Chapter 22 Noah
NOAH
Rain rushed around us, but Maya burned like she’d been lit from the inside. My fingers slid into her hair, the slick strands tangling in my grip as her mouth moved over me.
“Maya…” My voice broke around her name. “God…what are you doing to me?”
She released me with a wet pop that made my spine lock. I tried to breathe, to reset, but there was no coming back from that. Not with her lips that swollen. Not with her eyes looking up at me like she already owned me.
“You stopped me from leaving,” she said. “Let me return the favor.”
And then she took me in again.
Hot. Wet. Consuming.
My head thudded back against the truck door. The women I’d been with before had been careful. Size wasn’t always a blessing. Most had treated it like a chore. But Maya? My Blue Storm?
She wanted all of me.
She twisted her mouth, her tongue dragging against every inch like she knew exactly how to dismantle me. And hell, maybe she did.
“Maya…Blue—” My words were slurred, washed out. She was going to finish me right there on the gravel if I didn’t—
Headlights swept by on the road.
A reminder that we weren’t actually alone in the world, even in a town as quiet as Buffaloberry Hill. Even if she made it feel like we were the only two people who’d ever existed.
I let out a breath that could’ve scorched the sky before pulling back reluctantly. So fucking reluctant.
“Did I do something wrong?” she asked huskily as I guided her up.
She probably hadn’t even noticed the car that just passed.
I pressed my forehead to hers, still catching my breath. “You did everything right, Blue. That’s the problem.”
She blinked up at me, dazed, her lips kiss-bruised. “Then why’d you stop me?”
I glanced toward the road. “Because as much as I’d love to be immortalized as the guy who got caught with his jeans around his ankles and the hottest woman in town on her knees, I think we deserve better lighting.”
She snorted, actually snorted, and then covered her mouth like she couldn’t believe herself.
There it was. That laugh. That spark. That moment of levity breaking through the lust.
I grinned, brushing my thumb across her cheek. “Don’t tempt me into ignoring every good decision I’ve ever made.”
She didn’t answer. She just tipped her mouth against mine, coaxing.
Damn this woman.
I should’ve stayed strong. Should’ve opened the truck door and driven us out of temptation. Instead, I bent my head and gave in, one last time.
I kissed the swell of her cleavage, dragging my tongue through the rain and heat of her skin. My hands cupped her breasts, the soaked lace of her bra doing nothing to hide how ready she was. Her nipples strained against my palms, aching for more.
A low sound rumbled in my chest. Half need, half warning.
I wanted to wrap my mouth around them, drag them with my teeth, and make her cry out my name until the sky cracked again. But I forced myself to stop.
Barely.
My breath came harshly, my hands clenched at my sides.
“We’ve gotta go,” I said roughly. “Or I’m not making it to the cabin.”
She groaned. “Noah…”
I cradled her cheeks in both hands. “We’ll get there. Tonight. But when I have you, I want all of you, spread out, stripped down, and with nowhere to run.”
She looked like she could’ve argued. But she didn’t.
We climbed into the cab of the truck, panting, soaked, and nowhere near finished.
I helped her gather her things from the backseat of her car. There wasn’t much, and we did it quickly, our minds already somewhere else.
She slid into the passenger seat of my truck, water still dripping down her chest, her shirt clinging to every perfect line of her body. And hell, her top was half-unbuttoned now, loose from where my hands had been. Just enough to drive me insane.
I gripped the wheel harder than I meant to.
The ride to The Lazy Moose wasn’t long, but it felt like an eternity.
Maya didn’t help.
She leaned against the window like she was indifferent.
Her hair damp and wild, her lips still swollen.
She fiddled with the radio and rested one bare foot on the dashboard.
She acted like she wasn’t the same woman who’d just had me panting outside my truck.
Like I was just a ride and not the man she’d almost undone in the dark.
I shot her a look. “You okay?”
She glanced over, her eyes all sparkling and sinful. “Why wouldn’t I be?”
Because I’m dying over here, Blue.
But I didn’t say it. I just clenched my jaw and stared at the road.
Her fingers trailed along the edge of her shirt, idly playing with the next button. Not opening it, just teasing me with the idea.
If she was trying to kill me, she was damn close.
By the time we pulled into the lot at The Lazy Moose, I was seconds from forgetting every noble instinct I’d ever had.
I killed the engine. Miss Blue Temptress was flushed and seductive as sin. And she knew exactly what she was doing to me.
The house was quiet when we slipped inside. Claire, Elia, and baby Dylan had long gone to bed, but we still moved carefully, half from caution, half from the heady thrill of sneaking through the house like reckless teenagers.
We made it to the bathroom. Just barely. My back hit the door with a thud as Maya pressed into me, her fingers working at the soaked hem of my shirt. Her mouth grazed my jaw, hot and unrelenting, and then lower, trailing fire across my chest.
She didn’t waste time.
Buttons, fabric…gone. My shirt landed somewhere behind us, and her lips followed every inch she exposed. When she sank lower, her eyes glinting up at me as she yanked my briefs down, I had a passing flash of warning.
No chance.
“Shower,” she breathed against my skin.
I reached back and turned the handle, and hot water thundered to life. We stumbled into the stall, steam rising fast, but all I felt was her.
Her hands. Her mouth.
She didn’t take her clothes off…on purpose. I knew it. That was the game.
Her shirt stayed on, the white cotton gone transparent, clinging to every curve and outlining her breasts.
I nearly lost it right there. Then the tip of my cock brushed the back of her throat, and my whole body jolted. I stumbled back, my eyes squeezing shut as pleasure crashed through me.
But only for a second.
Because I didn’t want to miss a thing. I needed to see her, see what she was doing to me, and the look in her eyes like she wanted to bring me to my knees.
Water beaded on her lashes. Her lips found me again, sliding over my cock, greedy and perfect.
Hell, she looked obsessed.
It was maddening. And yeah, it was a little funny too. The same woman who pretended to be indifferent ten minutes ago now sucked me like I was the last man standing.
And me? I let her.
She tried to brace herself, one hand reaching for the slick glass as she went deeper.
The suction, the movement, the intent…it was all perfection. But when her palm slipped and knocked the shower pane with a solid thunk, it echoed through the house.
So much for flying under the radar.
I hated to say it, but I had to. “Blue…can we maybe keep this a little quiet?”
Too late.
“Noah? You there?”
It was Elia’s voice. Right outside the bathroom door.
Maya’s eyes went wide, and she tried to stifle a laugh with the back of her wrist. I groaned, every part of me screaming in protest. Her head dropped forward, her forehead bumping my hip like even she couldn’t believe this was happening.
She barely pulled away in time, her lips slick, her hand flying to her mouth.
Meanwhile, I was busy trying to remember my name.
“Yeah,” I called out, my voice shaky enough to give the whole house ideas. “All good.”
“You sure?”
“Peachy,” I gritted out.
It was the price I paid. No bed at my place, still crashing at my brother’s, still pretending I wasn’t completely whipped.
Maya snorted.
I shot her a look. “He’s going to rib me about this for weeks.”
“Serves you right,” she whispered, grinning way too much for someone who just got caught.
I reached for her again, desperate to salvage what was left of my dignity, and maybe the earth-shattering orgasm she’d been building—
And then Dylan started crying.
Loud. Demanding. A perfect screaming cherry on top.
Maya dropped her head against my chest with a long-suffering groan. “This is not happening.”
I kissed her temple. “Welcome to small-town romance, sweetheart. Where privacy’s a myth, and babies are natural-born cockblocks.”
She pulled back just enough to glare at me. “This would’ve gone a lot better if you’d just let us finish out there. Or, I don’t know…if you had a bed.”
“I have a bed,” I defended. “It’s just not delivered yet. And in this town? You don’t argue with delivery guys. You nod, smile, and pray the mattress shows up before your sanity gives out.”
She tossed the loofah, and it sailed over my head. I straightened with a smirk, tugged my pants into place, then grabbed her bag from where I’d dropped it in the hallway. Handing it over, I said, “Shower’s all yours. Let me know if you need anything.”
Her lips twitched. “Like what?”
I stepped out and glanced over my shoulder. “Anything but you walking out of here naked. I can’t take another false start.”
Then I paused, sobering just a little.
“Also, a reminder that my brother lives here. And his wife. And their infant son.”
Her face went pink.
I laughed under my breath and shut the door behind me.
A short while later, I heard the door creak and a very hushed, “Noah.”
I checked the hallway. It was quiet. Baby Dylan had settled, his parents nowhere in sight. The whole house felt wrapped in its own hush.
“Hey, come on out. The coast is clear,” I whispered.
I took her hand and led her to my room.
She unwrapped the towel from around her head and passed it to me. She was fully dressed now, her damp hair clinging to her back. She sat without a word.
“Let me,” I offered, stepping behind her.