by C. L. Parker
Sandra, aka Nurse Barbie, had come into the room moments earlier to let us know that everything was well with my mother and that she was in recovery. Daniel would be in soon to give us the rest of the details. It was fantastic news, but I still had the other drama to worry about. My dad might have been a bit off his game, but he was so skilled at detecting bullshit that I knew we weren’t going to get away with anything as far as he was concerned. I just hoped Noah’s plan would be as flawless as his face and that Daddy wasn’t carrying his firearm.
Suddenly the door flew open and I jumped so high out of my chair that I listed sideways and hit my head on the wall. That smarted, too.
“Oh my God, Lanie! We came as soon as we could,” Lexi said as she rushed into the room and wrapped her arms around me. “Are you okay? Is your mom okay? What’s going on?”
“Lexi? What are you doing here?” I asked, confused.
“Saving your ass,” she whispered into my ear.
It was then that I looked over her shoulder and saw Noah stroll in with all the swagger and grace of a runway model. No, scratch that. He looked more like a rock star turned sex god on a rocket ship to planet Orgasm. His right hand was wedged into the front pocket of his jeans and the fingers of his other were casually stroking the edge of his impossibly chiseled jaw. The pad of his thumb caressed his bottom lip and a hint of his talented tongue peeked out to wave a how-do-you-do.
The Cooch started bouncing up and down while clapping. And when Noah casually adjusted himself in his jeans, she put the back of her hand to her forehead and swooned. Yeah, that was the effect the man had on my body. And my mom was okay, so my reaction to him wasn’t the least bit indecent, thank you very much.
“Omigod, is this your dad?” Lexi abruptly turned me loose and sashayed over to him. Yes, she sashayed, which made me wonder if the ingenious plan the four of them had come up with had anything to do with infidelity, because she was laying it on pretty thick, batting her lashes and jiggling her cleavage. I was pretty sure the curtains were going to part to reveal a stripper’s pole, a stage, and a DJ. I didn’t know if I should tackle her to the ground and pound her face with my fist or dig into my wallet for all the dollar bills I could find.
“It’s so nice to meet you, Mr. Talbot,” she said, offering my dad her hand. “I’m Alexis Mavis, Lanie’s roommate.” My roommate? Yeah, that threw me for a loop, but I decided I should probably keep my mouth shut and see how it all played out. One look at Polly and Dez holding their breath let me know I was right.
Mack was awestruck by Lexi, and I sort of wanted to punch him for salivating over her like that when his wife, my mother, was lying in a recovery room down the hall. Not that I really thought Mack would cheat on her. And to be fair, it wasn’t like it was his fault. I ventured a guess that Lexi had that power over any man not related to her, so his reaction was pretty normal. Plus, he recovered from his boob-induced trance quickly enough, so I had to at least give him credit for that.
“Alexis Mavis the sports agent? Your husband is NFL player Brad Mavis, right?” my dad asked with an awed expression. Aha, so that would explain the salivating. The only other thing that could make a man react that way would be sports, and my dad was a fanatic.
“One and the same,” Lexi said with a red-carpet smile in place.
Oh, she was good.
Mack looked as confused as I was. I think I covered mine fairly well, mostly because I was distracted by the way Noah was breathing. Well, it wasn’t so much the way he was breathing as the fact he just was. Add to that the fact he was there and that he loved me, and I was pretty much done for in the coherency department.
“Didn’t Lanie tell you?” Lexi asked, looking to me and then back at my dad. She sighed and rolled her eyes in exasperation when I shrugged dumbly. “When Lanie got to campus, it turned out there was some mix-up on the dorm assignments—as in one less bed than they had originally thought. And well, since she was so late to report on her scholarship, she was pretty much left to fend for herself.
“I’m an NYU alum, and my husband and I were there to have lunch with the dean, but as we were leaving, we overheard all the fuss and wanted to help. Lucky for Lanie, we just happened to have an extra room in our penthouse off campus,” Lexi explained—quite convincingly, I might add.
“And you didn’t call us because …?” Mack asked, tilting his head to the side while giving me the same look he’d given me when I was younger and had gotten into something I had no business getting into.
“I, um …” I looked to Lexi for help.
“She was actually going to pack up and go back home, but I’m a strong believer in the importance of a good education, and I couldn’t let her give up because of a technicality.” I’d say she was laying it on a little too thick, but if it worked, I’d give her a standing ovation and nominate her for an Emmy. “Besides, Brad’s away for games a lot and I could use the company. She’s my date to a lot of social functions that Brad can’t make because of his schedule, which is where she met my dear, sweet cousin Noah.”
“Noah?” Mack asked, turning toward me. “Who’s Noah?”
“That would be me, sir.” Noah stepped forward with his hand outstretched. “Noah Crawford. It’s nice to finally meet you. Lanie’s told me so much about you and your wife.”
“She has, has she?” Mack asked, giving me another sideways glance. “Well, I wish I could say the same about you.”
I could practically hear his bullshit meter screaming high-pitched alarms.
“Yeah, um, sorry about that, Dad.” I stood and walked toward Noah to make a proper introduction and do some damage control. Noah put his arm around my waist and pulled me into his side, a sign that we were forming a united front, but really it was just incredibly distracting because I could both feel and smell him.
“Dad, I’d like for you to meet my … um, boyfriend, Noah Crawford,” I said, not really sure what to call him, which is probably why the whole thing came out sounding more like a question rather than a statement.
Mack looked at me and then Noah and then Noah’s arm, which was placed around my waist in a way that spoke volumes about our familiarity, and then down to Noah’s outstretched hand before he finally shook it. “The Noah Crawford, huh?”
“Of Scarlet Lotus,” Noah acknowledged before pulling his hand back and tucking it away in his pocket. “I’m really sorry to hear of your wife’s illness. Can I ask how she is?”
“She’s doing exceptionally well,” a voice said from behind us.
Everyone turned to see Daniel walk into the room with what I assumed was my mother’s chart in hand. He pulled up short when he saw Lexi standing beside my father. “I see you’ve met my daughter and my nephew,” he said with a grin. “Small world, eh?”
“Yeah, it would appear so,” my father replied, his tone signaling to me that he knew he was being bullshitted. “So about my wife?”
“The transplant was textbook smooth,” Daniel replied, his demeanor utterly professional. “From here, it’s a waiting game to make sure her body doesn’t reject her new heart.”
“Can we see her?” I asked.
“Right now, rest is imperative to her recovery. Any sort of excitement,” he said, looking pointedly at the various people in the room before settling on me and Noah, “won’t be good. So how about if we limit it to just you for now, Mr. Talbot? Sandra will take you to her in a few minutes.”
“But Lanie is her daughter,” Mack started to protest.
“I want to see her,” I said adamantly.
“And you will,” Daniel answered. “Just please, be patient. One at a time for now.”
“You go first, Lanie,” Mack offered, even though it was etched in every fine line of his face how badly he wanted to be at her side.
I gave him a reassuring smile. “It’s okay, Dad. I’ll get to see her later.”
“Why don’t I take you to get something to eat?” Noah kissed me on the temple and rubbed my back soothingly. “I was worried
you would be so upset that you’d forget to, and I was right.”
He gave me that irresistibly sexy smirk, and I bit down on my bottom lip, trying not to attack him on the spot. My dad wouldn’t have appreciated that little porno moment.
“We’ll go with you,” Polly offered, linking her arm through Dez’s. It really warmed my heart to see my two worlds coming together so seamlessly.
It seemed silly to me now that I’d ever thought Noah’s life and mine were too different for us to ever have a life together. After all, when you took away the money and the fancy houses, cars, and clothes, weren’t we all still just human underneath? Money truly cannot buy you love, and even though it could change some people, that didn’t mean everyone who had a little of it were snobs. Truth be known, I was the snob for thinking Noah and his loved ones weren’t good enough to live in my world. Not only were they good enough, but they had already become a permanent fixture of it. I couldn’t remember my life before Noah, and I didn’t want to imagine the future of my life without him in it.
“Yeah, I think I like that idea. We’ll all go together,” I said as I pulled away from Noah and took his hand instead before I turned back to my father. “Tell Mom I love her and I’ll be in to see her as soon as I’m allowed, okay?”
“Sure thing, sweetie,” he answered.
Daniel gave Noah and me a knowing grin and then took his leave. Lexi, Dez, and Polly followed close behind, but as Noah and I turned toward the door, my father stopped us.
“Lanie, a word please?” he asked, and then looked at Noah. “In private?”
I gave Noah an apologetic yet nervous smile. As much as I hated to watch him walk away, I couldn’t deny my father the audience he requested. Besides, Noah was here to stay for as long as I wanted him, per his own words. I hoped he realized how long a lifetime really did last.
As if reading my mind, Noah cupped my cheek and kissed me gently on the forehead. “I’ll be waiting for you at the elevator,” he said before following our friends out.
I took a deep breath to still my nerves and then turned to face my dad, a smile plastered on my face. “What’s up?”
“What took you so long to come see your mother?”
“What do you mean? I came as soon as Dez told me.”
Mack picked up the newspaper he’d been reading earlier and held it out to me. There, on the front page of the entertainment section of that day’s Chicago Times, was a picture of me and Noah on the red carpet at the Scarlet Lotus Ball. The caption read: “Chicago’s most eligible bachelor, off the market?”
“Dad, I can explain—” I started.
Mack threw his hands up and stopped me. “No need to, Lanie. All I know is that you were in town, and even if I hadn’t seen that article, I was already questioning how the hell you managed to make it here so quickly from New York. I’ve been so preoccupied with worrying about your mother that I didn’t even notice how suspicious it was that you just happened to get a full scholarship at the last moment and whisked yourself away to New York at the drop of a hat. Then a couple million dollars shows up in our bank account with no clue as to where it came from, and your mother’s doctor is taken off the case in favor of a prestigious cardiologist, who just so happens to be the father of your quote-unquote roommate, who just so happens to be the cousin of”—he motioned toward the newspaper again with a flick of his hand—“Chicago’s most eligible bachelor. The man’s got more money than he knows what to do with, and my daughter, a kid who was so shy she didn’t even go to her own prom, is dating him and has her picture plastered all over the newspaper?”
Mack sighed and shook his head. “It doesn’t make any sense, but right now I don’t care. We’ve been given a miracle, and I suspect all these coincidences,” he said, using air quotes around the word, “have everything to do with it, but I won’t question that miracle because it means I get to hold on to my wife a while longer. Just don’t make me regret it.”
A smile so huge it hurt my cheeks spread across my face. “I won’t, Daddy.” I hadn’t called my father that since I was seven. I went over and gave him a big, fat hug because he deserved it and because we both needed it. “Thank you.”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah. Get out of here and go get something to eat. You’re too skinny,” he said, waving me off. “And when all of this is over with and your mother’s back home, I want the two of you to come over for dinner and a proper introduction.”
Translation: he wanted to introduce Noah to his Smith and Wesson.
Despite the fact he was letting me off the hook, I gave him my best please-don’t-pull-out-the-shotgun-and-embarrass-me look. Noah was important to me, and the last thing I needed was for Mack to pull the protective-father routine. I was twenty-four years old and more than capable of taking care of myself. Mack might argue that point if he knew the lengths to which I’d gone to help my family, but I saw what I’d done as a show of strength, not weakness. Regardless, I knew once they got to know Noah, he’d sweep them off their feet the same way he did me.
“It’s a date,” I told Mack. “I’ll be back in a bit to check on Mom.”
Once I’d left the room, I blew out a huge puff of air and sighed in relief before I made my way toward the elevators. I hadn’t gone far when a pair of hands shot out from an opened doorway and grabbed me, dragging me inside. There was no squeak of protest, no fighting off my would-be attacker, because I smelled him even before I saw him.
“Noah, what are you doing?” I laughed as he put my back against the wall and pinned me in place with his body.
He started devouring my neck with kisses. “I told you I was hungry.”
“No, you didn’t. I said I was hungry,” I corrected him with a giggle.
He shrugged, securing my hands above my head with just one of his. “Po-tay-to, po-tah-to.”
My body relaxed under his touch. “You’re insatiable, Mr. Crawford.”
“Ah, so finally you’re catching on, Miss Talbot,” he said as his free hand cupped my right breast and began to massage it.
“So what are we doing here then?”
“I think you’re in need of some … what did you call it? Stress management?” His hand moved down my side until he slipped it underneath my skirt and down the front of my panties. I moaned the second his fingers came into contact with the soft flesh there and began to manipulate my clit. The Cooch shivered in delight.
“Mmm, yeah. You needed this, didn’t you?” His tongue wrapped around my earlobe and he sucked it into his mouth.
The Cooch bobbed her head emphatically and wept from his touch.
I tried to pull my hands down so I could immerse them in his thick hair, but he held me firmly in place. “Uh-uh, Lanie. No touching. Only feeling.”
He accentuated the last word by dipping a long, broad finger inside me, languidly pushing it in before pulling it back out again just as slowly. The heel of his palm pressed against my clit, massaging it with his movements until I felt like my knees would buckle and I’d fall to the floor. But there was no danger of that because Noah was very capable of holding me up.
I felt a second finger push inside and then he stroked the walls of my pussy until I rolled my pelvis against his hand. Back and forth he flicked his fingers, maddeningly slow and then fast before slowing down again. It was enough yet too much, all at the same time, and I felt my body coiling with sensation, ready to spring with just the right stroke.
“Not yet,” he whispered against my lips, then claimed my mouth in a searing kiss. Noah removed his fingers, leaving me wanting. When I groaned in protest, he broke the kiss and looked down on me with that evil little smirk that always made my girly bits break into a chorus of hallelujahs.
“Patience, kitten. You know I always take care of you.”
True story.
Noah pulled his body away from mine, and moved my arms down until my hands were planted flat against the wall at my sides. He hummed in contemplation as he looked me over and then bit down on his bottom lip. “I’m g
oing to let go of your hands now, Delaine, but I want you to keep them in place. If you move them, you will not get your release. Do you understand me?”
“I really hate you for this,” I said, but knew I would do anything he asked. So did he.
He smirked again. “No, you don’t. You already told me you love me, and you can’t take it back.” He kissed the tip of my nose and then slowly pulled his hands away.
Noah
Sinking to my knees, I slipped my hands beneath the hem of Lanie’s dress and pushed the skirt up and over her hips. I couldn’t help the overwhelming urge to nuzzle her center, so I flicked my tongue out to sample the sweet taste of her arousal that had seeped through the black silk material. “Mmm, hors d’oeuvres. I think I’ll keep these for later.” I ripped her panties from her body. Those fuckers had been outlawed and had no business creating a barrier between me and what I wanted.
Lanie gasped in surprise and I smirked up at her. “Never know when I might get hungry again,” I said with a shrug. “Not that I’ve forgotten your blatant disregard for the no-panties rule, Miss Talbot. You will pay for that. Later.”
I tucked her panties in the front pocket of my jeans. Once they were securely in place, I put my hands on the inside of her knees and pushed, spreading her creamy thighs wide for invasion. I didn’t take my time, didn’t make it slow or sensual; I buried my face between her thighs and attacked. Lanie’s back arched and her knees buckled, but I held her in place with my hands firmly grasping her hips. There was no escaping me or my mouth until I was ready to release her.
