18. Noah
18
NOAH
“ N oah.”
Nobody had ever whispered my name like she did, and nobody ever would. It was already close to dawn, and the light filtering through the windows painted her naked body, letting me admire the sight of her riding me.
She braced herself against my chest with both hands, eyes closed, mouth hanging open. I’d never been with anyone who lost themselves as completely as she did. There were no inhibitions, no self-consciousness. She wasn’t afraid to go after what she wanted.
At the moment, what she wanted was to come on my cock.
I looked down between us, watching my glistening shaft disappear inside her tightening pussy. Her tits swayed gently with each stroke. I teased her nipples, and she moaned, grinding hard against my pelvis.
“Do you have one more in you?” I whispered. I had lost count of the times she’d come, the two of us only stopping to doze off now and then before starting again .
I couldn’t get enough of her. The fact that she felt the same was beyond gratifying. There was something profound about it, the way we connected. The way I craved her night and day.
We’d come back here on Saturday afternoon, and she had yet to leave. I couldn’t let her go.
“I… Noah… I’m going to come…” she whined, her pace quickening as she rode me harder, throwing her silky hair back in those last moments. I managed to wait until she cried out and fell against me, and those tiny muscles began to milk me dry.
Closing my eyes, I gave myself over to it, filling her, savoring the broken cries barely audible over the roaring in my ears. I was too wiped out to speak or do much of anything but stroke her hair as she shuddered and moaned in the aftermath, draped across my chest.
“Oh, God,” she whispered. “I keep thinking it can’t get better, and then it does. I think I’m developing a habit.”
I already knew I’d developed one. In moments like this, it was easy to imagine this becoming the norm. No matter what happened out there in the so-called real world, we would have this to come back to. A sense of peace came over me, complete contentment, and I drifted back to sleep with her in my arms and a smile on my face.
By the time I woke with a start, the faint, gray light had turned to sunshine that spilled across the bedroom. My mouth was dry and my vision blurry. I realized my phone had woken me, still ringing as I fumbled for it on the nightstand. Sienna rolled away, muttering, still half asleep.
Dad. Shit. Only he would call at six thirty on Monday morning and expect me to answer. Considering I could already hear his shitty attitude in my head, it seemed a good idea to pick up. I did my best to sound awake when I did. “Hello?”
He wasted no time. “What the hell do you think you’re doing?”
Any residual drowsiness evaporated at the sound of his snarling. This was hardly the first time I had been greeted that way by the man. Rose had always been his favorite. Nobody had to tell me that. I had known for years, ever since she first showed interest in the family business. She was his shining star, the apple of his eye and all that shit. I was the black sheep who didn’t feel like following in his footsteps.
“Good morning to you too.” I sat up, scrubbing a hand over my face.
“Sure. Play dumb. That’s what you do best. I was pulling for you, Noah. How could you throw everything away?”
He was serious. I turned my head, looking over my shoulder at Sienna. She rubbed her eyes, frowning at what must’ve been dread etched across my face. No doubt she could hear him. He was shouting, almost screaming.
And he was on a roll. “Tell me why. Why couldn’t you have been smart this time? Do you realize I’ve already gotten a call from Barrett? Your mother’s beside herself.”
“Okay, back up. What are you talking about?” This time, Sienna’s phone rang, and she scrambled to grab it before hurrying from the room. Normally, the sight of her bare ass would have left me staring after her like a slobbering dog, but I could barely pay attention with Dad shouting in my ear.
“Of course, I should’ve known better than to think you would be up and reading the news at this time of day.” The phone buzzed in my hand. “I texted you the article with the photos. Explain yourself. ”
It wasn’t an article but more like a few lines of shitty text accompanying a series of images that made my stomach drop.
Images of Sienna and me, emerging hand-in-hand from the bathroom at the rec center two days ago, her peering out to make sure we were alone, and my goofy, stupid grins as she led me out. Where the fuck was the person who took it? I couldn’t remember seeing anybody. Had they been hiding in one of the offices, waiting for us?
“Well?” Dad demanded, still on speakerphone, while I stared in horror at what was in front of me. It was impossible. How the fuck did it happen? “There have been many times when I’ve asked myself if you were too spoiled. I’ve asked myself when you were going to get serious. Building a business is one thing, yet you’ve always had a penchant for poor decision-making. But this? You’ve outdone yourself this time.”
I forced my way through his disgust. “Dad, I’m telling you?—”
“I don’t remember asking you to tell me a damn thing,” he snapped. There was so much bitterness in his voice, so much anger. “No, you listen to me. It is one thing for you to fuck around with your own life, but when you start interfering with others, I have to step in. You owe a lot of people an apology for this. How do you think this is going to look to the public? You can’t keep your dick in your pants long enough to clear up your reputation.”
I had no way to defend myself because there was no defense I could offer. I had been caught red-handed. There was no denying what was going on between Sienna and me. The looks on our faces said it all. We were a couple who had sneaked off for a little fun when we were only supposed to be working together, and now any credibility I might have gained would be flushed down the toilet.
That was nothing compared to the way my heart seized for her. “I have to work this out,” I told my father, who only snickered like he didn’t believe me before I ended the call and threw the phone onto the bed.
Fuck.
In the blink of an eye, everything had gotten so much worse.
Sienna stumbled in a moment later, nose red, eyes swollen and watery. I was in the middle of leaving a voicemail for Maxim. “I swear to God…” I told him. “We’ll work this out. Call me as soon as you get this. We can run damage control ASAP.” As I spoke, my phone buzzed with an incoming text. I pulled the phone from my ear to read it.
Colton: Are you fucking kidding me with this? You goddamn hypocrite.
Son of a bitch!
Things were falling apart in record time, and all I could do was stand back and watch it happen. What else was there to do? Word was spreading, and before long, the world would know I was fucking the woman tasked with cleaning up my image.
But it was still Sienna I was most worried about, who sat on the edge of my bed with her face in her hands, her shoulders shaking. “Jules said she couldn’t work with anybody she can’t trust.” She sobbed. “My mom left a voicemail, and she was crying and so embarrassed. How could I have been so stupid?”
“We’re going to get to the bottom of this.” I got up, pulling on a pair of sweatpants I’d left on the floor last night.
“Do you think so?” She lowered her hands and looked up at me, searching my face, clearly desperate to believe what I said.
I had done this to her. She would never have taken a risk like that if it wasn’t for me. Now, her business partner was ready to walk, and she would probably lose credibility with her employees and clients.
“No. You’re right.” She ran her hands over her cheeks, nodding firmly. Following my lead, she got up and searched for her clothes, which had been discarded at random as I peeled them off her. “This is fine. There is nothing I can’t figure out. It’ll just take a little work, that’s all.”
My fault.
All my fault.
Now she ran around like a chicken with her head cut off, rambling about strategy and covering her ass while her bare feet slapped the hardwood. “Sienna,” I murmured, watching her.
Either she couldn’t hear me over her own voice, or she didn’t want to. “And honestly, what do a few grainy pictures prove? Unless somebody actually witnessed what was going on, it’s all speculation and ugly headlines. Who the hell would have done this? What’s in it for them? This is what we need to find out.”
“Sienna.” I took her by the shoulders as she tried to hurry past me, holding her in place. “Stop for a second. Listen to me.”
“There’s no time! I have to go try to talk some sense to Jules. She’s losing it, and it’s all my fault.” Her voice cracked before she began trembling in my grip.
“It’s not your fault,” I told her, my heart heavy. “It’s mine. I got you into this. It’s obvious we made a mistake.”
Finally, she heard me. I’d gotten through to her. “What are you saying?” she whispered as her flushed face went pale. “No, this isn’t the time for that.”
“If it isn’t, then when? Here’s what we’re going to do.” Fuck, this was the last thing I wanted, and putting it into words took everything I had. “You’re going to tell everybody it was a one-time thing, a mistake, and that it won’t happen again.”
“Wait a second.”
“And then, we’re going to put that into practice because we have both worked too hard to throw everything away by looking like a couple of thoughtless, horny kids.” As I spoke, her face fell, but the truth in my words didn’t change. Nothing changed. I would’ve rather cut out my own tongue than admit it out loud, but my father was right. I couldn’t be irresponsible, not now. There was much too much riding on this.
Why was there so much hope in her eyes as they searched mine? Why couldn’t she accept this? “You know I’m right,” I insisted. It was the hardest thing I’d ever done, letting go of her, but I forced myself through it. For her sake, if not for my own. I wouldn’t drag her down with me, and she was too big a temptation to resist.
I released her and backed away, turning toward the bathroom. “I’ve got to shower, then try to track down Maxim. Everything’s going to be fine. You handle what you need to, and I’ll take care of things on this end.”
She didn’t move, rooted to the spot in the center of my bedroom. “So that’s it?”
“It has to be. It’s a shame it had to turn out this way,” I added as her eyes went watery again. “At least we can’t say we didn’t enjoy ourselves.”
I didn’t believe myself. I heard the emptiness behind my words, but it changed nothing. This was how it had to be. I had worked too hard to throw it all away, even for somebody like Sienna. And she had worked too hard to throw her life away on me. I had done some regrettable shit in my time, but to ruin her would be unforgivable.
She let out a single, faint whimper before finding her purse and fishing a pair of large sunglasses from inside. Sliding them on did little to disguise the fact that she’d been crying. With a long, shuddery breath, she squared her shoulders, lifted her chin, and walked out to the front door while I watched.
I was watching her walk out of my life. No, that wasn’t true. She would always be part of my life, an ever-present reminder of my stupid weakness and my ability to ruin the lives of the people around me. I would never be rid of her.
And even now, full of regret and self-loathing, I knew I didn’t want to forget.
I didn’t want to forget a minute of it.