by Ali Parker
“True, but you don’t need one of their rings.” I didn’t think she’d appreciate me offering to loan her however much money she needed, but I did file the idea away for later.
Thus far, my attempts at trying to give money away to my family hadn’t gone well for me. It seemed like everyone I actually wanted to give it to or spend it on didn’t want it.
If Maggie needed it to live her dream, I’d give her every last cent I had in my bank account. But I’d have to find a way to bring it up to her without mortally offending her.
Even my own mother had threatened to never speak to me again if I offered her any money or assets again. There was no doubt in my mind that Maggie would react the same way.
Carter had been wrong about her. I knew he was. I didn’t know how, but I just did. The man had killer instincts in business, but it seemed like his instincts were off when it came to personal stuff.
Maggie and I both dropped the subject after that. I was too afraid I was going to blurt out something that would piss her off, and she seemed to really not want to talk about it anymore.
So much so that she started talking about a cat video she’d seen on the internet this week instead.
When we got back to the hotel, I shut the door behind us and flicked on the lights. Maggie walked over to our bar area. “Want a nightcap? I know it’s already cold outside, but soon, we won’t be able to sit there at all until summer comes.”
“Sure.” I went to collect our warm hotel robes while she poured drinks.
When I gave her the robe, she smiled and walked to my side of the bar with our drinks in hand. She handed mine over before raising her own. “I’m glad I came back, Noah. Even if for nothing else than to see you, I’m really, really glad I came back.”
“Yeah, me too.” I slid an arm around her back, pulled her closer to me, and then I kissed her. This time, I wasn’t stopping until neither of us could keep our eyes open anymore.
Chapter 26
Maggie
Noah’s head was buried between my legs, one hand planted on my hip to keep me anchored while the other helped his tongue to carry me to the stars. My hands gripped his head while my thighs clenched together so tightly, I was afraid I was going to hurt him.
Easing up slightly, I arched my back and grabbed a pillow to stifle my moans. Even with it mashed over my face, I could hear the mostly incomprehensible words I was doing my best not to scream. It was something along the lines of “Oh fuck yes,” “Right there,” and “Don’t stop.”
Whether he could hear what I said or not, he still did exactly as I asked. His mouth closed over my throbbing hard clit, his tongue circling it while his fingers fucked me with total abandon.
My orgasm hit me hard and made me scream his name over and over, not even the pillow doing much to muffle the sounds of my ecstasy. I couldn’t bring myself to care or wonder about which stuffy, pretentious power couple from downstairs could hear me come while sitting in their room next door.
Heck, maybe it would even be good for them. Remind them that they’re human beings and not ATM machines.
Or maybe they would report us to hotel security.
It didn’t matter.
My entire existence was reduced to pleasure. All I could think about were the exquisite waves of it crashing over me, drawing me under and then crashing into me again as soon as I surfaced.
Noah tried to keep going again once it finally subsided, keeping my body trembling beneath his touch. It took every ounce of strength I could muster to sit up and slide my fingers under his dripping chin to lift his face away from me.
“What’s wrong, babe?” Concern flashed in his eyes when he looked up at me, scooting his knees in beneath him to sit back on his heels. “You okay?”
“I’m fine,” I said hoarsely, “but it’s your turn now.”
Without giving him time to protest, I pushed his back to the mattress and wrapped my fist around his thick cock. There was a bead of wetness coating the tip I couldn’t wait to taste, so I didn’t.
Tucking my hair behind my ears, I leaned forward and wrapped my mouth around him. Noah moaned, his hips thrusting into my mouth. “God, Mags. You have no idea how good that feels.”
I wanted to point out that I did, given that he’d just done it to me, but since talking would involve releasing his velvety shaft from my mouth, I decided to just go with it. Moving my fist in time with my tongue, I brought it up when my mouth slid down.
Adjusting myself to get more comfortable on my knees, I focused all my attention on bringing him the same amount of pleasure he’d just brought me. Noah’s fingers wound into my hair and kneaded my scalp.
Since I wasn’t exactly a pro at giving blow jobs, I took my cues from him, listening to his breathing and concentrating on when he arched his hips or let out a sound of pleasure.
I glanced up to see Noah’s eyes were half open, watching as I withdrew my mouth and pressed my lips to the side of his hard cock. My other hand traveled down to his balls, cupping them gently as I kissed my way down his shaft to meet it there.
He groaned and thrust against my lips again, his hips arching as I sucked him back into my mouth and swirled my tongue around the head. I moaned around him and took him as deep as I could while wrapping my fingers around the base of his dick.
Noah writhed beneath me, panting with his fingers digging into my skin. I felt him tapping my shoulder at some point, but I didn’t stop. He always kept going, so I figured it was time to return the favor.
“Maggie. Fuck. I’m gonna—” His stomach dipped, a tremor jerking the muscles in his thighs, and then he was coming into my mouth. “Fuck. Maggie.”
The taste of him on my tongue was salty but not bad. I swallowed hard until there was nothing left, feeling a rush of pride that I’d finally made him lose the precious self-control he always managed to hang onto.
Smiling as I released him, I sat back to take in his gently parted lips and hooded eyes.
He swallowed, his tongue darting out to lick his lips as he recovered. “You know I’m going to need a minute now, right?”
I nodded but pressed my thighs together anyway.
Noah’s eyes darkened. “And in that time, I’m going to make you come as many times as I can.”
“Really?” I raised an eyebrow. “Are you sure you’re up for that?”
He propped himself up on his elbows and smirked. “Is that a challenge?”
“It might be.” I shrugged. “Or we could have that nightcap now.”
“Nah, all I need tonight is more of you.” His arms shot out faster than I’d have given him credit for being capable of after his climax, and the next thing I knew, I was pinned against the bed.
His fingers teased my slick entrance, his head resting on the palm of his hand with his eyes firmly fixed on mine. Our lips were so close together that I tilted mine up to brush his, but Noah pulled away when I tried to kiss him. “I want to watch every second of this. Have you ever seen yourself come? It’s the sexiest sight there is.”
“Who says it’s going to happen again?” Stupid question, since my hips were already rocking and my breathing getting heavier, but I liked being able to banter with him even in a position that would usually have me too embarrassed to even look at the guy.
With Noah, sex didn’t feel like anything to be shy or embarrassed about. I didn’t feel self-conscious being naked with him, even though my body definitely wasn’t as firm as it used to be. I didn’t feel the need to try to hide how much I wanted him or how he made me feel.
It was almost like his confidence made me confident. His raw, primal reactions made mine feel perfectly normal, sexy even. I supposed that was really it, though. He made me believe I was sexy, beautiful, and wanted, despite the flab and the jiggly bits.
Treat a woman like a sex goddess, and apparently, she’d become one. Because if treated that way, we’d believe it about ourselves and become what we believed we were. Not because women needed men to boost their self-esteem, but
it sure was nice not to have to worry about him breaking it down.
Lydia’s father, the last man I’d been with, had been an expert at making little comments during sex that had chipped away at my self-esteem. He’d point out how my hips were so fleshy that it peeled between his fingers when he gripped them, or how my stomach jiggled if I was on top.
It got to a point where I was so conscious of how I looked that I couldn’t get into it at all. I pretended, convinced myself that if I kept faking it, I would eventually make it. All I ended up making was Lydia. He’d run for the hills before I could even start a discussion surrounding how he made me feel in the bedroom.
Sex had always kind of felt like a sprint to me. The man thrusting until he got there, and if you didn’t make it to the edge before him, tough luck. Thank you for playing, better luck next time.
Needless to say, I’d never quite made it before him and, therefore, had remained unsatisfied until the ripe age of twenty-three when I’d gotten pregnant. After that, I gave up on men altogether. They didn’t stay, couldn’t be counted on, and weren’t even good for the one part of their anatomy that the majority of them were so extremely proud of.
With Noah, however, sex wasn’t a sprint at all. It was an experience. An experience during which I could count on him to make good on all the sensations he coaxed from my body.
As I flew over the edge again, hearing angels sing and floating on a raft on the Milky Way, I briefly wondered where this kind of sex had been all my life. My toes curled so hard, my feet might as well have formed fists, and by the time I came to again, Noah had a condom on and was sliding into me.
“Seeing you come will get me there every time,” he gritted out, feeding his cock to me one glorious inch at a time.
Despite my previous orgasms, I still felt him stretch and glide against every sensitive part of my insides. “God, Noah. I don’t know how you do this to me, but never stop, okay?”
“Never,” he whispered.
I wound my arms around his neck to press my palms to the base of it and brought his mouth to mine. We kissed until we both tensed and trembled in the other’s arms, reaching heights previously unknown to me at the same time.
Resting my head on his chest after we’d caught our breath, I pulled his arm around me and closed my eyes. Noah made me feel so safe, so protected, and sometimes, he even made me feel loved.
It was probably too early to be thinking about him in those terms, but that didn’t change that it was how he made me feel. Besides, it wasn’t like we were just starting out. We didn’t need to get through all the preliminary getting-to-know-you stuff, didn’t need to work our way up to meeting the other’s parents or having to worry about embarrassing childhood memories coming out.
I thought that the way things were between us put us on a different playing field to ordinary relationships. Ours was a story of second chances. The challenges weren’t whether we were compatible or could grow to love each other. In a way, we had always loved each other.
No, our challenges were going to be something else entirely. We already knew we could grow to love each other in that way again. We already knew we were compatible and that our families got along.
What we didn’t know was whether we could overcome what had happened between us in the past. Our mountains were made of obstacles we’d put there years ago for our future selves to knock down, not unknown exes or hidden addictions.
I didn’t know if what we were facing was better or worse than someone starting out in an entirely new relationship. A part of me thought that our obstacles were insurmountable, while another thought that we had learned from our past and knew now what our mistakes had been. I might be able to count on him during sex, but I still didn’t know if I could count on him to stay.
Cracking open an eye to look up at Noah, I saw that he had fallen asleep. He was still holding on to me so tightly. His breathing was deep and even, and the expression on his face was serene.
He seemed so harmless and innocent in his sleep, but there was a time I’d never have attributed either of those qualities to him. There’d been a time where, for however briefly, I’d considered him to be nothing less than the devil.
He’d ripped my heart out in high school. It had felt like forever at the time, but I realized now how fleeting our relationship and even my heartache really had been.
It seemed foolish to be wondering if this beautiful man lying next to me would pull the same shit he had back then, but I couldn’t help it. He wouldn’t do it again, right?
I didn’t want to think about it, but it was always there in the back of my mind. As I draped my arm over his torso and forced my tired eyes to close again, I decided to banish all my doubts for tonight.
All I wanted was for this moment to last, and since I couldn’t make that happen, I was going to make the best of it while I was still in it.
Chapter 27
Noah
Early on Monday morning, we pulled up in front of Maggie’s mother’s house. We’d gone to breakfast at the hotel as soon as it opened and had left right after.
I really hadn’t been ready to go. If it had been up to me, we’d have spent the next six months locked in that suite, making love as we overlooked the treetops and watched the sun rise and set on the horizon.
Understandably though, Maggie was eager to get home to Lydia, so we’d gotten an early start. I parked and shut off my engine, turning in my seat to face her. “Thank you for doing this for me, Mags. I really appreciate that you came with me.”
“I came with you all right.” Her lips quirked into an adorable smirk, humor dancing in her eyes.
I laughed. “Well, I appreciated that too. But it wasn’t really what I was referring to.”
“I know.” She let out a quiet sigh. “Thank you for bringing me. It was an incredible weekend.” Her teeth sank into her lower lip. I could practically see the gears in her head turning. “So I guess this is goodbye, huh?”
Reaching out to cradle her cheek gently, I stroked my thumb along her cheekbone and kept my eyes on her deep green ones. “It’s only goodbye for today, and only because I probably have to work at some point and you wanted to spend some time with Lydia before you do too.”
Her gaze darted between my eyes, searching as she whispered, “Okay. I’ll see you around?”
“You will.” It was a promise I would keep. I didn’t think I would ever be able to let her go, not after everything that had happened between us lately, and never for a second time. Even I wasn’t that dumb. “I’ll text you later.”
“Okay, talk to you later.” She smiled, but it seemed forced. There was a bit of moisture sitting on the bottom of her eyelids, but I couldn’t tell if they were tears or if the air from the vents was hitting them just wrong.
Wanting to believe it was the latter, since I really didn’t know what I could have done that would make her cry, I pressed a soft kiss to her lips. “By the way, I meant to talk to you about this last night, but we never got around to it.”
She cocked her head, waiting with her hand already on the door handle. “About what?”
“I’ve been thinking about what we talked about over dinner, and I’d like it if you could get some things together for me, with a portfolio of your clothing designs.”
“What?” She frowned.
Fuck. Please don’t let this backfire on me. Again. “I’ve been looking for something new to invest in, and I’m thinking it might be a good time to go into fashion design and textiles.”
Despite my speech to myself that I wouldn’t offer or bring it up, I hadn’t been able to stop thinking about it. Maggie’s dream had always been this, and I had the capital she needed to make it happen.
Besides, I really had been thinking about investing in some other industries. No time like the present to start, right?
Maggie had been an instrumental part in my getting so many new investors this weekend. I was simply thinking that maybe she could get a new investor, too.
; “Thanks, but no thanks. I couldn’t do that.” There wasn’t a hint of hesitation in her voice. She spoke clearly, deliberately, and firmly. “It’s nice of you to offer, though. Really. I understand what you’re trying to do, but you don’t have to. I’m happy working at Addie’s for now, and I told you, I’m not in a hurry. It will happen when it happens.”
“You think I want to do this for you as a favor, don’t you?” I tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and fixed her gaze with mine.
She nodded, her lip pulled between her teeth. I wanted to pull it out with my own, and since I figured I kind of could, I did. Of course, the action resulted in a kiss that I stopped before it ended with us on the backseat.
Right outside her mother’s house.
In broad daylight.
Probably not the best idea.
She rolled her swollen lips into her mouth before releasing them. “Why do you want to do it, then? If it’s not a favor.”
“I believe in your designs, Mags.” I sighed, imploring her to dig into her memories of me from before everything went to shit. “I always have, remember?”
Her eyes narrowed, making me think that she hadn’t gone far enough back. I barely suppressed a wince when I played through my own memory reel and wondered which of the fuck-ups I’d made she was calling to mind right then.
But then she nodded. “I don’t know, Noah. Let me think about it.”
She leaned over and pressed another kiss to my lips, pulling on the door handle just as she lifted her mouth away from mine. “Bye, Noah. Thanks again for the weekend.”
“Goodbye, Mags. Thanks for coming.” I winked, hearing her answering chuckle before she closed the door.
After I left her house, I went to see Jordan. Mom and Della were likely to be on their way to school, and Jordan had the day off. Which meant I’d have some time alone with my brother. Time that I desperately needed with him today.
