Chapter 17
The moment the words left his mouth, he knew he shouldn’t have said them. Especially not seconds after experiencing the most mind-blowing orgasm he’d felt in a long time. From his knowledge, words like those could go either way.
She would either take them as leave to burrow deeper into his life. Or she would see them as a way to lead him around by his cock, the way Ashley had started to do the moment he’d admitted he was into her.
Bitterness encroached and he slammed the lid on his memories. He’d been deaf, dumb, and blind to her wiles for a stupidly long time. He refused to live in that place a moment longer.
“It’s a good thing you’ll be gone in six days, huh?”
A shadow crossed her face, and he thought for a moment he’d upset her.
“Yeah,” she replied lightly, her delicate eyelashes sweeping down to stare at his mouth.
“Short, hot and fantastic. No room for addictions.” Her gaze rose, and he saw nothing but carnal anticipation in the endless, mesmerizing grey.
Perversely, a different sort of irritation lanced through him.
Hell, he was losing his mind. He should be glad she wasn’t angling for more than he could give.
She’d just proven she had the potential to be what he wanted. She could be the near-perfect tool to blunt the edge of his clamoring need. In twenty-four hours, she’d given him the high he’d craved for years.
A high he knew couldn’t exist in his everyday life. He needed to take what she was offering. And walk away when they were done. Not get annoyed because she agreed with him.
“I’m a little rusty on after-sex etiquette. Should I be content with this silence?” she asked.
He refocused on her face—on her words—and was once again struck with the jagged innocence that blasted from her in intermittent waves. He remembered how tight she was… her confession of not having had a good sexual experience.
Fuck. Her age—another thing he’d forgotten. Just how many sexual partners had she had? And what did her last one do to her that she was desperate to forget?
The irritation grew, turned darker. He tried to shake it off but it lingered.
Jesus… What the fuck was wrong with him?
He jerked back into reality when she moved away, disengaging his still-hard cock and drawing a shudder in the process. The sense of immediate loss had him reaching for her. She released herself from his hold with a strength and dexterity that spoke of specialist, possibly martial training.
He frowned. “Where are you going?”
She shrugged, rose from the bed, grabbed her panties and headed for the door. “I’m giving you space.”
It took another minute to find his voice again, having been rendered speechless by the sight of her incredible body.
She was lean and curvy in all the places that mattered, her hair falling down her back in reddish-gold waves.
He itched to bury his hands and face in that silky mass, but he stopped himself from lunging for her. “I don’t recall asking for space.”
“Take it anyway,” she threw over her shoulder. Her voice had grown cooler. She was withdrawing from him.
Like hell…
Springing from the bed, he caught her just as she reached the bathroom door. “What the hell is going on?”
She shook her head, and her curls tumbled over her shoulders. “It’s… nothing, really.”
He gritted his teeth. “That’s even worse than remaining silent.” He caught her chin and propelled her gaze to his. “Spill.”
“I… Right after we… you got this look on your face.”
Tension seized his shoulders. “What look?”
“I don’t know… a cross between anger and regret? It was obvious you were caught up in something. I just thought you needed a minute to sort through it.”
“If I need a minute, I’ll tell you. Or you can ask me. Don’t assume. And don’t walk away.”
Wide grey eyes met his, triggering that drowning sensation. “Do you need a minute, Noah?”
He glanced down at her stunning body, at the small round tits he was yet to taste to his satisfaction.
At her sleek torso inked with words he had yet to decipher fully—her smooth, lush hips, the neatly trimmed triangle of hair that gatewayed her incredible pussy.
His cock pulsed to full and eager life. “What I need is to fuck you again, feel your tight little cunt clench around my cock as we both lose our minds.” He looked over her head to the room beyond.
“But I’m guessing you’re sore and need something else more? ” He nodded to the room behind them.
She followed his gaze to the bath and nodded.
Curbing the hunger that roiled through him, he turned her and pointed her to the room she’d been heading for, restraining the need to bend her forward right there in the doorway and experience that bliss all over again.
She took a step into the room and gave a small sound of delight.
Floor-to-ceiling windows gave a three-sixty view of the snow-laden pines surrounding the house. Snow had started to fall in slow, lazy flakes.
“I love snow.”
It was less of a bath and more of an indoor hot tub, heated to a perfect temperature. Disposing of his condom, he managed to draw his gaze from her naked body silhouetted against the glass long enough to toss a few bath salts and scented beads into the water.
“Come here.”
Something hard tugged in his chest when she turned and obeyed.
Hell, she wasn’t good for his blood pressure.
He took the panties dangling from her fingertips and helped her into the tub. The water came up to mid-thigh, bubbling around her legs. She gave a little shiver of delight, and he forced himself to remain where he was. “Kneel.”
Instead of using the sides of the tub to steady herself, she grabbed his arms. She watched him as avidly as he watched her and slowly lowered herself into the water. She gasped as the water lapped her pussy, and Noah swallowed a groan.
Jesus, he was truly losing it if every single thing about her drove him to the edge.
Dropping her panties on the side, Noah watched her widen her stance in the water.
“Is that comfortable?”
“Hmm.”
“Vocalize, Leia.”
“Yes. It’s heavenly .” She smiled.
“Good. Let it soothe you.” Unable to help himself, he let his fingers drift down her sides. “How do you feel?”
“Aroused. Incredible. Boneless.” Her gaze dropped to his erect cock, and her smile turned saucy. “Quite unlike you. The boneless part, I mean.”
Laughing, he got in behind her and relaxed against the huge slab, complete with waterproof pillow, and pulled her back against his chest, his thighs bracketing her.
His cock was getting heavier, more than eager for another round, but he’d felt how tight she was, knew he had to give her time.
Not enough time to fully recover though.
He wanted to take her again when she felt bruised from his last possession… When she would still feel the burn…
His senses flooding with anticipation, he watched her pull her hair up and twist it in a bun and contented himself in washing her neck, watching the water slide over her creamy skin. Unable to resist, he cupped her shoulders and bent forward to inhale her intoxicating scent.
Her soft sigh was music to his ears.
“Tell me about the lingerie.”
“When my dad died, I inherited 51 percent of his company. La Carezza specializes in lingerie for a certain type of woman.”
“I can tell,” he teased. She flicked a handful of water in his direction.
“Not that sort, thank you very much. Yes, most of my designs are aimed for the sensualist, but they’re not kinky or lewd—well, not all of them.
They’re designed to remind a woman that she’s wearing something special against her skin. ”
He shifted a little and plucked her underwear from the side of the tub. Rubbing it between his fingers, he nodded. “This isn’t silk, but it feels like it. It feels more like the smoothest, lightest leather. It’s nothing like I’ve picked up in Victoria’s Secret, that’s for sure.”
Shit… Nice one, Noah. He watched her closely and breathed a sigh of relief when she didn’t react to his tactless comment.
Leia congratulated herself on keeping a straight face at the thought of Noah buying underwear for another woman, but it was damned hard not to react to the twinge in her chest.
Clearing her throat, she stayed on subject, aware that those blue eyes were fixed on her face. “It’s a fabric I had specially developed. It warms the skin, especially when the woman is aroused.”
His eyes widened. “How the hell can you tell that?”
“Nanotech and pheromones. This is one of the prototypes we’re testing. I’m working with engineers to iron out a few kinks before we go into full production.”
A wide grin slashed his lips. “You realize you’ve just divulged a trade secret? What’s going to stop me from taking your little panties here and selling them to the highest bidder?”
“Because I—” She stopped herself just in time. I trust you wasn’t something she’d intended to blurt out to a man she’d just met. Although to an extent she did.
He was the first man she’d trusted her body with in five years.
Even though on some level he spelled danger for her, she’d taken the risk and reached out with what was broken and damaged inside her.
But wherever that tiny bud of faith had sprung from and regardless of him saying he didn’t do light, she didn’t think a man like Noah King was ready to hear the silly utterings of a wounded soul.
“Because you’ll never get it out in time. It’s new technology.”
“So when you’re turned on it gets even silkier?” he asked.
“How do you know?”
“When I took it off you, it felt like silk. Now it feels more like warm leather.”
“Yes. That’s the way it works.”
He brought it to his nose and sniffed.
“Noah!” She tried to grab it from him.
Laughing, he held it out of reach. “Sorry, sweetheart, I’m keeping this one. How many more of these have you got?”
His avid interest made her blush. Placing the panties out of her reach, he brushed his knuckle down her cheek. “How many, Leia?”
“A good selection.”
He replaced his knuckle with his mouth, and she shivered, fresh waves of need rolling through her body.
“I’m so fucking glad you’re spending the week with me,” he breathed into her ear.
“Why?”
“Because the thought that you could be showing someone else your amazing body drives me nuts.”
“You would never have known what I looked like underneath.”
His chuckle was dark and decadent. “That’s what you think.
I’ve seen you move without your underwear.
It’s different from when you’re wearing them.
Both are sexier than is legally recommended for any man’s blood pressure, but I can tell the difference now.
And I look forward to seeing you giving me a first-class hands-on demonstration of your talent.
” He pulled her down, kissed her for a good long while before he released her.
Tucking her against him, he trailed his fingers over the shaved area of her scalp.
She trembled, getting as much pleasure from his touch as he seemed to derive from touching her there.
They stayed silent for several minutes, absorbing the sensations that came with exploring one another.
“So you’re a CEO of a successful company at twenty-three?”
She shook her head. “I elected not to take the CEO spot until I was twenty-five, so I’m not in charge of the day-to-day running of La Carezza.
I have a board of directors who run things.
I vote on major decisions when I’m needed.
” She thought of the papers Warren had sent over yesterday that needed her signature.
Then she thought of Warren and what he’d think of what was happening here.
She imagined his dark hazel eyes flickering with the barest hint of disappointment at giving her trust to someone she’d only just met?—
“I think it’s my turn to get pissed that you’ve drifted off.”
She laughed, but it sounded forced even to her own ears. “I wasn’t pissed earlier.”
“Oh, really? Your cute nose was pointed in the air in a way that would make the British royal family proud, and your fists were clenched. If I’d been closer, I think you would’ve sucker-punched me.”
“Okay. Fine. I was a little… unsettled at the thought that you were thinking of someone else right after giving me—” She stopped and stared down into the swirling water.
“Giving you what?” he murmured in her ear.
“Right after giving me the best orgasm of my life,” she whispered.