24. Queenie
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
QUEENIE
RECOMMENDED LISTENING ‘MOTH TO A FLAME’ BY SWEDISH HOUSE MAFIA, THE WEEKND
“Hey…hey.” A gentle shake wakes me up from a restful sleep.
“Wha-wha?” I gurgle nonsense as I blink rapidly.
The television casts a ghostly light on Noah as he leans over me. I blink again because he looks like a figment of my imagination. A lock of hair falls on his forehead.
I brush it back without thought. His skin’s warm, a little sweaty. The air-conditioning’s at twenty degrees.
He blinks too. “The movie,” he whispers gruffly. “It’s over. You can go to bed. In your room.”
His teeth glow pearly white in the chiaroscuro light. Half black, half white, blended in shades of grey. Just slightly out of focus. Forbidden and tempting.
“Bed?” I can’t stop looking at the scruff on his lean jaw. Wondering whether it’d feel springy or on the pads of my fingertips.
“Bed. Room,” Noah answers.
I blow out a breath. Instantly, helplessly imagining him and me on a bed. He’s warm and comforting and solid as he--
“Dammit, I’m an arse.” He slides his hands under my shoulders and legs and lifts me up with zero effort.
I am folded against him, on his lap. His very active lap. “Noah! What are you doing? Put me down!” I hiss. Mindful of the dark and our roommates snoring on the mattress, just a few feet away from us.
“You’re in pain, right? So, I thought I’d make it easy for you to go to bed.”
I try to get off him and almost knee his nuts in the process.
He howls soundlessly. And clenches me harder in place. His calloused fingers are tight against my inner thighs.
I feel his touch deep inside, a few inches higher. Heat starts building up in me. Sure and inexorable like his heartbeat.
Oh god. No!
“Why did you do that ?” Noah grits out.
“I was trying to get off. You don’t have to carry me to bed. I’m not a child,” I snap back.
“I’m aware,” he says quietly. “I’m very aware you’re not a child.”
The indignant retort on my lips comes out in a heavy breath. Our chests brush. Like they did the night we’d dashed on the stairs. Everything’s the same. The lights are off, we can’t see each other clearly.
It’s all touch and feel. And it’s merciless.
“That was…heroic of you.” I’m unable to stand the silence building between us. It’s hot and stifling. Like drowning in the summer air.
“Heroes usually get a kiss for being heroic,” he points out. His hand is loose around my back, my thighs.
I’m semi-sprawled over him, the blanket a chaste wall between us.
“Like Ethan Hunt?” I tease him.
It’s two in the morning. It does not count if I tease Noah Dumaine at two in the morning.
“Like Ethan fucking Hunt,” he murmurs.
I don’t think about it. I don’t even listen to my speeding heartbeat. I just lean in and locate the vicinity of his lips. Then I quickly fix my mouth to his. He breathes me in. I end the kiss. “There. A kiss worthy of a hero,” I murmur. “Are you satisfied?”
The heat inside spirals higher. My hormones are messing me up.
“Not even close, Hellcat.”
His hand shoots up and grabs my hair, my skull. The grip is not tough or rough. It’s…male. I can’t move my head even if I want to. And I don’t want to.
“This is how heroes like to be kissed.” He kisses the corner of my lips.
I blow out a trembling breath and clench my fingers.
“I’m going to kiss you now. My tongue in your mouth. Sucking you and everything, Queenie,” Noah whispers against the edge of my lips.
Each word is a graphic picture. I close my eyes, hoping to repel them. They run like a film on the backs of my eyes. I love it.
I drag a ragged breath out.
“If you want it too, tell me yes. Say the word and I’ll kiss you like I’ve been dying to.”
“You own this house, Noah,” I say weakly. But my hands are inching up over his arms, creeping over his shoulders. He shudders. “You’re like rich. You keep this house by yourself. You’re a fucking talented cricketer.”
“I’m fucking demented with wanting you,” he admits against my lips. “Absofuckingdemented, Queenie.”
“Yes, but?—”
I scoot closer to Noah when Ares makes a sound. I brush against his cock. His very active cock. Wet floods my insides, slicking my core. Making me lose my common sense.
“You want me to sell the house so I can kiss you?” He moves his hand an inch up my right thigh.
I want to jump from the sensation, I settle for squeezing my legs against his thighs. He flexes them for me.
Fuck. That’s hot too.
“N-no,” I mutter. Why would he say something so grandly untrue? He’s so dramatic. “No, I just…”
“Yes or no?” His words are seductive. Safe. Arousing. “One word. One syllable. Say it and I’ll do it.”
“I don’t want your money,” I tell him firmly. “I don’t care about your money, I mean,” I amend.
“I’m aware.” Noah chuckles against my mouth. “You fought over five-dollar beer with me at the beach party. I know you don’t care about my money.” He bites my lip.
A moan strangles my throat.
“You’re hot for my body,” he whispers.
“I’m not that shallow,” I hiss. It ends in a moan because his hand inches higher. And higher.
And I let him, by letting my thighs fall open. Giving him tacit access.
“Too bad.” He rears forward and whispers in my ears. “I have killer abs.”
That does it. I grip the back of his neck and his shoulder. “This better be one hell of a kiss,” I mock-grumble to him, ducking my head.
His sexy, male chuckle echoes through my erogenous zones. My tits, my core, my navel where it sticks like an anchor.
“Practice makes perfect, sweetheart.”
Then Noah kisses me.
Just leans in and kisses me, capturing my mouth against his. Devouring me whole. I whimper at the tight, dominating action. He arches my back and bends me backward as he kisses me hard. His lips on mine, swallowing and caressing.
His hold is inescapable, possessive.
I grab him tight, grasping handfuls of his tee shirt and hair. Kiss him back. I come forward again and his hand brushes against my butt. He cups it.
I squirm against him. Moaning again.
“You’re loud, Hellcat,” he whispers. Then he licks my lips. “I fucking love it.”
I shudder in his arms like a weak, weak woman.
Fox turns in his sleep. Ares emits a little snore.
I almost plaster myself against Noah. Fear and anticipation turn my bones liquid. Desire dances in the air like an invisible perfume. Heady and intoxicating.
“We can’t?—”
“We absolutely can.” He kisses the side of my jaw, without taking his lips off my skin. His sexy, sexy, lips. “We definitely are.”
“But your friends…”
“Be quiet, then,” Noah orders.
My eyes fly open at the rough words. “I?—”
“Less talking, more kissing.” He rubs his jaw against my cheek. And I tremble because it’s springy and rough. A delicious combination. “I’m going to lift your shirt, okay?”
“Ye-yes!” I sigh and pull my hands up.
“I’m not taking it off.” Noah kisses the side of my neck, sucking at the pulse. “My roommates are here.”
“But you said?—”
“I just want to feel you. Remind myself what you feel like,” he confesses in a low, tortured tone.
“I want it too,” I admit shakily. “Can I—?” I lick my lips. “I want to feel you too.” I kiss his neck. It smells of sweat and musk and a scent that’s uniquely Noah. Sandalwood and willow.
“I thought you’d never ask.” The words are a growl.
He puts his hand on my tummy and caresses it. I try to suck my stomach in. Self-conscious of the rolls of fat there.
“Don’t do that,” he murmurs. “Don’t hide from me, Queenie. Please.” Noah kisses me again. As he touches my midriff, as he strokes it with his long, calloused fingers, inching closer to my tits with every pass.
“I...” I sigh out.
I caress his back, running my hands up and down the bumps and ridges of his spine. I press closer to him so we’re a mess of hands and legs and misting breaths. Our kisses are short punctuations, frenzied and chaotic and wet. Each time he kisses me I want to lean in and go closer. So close, I find what’s inside of him. The real heart of him.
Each time he kisses me, short and deep, I lose a part of myself. Dying in his arms just from a kiss.
“Do you know?” He kisses me hard. “How many times?” He kisses me again. “I’ve stopped myself?” He kisses me a third time. “From doing this?” He sucks my bottom lip.
“I tried not to.” I gush in my panties. “I tried to hate you.”
I squeeze my thighs again. Because the pressure’s building inside. And so’s the pleasure…brushing against his cock. I’m almost riding him. It’s pleasure times ten when he touches me too.
“Did it work?”
In answer, I open my mouth and seek out his tongue. It’s like a signal to him. His hand shoots up over my tee shirt and cups my breast. I exhale in a full body shudder. He clenches his hand over my butt and brings me almost on top of his erection.
Then he sucks my tongue. Squeezing it and turning it and chasing it with his, ending with him laving the roof of my mouth with his tongue. His kiss makes me hollow and filled at the same time. My breath sobs out.
“Shhh.” Noah brushes one thumb over my nipple.
I shudder again. And kiss him harder to keep my moans in. Chasing him back, tasting him – pizza and sleep and popcorn – needing more. Needing whatever he can give.
He brushes his thumb again and I kiss him harder. He sweeps his other hand over my tee shirt, clasps my back. My tee shirt falls over his hand so it’s a double sensation of fabric and man. Soft and hard at the same time.
I rock against him, in overwhelm.
His kiss turns gentle, questing. Plying me with safety and desire. I can feel each strand of his springy scruffy beard. The soft lines of his lush lips. It heightens my arousal. Spirals it into orbit.
“Faster,” I whisper. “I want fast?—”
He kisses me again. Fast and hard. I slump over him, giving him all my weight, my core in full contact with his cock. I ride it, helpless to do otherwise, gripping his shoulder and neck like a lifeline.
And all the time he sucks on my tongue, rubs his palm over my nipple, my breast. And runs his other hand up and down my back. Longer and longer sweeps with each pass.
I’m slicked with sweat, wet. Inside and out. The ridge of his arousal creates the most delicious friction against me. Makes me forget the discomfort of my period. It’s all sensitive skin and sensation.
Hot and heat.
I whisper hot, embarrassed words in his ears. Only half-aware of his friends sleeping near us. “Noah, I’m close.”
“Let go, Queenie.” He cups my breast between his fingers, so my nipple pokes against the fabric. He brushes his thumb over it, then twists it once. I shudder helplessly. So, he does it over and over again. His other hand shoots down my back and clenches against my butt. Firm and possessive.
“Let go,” he whispers against my tongue.
“I…I—” I can’t help myself anymore.
I kiss him like a woman possessed, as my orgasm climbs up my toes, my fingers. I press my fingers into his shoulders, his back. Sinking into them. Into him. My heart is lost against the beats between my legs. Insistent and needy. And here.
Noah pinches my nipple… and I topple into overdrive. The climax shoots out, gushing and trembling. I clench my thighs and my pussy contracts over his cock. He growls low in his chest and grabs me hard.
“More,” he says against my throat. Sucking me hard, arching my back.
I’m half-hanging off the couch. Almost hovering over Fox and Ares. It adds to my climax, the intensity and the need. I hold him tighter and move against him. Powerless and in control at the same time.
His cock jerks against my clit and I come so hard, I see colors behind my closed eyes. A universe of sparkling, glittery colors. A few seconds later, he follows too.
I’m breathing hard. Sweaty and trembling. So is he.
I brush a hand over his hair. It’s mucked up and sweaty too.
He kisses the side of my chin. “You’re magnificent, desi girl.”
I choke out a weak laugh. “Thank you?”
“How was the kiss?” He kisses lips again.
I pretend to consider the question, while still experiencing aftershocks of the best orgasm I’ve ever had. Scooched over his semi-erection. All wet and messy between us.
“You said it already.” I kiss his neck and suck on it. Giving him a hickey too. Then I soothe it with my tongue. “Practice makes perfect.” I wink in the darkness.
Noah laughs, a sinful sound in the still of the night. “You win, Hellcat.” He kisses the smile on my lips. “You win.”
As I lay in bed ten minutes and a very cold shower later, I put a hand to my thudding heart.
I crossed a line tonight. And it felt so damn good.
I go to sleep dreaming of Noah’s hand on my butt as he made me come and his sinful laugh…