Chapter 37 #2
“No.” Her voice softened. “You would have handed me, them, the matches, to burn this all down.”
Would I? I was no longer sure. “Maybe.”
“What changed?”
I looked at the door, then back at her. “Nothing. I just made sure the people I cared about walked away unscathed.”
Briar leaned against the closet door. Her eyes held mine. “So that’s it?”
I shrugged. “That’s it.” I looked away from the intensity of her stare. “Why are you still here?”
She scoffed. “I thought we were having a conversation?” She pushed off the closet door. “I’ll go.”
“I didn’t mean here,” I said, hearing my exasperation. “I mean, Wrighton. You were free and clear Tuesday morning.”
She made a sound of contempt. “Free and clear?” The fire was back in her eyes. “Was I?”
“I don’t know. What are you waiting for?” I moved toward her, reaching out my hand, and I cupped her cheek. “Who were you waiting for?”
She looked up at me. “Noah, I—”
I kissed her, not in a hurried way like some of our other kisses. I took my time and gave her the chance to push me away if she needed to. And the longer she kissed me back, the more the misalignment in the center of my chest realigned itself.
Her hands fisted into my T-shirt and pulled me closer. With my hands under her ass, I lifted her higher, easing the bend to reach her, pressing her lightly into the door as I devoured her mouth.
Her hands slid up over my shoulders and into my hair.
“I’m still mad,” she whispered against my lips. “But I missed you.” she silenced me with a kiss. “I missed you, and I don’t want you to leave here.”
“Why?” My lips traced down her throat, gently sucking just beneath her ear, the spot that made her fingers tighten in my hair and her thighs squeeze my waist.
“Because you stood up to him, and you won.” She pulled my mouth back to hers. “He doesn’t get to avoid facing you every day, reminding him that you won. Every time he looks at you for the rest of next season, he’ll know he took on Noah Matthews, and he lost.”
I pulled my head back. “I don’t think he thinks like that.”
She smiled with a wicked glint in her eyes.
“Oh, he does. Men like him? They think they’re untouchable.
And you dented his ego. He’ll hate that forever, and you need to be here to rub it in his smug face.
” She kissed me deeply. “For me,” she whispered between kisses. “For Mason. For Tiffany. And for you.”
“You’re really fucking hot when you’re being vindictive.”
“Good.” Her hands tugged at my T-shirt. “Show me how much you like it, Noah.”
I huffed out a breath that was half laugh, half surrender. “You’re impossible to keep up with.”
“Mmhmm.” She kissed me again, this time more slowly, her lips soft against mine, but her grip on my shirt was stubborn. “And you like me anyway.”
“Unfortunately, that is true.”
She pulled back just enough to look at me, her eyebrow lifting. “Unfortunately?”
I slid my hands down her back, easing her feet back to the floor but not letting her move away. My forehead rested against hers for a second while I tried to get my breathing under control.
“You just told me to stay here out of spite,” I said quietly. “That’s not exactly a compelling life plan.”
“It’s a very compelling life plan,” she shot back. “Revenge can be an excellent motivator.”
“Spoken like someone who got herself hired under a fake name.”
She rolled her eyes. “Old news.”
“Is it?” I laughed, moving away from her.
Briar shoved lightly at my chest, but she followed me when I stepped back. “You still want to go?” she asked with concern.
“I figured it solved the problem,” I said eventually, my eyes flicking to the door.
“You’re running from them?” Briar reached for me. “Noah . . .”
I caught her hands in mine. “Not running, removing myself from the board.”
Her lips pressed into a thin line. “That’s not how the game is played, Noah.”
“It is if there’s a known problem.”
“You’re not the problem.” She reached up, her lips grazing mine.
I looked down at her. “You want to tell them that?”
“They know it.” She jabbed a finger into my chest. “You made a deal to protect people. That doesn’t make you the villain.”
“I’m not the hero.” I scratched my jaw. “I betrayed them when I went to Cardinal and asked about a transfer.”
“Ah.” Her voice had gone softer again. “You don’t want to be their villain? Then don’t leave them.” She sighed. “Fight. It’s what you’re good at.”
The room went quiet. My hand drifted up, brushing a strand of hair back from her face without really thinking about it.
“I thought you were mad at me?” I said.
“Yes.”
“But you’re still here?”
“Yes.”
I studied her for a second. “Those two things don’t usually go together.”
“Well,” she said dryly, “welcome to the complicated emotional landscape of adult relationships.”
I snorted. “It sounds exhausting.”
“It is.”
Her fingers caught the hem of my shirt again, but this time the gesture was smaller. Less demanding. More of a question.
“So,” she said quietly, “are you in this with me?”
I tilted my head slightly. “You make it sound so dramatic.” I teased. “You could just as easily ask me out.”
Briar laughed loudly. “Fine. I want to date you, Noah. Do you want to date me?”
“Absolutely.” I kissed her again, and this time, my shirt came off along with her jacket. Her knees bumped the edge of my bed as I followed her down with a low laugh.
I hadn’t been pushing everyone away.
I’d been waiting for her to come back.
“And how does dating you look?” I murmured against her skin, pushing her shirt up so my lips could follow the warm line of her stomach. “Do I need to buy a car just to get to Chattanooga?”
Briar giggled, her fingers sliding into my hair. “My rent’s paid for the year. I could just . . . stay, if you like.”
“Yeah?” I popped the button on her jeans, pulling the zipper down slowly. “I like you being close.”
Her breath caught as I eased her jeans down her hips.
She lifted slightly to help, the movement natural, unhurried.
A second later, she was stretched out beneath me, her hair spread over my pillow like a halo of darkness, her eyes bright and a little uncertain but full of the same heat as was building in my chest.
She was gorgeous. She was everything I wanted.
“I want you close,” I said quietly. “I want you.” My fingers caught the elastic of her underwear, and with another rise of her hips, I pulled them down too. She was wet and ready, and I pushed my own pants down.
Her hands wrapped around my shoulders, pulling me back down to her mouth. Our kiss grew deeper, slower now, less frantic but equally intense. The world outside the room faded away — in here, it was just us.
I moved closer to her, and we moved together, eliminating any distance that was between us, and everything felt right.
She was mine, and I spent the afternoon reminding her that I was hers.