33. Zoey
33
Zoey
M arch, April, and May passed in a blur, and I don’t know how it happened, but one second, we had months up our sleeve, and the next, Noah is close to graduation, and all we have left is the upcoming summer.
It’s been a long day and an even longer final period. My gaze drifts up to the clock above the whiteboard, watching the last few seconds of the school week countdown with heavy eyes. I’ve been so tired lately. I even slept right through my alarm this morning, and it has everything to do with the constant worrying about what this next year is going to bring, that and Noah calling me every night. It’s always a short call, intended just to say goodnight, and somehow, we end up talking for ages. Sometimes hours go by before I realize what time it is.
The second hand makes its way right to the top, and on cue, the bell sounds through the school. My classmates quickly pack their things and file out of the room, all of them buzzing with excitement over the weekend and a woods party tonight. I’m not surprised to find I’m one of the last ones through the door. I just don’t have the energy or the enthusiasm over the epic party everyone can’t stop talking about. It sounds like a disaster waiting to happen. How many horror films have started with a party in the woods? I’ll pass.
Making my way to my locker, I stop to get my things when a big body falls in beside me, his familiar scent hitting me first. Noah grabs me, pulls me away from my open locker, and presses me into the next one. As his body pins me there, his arms cage me in, and before I can even smile up at him, his lips are on mine.
He kisses me deeply before his lips trail down my neck. “You ready to get out of here?” he murmurs between kisses.
“Mm-hmm,” I groan.
His lips come back to mine, kissing me once more before allowing me a second to finish getting my things and closing my locker. Noah immediately takes my books out of my arms, holding them for me as he slings his other arm over my shoulder, pulling me right into his side.
As we head toward the student parking lot, we pass Tarni, who glances up at the last moment and glares. I look away, not letting her hate affect the rest of my afternoon. As Noah always reminds me, I’ve already spent too many hours broken over her, and she sure as hell doesn’t deserve any more of my time. Besides, it’s been at least eight months. It’s time for her to move on.
We get into Noah’s car, and as he’s reversing out of his spot, he glances at me. “What do you wanna do?” he questions. “Hungry?”
“Ummmm—”
“Park? Lake?” he says, throwing around options. “We could take Hazel to see that movie she keeps bugging you about.”
“Nah, I think she said something about having a sleepover at a friend’s place tonight, so I doubt we’ll see her all weekend,” I tell him before letting out a heavy sigh. “I’m kinda tired though. Some guy wouldn’t quit talking my ear off all night.”
“Some guy, huh? Do I have something to worry about?”
“Oh, yeah. This guy is . . .” I hold my hand up, mimicking a chef’s kiss. “Little rough around the edges, hot as sin, and definitely has a mean streak, but I have it on good authority that when he really kisses a girl, she crumbles in his arms.”
“Hmmm,” he says, a smirk playing on his delicious lips. “Sounds like a loser.”
“Massive loser,” I tease.
Noah rolls his eyes and glances across at me, his hand bypassing the gearshift and dropping to my thigh, giving a gentle squeeze just as he always does. “You wanna just chill at my place?”
“Yeah, unless you wanna eat,” I say. “I could sit at a table and pretend not to fall asleep while you scarf your food down like a pig.”
“I don’t scarf my food like a pig.”
“No, you’re right,” I say. “You just inhale it.”
Noah grins. He knows I’m right, but nonetheless, he takes the turn to head back toward his place. He hands me his phone to give me full control of the music, and before I know it, he’s pulling to a stop outside his home.
I go to grab my things and reach for my door when I glance back and realize he’s not making a move to leave. He hasn’t even cut the engine, and I settle back into my seat. “What’s wrong?” I ask, watching how his usual carefree expression becomes almost fearful.
“I, umm . . .” he looks back at me, taking a deep breath and reconsidering. He nods toward his home. “Come on, we’ll talk inside.”
My brows furrow, and I go through the motions of getting out of the car and walking up the path toward the front door. He holds my hand, but this Noah isn’t the one I was with at the end of school, this one is unsure, and I’ve never known him to be that way.
“Is something wrong?” I ask in a small tone, my mind running wild with endless possibilities that could potentially destroy my world.
“Stop,” he murmurs, squeezing my hand as he unlocks the front door and leads me inside. “You’re overthinking it.”
“What else was I supposed to do?” I mutter. “You look at me like you’re about to be sick and then say we’ll talk inside . The end of the world is literally happening inside my head. If this is the big I’m going to college soon and want to explore my options talk, you could have at least told me at my place so I could have kicked you out, but now I’m gonna be stranded here and forced to ask for a ride home in the middle of my sob fest.”
Noah groans and stops in the hallway before turning back to me and pressing a kiss to my forehead. “You’re insufferable. You know that, right?”
I roll my eyes, and he drags me down the hall, past Linc’s bedroom and into his. He drops onto his bed with his back against the headboard and reaches for me, pulling me straight onto his lap until I’m straddled over him. “I’m not breaking up with you, Zo,” he says as I fidget with the material of his shirt, a nervous habit we’ve both become accustomed to. “I’m not sure if you’ve been around these past eight months, but I’m shamelessly in love with you.”
“Then what is it?” I ask, needing to be put out of my misery. “Hit me with it. Have you been recruited for some secret mission that requires you to fly to space for the next ten years? Only ten years in space is going to be like . . . a million here, and when you get back, you’ll be more interested in my great, great, great, great granddaughter.”
His mouth pops open, feigning offense. “Hold up a second,” he says. “You mean to tell me that if I got sent to space for some highly dangerous mission, which I’m sure would have something to do with saving the whole human race, you’d be down here, shacking up with some guy and having babies?”
“I mean, it depends. Was this space mission optional? Did they come to you like, we think you’d be good for this job, but if you’re too busy, the dude down the street has some time, or were they holding a knife to your throat, threatening that if you don’t go, they’ll destroy everything you love?”
“Definitely option two.”
A smile pulls at my lips, and I lean into him, bracing my hand against his chest and feeling the heavy thump of his heart. “Then you already know I’d be right here waiting for you.”
Noah kisses me and curls his arm around my waist, but as he pulls back, he lets out a heavy breath, and I prepare for the worst. “Zo, I . . . shit,” he says, not knowing how to break this news to me. “I know you have this whole plan for the summer to make the most of every second, but I received an email today—”
“What email?” I rush out, my heart racing.
“From the coaching staff at UA,” he says. “They want to get a head start on training, and the whole team needs to be there a week earlier.”
Horror blasts through my chest, and I feel our time together slipping away. “A whole week?” I breathe. “But that . . . So we only have . . . I don’t know. I can’t math right now.”
“Ten weeks,” he tells me as though he’s already sat down and painfully counted what little time we have left together. “It’s going to be alright. I’ll be home every weekend and blowing up your phone during the week. You’ll be so fucking sick of me, you’ll have to come up with new ways to tell me to fuck off.”
I swat his chest, gasping in outrage. “I would never do that.”
“You’re right,” he says, a smirk lifting the corner of his lips. “You’ll pretend your phone is broken and avoid my calls until I’m busting down the door, demanding an explanation.”
“Noah Ryan, you are more trouble than I can handle.”
He grins wide and the way those dark eyes sparkle has my heart racing a million miles an hour. His arm tightens around my waist, and he pulls me in, crushing my lips to his as we continue to make up for the three long years spent without each other.
His hands work their way under the material of my shirt and as his fingers skim across the bare skin of my back, he sets me on fire. But I need more. I need him to touch me everywhere.
Reaching down I grip the hem of my tank and work it up over my head, feeling him freeze beneath me, his lips pausing against mine. His gaze shoots to mine as his hands roam over my bare back. “Zo?” he says in a questioning tone, but all I can do is smile back at him.
“Shut up and kiss me,” I tell him.
A low growl tears through the back of his throat, and he slams his lips to mine, kissing me deeply as he explores the way my body feels. Then, not wanting to be the only half-naked person in the room, I reach down and grab his shirt, and he’s all too eager to tear it over his head.
My heart races, but I can’t stop or calm myself down. I’ve never needed him like this before, and I can’t possibly get enough.
Butterflies swarm through the pit of my stomach, and as Noah pulls me right back in, the electricity between us ignites.
My hands roam over his body, feeling the tight ridges of his muscled chest and abs, my fingers digging in and needing more. He keeps kissing me, allowing me to set the pace and take my time with whatever I want to come from this, ready to give me anything I ask for, no matter how big or small.
I pull back, needing to catch my breath as his lips drop to the base of my throat. “Noah,” I whisper with a moan, the butterflies now swarming at full speed.
His hand trails right up my spine, curling around my neck as he pulls back to meet my stare. “I don’t want you to stop,” I tell him.
Noah holds my gaze for a moment, searching my eyes for any sign that I don’t really want this, but he won’t find any. I’ve never been so sure in my life. I’m ready.
“Are you sure?” he murmurs, his eyes so full of love.
A small, shy smile slowly spreads across my lips, and I nod as I reach behind me and unhook the clasp of my bra, letting it fall from my arms.
Noah’s gaze sails over my body, his chest rising and falling with rapid movement. “Fuck me,” he breathes in wonder. “Do you have any idea what you do to me?”
My smile widens as he leans back in to kiss me deeper, his hands roaming all over me, trailing right down to my ass and back up until they lock around my waist. Then in a flash, I’m on my back, and my hair fans out over his pillow as he hovers over me, his hips settled between my thighs.
His gaze is so dark, darker than I’ve ever seen it, and the desire flashing within those eyes makes me feel more like a woman than ever before. His fingers start in my hair, slowly trailing down the side of my face and to my shoulder, and my gaze locks on his movements.
I swallow hard, a shiver trailing across my skin as he works his way down, over the curve of my breast, and to my waist. The butterflies in my belly have erupted into chaos, but it’s the best kind of chaos I’ve ever felt. I need so much more.
My heart hammers as he leans in close again, his lips pressing down on my collarbone. “I love you so fucking much, Zoey,” he tells me, not just repeated, meaningless words, but a declaration of what’s inside his heart.
My eyes flutter as his fingers continue working over my sensitive skin. His warm lips work their way down over the curve of my breast until they’re closing over my pebbled nipple. My back arches off the bed, and I gasp, never having imagined that it could feel so good.
His hands move further down until they’re at the button of my shorts, but I don’t dare stop him. Nothing has ever felt so right in my life. I thought I would be a nervous wreck. I imagined my hands would shake and I wouldn’t know what to do, but it’s the exact opposite, and I realize we were right to wait.
Noah pops the button before slowly dragging the zipper down, and as his thumb hooks into the waistband of my shorts, he pauses again, his gaze lifting back to mine. “If you want me to stop, just say the word,” he tells me, his lips hovering above mine.
I tilt my chin, capturing his lips in mine, kissing him slowly. “Don’t you dare stop,” I whisper. “I’ve never been so ready. I want this with you more than anything.”
A soft groan rumbles through his chest, and he deepens our kiss as he works my shorts and underwear over my hips and down my legs. I kick them off my feet, and as his hands trail further south, my eyes flutter with anticipation.
Reaching between us, I work his belt buckle open and pop the button on his jeans. He helps me push them down, and then I feel him there, and I suck in a breath as the nerves finally begin to creep in. I’ve never done this before, but I’m more than ready to learn how.
Noah takes his time with me, worshiping every inch of my body as I hook my thigh over his hip. My fingers tangle in his hair, and just when I think it can’t get any better, I feel his fingers at my core. He watches me as he works my body, making sure I’m okay, but I’ve never been so good in my life.
I gasp, sucking in a deep breath as a moan slips from between my lips, and I can’t wait a second longer to reach down between us and curl my fingers around him. Slowly working my hand up and down, I get a feel for what I’m doing, and as his head falls to my shoulder, a low groan rumbles through the room, and I can only assume I’m doing something right.
He keeps working me, making me feel things I never thought possible, until his eyes come back to mine. “Zo?” he asks, those dark eyes still searching mine. “Are you ready?”
I nod, holding his stare, the electricity pulsing between us so raw and intense.
His lips come down to mine again, and I feel him reach across the bed to his bedside drawer. There’s a crinkle of a wrapper and then his hands are down between us, and I feel him right there at my entrance. “I don’t want to hurt you,” he tells me, visibly swallowing as if he’s nervous. “I’ll go slow.”
All I can do is nod again, the anticipation burning through me as his palm finds mine, and he laces our fingers together, squeezing gently. Finally, he closes the gap between us, slowly bringing us together as he inches inside of me.
It burns in a way I wasn’t expecting, but he takes his time, allowing me to adjust and get used to the alien feel of his delicious intrusion. As I take a shaky breath, his lips come down on mine, his other hand brushing over my hip and down between us to that sensitive bundle of nerves.
He gently rubs, and as my eyes roll with undeniable pleasure, my body finally starts to relax. He smiles against my lips, and with that, he starts to move, blowing my mind and showing me just how good it can be.