15. Noah
15
NOAH
G od, I should have done this years ago. She was so gorgeous, so pliant, under my lips, and it was so fucking right I could hardly believe it. My body was singing with need for her, and my cock was already so hard it was painful. All of my blood had rushed to my lips, my fingertips, my cock, and I could think of nothing but her.
Molly. My Molly. Her skin was even softer than I remembered, or maybe that was because I was touching her more gently now. I pressed my fingers into her jaw, tilting her head for me, and tasted her more deeply. I loved how she opened up for me. How she was already pushing against me, her body molding to mine like it was meant to be there.
And we were in the middle of a fucking parking lot.
Shit.
I broke the kiss and looked down at her. Her face was flushed, her lips already swollen like we’d been kissing for hours, and for a moment I wondered if that was how her lips always reacted to being kissed. God, had she ever even kissed another guy? I had no idea.
Right now, I didn’t care. I wanted her to myself in a place where no one would interrupt us, and I wanted it now.
“We can’t stay out here,” I murmured, my mind already searching for a place we could be alone. We were still at the venue, which meant I didn’t have a room handy, but there had to be someplace we could go.
Ah. I remembered looking up at the building when we got here, confused that it had so many stories. That would be perfect. There were upstairs floors, and with luck, they’d be deserted.
I took her hand and turned her, ushering her back through the door into the venue.
“What are we–” she started.
But then we were through the door and into the crowd. Rivers and the boys were still playing, thank God, and I made a quick mental note to apologize to them later for having run out on them. I should have felt guilty. Hell, I should feel guilty right now for being in the same room and still not going back on stage to do my job.
I didn’t. I had way more important things on my mind.
I hustled along the back wall, pushing people out of my way as I went and dragging Molly behind me. I’d seen a staircase over here. I was sure of it. And if I hadn’t, I’d find another one. There had to be a way to get onto the floors upstairs, and I was a man on a mission. It turned out I’d been right and there was a door neatly labeled ‘Staircase’ in the corner of the room. I opened it, shot one glance over to see Rivers’ eyes on me–I’d have to answer for this later–and then shoved Molly through, following her before anyone else could spot me.
Yes, people may have seen us go through this door together. But they’d have to catch us if they wanted to ask any questions, and I had no intention of getting caught.
I wanted Molly pinned between me and a wall with nothing between us, and I wasn’t going to let anyone else get involved. No band. No guy with blond curls. No press with their sneaky cameras and questions. Just me and my girl, the way it had always been.
I mean, different than it had ever been before. But you know what I’m saying.
We got to the stairs and pounded up them, and now I wasn’t having to pull her along anymore. She was moving just as quickly as me, like she’d somehow read my mind and knew what I was thinking. We got to the next landing and stopped at the door, our chests heaving and our eyes on each other. There was another floor up there, if the continued stairs were any sign, and I wondered if one floor was enough or whether we should try another one.
“Next floor?” she asked breathlessly.
“Right. Better chance of no one hearing us,” I replied.
We turned as one and shot up the stairs, finding the next landing dark and deserted. I tried the handle of the door, and it was unlocked. And it led into an equally dark and deserted hallway.
Perfect.
I pushed her through the door, following closely enough to be able to feel her against my chest, and when she turned to me, her face barely visible in the glow of the street lights outside, I pressed her back against the door.
“Now, Molly Rush, you’re mine,” I whispered.
Her breath caught at that, but I didn’t take the time to ask her if she was okay. I was too busy diving into her. I claimed her mouth for my own and this time I was too desperate to be gentle. This was hot and fierce and full of teeth, and she answered me with her own fire. God, she was hot. Amazing. I’d never realized how passionate she was, but now she was tearing at my back with her nails, trying to bring me closer to her.
I wasn’t going to argue. I wanted her more than I’d ever wanted anything else, and though part of it was the pure lust of the moment, it was bigger than that. This was Molly under my hands, and she’d always been everything to me. She was perfect. Safe. Amazing. Familiar. The safest space in the world for me. I would never trust anyone else as much as I trusted her.
I groaned and rocked against her, my cock hard as steel and my balls aching. To my surprise, she spread her legs and wrapped one around me, opening herself up like she knew exactly what she was doing.
“Fuck, Molly,” I gasped. My jeans and her shorts were the only thing separating us and if I thought I could get away with it, I’d be stripping her down already.
But no. This was Molly. This wasn’t a girl you fucked in a dark hallway. I wanted to take her to my bedroom and lay her out in front of me. Cover her with my body and make love to her in a way I’d never even imagined before.
Still.
I dropped one hand to the hem of her t-shirt and pulled it up, just enough to expose the softness of her belly. When my fingertips brushed against her skin she made a strangled sound and pushed off the wall. And God, if I’d thought I was hot before, I hadn’t known anything. I moaned into her neck, unsure how much longer I’d be able to control myself. Everything felt too good. My skin was glowing with need, like I was some sort of electric filament, and my cock was throbbing so hard it was about to send me to my knees.
I thought I knew what need was, but I hadn’t had a fucking clue. Right now, I felt like I’d die if I didn’t have more of Molly.
Suddenly, the lights came on above us and I heard voices at the end of the hall. My mind froze, then started running in fast forward. Shit. We couldn’t be seen. This girl was my best friend and one of our roadies. No, wait. She wasn’t, she worked for a magazine, now. She was a career girl. And I was the rock star trying to rehabilitate his image so we could get a new record contract.
I wasn’t supposed to be making out with girls in dark hallways. Especially when those girls had once worked for me.
Shit, shit, shit.
I glanced to my right, saw a door labeled ‘Supplies,’ and moved without thinking, opening the door and shoving Molly in, then following her. I shut the door as quietly as I could and glanced around, trying to figure out how we were going to get out of this. At least there was plenty of room in here. A rack of cleaning supplies lined one wall and another held stacks of paper towels, but aside from that, the place was pretty empty.
I turned to Molly, expecting to see relief and maybe even laughter on her face. But she looked... furious. Angrier than I’d ever seen her.
What?
“What?” I whispered, surprised. “Why do you look like you’re about to murder me?”
She shoved at me. “What, yourself! What the fuck was that? The minute the lights come on, you shove me in a closet? What, you don’t want to have to look at me? Or maybe you just don’t want anyone else to see me with you! Is that it? Kissing me might be too hard on your reputation? Because that’s fucking rich, Noah, with the reputation you’ve already got!”
I couldn’t even find an answer for any of that. What the fuck was she talking about? My reputation? I mean yeah, I’d thought about my reputation in that split-second decision, but I’d also been thinking about hers.
“Hey, I was protecting us both!” I hissed. “And keep your voice down! There are people out there!”
She shoved me again, too irate to listen. “So what? So what if they saw us? I’m the one who should be worried! My fucking magazine gave me strict rules not to mess with anyone in the band and yet here I am, messing with you! I could lose my job! But why do you care? Oh wait, is it because it might ruin your chances with some other girl? Go to hell, Noah.”
She yanked the door open and fled into the bright white light, and I could hear from the shocked silence out there that whoever was in the hall had seen her. They must have thought she was insane. Some girl emerging from a closet when they’d thought the floor was deserted, her hair no doubt messed up and her lips swollen from kissing me.
And what the actual fuck? What was her problem? One minute we were all over each other, and the next she was acting like I’d been trying to hurt her or something. I was just trying to protect her and her reputation! Okay, and mine, but that was beside the point.
I’d chased after her and dragged her out into the parking lot thinking we could work things out, but I was right back where I started. I didn’t understand what her problem was–nothing new there–and now she was angry at me again, when I’d just been trying to help her.
This was what I got for trying.
Then I remembered why I’d been trying. I hadn’t gone out to that parking lot expecting to kiss her or realize that I wanted to do a whole lot more than that. I went out there because I couldn’t stand to have her distancing herself from me anymore. I’d wanted to find a way to win her back.
Because that was Molly, and I didn’t know how to do life without her.
And here I was messing it all up again. Kissing her probably hadn’t been the best idea, to be honest. If we got involved in that way, I had an even better chance of screwing up our friendship. We’d been together most of our lives, but it would only take five minutes for a relationship to kill all that. I had the biggest meeting of my life tomorrow and instead of asking her to help me prepare, which was what I’d actually wanted to do, I’d let my dick talk me into making a move on her.
“Stupid,” I hissed to myself.
I couldn’t afford to fuck up that meeting. And I didn’t want to ruin my friendship with Molly.
God, what was I doing?
I had to get out of here and get to my room at the hotel. And start praying that when I saw her tomorrow, she would have forgotten about all of this.