16. Show, Not Tell
16 SHOW, NOT TELL
Lanie
Two weeks had gone by since the night I’d walked into Steak on Main. With the baby coming early and all the other crazy stuff, Henley insisted we hold off on the baby shower until things settled down a bit. The original plan had been to have the party at her and Keaton’s place, but unbeknownst to me, she and the rest of our group decided on something new. It seemed I wasn’t the only one who needed to forget the bad.
Tonight, we were back, standing in front of the glass building with the cowboy ma?tre d’. Keaton and Henley, Koen and Jade, Noah and me. The six of us, plus Ryder, were going to make some new memories, and I was finally going to taste the expensive steak I never got to order. We were righting all kinds of wrongs.
“We need to go in or they’ll cancel our reservation.” Jade gently nudged me from behind.
Noah weaved his fingers through mine. “You guys go ahead. Give us a second.”
My heart was lodged in my throat as I watched them walk away. This shouldn’t be so fucking hard. It’s just a building for heaven’s sake. A bunch of walls, some kick-ass decor, yet I couldn’t get my feet to move. I hadn’t had a single nightmare. Not even when Zak flew Pru home a week ago. Noah watched me like a hawk, waiting for a meltdown which never came. Until now. Who would have thought the restaurant would have been the trigger.
“Come with me,” he said, leading me down the sidewalk. We stopped on the corner. “The van was parked right there. Waverly chose that spot because she thought it would give us a view of the whole restaurant. What we didn’t count on was the two of you being at the chef’s table. When we lost visual, Duncan threatened to cuff me to the seat if I didn’t cool it.”
“I would’ve liked to see that.” I grinned.
“Up ’til then, we could still hear your entire conversation, but the texts came through and we started scrambling to figure out how to get you out of there. We didn’t pay close enough attention to the clue he left.”
“What clue?”
“He called you milaya, dear in Russian. D.E.A.R.”
“Yes, I know. I was there. How is that a clue?”
“The warehouse was located on Deer Road. D.E.E.R. He wanted us to find you.”
“Holy shit.” Pulling me close, he circled his arms around my waist, laying his chin on my shoulder. “He didn’t lie.”
A few moments passed.
“He called today.”
“Conversing with criminals, Agent Anderson?”
My joke fell flat, just like my mood at the moment. I needed to get out of this funk. We’d returned to work, short an agent with Keaton on paternity leave and short our resident agent in charge. There wasn’t a huge uptick in crime that needed our immediate attention, which meant we were looking at cold cases like Beth’s; trying to find clues from the ashes. Nine times out of ten, they stayed unsolved, but every once in a while, luck would strike.
“Pru is trying to shut him out.”
“She’s terrified, Noah. Her whole life is on a tilt-a-whirl right now. She doesn’t know which way is up. He needs to give her a chance to breathe.”
“He needs to fight for her.”
“You told him that?”
“Yup. He told me a little about her past. She hasn’t had it easy. He can give that to her.”
“Hmm. You could be right.”
His fingers drifted to my sides. “Say that again?”
“Do not tickle me.” I squirmed in his hold.
“Then say it again.”
“Fine. You were right.”
“How bad did it hurt to say that.”
Turning in his arms, I rose up on my tiptoes. “Really bad. I might need you to kiss it better.”
“I’ll kiss every inch of you later.”
“Love you, Noah Anderson.”
“I love you too, Lanie. More than my next breath.”
“Oh my goodness. Where did you get this?”
Henley held up a baby-sized FBI T-shirt with the name Clarke printed on the back, getting a thumbs-up from the guys, who sat across the table drinking a beer. Henley couldn’t drink while she was nursing, so as a show of solidarity, Jade and I abstained as well. I’d make up for lost time when Noah and I got home.
The three of us girls sat in a semi-circle around Ryder, who was asleep in his car seat. She’d already opened about a dozen gift bags, which were filled with the usual blanket, onesies, and diapers. However, Jade and I had saved two special ones for last.
“One of my authors knows someone, who knows a lady, who makes them,” Jade replied.
When she wasn’t working at Over Easy, Jade was a freelance editor for romance authors. She’d kept the secret from everyone, doing whatever she could to pay the bills while raising her younger brother. Eventually, she slipped up and the news came tumbling out. Since then, Henley and I have discovered a whole new appreciation for the term “book boyfriend.”
“The next one is from me and Noah.”
Henley squealed when she dug through the bag, holding up the picture frame with Ryder’s clay hand and footprints inside. Then she burst into tears. I’d found the kit online and offered to babysit one afternoon so they could take a nap. Little did they know, while they were snoozing, I was using their kid as an arts and crafts project.
“Shit. Are those happy or sad tears?” I stammered. It was hard to tell these days. Honestly, we’d been dealing with her hormones going bananas since she peed on that stick almost ten months ago.
“Happy,” she cried harder, which ended up disturbing baby Ryder, who had been fast asleep in his car seat.
“Come to Aunt Lanie.” Squatting down, I worked my way through the ten million straps holding him down until he was finally free of the archaic contraption. He started to fuss, but I cradled him in the crook of my arm and swayed to the music playing through the restaurant sound system. Soon, he settled enough I was able to sit back in my seat.
Noah caught my eye. “You look good with him.”
“Do you want kids someday, Cowboy?”
He leaned forward, elbows on the table. “Before I met you? No. But now, I can’t stop picturing you swollen with my baby.”
“Jesus. I think I just ovulated.”
Beer spewed out of Koen’s mouth, soaking everything in his path. The guys quickly stood, wiping up all the liquid before it spilled off the edge of the table. Once they were finished, they moved to our side, standing behind each of our chairs.
“Really, Lanie? You’re like my little sister,” Koen bitched.
“What? At least I didn’t show you my boobs.”
“Goddammit, Noah. I should’ve known you’d tell her.”
“Technically, it was show, not tell.”
“I can’t say no to her, Koen.”
“Aww. I can’t say no to you either, Noah.” I blew him a kiss, then lowered the baby back into his seat.
“I’m glad you said that, Darlin’.”
Noah
Just do it.
The timing couldn’t have been better if I planned it, which I did. It wasn’t the hearts and flowers some girls dream of, but it was us. We’d created something special with this group of people, so why not have them involved in one of the biggest days of our lives?
Okay. Fuck. Here we go .
Reaching into my jacket pocket, I pulled out a small black box and dropped to one knee in front of my girl.
“Lanie.” I opened the box, revealing a two-carat, pear-shaped diamond ring.
“Holy shit.” She stared at me, not even paying attention to the bling in the box.
“We were always going to end up right here. Our fate was etched in stone the first time you threw sass at me. I should’ve known then you were going to be my center of gravity. You ground me even when you sprinkle bits of chaos into my controlled life. There’s no one I’d rather spend an eternity with.” Deep breath, Noah. “Alaina Lyn Biggs, will you do me the honor of being my wife?”
A single tear clung to her bottom lash, then fell down her cheek when she blinked. “You’re my reason for breathing, Noah. I wish we had more than this lifetime together, but I’d love nothing more than to be your wife.”
“Is that a yes, Darlin’?”
“That’s a hell yes, Cowboy.”
The restaurant erupted into cheers as I leaned in and took her mouth. Their sound was drowned out by the pounding of my heart. She said yes! Her taste exploded on my tongue as our kiss went deeper than was publicly appropriate, but I didn’t give a fuck. She was mine.
When the outside world began to filter back in, and the hoots and hollers of our friends became impossible to ignore, I gave her one last swirl of my tongue, then pulled back.
“Can I have my ring now?” Her smile stole my breath but her laugh gave it back.
Taking the ring out of the box, I slipped it on her finger. It fit perfectly, thanks to the little trick Keaton told me about with the string around her finger while she slept. Worked like a charm.
“I can’t believe you hijacked my best friend’s baby shower with your proposal.” She tilted her head back to meet my eyes. “It’s beautiful, Noah.”
“You’re beautiful, Lanie.” Lowering my voice so no one else could hear, I said, “When we get home, I want you in our bed wearing only this ring.”
“Good girl.”
She was naked and spread-eagle in the middle of the bed, wrists and ankles secured loosely to the bedpost with silk rope. We hadn’t explored bondage more than the time I’d used her panties, but for what I had in mind, I needed complete control. Stripping off my clothes, I grabbed a champagne glass off the bedside table, taking care not to slosh it over the side as I knelt on the mattress beside her.
“We should celebrate our engagement, don’t you think?”
“I’m definitely on board with a celebration.” She licked her lips.
Tipping the glass back, I took a long sip, then pointed it in her direction. “Would you like some?”
“Yes, please.”
“So polite.”
She lifted her head off the pillow, then gasped when instead of pouring some into her mouth, I let the cool liquid drip against the heated skin of her breasts.
“Oops.”
I bent without spilling any more and licked across her chest from one pebbled nipple to the other. Moving back and forth between her breasts, I alternated between hard sucks and quick flicks of my tongue against her turgid peaks. Lanie arched her back, pushing her breasts farther into my mouth. My cock ached to fill her, but that had to wait a little longer. There was another part of her body I wanted to taste first.
“Do you want more, Little Lamb?”
“I want everything, Noah.”
“Good answer.” I winked.
With my hand on the back of her neck, I lifted her enough to take a sip. When I moved the glass away, I replaced it with my lips. The fruity notes of the champagne tasted better in a kiss than it did from the glass. I swore this would be the only way she’d get me to drink the stuff again. Scraping my teeth across her bottom lip, I sat back on my heels, then tipped the bubbly goodness directly over her pussy. She cried out when the chilled champagne hit her clit.
“Oh my God.”
Setting the glass back on the table, I moved to the end of the bed, then grinned as I crawled between her luscious thighs.
“I need to clean up my mess.”
She arched again, trying to lift her hips as I licked straight up her center, avoiding the place she wanted me most.
“Keep still.” I tapped the fleshy part of her thigh as a warning.
“Easier said than done when you’re doing that,” she griped.
“Then you’re gonna really have a hard time when I do this.”
I filled her with two fingers, then a third, pumping in and out at the same time as I drew her bundle of nerves between my lips. The longer I feasted on her, the more desperate she became to move, but the ropes wouldn’t allow it. The only thing she could do was feel every ounce of pleasure I pulled from her body. When her legs began to tremble, I knew she was close.
Much to her dismay, I removed my fingers and my mouth from her pussy, then tugged on the slipknot at her ankles, freeing her legs from their binding. Wrapping my hand around my dick, I gave it a few tugs before moving up her body.
“Noah,” she breathed.
“Right here, Darlin’.”
“I need you.”
“I’ll always need you, Lanie. Always. Wrap your legs around me.”
Lining myself up, I slowly pushed inside, groaning as her warmth surrounded me. Her heels dug into my back as she took every inch of me, until I couldn’t go any farther. Then I started to move with unhurried strokes.
“Faster,” she begged.
“Not tonight, Little Lamb. I want to feel every ripple of your pussy when you come all over my cock.”
It was torture not to slam into her, to fuck her until neither one of us could move. There would be time for that. A lifetime, in fact. We were only just beginning to explore the possibilities. It could take months to finish christening every surface in the house and when we were done, we’d start all over again.
“I’m close, Noah.”
“Me too.”
Unable to hold back, I slammed into her wet heat.
“Yes. ”
She threw her head back on a silent scream as my strokes grew faster and harder. Moving my hand in between us, I found her clit and pressed down as a powerful orgasm ripped through her. Sweat dripped down my spine as I chased nirvana. Once. Twice. On the third stroke, I pushed deep, spilling inside her.
Without giving her too much of my weight, I reached out to release the ropes on her wrists. Once free, she immediately slung her arms around my back and buried her face in my neck.
I rolled to my back, taking her with me. “Are you okay? Was the rope too tight?”
“When can we do that again?”
My chest shook with laughter. “I love you, Lanie.”
“I love you too, Cowboy.”
Who would’ve thought when I moved to Huntington all those years ago, I’d find something I didn’t even know I’d lost.
My heart.
My every breath.
My Little Lamb.