting that hung from the ceiling to cover the warped drywall and thick orange extension cords plugged into about half a dozen fans blowing at full speed. A valiant effort, I supposed, but all the fans in the world wouldn’t save those floors. The whole building needed to be gutted, and I was pissed that someone allowed Alex to live here.
Even more pissed that she wanted to be away from me so badly that she chose this over Dominic’s townhouse.
I let out a low chuckle.
Too bad for her that I’d never had a problem going after what I wanted.
And, after twenty-four more hours of wrestling with my desire, trying to convince myself to let it go, I could no longer deny that what I wanted was her.
I rang the doorbell and then knocked for good measure as I called, “Open the door, Alex.”
I heard her moving inside her apartment and felt myself smiling and also fidgeting with anticipation at the thought of seeing her again.
“I am. I am. Just give me a minute,” she mumbled, the sound of her voice muffled under the whirling fans and the closed door.
I could easily imagine the annoyed expression on her beautiful face, the way her eyebrows would furrow. Wondered if she knew that even when she looked pissed, her lips still tilted up in a little smile.
My hunch that she was close was proven when she pulled the door open not more than two seconds after she’d spoken.
I stared at her, looking her from head to toe.
Her hair was down and hung to her shoulders in thick coils.
The thought of gripping fistfuls of that thick hair as I fed her my cock had me tightening my hands in an effort not to reach out to touch her.
But while I wasn’t touching her—yet—I could look.
And look I did, letting my gaze caress the expanse of soft-looking brown skin as I moved down the column of her neck, over her padded collar bones, until I collided with her shirt, jealous of the thin pink tank top that was the only thing covering her breasts.
Looked down farther, tracing the dip of her waist, the soft swell of her stomach, over the full thickness of her thighs, jealous again, this time of the pink pants that hid her skin from view.
“What do you want, Noah?” Alex asked.
Her voice broke me out of the trance that had momentarily overtaken me, and when I looked at her, I could see that she wasn’t unaffected.
She was trying to hide her reaction, but her eyes were slightly widened, and her lips were pressed into a thin line, though I knew that tension wasn’t anger.
I locked my eyes with hers, and to her credit, Alex didn’t let her gaze waver. “You left something at the house. I wanted to make sure you got it back,” I said.
She frowned, her beautiful features squished in confusion.
“No. I didn’t leave anything…”
She trailed off as I stepped forward.
Then she stepped back, allowing me entry into the apartment.
I closed and locked the door, then looked around.
There was an ugly blue tarp on her ceiling, but the bare subflooring was clean. At least the landlord or, more likely Alex, had swept the plaster away.
Still, I fucking hated the idea of her living here, and I had no problem saying so.
“You shouldn’t be staying here,” I said.
She scoffed, the ugly look on her face doing nothing to tamp down my desire for her. “Noah, I don’t need and didn’t request your opinion on my home. One you’ve entered uninvited for the second time, I might add,” she said.
“Home, huh?” I said, looking deeper into the apartment to see more tarps, more subflooring, and no living room furniture. “How are you even living in here?”
“The bedroom is fine,” she said. She slammed her mouth closed, and I could see she was withdrawing. I watched as she put her business persona on. Even in a tank top and sweat pants, she looked every bit the sharp lawyer I knew her to be. “You said you have something that belongs to me. I don’t see anything,” she said.
She looked at my empty hands.
I reached into my pocket and pulled the item out.
“That?” she asked, looking at the black elastic hair tie I held in the air.
“I guess so,” I said, shrugging casually, though I felt anything and everything but.
“What do you mean you guess so?” she asked, her expression still tight, though she had relaxed an increment.
“It was in the bathroom. And it’s not mine. So I assumed it was yours and brought it to you,” I said.
“You mean you bought your ass all the way across town to bring me a rubber band?” she asked as she stared at me with disbelieving eyes.
I nodded. “Yup.”
She shook her head. “Fucking weirdo.”
“Maybe.” I chuckled. “But we also have some unfinished business.”
She pulled hair tie out of my hand and jerked back when our fingers brushed.
I understood why. That simple touch had felt like a bolt of electricity, and no matter how she might want to pretend, Alex had felt it too.
“What business is that?” Alex asked.
Her words said she wanted to pretend, but her eyes were bright with the same hunger that had driven me here. I’d had doubts, thought that maybe, possibly, I had imagined the intense connection we’d shared that night.
Looking at Alex now, I knew I hadn’t imagined it, just as I knew there was so much more for us to explore.
“I think you know what business, Alex. I got you to three, and that’s without getting my cock inside you. We can do better,” I said.
I waited for her reaction, saw the faint hitch in her breath, the grudging smile that lifted her lips.
“Are you always such an arrogant dick, Noah?” she said.
“Always, but not without good reason. Now, let’s talk more about my dick and how good it’s going to make you feel,” I responded, moving the two steps needed to close the space between us.
I breathed what felt like my first breath since I’d seen her last when my hand touched her hip.
I stayed there for a moment, watching the emotion play on her face, breathing again, this time with relief when she decided.
Knowing Alex wouldn’t make this easy, but even more certain I was up to the challenge.
“Let me make a couple of things clear,” she said as I grazed my lips against her cheek.
I backed up just a millimeter and stared down at her, loving her height and the fullness of her body. “Speak,” I said.
“This stays between us,” she said, her expression serious even as her gaze seemed to beg for my touch.
“Meaning?” I asked.
“Meaning no one can know about this. Not even your brothers, and I won’t tell Birdie,” she said.
“Why?” I asked, curiosity the emotion I decided to focus on instead of being pissed at the thought of being her dirty little secret.
No.
It wasn’t that. Whatever the fuck this was had more to do with Alex than it did me. I’d have to remember that.
“I have my reasons,” she said, her adorable defensiveness pulling me out of the spiral that had been fast approaching.
“I get that you’re not the most experienced with men, Alex,” I said.
She sucked in a breath. “That has nothing to do with it.”
“Maybe not, but that’s usually my line,” I said, adding a smile.
I didn’t like what she was saying or what I expected was the source of it, but on some level, I appreciated it.
I had given up the idea that this would be a one-time thing.
The way Alex tasted, the way I wanted her with borderline desperation, had told me as much.
But some part of me, one that I had never experienced before, wanted to hold her close, wanted to scream to the world that she belonged to me.
But even more than that, I wanted to take care of her.
And if secrecy was what she thought she needed, I would give it to her. I knew that letting her believe she had that level of control was the only way she’d open herself to me, and so it was a small price to pay.
“Fine,” I said.
“Fine?” She blinked with surprise, and I could see she’d been ready to try to convince me.
“Yes, Alex. Fine. We’ll play by your rules. At least some of them,” I said.
Before she could respond, I stroked her cheek, then leaned forward and sucked her bottom lip between mine. Then, I pulled back, my gaze locked with hers as I nipped her lip, then soothed away the sting with my tongue.
That little taste was intoxicating, enough to test my control and make me want more.
I pressed a soft kiss against her lips and then pulled back again.
She lifted her eyes to mine. “We’re doing this?” she said.
“By this, do you mean fucking?” I asked, my face so close to hers that our lips touched.
“Y-yeah. That,” she stammered.
I stroked her cheek. “Say it, Alex.”
She huffed. “I don’t nee?—”
“Say it, Alex,” I repeated.
“Fine, Noah. We’re…fucking. But,” she added quickly.
“Yes?” I asked, wondering what she would say next, surprised but also not that I was content to talk to her when my dick was hard enough to hammer nails.
“While we’re fucking, I don’t want you fucking anyone else. And I won’t either, by the way,” she said.
“No, you won’t,” I said. “I’ll make sure you don’t have the desire or the energy to. Now don’t ever speak of another man in my presence.”
She smiled when I nipped her lip again. “And you?”
“No, Alex, I won’t be fucking anyone else either,” I said, trailing my lips across her cheek and down the column of her neck before I pulled back to look at her.
She looked surprised. Something I decided to point out to her. “You look surprised.”
“I guess I didn’t expect you to be so agreeable,” she admitted.
“So you’ve been thinking about you and me fucking?” I said, settling my hands on either side of her neck.
“I…”
“Don’t lie, Alex,” I said in a singsong voice as I moved lower to squeeze her tits and then tweak her nipples through her shirt.
She hitched out a breath. “Yes, I have.”
“Good, because I have too.”
I trailed down her stomach, gripped her hip.
“And you’ll find that I can quite agreeable. Sometimes,” I said.
My grip tightened on her hip, and she looked down at my hand where I touched her.
I tightened my hold, wanting her to feel my desire, feel the intensity of my need for her.
She blinked, her lashes sweeping her cheeks as she kept her gaze down for several seconds before she looked up again.
“Noah?” she finally asked, her voice not exactly tentative but lacking the bravado that I usually heard from her.
So strong, yet so vulnerable.
In that moment, I knew I was seeing the real Alex, seeing parts of her she fought so hard to keep from others.
Knew that while I didn’t fully understand the impulse, I would take care of this woman.
“Yes,” I said my gaze locked on hers.
“Will you kiss me?” she asked.
I could see how much that question took from her and saw the gift of it.
But instead of answering with words, I pulled her body flush with mine and did just that.
At the first press of my lips against hers, she yielded to me, opening, and then sucking my tongue into her mouth.
The little whimper that came out of her throat had me on the verge of coming, but I wouldn’t do that, not without her.
I pulled away just enough to say, “Bedroom?”
She nodded toward the back, and I took the lead, guiding us back into the room.
I glanced around quickly, noting she needed a bigger bed. For now, I’d make do, but next time…
The room was so empty, not at all like her, but that was a topic for another day. For now, I stared at her.
“Take off your clothes, Alex,” I said.
I could see her hesitation and hated every person who had ever done or said anything to make this woman, one of the most beautiful I had ever seen, doubt herself.
But if nothing else, by the time I was done, she would never, for single moment, doubt her beauty.
She chewed on the corner of one of her lips as she reached for the hem of her tank top.
She pulled off the shirt quickly, the muscles in her arms flexing as she threw it off. Then, she lowered her hands and reached into her waistband to pull her pants down and off.
I couldn’t speak, the need to touch her so intense, the beauty of her naked body making my heart thud.
I moved close and stroked the dusky tip of her full breast as I leaned forward and sucked the other into my mouth.
Just a taste, until I backed up again as I looked down at her beautiful curves, narrow waist, her hips full, the round of her stomach a perfect cushion.
Then, I focused on that treasure hiding between her thick thighs, one I couldn’t wait to taste again. I reached for her and stroked the thatch of curls that covered her mound before I moved lower and ran my finger along the length of her slit, smiling when I felt the wetness there.
I breached her opening with one finger, not even going to the knuckle before she clamped down on me.
I tsked. “Your pussy is so wet, but not nearly wet enough to take my cock.”
“You think you can fix that?” she asked, her voice low, husky, both nervous and filled with challenge.
A dichotomy, just like the woman herself.
I pulled my finger out.
“I know I can. Go lie down so I can show you,” I said.
She smiled at me, then moved to the bed, watching me as I undressed and then tossed condoms on her nightstand.
Her husky laugh made my cock jump. “Should I be offended or impressed that you’re prepared?”
I approached her and then stretched out over her, the contact of my naked body with hers making me moan before I calmed enough to speak.
“Whichever you want to be, but just know that I will always protect you,” I said as I nudged her neck and then kissed her softly. “Open for me.”
She spread her legs, and I smiled down at her.
“Good girl,” I said.
I kept my eyes locked on hers as I trailed my fingers down her body, settling at her center.
Then feeding one into her tight little pussy, then another.
Then a third, the way she stretched around my fingers making my chest tight with anticipation.
Pumped until she was squirming beneath me, her sex so slick that wetness covered the inside of her thighs.
“Please, Noah,” she whimpered.
Hearing that sound in her voice, the need, knowing that I could fill it, almost sent me into a frenzy.
I grabbed one of the condoms and then locked eyes with her.
“Watch,” I commanded.
When I was sure she wouldn’t look away, I opened the condom and rolled it down my length slowly, the anticipation making the moment that much sweeter.
Then, I wasted no time lining myself up with her opening.
I rested on one of my arms, my other hand gripping her thigh as I pushed inside, moving slowly, fighting the impulse to slam inside of her.
I didn’t, just moved slowly inch by inch by inch until I was fully inside of her.
We both sighed at the contact, but I didn’t wait.
Instead, I thrust, closing my eyes and trying to maintain control as she clamped down around me.
“Noah,” she whispered, her voice low, tortured.
“Alex,” I whispered. “Come for me.”
When she clenched down around me and screamed her climax, I froze, my cock jerking as I emptied into the condom.
I held her, our skin slick as I pulled out of her and removed the condom. Then slid another on my still-hard cock.
At her surprised look, I chuckled, then kissed and licked her neck as I pushed her flat on her back.
“One down,” I said as I thrust inside her.
A long time later, I held her close, content, peaceful.
“Not bad,” she said.
I laughed.
“I guess, though the fact that these are the first words you managed to speak in the last half hour tells me it was definitely more than notbad.”
“Yeah,” she said, shifting to pull herself out of my embrace.
Just that quickly, I sensed the change in her, and looked over at her warily.
“Are you about to kick me out?” I asked.
“Well, I just figured…”
“That what, I’d fuck and then go?” I asked.
“Well…yes,” she said.
She genuinely believed that, though I would have liked nothing more than hold her as long as she would let me.
Instead of saying that, something I knew she wasn’t ready to hear, I kissed her nose, then got out of bed.
“I’ll call you,” I said.
“Noah, you don’t have to?—”
I turned to glare at her, and she cut off.
“Alex, I’ll call you,” I said.