Chapter 23
Nik
“I hope you got the rooms straightened out.”
We walk down the hall, she’s slightly one step ahead of me. She wants to be independent, I’ll let her, plus the view from behind is amazing. “Sorry, hotel is booked. You’re with me.”
“No fucking way,” she says, glancing back at me, a smile tugging at her lips showing me she doesn’t mean a word.
“I understand it’s going to be hard for you to keep your hands to yourself, but try to be the grown-up here and behave.” She tosses me a look over shoulder as we continue down the hallway. “Or not. Either way, I’ll make it worth your while.”
In true Noelle fashion, she has sniped out comment after comment since we left the stadium and restaurant.
But this one makes me laugh. I pretended there was a mix-up with the rooms. There was no way she was staying with Stone.
And if I’m being honest here, my self-control is waning.
We’ve had moments where I wondered if she felt it, too, and I've been pushing a bit here and there to see if she responds.
And after tonight's dinner? I think we’re both on the same page.
Sure, she aggravates the fuck out of me, but I’d love to try to fuck that attitude out of her. After the guys made mention of her being a cougar, I haven't stopped thinking about it.
I realized her sweet scent, which is so intoxicating, is because this chick has a serious sugar addiction. She’s always got candy close by, and it's left me craving more than just sugar. I'm craving her, and I’m falling fast.
I don’t know when it happened. Well, fuck, I actually do know when it happened. That first meeting at the hospital. But I couldn't get involved with her. I couldn’t get close. But now, this forced proximity has me learning another side of her, and I like it.
The door opens and Noelle steps in first. The door shuts behind us with a soft click and she slips off her heels with a quiet sigh. The city is still alive beyond the floor-to-ceiling windows, lights glittering across the river like we’re in some faraway galaxy. But in here, the silence hits.
I toss the keycard for Touchdown Towers onto the dresser, then shrug out of my suit jacket, catching her reflection in the window. Her hair’s slightly mussed from the wind outside. That strap of her black dress is still testing my patience.
“This hotel is very elegant for being packed with football players.” Her tone is light and teasing.
“We occasionally know how to behave.”
“Occasionally.” She smiles. “This is a beautiful city. I’ve never been here before.”
“No? I’ve been here a time or two, but I don't usually get to enjoy the nightlife. It was nice to get out. You held your own tonight,” I say casually, loosening my tie. “Loving was convinced you’d bail by appetizers.”
Noelle smirks, half-laughing as she opens the mini fridge. “If it weren’t for their girlfriends, I was thinking about it. I enjoyed talking with them. Valentina is very intelligent but closed off. You see how Nico works for her?”
I smirk. “I do. It’s good for him, he needs a woman with a strong personality, someone to keep him in line.”
“And I still can’t get over the fact that Scottie and Nicholas are going to have a baby! Her eyes go wide. “Like, how does that work? He’s going to be flying all over the country half the year, and she's going to what? Be a single mom?”
“It’s only eight away games. If I were her, I'd welcome the quiet.” I laugh and shake my head, still a bit in shock about that myself. “I knew he was in deep with her, but I didn't know it was baby-deep. He seems ready for it, to each his own.”
She laughs. “Yeah, to each his own. I’ll say that watching you and your oversized man-children friends talk about game stats was actually weirdly entertaining.”
I raise a brow. “Man-children? I’ll have you know, those guys are highly respected athletes.”
“Please,” she scoffs, taking out a chilled bottle of wine and grabbing a glass.
“This is free, right?” She winks, and I laugh as I take the bottle from her and grab the corkscrew.
This will cost me $150 on tomorrow's check out tab.
I pour and hand her a glass as she says, “One of them bet fifty bucks on who could eat more breadsticks.”
“Fastest fifty bucks I ever made.” She laughs with me, and then I say, “Coming from a cougar, I guess I could see why you’d call them children.”
Her eyes get wide. “Excuse me?”
I smirk and unknot my tie, letting it hang around my neck. “They Googled you. And when they found out you're seven years older than me, they ran with it.”
“Hm. Cougar only applies if I actually like you.” She sips her drink and turns her back on me, watching out the window.
I unbutton my shirt and pull it from my pants. “You do.”
She scoffs and throws up her middle finger, but then turns toward me, eyes slightly hazy with wine and tequila from dinner, eyeing my chest. “They love you, you know.”
I furrow my brows, caught off guard by the softness in her tone. She continues, “You’re their anchor, even when they’re being idiots.”
I walk towards her, pushing the curtain away, and lean against the window.
It’s cool and helps steady me, and I track the lights of Houston.
Her words sting, though she doesn’t mean them to.
I’ve been a shit friend to them since sophomore year.
“It’s easier with them. On the field, off the field, in the locker room, I know the rules. Life makes sense with them.”
“And with me?” she asks.
The air thickens around us, and I don't answer immediately, instead letting my gaze drop to her mouth, then back up. I reach for the strap and slide it back into place on her shoulder but like the tease she is, it slips right down again. “With you, the rules don’t work.”
She swallows, and her breath catches. “Nik, I …”
“You think I dragged you with me because I want to play protector?”
She lifts a brow, guarded again. “Didn’t you?”
“It’s part of it.” I shake my head once. “But mainly because the second you started challenging me, from that first meeting at the hospital, I couldn’t stop watching you.”
The space between us is electric. I know she can feel it. Her eyes are dilated, and it's not from the alcohol. Her chest rises and falls, and that damn strap is still hanging off her shoulder, taunting me.
“Noelle,” I say in a low warning, “I want to kiss you, but if I do, I won’t stop there.”
She sets her wine down slowly, then meets me, eye to eye. “Then don’t start if you’re going to play it safe.”
I let out a breath, almost as if she just punched me. “There’s nothing safe about this.”
“Then what are you waiting for?” she whispers.
That’s all it takes.
I’m on her in one smooth motion, my hands immediately in her gorgeous hair, and my lips crashing onto hers like I’d die if I held off any longer.
I don't want to blame our drinks at dinner, but maybe it’s what we needed to open our eyes and let down our guard more.
She kisses me back like she’s been starving for it, like she’s mad at herself for wanting me this badly and madder still that she’s showing me.
We break apart long enough for me to say against her lips, “You still hate me?”
Her breath is ragged. “Yes.”
I smirk, trailing my lips down her throat. “Good. Stay mad. It’s hot.”
She bites my bottom lip. “Fucking rookie.”
She just about gets the words out, and I grab her ass and pick her up, her legs instantly wrapping around me. “Nik!” she calls out, and I smother her voice with another kiss. I press her back against the window, a moan escaping her as she tightens her legs around my waist.
“Is this where you off me?” She glances behind her.
I spin her away from the window and walk towards the bed.
“No, this is where I get you off.” I drop her to her back and gaze at her on the bed.
Her black dress is riding up, exposing thighs that I can’t wait to grab hold of.
She leans up on her elbows and watches me, with a raised brow and smug grin.
I slowly pull the tie from around my neck and fold it in half, holding it with both hands, before sliding my shirt off, one arm then the other.
I revel in the way she watches my chest. Her eyes narrow as I step closer.
“What do you think you’re doing with that?” She puts up her foot, laying it against my thigh as I come closer. She wiggles her toes near my dick, and it feels like I was electrocuted.
“In case you try to get away.” I waggle my brows and drop the tie next to her. She bites her bottom lip and begins to move back on the bed, and I climb on, following her.
“Guess I need control off the field, too.” She lets out a squeal as I hover over her, straddling her. Our size difference is very apparent like this. To ease the moment, I say, “Don’t worry, it’ll fit.”
She throws her head back with a laugh I’ve never heard before.
It’s fun and sexy, and fuck me, this is going to be the best night of my life.
I just know it. Noelle's laid out beneath me like she’s the challenge I never saw coming, but one I’ll make sure to conquer.
Her breath hitches as my mouth traces the curve of her collarbone, and I feel her legs tighten around my waist, pulling me in like she’s done fighting it, too.
Finally.
She runs her hands down my biceps, grabbing onto my forearms before coming to a sitting position. I sit back, allowing her room as she gets up on her knees, her eyes zeroing in on my tattoo. She traces the three arrows. “This is different. What does it mean?”
“Kollitoí gia pánta. Friends forever. We each have the same one.”
“Trickie Nickies?” She giggles and still runs her fingers along it.
“Yeah. One stem, three points, all moving in the same direction. It was meant to show we were stronger together.”
She looks at me. “You don’t have to play on the same team to be a trio.”
I nod, and she leans in and kisses the tattoo before turning around. With her back to me, she looks over her shoulder. “Care to help me out of this?”