Untouchable: Haven Falls (Book 1)

by Sheridan Anne

  I shrug my shoulders, finding it impossible to come up with another lie right now, but absolutely loving how good it feels to tease the guy.

  His eyes widen, realizing he’s on the right track. “My car,” he gasps.

  With that, he takes off down the hallway like a bat out of hell as the laughter overtakes me. The next thing I hear is the front door being torn open so quickly that it rebounds off the adjoining wall.

  I hurry up the hallway behind him, but I’m nowhere near as fast.

  “HOLY FUCK,” I hear roared from outside, only making my laughter come so much harder, to the point I fall to the floor. “WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU DO?”

  “What’s going on?” Rivers asks, coming out from the kitchen and crossing towards the front door with Tully falling in behind him.

  I can’t even reply to his question, but there’s no need as he stands out front, taking in the now pink and yellow Camaro, sitting in the very center of the big drive. “Fuck,” Rivers laughs, looking back at me with a low whistle and for once, there’s no darkness as he looks at me. “You better run.”

  I see nothing but a cold, hard warning within his eyes and that knowledge alone has me scrambling to my feet and taking off like my ass is on fire.

  Noah shoots back in through the front door and I squeal as he charges towards me. “No,” I scream out as he thunders through the house behind me. I head for the hallway, hoping I can make it out the back door in time, but he’s way too fast.

  Noah collects me in his strong grip and hauls me over his shoulder. “Nowhere to go now, Spitfire,” he booms.

  “Put me down.”

  “No.”

  I can’t help but scream out as he turns on his heel and barges through the bathroom door. “What are you doing?” I laugh, banging my fists on his back over and over again, hoping and praying he will put me down.

  He grunts a few times as he rips the shower door open. Dread fills me and I hold onto him with everything I’ve got, knowing he’s about to throw me in.

  The freezing cold water is put on full blast and as he tries to tear me off him, he realizes I’m going to put up one hell of a fight. My fingers dig into his strong waist, holding on as tight as I can, making it impossible for him to pull me off.

  What I didn’t anticipate was him sacrificing himself for his sweet revenge.

  Noah shrugs. “Suit yourself,” he tells me moments before he dives into the cold shower too.

  Chapter 11

  The cold water assaults me and I squeal out, desperate for dry land, or at least a towel. I arch my back off his shoulder, trying my hardest to pull away from the water. “Shit, Noah. It’s freezing,” I shriek. “Put me down.”

  He spanks my ass over his shoulder, spreading warmth all through me. “Are you going to fix my car?”

  My teeth begin to chatter. “Are you going to fix the Kindle?”

  Noah continues holding onto me, but the water between our skin makes it hard for him to keep me there and I slid down his body until my feet are safely on the tiled shower floor. His arms cage me in, keeping me from darting out of the spraying water, but in doing that, he’s also drenching himself, and I have to admit, the way his grey shirt sticks to his abs is a tasty little treat.

  “I’ll fix the Kindle if you go on a date with me.”

  My teeth continue to chatter while shivers begin to take over my whole body. “I’ll go out on a date with you if you let me out of the shower.”

  A smile brightens his already beaming face and damn, it looks good on him.

  “Deal,” he says before reaching around me and turning off the water.

  We stand face to face, dripping wet and within the blink of an eye, Noah reaches out of the shower and grabs a towel before pulling it tight around me and rubbing his hands up and down, trying to bring a little more warmth into my skin. “You’re an ass,” I inform him just in case nobody has reminded him lately.

  “Yeah, but you like it.”

  “You’re cocky as well.”

  “You’d be disappointed if I wasn’t.”

  I press my lips together, refusing to respond to that as he might just be right. If he wasn’t a cocky prick in all the right ways, making him charming, exciting, and unpredictable, he’d be just like everyone else and that would be a tragedy.

  “Yeah,” he says with a confident scoff. “That’s what I thought.”

  I roll my eyes and I do my best to keep a straight face, but a grin spreads wide and the laughter comes howling out of me. Noah takes my hand and a second later is leading me out of the bathroom. “Come on,” he says. “Let me get you some dry clothes.”

  I follow Noah down the hall and a strange nervousness settles over me as he turns into his bedroom. I don’t know why, but I had assumed he’d take me to Tully’s room and steal her clothes, but apparently, that’s not the case.

  He leads me deeper into his room and drops my hand as he reaches for his closet door. He pulls it open and slides his wet shirt over his head, putting that beautiful body on show.

  I shouldn’t stare. What I should be doing is peeking around in his room, searching out the skeletons in his closet, but fuck it, my eyes are drawn to his body like a moth to a flame. It’s simply perfection.

  “Quit staring,” he murmurs as he riffles through his closet, reminding me of that first day together.

  I pull the towel tighter around me, hoping it can somehow mask the effect he has on my body. Maybe he’ll mistake the goosebumps from the cold shower rather than the shivers that come from watching that perfectly round drip of water sliding down his spine, over the impressive tattoos, and all the way down to his low hanging jeans.

  Damn. This is too much.

  I need to get my ass out of here before I jump the guy.

  You’re a strong independent woman. You’re a strong independent woman. Damn it. No, you’re not. You’re weak. You’re mean. Pathetic. Nothing but a loser. You feed on the defenseless souls of attractive teenage boys. Attractive boys who ask you out.

  Wait… Ask me out?

  What the hell did I agree to?

  “Ummmmm…” I start, realizing the whole date thing probably isn’t such a great idea, considering the fact he’s Noah Cage and I’m… me. “About this whole date thing.”

  “Nope,” he buts in, not even bothering to turn around to face me. “No way in hell are you bailing on me. We made a deal. We shook on it.”

  “What?” I grunt, dumbfounded. I mean, it’s kind of eerie how quickly he picked up on the fact that I was about to bail. Am I that predictable? Or maybe the guy just made an effort to get to know me over the past week and I haven’t realized how much attention he’s been sending my way. “We didn’t shake on anything.”

  At that, he finally turns around and flashes me those green eyes before winking and sending my brain into meltdown. “It’s your word against my word, babe.”

  Babe…sigh.

  I go to defend myself, but Noah cuts me off before I have the chance. “Besides,” he says, grabbing a shirt and walking towards me with heat rising behind his eyes that makes my knees shake with need. “You like me too much to bail.”

  “I…” swallow. “That’s absurd. I don’t like you.”

  “Really?” he questions with that cocky sureness that I seem to love as he hands me the dry shirt, letting his fingers brush against mine and leaving them there a second longer than necessary. He leans into me and gently presses his lips against my neck. “So, you’re telling me that every time I do this and your breath catches, that’s you not liking me?”

  “Uh huh,” I breathe, placing my hands on his warm shoulder.

  “And every time you touch me and your eyes flutter closed for the briefest second, that’s you resisting my charm like a damn pro?”

  Crap. Does that really happen?

  “Definitely.”

  “And what about when I kissed you?” he questions, raising his head so his lips hover just above mine. “Tell me, what the hell was that reacti
on? Because to me, that seemed a hell of a lot like you not being about to get enough.”

  I shrug my shoulders. “What can I say?” I grin, denying it all even though the truth is as clear as day. He knows it, I know it, every last person in Haven Falls knows it. “I’m a woman and you were giving up the goods. I would have been a fool to pass up what you were putting down, and besides, I was half drunk.”

  “You’re blaming your reaction on alcohol?”

  “Definitely.”

  “And what about your reaction now?”

  “Huh?” I question though one mental check of myself tells me I’m practically wrapped around the guy. My arms are around his neck, my chin tilted towards his, begging to be kissed, while my mind is foggy with everything Noah.

  “Yeah,” he says, cocky attitude and all. “There’s no way in hell you’re bailing on our date.”

  I can practically feel the stars in my eyes as I watch him. Right now, Noah Cage could do no wrong and the moment is made that much sweeter when his lips finally press down on mine.

  I melt into him as though his lips were made just for mine and it’s as good as I had remembered from Friday night. Actually, this is even better. On Friday night I had a blurry mind from my friend Vodka, but here, this is just me and him and I have more than a clear mind.

  Noah’s lips pull from mine as his forehead drops and rests against mine. “Yeah, you definitely like me.”

  Crap. He’s right. I could definitely get used to the idea of dating this guy. Hell, I might even consider more than just dating. He’d make one hell of an amazing boyfriend.

  “I could say the same about you,” I tell him.

  “I sure fucking do,” he says, not denying it one bit and making all the uncertainty within my mind disappear. “I’m man enough to admit that you’re in my head.”

  I bit down on my lip. “Is that a good thing?”

  He studies me for a moment as his fingers spread wide over my skin. “I haven’t decided yet.”

  “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  “It means you’re trouble. You’re different than what I’m used to. You’re fucking real and honestly, that scares the shit out of me.”

  I step back from him and drop the towel from my shoulders before grasping the fabric of the cold, wet shirt. I study him right back, unsure of what to think of his honesty as I pull the shirt from my body. I guess I wasn’t prepared for that. Shrugging it off and denying any kind of feeling while keeping a cocky grin on his face. Yeah, that’s the kind of reaction I would expect from the pack leader.

  Instead, I get honesty. I get straight up, in your face, heart warming honesty. I mean, is this normal? It couldn’t be, right?

  I drop the wet shirt at my feet and go to pull on Noah’s dry one when I realize he’s gawking at me. I quickly glance down just to check one of my tits haven’t fallen out of my bra and let out a breath of relief when I find them safely tucked away. I mean, they’re cold and I certainly have fripples, but otherwise, they look pretty good as usual.

  So why the hell is he gawking at them like a horny thirteen year old boy about to spring an untimely boner? Should I turn around and scramble to pull my shirt on or own it? Shit, I don’t know. I’m sure he’s seen more than his fair share of tits over the past few years. Mine couldn’t be anything new.

  I cough to gain his attention. “They’re just boobs, Noah. What’s the deal? I bet you’ve seen more than anyone else in Haven Falls.”

  His green eyes reluctantly pull from my chest and up to my eyes before briefly dropping back down again, not ashamed at all to be caught having a good look. “First of all,” he tells me, stepping into me and running his finger softly over the curve of my breasts. “They’re not ‘just boobs.’ They’re… fuck. They’re perfect. And second of all, I haven’t seen that many sets of ti….” His face scrunches before he lets out a proud sigh. “Yeah ok, I’m not even going to bother lying about that.”

  My mouth drops as a gasp sails out of me. “You were going to lie to me?”

  “Yeah, I was,” he laughs. “Then I remembered that you’re not like all the girls I’ve been with. You’re cool. You don’t give a shit about stuff like that.”

  “Nope,” I confirm, finally pulling the shirt over my head and covering the so-called ‘perfect’ boobs, though I don’t doubt this is the last time he’ll ever see them. I bet they’ll be plenty of times for them to come out and play. Hell, if I hadn’t known him for only a week, I might just let him play with them right now.

  Shit. That was skanky. I take that back…no, actually, I don’t.

  Noah Cage would be a beast between the sheets and given the chance, I’m sure I’ll take it with both hands, hold on tight, and be taken for the ride of my life. Besides, I’d be a fool to pass up on that.

  As I’m busy daydreaming about what it would be like to get down and dirty with Noah Cage, a pair of sweatpants hits me in the face. “They’ll be way too big, but they’ll do,” he tells me.

  I unravel the pants and hold them up to see they’d probably fit three of me in them and scrunch up my face. “Shouldn’t I just grab a pair of Tully’s?”

  “No,” he scoffs. “Tully will lend you just about anything in her closet except her sweatpants. She’s fiercely protective of those bad boys.”

  “Ok,” I laugh. “These big fuckers it is then.”

  “Damn straight,” he says as his eyes roam over my body in his shirt, and I could be wrong here, but something tells me he likes the look of me in his clothes.

  I finger the button of my soaking wet jeans and do my best to pull them down over my hips, but taking off wet skinny jeans is not exactly the easiest thing to do. Doing it while not losing my undies? Well, that’s just near impossible.

  I get the jeans a little further down before dropping back onto his bed and giving it a really good try. Noah’s deep chuckle has me glancing up to watch him striding towards me like King Shit coming to rescue the damsel in distress. “Need a little help with that?” he questions as though this gives him all the joy in the world.

  “I really want to say ‘no’ just to prove a point,” I tell him before letting out a frustrated sigh. “But yes. They’re really stuck.”

  “Well, I might just help if you ask me nicely.”

  “There’s no need to be an asshole about it,” I laugh. “Besides, not only did you get to kiss me, you got to ogle my boobs, and let’s be real, you and I both know you took a mental image to add to your spank bank.”

  Noah raises his pointer finger and taps his temple. “It’s stored right in here. Nice and safe, next to Nicole Scherzinger in the Buttons video clip and Hallie Berry as Catwoman.”

  “Oh, my God,” I groan. “Would you just help me get these damn things off?”

  “My pleasure,” he says before gripping the fabric at my thighs and slowly peeling it down my legs, making me proud of my decision to shave them this morning. The jeans finally come off and Noah trails his finger up the inside of my leg, driving me wild with need as he straightens himself back up.

  He steps back, giving me a moment to get myself under control and I start looking around, trying to remember where the hell I just put his stupid, oversized sweatpants while forgetting about one important thing.

  “Damn. ‘Avengers’,” he says, noticing my knickers. “I would have taken you as a ‘Justice League’ girl.”

  “Shut up and pass me the stupid sweatpants.”

  He does as he’s told and not a moment later, his sweatpants are hanging dangerously low on my hips. I roll them over a few times before deciding they’re safe enough to walk around without flashing Tully and Rivers my ass, though I have a feeling neither of them would mind.

  I walk out of Noah’s room with him following right on my heels and I stop in the bathroom to take a look at myself in the mirror. I roll up the bottoms of the sleeves which nearly come down to my elbows before tying a knot in the bottom of the shirt and deciding the look is actually quite cute. He should be
warned though, he’ll probably never get either of these items back. Besides, I think I might sleep in this shirt tonight, it smells just like him.

  “What happened to Tully and Rivers?” I ask as we walk out of the bathroom and into the empty living room.

  Noah shrugs. “If I know them as well as I think I do, I’d say Rivers is showing off to my sister, trying to get her to fall at his feet while she’s pretending she’s not into it, but secretly loving his attention.”

  My eyes widen a fraction. “You know about all that?”

  “Of course, I do,” he scoffs. “I’m not fucking blind. The guy is in love with her.”

  “So… you’re cool with them if they were to start dating?” I ask, dropping down onto the couch and pulling my legs up under me to get comfortable as Noah finds the discarded ‘Fifty Shades Freed’ movie I was going to watch earlier, though I don’t recall how it ended up here. Maybe I dropped it when he chased me through the house.

  I watch as he walks over to the DVD player and gets it all set up. “No,” he tells me as he waits for it to power on. “But if she had to date someone around here, I’d prefer it to be him.”

  “Why? Because he’s a good guy?”

  “No,” he scoffs again. “So I can keep a close eye on them.”

  “You don’t think he’s a good guy?”

  “He is,” he tells me, slipping the DVD in. “But he’s not good enough for my sister. Nobody is.”

  Seeing this protective side of him is doing all sorts of things to me, but the topic also reminds me of another guy who wasn’t good enough for her. “You know, Spencer asked me out yesterday.”

  “What? Spencer?” he grunts as his head whips around to take me in. “What were you doing hanging out with him?”

  “I wasn’t hanging out with him,” I say, wondering why the topic brings such an attitude out of him. “He texted.”

  Booming laughter rips from deep within him. “He texted?” he confirms. “The guy couldn’t even find the balls to ask you face to face?”