Noah

by Cristin Harber

  Rushing to dry off, Teagan didn’t know what she would say. Go get into the shower. Or… She stepped out of the bathroom and faced a freshly showered Noah with a towel wrapped around his waist.

  “Oh, hey. Thought I’d be out before you.”

  “I rushed,” she said.

  His grin hitched. “I’d say. You okay?”

  “Very.”

  “Very,” he repeated, and his playfulness heated. Noah tossed the T-shirt in his hand to the side.

  He hadn’t dried off the water droplets on his stomach and chest, and they followed the lines of his cut muscles. Teagan had known how thick his arms and shoulders were. Noah had held her against his torso, but as her eyes drifted toward the V hiding behind his towel, her mouth watered.

  He prowled forward. Desire flared in his eyes with every bare step, and Teagan licked her lip as Noah tilted her chin up with the light touch of his hand. Shivers ran down her shoulders, cascading down her biceps. “Next time you’re showering with me.”

  “Yes, please,” she whispered.

  “We can take our time.”

  Teagan nodded into his cupped hand, closing her eyes when Noah let his fingers drift across her skin and feather into her hair until he let the strands fall away.

  “I like figuring this out with you. Having time with them, but then just you and me.”

  She didn’t want to open her eyes. His fingertips drifted along her shoulders, and he said magical words. He took her hand in his and backed to the edge of the bed before sitting down. His thumbs massaged her wrist. Then he drew long strokes along her hand, up each finger, pulling one after the other. His thumbs worked her palm.

  “That’s so… nice.” Unexpectedly erotic. He squeezed her hand and mimicked the same motions, massaging her wrists, running the length of her fingers, then putting pressure on her palms and working his way out, as though he knew each bone, every tendon and knuckle.

  “Pressure points.” He moved back to her right hand. “I’d always wondered.”

  “What?”

  “The right place and touch can immobilize a person.”

  “Hmm.” She believed it.

  “But same place, different tactic.” He brought her wrist to his mouth, and the heat of the wet kiss flamed through her body. Not just at her pulse point but awakening the nerve endings and heightening sensations until her core cried for his attention.

  “Your experiment is working.” A full body shiver slipped from her shoulders below her towel, and Noah languidly kissed up her forearm.

  His lips paused, and he pulled her close, draping her arm around his neck. “Good to know.”

  Their two towels didn’t hide much as he nestled her between his powerful legs. His palms drifted along her sides, pressing the shower-damp cloth to her flushed skin, and her pulse pounded in her neck.

  Her towel-dried hair fell over her shoulders, and wet drips slid toward her breasts. Under the towel, her breasts ached for his touch, and even the tickle of water made her sizzle.

  Noah’s hands smoothed up her sides again, teasing along the top of her towel. His eyes held hers, and she waited for the rush of cool air when the towel fell away, but no.

  He played. Tortured. He drew her closer again, dropping a hand to her backside and cupping her bottom while he skimmed the back of his knuckles over her covered breasts.

  Her breaths shook. Her eyelashes fluttered. Still, the towel didn’t move.

  Noah squeezed her bottom, and Teagan’s head dropped back on a throaty moan, and finally—

  “Ah,” she murmured.

  His strong hand massaged her breast, and even through the towel, his focus on kneading her, working his way to the tip before sliding his hand to the other side, was heavenly.

  He dipped forward, and hot breaths licked behind her ear as his fingers rested on the tucked knot of towel in the center of her chest.

  “May I?” he whispered.

  Arousal bloomed deep inside, and wordlessly she nodded.

  Noah inched back, and with both hands, unwrapped her like a gift, baring her body to him as if he needed to feast. The towel dropped, and his hands did too. He took her fingers in his.

  “I have never met anyone like you before, and damn, I’m glad.”

  Her heart squeezed. She was falling for him. Or she had already. It was fast. But it was deep. His presence consumed her. His honesty gave her life, and she inhaled deeply for fear that she’d let everything about this man overwhelm her. “Me too.”

  “On the bed, beautiful.” He pulled her into the center of the king-sized bed.

  “I’m not the only one.” She tugged on the towel, and it fell off his hips so easily that she pulled back quickly, as if she’d made a move too fast. Her quick laugh stopped short at the sight of him naked and aroused.

  Noah stole her breath. She couldn’t keep from sliding her hands over his thickness, reveling in the smooth heat and the searing sound of his quick inhale. She didn’t know pressure points, but she wanted him to feel as she did—blissfully beautiful and seductive. Sexy.

  He made her feel like the center of his world, and stroking him, rubbing her thumbs along the top of his crown, she wished to give him that too.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

  Noah dropped his head onto a pillow when Teagan slid her hands down him, but more than that, he needed her kiss. Her eyes. Her everything.

  Easing back to her, he took her mouth, and their legs tangled. The kiss heated, and her body melted to his, arching for more with every gasping kiss and frenzied claw of her fingernails.

  He ached to slide inside her. Every time she moaned, he wanted to make it louder, make it more, with deep thrusts and hungry kisses.

  But—ugh—he needed to hold back. He’d specifically said no sex. None. God help him.

  He didn’t want to do Teagan. He wanted to be with her in a way he’d never needed before. Noah pulled back, needing to take a minute. He needed a plan. The don’t-be-a-jackass plan. “Are you cold?”

  Her face screwed. “No.”

  “We should get under the covers.” After all, who actually had sex with the covers on? He had no idea. But he didn’t.

  “Um…”

  “Come on.” Noah swallowed away every ounce of regret and made a to-do list. Worship her body, cuddle, cold shower. He tossed away pillows and yanked down the comforter. This was like staying in a hotel. No one ever had sex like this. Right? It was a foolproof way to keep his word.

  Her cute smile and wildly drying hair made him smile as she tucked under the blanket and sheet with him. “You didn’t seem cold.”

  “I wasn’t.” He moved over her, and this didn’t seem like a safer idea at all. If anything, they were closer than before, wrapped together in a way that he loved.

  His plan was going off the rails, with her legs splayed under him and him towering over her, and they hadn’t passed the five-second mark. It might’ve seemed that he was trying to move things along. Why did this have to be so complicated? And why did it matter?

  Because he didn’t want to lose her.

  Recalibrate and stick to the plan. He shifted to her side and lowered his head to her breast, flicking his tongue over the tip and forgetting his worries when her back arched. That was his motivation. Make her feel him. Make Teagan fly, and he dipped his hands between her legs to find her wet and wanting.

  “Noah,” she whispered as he stroked her folds.

  That gave him life. Her needy cries filled with his name. Selfish, but hell, he didn’t care. His fingers parted her, encircling her rosebud of nerves before stroking her open and teasing her entrance.

  “Like that.” Her hips writhed. “Oh…”

  He repositioned, kissing her mouth deeply as his fingers sank into her heat. Her muscles clenched, and his fingers withdrew from the slick tightness and plunged again. Teagan clung to him, kissing and moaning, promising she needed him.

  His eyes squeezed shut, and he memorized her every breath and reaction. How she moaned
and gasped, what made her arch and cry for more, until Teagan was on the cusp of climax and begging for his gaze.

  He gave her that, pushing her over the edge, needing to watch as much as she did, and his chest exploded when her face tore away and the climax ripped through her.

  Out of breath and intoxicated, he brought her to his body and wrapped her close as the last of her convulsions rolled through the limp woman in his arms. He kissed the top of her head and wondered if she would fall asleep. His heartbeat had dulled to a roar now, so maybe hers had too.

  Noah shifted, and she wrapped her arms around his neck, nuzzling close. Like a spark to gasoline, his heartbeat galloped again.

  “I thought you were asleep.” He kissed her temple.

  She sighed languidly. “I think that might’ve been a coma. But not asleep. At all.”

  Even her voice made his skin hot. It was time to bail. He stifled a groan and forced words out of his mouth. “You want me to wake you in the morning?”

  She jerked, twisting from her sated position, and narrowed her gaze. “What?”

  “Or not,” he teased awkwardly. “I was going to let you sleep.”

  Teagan tensed, and her lips thinned into a smile he couldn’t explain. “No, that’s fine.”

  Fine. Lainey had warned him about the perils of fine years ago. Fine was a serious warning flag, and Noah had never given it a second thought. Until this second.

  “You okay?”

  “Sure.”

  He didn’t recall sure being on the he-had-problems list, but he didn’t know. Life on a SEAL team wasn’t conducive to successful relationships, or so he’d heard. He hadn’t had much interest in trying.

  “As long as you’re sure,” he said.

  Her eyes blinked more than he’d noticed before—did they look watery? In that moment, he knew. Sure could be classified the same as fine when a woman was upset, and he was about to be up shit creek, if he wasn’t already there. Hadn’t he just done a good thing?

  “Hey.” He dropped a kiss to her shoulder. “Teagan, look at me.”

  She glanced over for a moment.

  “I hate to break it to you, beautiful.”

  Again she looked, but this time she didn’t turn away. “What?”

  “I have no idea what I’m doing.”

  Her eyebrows lifted as she scoffed, somewhat laughing. “I’ll agree to disagree.”

  Noah laughed too and tucked her closer to his side. “Oh, that, I know.”

  She blushed, and he loved it, everything about her and them, how she reacted and how it made him feel, how she could react on such a base level and it would cause a seismic reaction within him.

  “But not screwing up this?” He squeezed her side. “Because this is awesome? I don’t know what the hell I’m doing.”

  “Seems okay to me,” she said quietly.

  “I invited you over for a nonsex slumber party, and here you are, naked, in bed with me.”

  Teagan shifted to her hip. “Because I want to be.”

  He worked that over for a second, staring at the ceiling. “Yeah, well, true.”

  “You’re assuming.” She sighed theatrically. “That I’m impervious to your charms? That I just can’t help myself and need you to decide for me?”

  He squinted an eye closed, chuckling at himself. “When you say it like that…”

  “Oh, Casanova.” Her shoulder-poking finger tapped with each syllable.

  “I’m not going to live this down.” He groaned.

  “Hmm.” Teagan leaned across his chest and planted a kiss on his lips. “We should keep a tally board.”

  He rolled her over and caged his forearms on the sides of her head. “Jokes aside, I said something, and I meant it. I invited you over because I would do about anything to spend time with you, and screwing that up was a concern of yours.”

  “Yours too,” she added.

  He shook his head. “Was. Everything was. I was in over my head, and there you were on the first day. Beautiful. A beacon of freaking knowledge, and maybe there was the off chance some primal instinct urged me to you because I needed you to survive. I’m trained to excel. But this isn’t that. We’re more.”

  “We are?”

  “I know that. I just need you to also.”

  “I’m there.” She hugged him, and the cold distance that had frozen her lips evaporated.

  “Hang on a moment.” Noah rolled out of bed, retrieved his wallet to remove a condom, and tossed the wallet on a nightstand. He was through with his plan and would let whatever happened between them happen.

  Teagan had the covers pulled up to her chin then straddled him with the covers draped around her. Her wavy hair fell around his face when she kissed him. Their tongues slow danced.

  Every deep kiss and velvety hot lick roared their smoldering fire to a blaze until her hips swayed and his arousal was a painstaking tease.

  With few words shared, Noah removed the condom and covered himself. His hands gripped Teagan’s hips. He sucked in a deep breath as she held him firmly against her tightness, inching down—and hovering—down—and waiting, until she took his length.

  Her lips were parted, tiny quick gaps falling quickly, and never had he so wanted to lose control and stay in a moment forever.

  Teagan rocked, and Noah didn’t care anymore. His possessive hold took over, and her cries for more drove him to thrust. Their skin slapped together, their needs intertwining as she fell forward, her lips locking with his, and he folded his arms over her back and drove into her until she prayed to come again, then again.

  He flipped her over, slowing as she pulsed around him, and embraced the racing need to be with her again. In bed. Out of bed. Then her eyes opened, and her sweet smile drifted to her lips, and Noah collapsed forward, nearly crushing her with his weight.

  Their foreheads kissed. Their stomachs touched. He flexed in and out of her body as her mouth gaped out, another climax climbing through her, and this time, he’d go with her.

  Sweat dampened his chest. He found her fingers, locking their hands together and straining. “Teagan.”

  She came with him, milking his release into eternity until he rolled them to their sides and gathered her in his arms.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

  Wrapped in a security blanket of warm arms and heavy legs, Teagan stretched her naked body against Noah before silencing her cell phone alarm. She nestled back and didn’t know if he woke with eyes that bright or if he’d been awake before her, but what a way to wake up.

  “Good morning.” His whiskery chin dipped to her cheek, and his chaste kiss was a shade quieter than his words had been.

  His hands were sinfully slow as they slid over her, hugging her close, and her throat tightened as his lips tickled her with a delicious good morning kiss.

  “Good morning to you too.”

  Noah shifted, tucking her close to his side, and Teagan snuggled her back to his chest as his broad body spooned her under the covers. He pulled her close one more time then let his hand rest on her bare hip, his fingers tracing patterns as she lulled in a dreamy happiness.

  “What do you think our odds are?” he asked.

  She tilted her head to see him better. “For?”

  “Breakfast without a major malfunction.”

  “Ha!” She twisted to face him. “Maybe you’re a kitchen jinx!”

  “Nah.” He kissed her. “Don’t believe in jinx.”

  Her eyes rolled, and she kissed him back. “You better start, my friend. You are now living in the land of kids and dreams. That’s magic.”

  “It’ll be magic if we get out of bed before they wake up—”

  Pfssh. “We’re already up. No way are either of them going to see this hour.”

  “Teagan.”

  “What?”

  “I said nothing about awake, beautiful.”

  She closed an eye and made a funny face, not deciphering his meaning.

  “Out. Of. Bed.” Noah rolled over her, teasing his
lips across hers. “There’s a distinct difference.”

  He proved his point with a kiss hot enough to make her dizzy. “I… get it.”

  His hands made fast work of moving everywhere, then he lumbered out of bed. “Having kids ain’t easy.”

  She cracked up. “Says you with less than a month of time clocked.”

  He stopped cold then pivoted on his heel.

  “I’m sorry.” She sat up, sensing the immediate change in his mood. “I was just playing.”

  “This isn’t a game to me, Teagan. I’m not going anywhere. I wouldn’t do that to Bella.”

  The instant sting of what she’d implied sliced through her chest. “I know. Gosh, I didn’t mean that—”

  “And I wouldn’t do that to you and Will. I’m not your ex-husband.”

  That pain flooded her eyes. They started to water. “I know.”

  He strode forward and pulled her to the edge of the bed. “Shit. Teagan.”

  “I’m sorry. I didn’t—”

  “I didn’t mean to make you cry. Damn it.”

  “No, you didn’t.”

  “You’re crying. I was talking.” He sat on the edge of the bed, and she crawled into his arms. “I overreacted.”

  “No. You didn’t. Maybe I did. Or not.” She wiped at her face.

  “Hang on a sec.” He moved to a drawer then tossed her a pair of boxers and an oversized shirt, then he pulled on a pair of sweatpants. “Try again. That whole thing about talking to a crowd when they’re naked? It’s bullshit. No one can think clearly like that.”

  Teagan laughed. “I think everyone has huge loads to carry. The older we get, the heavier our basket.”

  He nodded.

  “And when couples do… coupley things, and their baskets are similar—”

  “Are you sure you’re a guidance counselor?”

  She play-hit his arm. “Yes, to six-year-olds! I’m out of practice with grown-up issues.”

  “I could find a couple of dolls if you want them to have this conversation for us.” He winked.