28. Chapter 28
twenty-eight
Noel
I ’ve come to admit that Jamie is full of good ideas but asking me to tag along on this trip might be my favorite. Cara and I spend the whole day outside, breathing mountain air and accumulating enough samples of beer and seltzer to leave my cheeks red and my body warm.
At seven, the beer garden closes, and Jamie packs up for the night. We make up an excuse, flimsy and barely worth the lie, and ditch Em and Cara, practically running to our hotel room to be alone.
“Come here,” Jamie says, his hand snaking around my stomach while I try to open the door.
“Stop.” I giggle and bat at him. My brain is static, swirling with need, and unable to complete rudimentary tasks. Anyone walking by will think we’re breaking in with the way my fingers fumble. “Let’s get behind this closed door, please.”
Finally, the card beeps and I push through, leaving him there with a promising kiss.
I close myself in the bathroom to freshen up, and while I splash my cheeks with water, I hear Jamie opening drawers and see the light flip on.
I hear the sound of the television booting up, snippets of sitcoms and sportscasters before it lands on soft music. My reflection grins back at me.
His casual romance is so damn sexy. I’ve thought so since he plucked a hops flower from the vine and rubbed it on my pulse point like an expensive perfume.
I could tell from the quick look I got on the way to the bathroom that this room isn’t a business trip room.
There were flowers on the end table, and behind me in the en-suite is a jetted tub.
Matching fluffy white robes hang on the back door. I strip out of my clothes and wrap myself in one, then pad barefoot back to him. Jamie’s eyes flare with the same anticipation I feel in my belly, and I think of what I confessed to Kate. I can’t get enough of him.
“Cute,” he says, lifting the tie on the robe. His eyes have gone hazy, skipping over me like a rock on water, and his tongue swipes his bottom lip before he pulls it between his teeth. I want it between mine. “Gimme two minutes to shower, and I’ll be back to take that off.”
He disappears into the bathroom, and I drop onto the bed, sliding my legs over the duvet to build some warmth while I check out more of the room.
It’s fancy like I thought. Huge bay window, TV over the fireplace. I reach for the remote to adjust the volume, and a blip of recognition freezes my hand before my brain catches up with it.
The fireplace .
A blanket of pebbles covers my skin as I climb off the bed and cross the room, pressing a hand to the faux stone veneer.
Jamie only turned on the bedside lamp, and the switch for the overhead is on the wall by the mantel.
I flip it, turning over my shoulder toward an overstuffed chair in the opposite corner.
Sure enough, the art hung behind it makes my breath catch.
My hand flies to my mouth. I might be getting used to these pieces of the future coming true, but this is a huge one. The bed I was just lying on—bright white comforter, heavy wooden headboard, navy blue blanket folded at the bottom—It’s the bed. I found it.
The memory pours down my spine, making my hair stand on end.
This is where we were. Jamie and I. This is the room from the vision.
His T-shirt, the cobblestone street, now this.
These visions are like Tetris pieces falling into place, complete with music and explosions, and a weird sense of accomplishment.
I remember Kate’s words—Universe Achievement unlocked—and stifle a giggle. “This is insane.”
“Do you like it?” Jamie steps out of the bathroom in just his boxers as I’m peeking through the heavy curtains, marveling at the view I knew I’d see. The mountains, snow only at their tips.
I turn to him with my fingers pressed to my lips. “What?”
“Do you like the room?”
“Yes.” I step into his arms, pressing myself into hot, bare skin. “I like it very much. Have you been here before?”
“Nope,” he says. “First time.”
My blood rushes so quickly, I’m lightheaded, and when I speak again there’s an emotion in my voice that I can’t hide. “Thank you for taking me here.”
“You’re welcome, baby.” His brow furrows, a hint of worry at how serious I sound, until I catch his chin between my fingers, and stretch to kiss his mouth, another thank you, and an I can’t believe this is real , and something so much more whispered in the silence of my lips lingering on his.
When I pull away, his expression has shifted from sweetness to raw hunger, an eyebrow arched in challenge to see if I’ll match it.
I step backward, my fingers trailing between my breasts, down to the plush tie on the robe.
It’s barely a tug to get it to fall open, hanging loose and oversized off of my shoulders.
Cool air washes over my front, followed by a trail of heat where Jamie’s watching me.
His lips are parted, eyes as dark as the starless sky outside of this fated hotel room.
“Get on the bed, Noe.”
“You have a bossy side.” I laugh. “I think I like it.”
“I have some other things in mind that you might like.” His grin hitches up on one side, playful and cocky, and then his arm sweeps around my waist and my feet leave the ground entirely.
I’m dropped onto the mattress with a bounce and a girlish laugh that quickly turns breathless when I’m pushed to my back by his big, looming body.
“Have I mentioned how much I like ending my day with you?”
I stretch my arms above my head like a cat. “Me too. Sleeping alone makes me sad now.”
“Same. I like you tucked against me.” He kisses my collarbone, my shoulder. “I want to keep you warm.” His knee notches between my thighs, and his lips suck at my neck. “I like how you keep me still.”
I laugh lightly. He’s a terrible sleeper. I’ve taken to draping myself over his chest like a human weighted blanket. “A perfect fit?”
“Yeah.” Jamie pulls back, a lock of wet hair flopped onto his forehead and a mischievous grin on his lips.
“What is that look?”
“I can’t decide if I want to worship you or do dirty things to you.”
Excitement pops in my blood like fireworks. “You can do whatever you want. Have whatever you want.”
Because I want it too, and I think… I think the universe just told me it’s mine.
Jamie groans, burying his face in my neck. His hands haven’t stopped moving over my skin, making a circuit of my ribs, my hips, my thighs. “Noel, fuck. I…”
“Whatever you want,” I whisper.
I feel the moment he decides, even before he takes it.
Before he rolls off of me, seating himself at the edge of the bed and scooping me into his lap.
This is how we were when his mouth first touched mine, the way I saw us on the porch.
Another perfect fit. It lessens our height difference, lets me stare directly into those cream soda eyes and lose myself while our tongues touch, and teeth press into my bottom lip.
This place, this latest layer in our story peeled away is an accelerant to the fire in me that lights so easily for him.
A fire that, before I came here, I wasn’t sure I possessed.
Jamie pushes the robe from my shoulders, and it drops to the floor behind me. His hands finally settle on my ass, tucking me as tightly to him as possible. “I’ve been waiting for this all day,” he says, rocking his hips slowly until my head falls back in pleasure.
“Me too.”
“I’ve been half hard for hours, thinking about it. So unprofessional.”
I snort. “Good thing I like you better wild.”
He likes that, lids lowering in satisfaction as he slides a hand between us, curling his fingers inside me.
My hips tilt toward his palm, and I cuff his wrist, holding it there while I work myself against him.
I’m greedy and indulgent, running my other hand over his tight abs, dipping into his boxers and notching my knuckle into the V cut of his waist.
“Look at you, grinding all over my hand like that. I think that halo’s broken for good, baby.”
My laugh is pulled tight, cut off by the building of pleasure between my legs.
I am grinding all over his hand and I don’t care because his fingers are heaven, slow and patient and determined.
I push up higher, giving him room to go deeper, and I break so quickly, so violently that I’m dizzy from it.
I fall into his chest, dissolving into a pile of bones and stardust as he falls backward onto the mattress and takes me with him.
“That’s exactly what I wanted,” he says, looking as orgasm drunk as I am. “God, I love watching you come.” A blush spreads over already burning skin when I feel him pressed into my stomach because that feeling is entirely mutual, and it’s what I want next.
I wrap my hand around him, and we both hiss, and then he’s rolling over me. I adjust my grip, and he pushes into my fist, thrusting, taking, eyes glossy and half-lidded.
He leans in, pressing his forehead to mine. “From that first night, Noe,” he says against my mouth. “I think I… I always hoped that you and I were part of the deal.”
I nod frantically, shivering with what he’s said. “Me too.” I had proof we were and I still had to make myself believe it. Jamie’s unbridled hope is exactly what makes him so beautiful to me.
I release him, and he palms the back of my thigh, putting me exactly where he needs me.
Then with one rough thrust, he’s pushing inside, taking what I said he could have.
It’s hard and fast, and not at all romantic the way I’d half assumed a moment captured in a life-changing vision might be.
It’s perfect, and I think that’s just it.
The visions didn’t need to show me something I could already imagine for myself.
They needed to show me something I didn’t even know existed.