Chapter 5 Noah
My need has been out of control ever since I pushed open the front door to the restaurant where she works, the extra pair of underwear I’m wearing and the thick denim I’ve got on doing nothing to conceal my raging erection that I can’t contain for one second, the second I so much as think of her.
I watch Lily glide across the floor like an angel, serving food to happy customers with her smile…which today very obviously disappears when she looks in my direction.
She continues to stare at me, looking into the deepest part of me.
It’s clear she can read all the dirty thoughts I have in my mind when it comes to her.
Good. Let her see. I’ve spent too many years being careful with what I let show on my face, keeping the wanting locked down tight behind whatever expression gets the job done.
With her, I can’t seem to manage it, and for once, I don’t particularly want to.
There’s a particular kind of exhaustion that comes from spending a decade being two different men depending on the room you’re standing in.
Careful, honest Noah who fixes transmissions and pays his guys on time and coaches Little League in the fall.
And the other one, the one Matteo still calls when something needs handling in a way the police can’t be trusted to handle it, the one whose name still means something in rooms Lily will hopefully never have to sit in.
I built the wall between those two men brick by brick, year by year, and I’ve gotten so good at it that most days I forget it’s even there.
She makes me forget the wall exists at all, which should terrify me a great deal more than it does.
I really need to get outta here before I do something I might regret.
Standing right now is out of the question, my cock is harder than it’s ever been. I’ve never even had thoughts like this, never been into younger girls, or any girls for that matter.
Yeah, I want to protect her, but I want to make her feel a bit of pain too.
But no way in hell what’s surely a tight, little, untouched pussy will be able to take what I’m so damn ready to give her.
I adjust my weight in my seat, leaning from one side to the other, but it does nothing to subside my need.
Thinking about how delicious that cherry must taste and how much I want to claim her has me thinking I’m not even going to be able to stand up to leave since I’ve got a client to see.
A waitress comes and takes my order. I don’t recall what I ordered because all my attention was on the sweet girl sashaying around the restaurant.
I must have been staring at Lily for too long, so I didn’t notice the waitress come back with my order and a paper with her number on it, but I don’t spear her any of my time.
Not to even look at her. The waitress walks away in a huff.
Lily moves around the side of the restaurant, taking orders. As she bends over to pack away some used dishes, the back of her shirt rides up, giving me a peek of her supple flesh that I’m dying to get my hands on.
I grit my teeth, catching myself sliding my hand across the flat table, wishing it was the curve in her lower back.
I imagine myself lying in bed with her after taking her for the first, the third, and just caressing that perfect little body of hers as I ask her all the things she wants to accomplish in her life.
And think about how proud it will make me to be the one to help her live out her dreams, as I live out the dream I never knew I had.
A text on my phones tells me that my client is at our meeting place.
Staring at Lily again, with her attention turned in the other direction I realize now is my only chance.
I throw a few dollars on the table without touching the food I ordered and I slide the chair sideways and walk to the door, bent over at the waist as my erection throbs in pain.
Stepping outside onto the street, a gust of air hits me in the face, but that’s not all. The complete lack of sunlight informs me as to just how long I’ve been sitting in that damn restaurant for more than an hour watching my woman.
I stand off to the side, trying to regain my composure and knowing I’m not going to be able to walk down the street in my current condition.
I watch for a few minutes as people file out of the restaurant, not even realizing they’d been inside. I need help, bad. Or more accurately, I need her. Now.
Leaning against the wall I fight the urge to go back inside, my dick finally subsiding to the point where I can leave, knowing I’ll be right back here tomorrow to watch my princess.
Out of nowhere, I hear a strange sound coming from behind the restaurant.
I hightail it around the corner of the building and into the alley, my gut telling me something is wrong.
I get my answer immediately when I see a bag of trash sitting just next to the dumpster and a man cornering my sweet Lily.
My hands curl up into fists so hard I feel the tips of my fingers digging into my palms. My stance widens and my nostrils flare.
“Get the fuck away from her,” I snarl.
“Just having a little fun, buddy,” the man laughs, not taking his attention from Lily. “Why don’t you run along and mind your own business.”
At that moment I hear the click of a switchblade knife springing out as the man laughs hysterically like a hyena.
“Fun time’s over,” I say, taking off toward the man with the knife like I’ve been shot out of a cannon.
Before he can even turn his body to square up to me I tackle him hard, my hand grabbing his wrist and pushing his hand up and back as his back slams into the cold concrete and the knife goes flying.
I slam my elbow into his face in rapid successions. “He touch you, Lily?” I say through gritted teeth.
“No.”
“Not even a finger?”
Out of the corner of my eye, I can see her shaking her head.
“Then I just might let him live.”
“Listen, buddy. We had a rough day, just needed to blow off some steam.”
I can feel every muscle in my body flex and my blood boil. “You’re a coward and a bastard,” I say, charging straight at him.
His arms raise to cushion the blow but it’s too late. His body slams into the concrete wall as I grab his shirt in my hand, twisting it and easily lifting him off the ground despite his size and stature.
“Apologize to her,” I order.
“I’m…I’m sorry, miss.”
“Like you mean it, prick,” I grunt.
“I’m sorry. I really am.” The next moment I head butt him.
“Get up so I teach you a lesson, Never to treat a woman like that,” I command, but I got him too good, too square. He’s out cold.
I crouch and check his jacket out of habit more than curiosity, and there it is, tucked in an inside pocket, a cheap chain with a stamped medallion, the kind low level muscle wear so the men above them know whose crew they belong to.
I recognize the design. Sorrentino’s people, or what’s left of them since I made it very clear a few years back which streets weren’t theirs to work.
Small time enforcers, sent to lean on regular people who owe regular money, not soldiers.
Which means either Sorrentino’s gotten sloppy about who he sends into my part of town, or he’s testing to see if I still care enough to notice.
I intend to make sure he gets his answer.
I turn to look at Lily, whose expression has changed from one of complete fear to utter shock.
All I can think of is how I want to march right over there and scoop her up in my arms and just hold her, hold her tight, and never let go.
How I want to sit her on my lap and promise her that she’ll never feel this way again.
She won’t even know the meaning of fear for the rest of her days, because as long as I’m alive I won’t allow it.
It’s not a promise I’m making lightly, and it’s not one I’m making the way an ordinary man would make it either.
I have resources most people don’t. I have men who’ll answer a call at three in the morning without asking why, favors I’ve been sitting on for a decade waiting for a reason good enough to spend them.
I’ve just found that reason, bleeding scrapes on her knees and shaking in my arms in an alley that belongs, at least on paper, to men who’ll regret ever letting their errand boy near her.
Just the thought of her being harmed right now expedites everything inside me.
Moving closer I do exactly as I wanted, pulling her in close and her tiny little body melts perfectly into mine.
Tilting my head down, way down to reach her, I kiss the top of that dark hair of hers, inhaling deep at the floral scent from her shampoo, or is that just the way she naturally smells.
Either way, I’m fully intoxicated just from one whiff, and my dick lurches in my pants just how it was when I was inside the restaurant.
I need to kiss her. I need to claim her. I need to make her mine.
I rake my hands through her hair and tilt her head back, her bright eyes looking up at me.
My heart jackknifes in my chest and my cock thumps against the inside of my pants, threatening to pierce the thick denim and cotton that’s keeping it from her. My nostrils flare and a rumbling in my throat comes out of nowhere, the feral beast inside me needing to be fed.
Wasting no more time, I move toward Lily, fisting those short, dark locks in one hand and yank her head back in one motion.
I watch as her head moves forward as much as I allow as she swallows hard, her lips staying open but no words coming out. A split second later my lips come crashing down on hers.
She tastes so sweet, so perfect, and I need to get inside her, but I have to summon every ounce of strength inside me to wait, to pull my lips from hers. Knowing I have to go. My phones already ringing.
“I have to go now princess. I have a meeting. You and I aren’t done.” She nods, her eyes devouring me.
Her fingers come up to touch her own lips, like she’s checking they’re still there. “Okay,” she breathes, and it’s the most honest thing I’ve ever heard her say to me.
Sparing her another hungry look I walk away from my sweet princess. Knowing it won’t be long before I have her.