CHAPTER 21
NOAH
I lift another hay bale and launch it onto the trailer attached to the back of the tractor with entirely too much force. It lands with a thud against the stack I just loaded and the entire thing sways.
I hold my breath, waiting for it to tumble over - it doesn’t, thankfully, but I’d only have myself to blame if it had.
“Christ. Who pissed on your pancakes this morning?” Hunter asks, coming up behind me and I roll my eyes at the same question he asked me a month ago.
“No one,” I snap back, lifting another bale. My arms are burning but I welcome it. If I stop now, I might do something stupid like go back to my house and lock Bella in my bedroom for a week straight so I can fuck her senseless.
I’m hot, hungry and horny. Really fucking horny. Like all the damn time.
It’s been two days since the second almost kiss in my kitchen. Two days since I caught her eye-fucking me after my shower. Two goddamn days that she’s been walking around my house in the smallest, most pathetic excuse for pyjamas I’ve ever seen.
I like to think I’m a respectful man. I know I have self-control. But I have to say, both of those things are being tested right now.
If I’m not around her, I’m thinking about her, and if I’m thinking about her, I get the urge to be around her. I’m a man possessed.
I needed a distraction. Which is why I’m working my ass off on a Saturday instead of enjoying my day off at home with a beer.
“You’ve been out here hours, man,” Hunter says, leaning against the trailer.
Yeah, no shit.
“Just wanted to get ahead of things,” I grunt, tossing another bale.
“Well, we’re grilling tonight. Everyone is coming. You know… if you and Bella wanna join.”
I glare at him from beneath my ballcap and he grins. “Nothing happens on this ranch without me knowing about it, Noah.”
My lips thin and I nod. “We’ll be there.”
“Good.” He taps his knuckles against the metal twice before leaving and I blow out a breath.
Guess I’ve got no choice but to go home now.
I finish up with the hay and dust my hands off before I climb back into my truck and drive five minutes down the dirt path to my house.
I take the steps two at a time and walk in the front door, removing my hat and boots as I enter. It’s quiet inside as I make my way from the hall into the kitchen and grab a cold beer from the fridge.
“Bells?” I call out, only to be met with silence.
Weird, her car was parked out front.
I listen for the sound of running water, assuming she’s in the shower but there’s nothing. Placing my beer down on the island, I climb the stairs, calling out her name once more. “Bella, you here?”
Still nothing.
The door to her bedroom is slightly ajar and I approach it, my hand raised and ready to knock, but I freeze when the sound of rhythmic vibrations followed by a soft, feminine moan reaches me.
You have got to be fucking kidding me.
I spin on my heel, ready to get the fuck out of there before she knows I was ever here, but I’m stopped once again by the sound of her voice.
“Oh fuck, Noah,” she whimpers and every drop of blood in my veins rushes south.
It’s with that sound ingrained in my brain that I do finally step away, and head straight for my shower.
Oh fuck, indeed.
***
BELLA
The sound of the shower turning on in the room next to mine brings a smile to my lips which is quickly replaced with a gasp when I click the button on the toy.
The vibrations pick up speed, sending volts of pleasure shooting through me and I throw my head back against my pillow, my eyes squeezed shut as I picture Noah in his shower, his cock fisted in his hand while the water rains down on his naked body.
I knew he was listening on the other side of the door. I heard his footsteps as he climbed the stairs and my imagination had run wild with the image of him pushing the door open and taking control. But I knew he wouldn’t do that.
His low groan echoes through the walls and I push the toy against my clit, my own moan escaping me at the mental image of his hand moving up and down his thick length.
I picture a bead of pre-cum escaping the tip and him spreading it over his length with his thumb as he pumps harder, faster. My toes curl against the sheets.
“Oh, fuuuck…” I cry, the muscles in my lower abdomen coiling tighter as my orgasm approaches.
“Fuck, Bella,” his deep timbered voice rumbles through walls, muffled by the sound of the running water.
A whooshing starts in my ears, stars dancing behind my eyelids as I imagine his hand moving faster, grip tightening as his own release approaches just as fast and hard as mine. My back bows off the bed and my legs shake as I climb higher and higher before finally, I explode.
“Fuck, fuck, fuck,” I chant, my chest heaving, body trembling as my pussy spasms around nothing. The toy continues to vibrate against me until it’s too much and I have to remove it.
Switching it off, I toss it to the side and collapse back onto the bed, my ears ringing and heart pounding.
The shower next door switches off, encasing the house in loaded silence and a disbelieving laugh leaves me.
I can’t believe I just did that.
I’ve never done anything so bold in my life.
On shaky legs, I stand and pad quietly over to my adjoining bathroom and turn on the shower. Climbing in, I wash the sweat from my body and replay the last ten minutes in my head.
When I’m done, I wrap a towel around myself and step out. Wiping the condensation off the mirror, I pick up my hairbrush and begin working on the knots in my hair.
I’m halfway through when there’s a knock on my bedroom door and I open the bathroom door. “Come in.”
Noah steps inside, his hair still damp from his own shower and a towel slung low on his waist. His knowing gaze travels the length of me, and I can’t help but blush from head to toe.
His tongue darts out, wetting his bottom lip as his hungry eyes meet mine. “Hunter and Sav are grilling tonight. I said we’d be there.”
“Sure.” I shrug, feigning nonchalance. “What time?”
“We can head over at around five,” he says, running a hand through the short scruff on his jaw.
“Okay,” I say, never taking my nervous eyes off him.
He dips his chin, a cocky grin on his face as he turns back to the door. “Oh, and Bells?”
“Yeah?”
With his hand on the doorknob, his eyes meet mine over his shoulder before he tilts his head in the direction of my bed. “Nice toy, by the way.”
My horrified gaze lands on the bed and right there in the middle of it is the bright pink vibrator I used less than twenty minutes ago.
Fuck my life.