Layla set Rescue on the couch, then left to wait outside her door. No way was she letting Noah go in without backup, even if she sucked at that stuff.
He appeared in her hallway a minute later and muttered under his breath when he spotted her in the open doorway. “What part of stay here don’t you understand?”
“None.” She raised her chin and held his serious gaze while she entered her apartment. “Not when you’re in here risking your well-being for me.”
He crossed the room, set his bat against the wall and turned to her, lightly grasping her upper arms. “Layla, there’s a difference. I’ve been trained to defend, fight, rescue, attack—you name it—I can handle myself.” He released her arms to cup her face with both hands, his gaze open and dark. “But what I can’t handle is the thought of something happening to you.”
The sincerity in his tone and profound, fierce feeling tugged deep at her heart.
“I know an open door may seem innocent to you, but until we know differently, please…please heed my requests, okay? For me?”
Breath caught in her throat at the force of emotion she saw in his gaze and felt in the slight tremor in his hands. She slid her hands down his chest to rest on his hips. “Okay.”
He blew out a breath and set his forehead to hers. “Thank you.”
“But, you understand I don’t want anything to happen to you either, right?” she asked. “That’s why I followed you in here.”
His jaw clenched and unclenched as he nodded.
“Good. I—” Layla paused when Rescue appeared at their feet to brush between their legs. “What the heck?” She released Noah to bend down and pick up her cat. “I shut your door behind me, Noah. He shouldn’t be in here.”
Now her heart clogged her throat, thumping out a crazy beat, as once again Noah grabbed his bat and told her to stay in her apartment. God, she didn’t want to, and even opened her mouth to protest but he sent her a stern look.
“Layla. Please stay here and lock the damn door behind me.”
She clenched her teeth and nodded, not entirely sure she would follow through. As soon as he left, she flicked the lock and counted, vowing that if he didn’t return by the time she reached sixty she was heading to find him.
It wasn’t until that very moment she realized how deep her feelings for the man really ran. Way beyond crush. Way beyond infatuation. Lust. Even love. She was so far beyond love there were no words. But their relationship was still in its infancy. No way could she tell the guy who’d moved away for over a decade, and whom she’d only just started to date that month, that she was madly, deeply in love with him.
What if he ran for the hills?
In Pennsylvania.
No, she’d have to keep that to herself for a bit and not let it slip out while the talented man was altering her mind, as only he could do.
He just better return to her. She had her ear to the door, listening—desperately—for any sounds of a scuffle. Any kind of noise to give her a reason to open the door.
At the count of fifty-seven he knocked. “It’s me.”
Her body literally sagged. She unlocked and opened the door, then flung herself into his arms. “You’re okay?”
She had no idea what had gotten in to her. Poor guy probably thought she was nuts, but the thought of something happening to him because of her was too much to take.
“Yes. I’m fine,” he reassured with a tight squeeze. “The place was empty. Hey…you’re shaking, sweetheart. It’s okay.”
“I’m shaking because you scared me. Please don’t make me stay behind again. I can’t do that, Noah. It’s hard enough when you’re at the station and I hear tones drop or the whine of sirens.”
He kissed her forehead and continued to hold her tight, but she felt his body go rigid. “I’m sorry. I know it’s asking a lot from you to be with a firefighter and a soldier. Look, I’d understand if—”
“No,” she cut him off and drew back to stare him right in the face. “Don’t even utter the words. I can handle it. I just don’t want you to put me on a shelf behind a glass wall.”
He inhaled then exhaled slow. “I’ll try not to. But I can’t guarantee I won’t be stubborn. Your safety means everything to me.”
“Then you understand exactly how I feel about you.”
Rescue ambled over and changed their focus as he strolled between them and rubbed their legs again.
Noah released her to bend down and pick up her cat, whose deep rumble filled the air. “We need to figure out what, exactly, is going on with you.” He glanced at her. “Have you checked the video feed?”
“No.” She shook her head. “Not yet. I saw the door open and went right to you.”
“Good girl.” He handed Rescue to her and kissed her cheek before heading to the laptop he’d set up to retrieve the feed.
She walked over, holding her purring cat as a video of her apartment played on the monitor. Noah rewound through the timestamp to just before she left work, and they both reeled back at what they saw.
“Son-of-a-bitch.” Noah rewound then replayed the feed again, chuckling as a video showed Rescue walking to the door where he stretched his long body all the way up to the door handle, tugging at it until it opened then waltzed into the hallway.
“That little…you mean Rescue has been letting himself out?” She glanced at the cat, content in her arms, lazily washing his paw, before rubbing it on his face and ear.
“Apparently.” Noah chuckled.
She laughed and kissed her cat on the head before hugging him tight. He squirmed, not at all happy with the mauling. “You’re lucky that’s all I do to you for scaring us half to death all this time.” She set him down with a grin still curving her lips. “So, apparently his escaping had nothing to do with the notes.”
Noah slowly nodded. “Yeah. Looks like we solved that mystery. I’ll give the landlord a call right now to see if I can install round door knobs tonight. Pretty sure Rescue can’t tug them open.”
She chuckled, feeling much better at having figured out how her cat kept escaping, and that no one was gaining access to her apartment. It made sense now. The two incidents were not related. Maybe the notes could be easily solved too?
Yeah, probably some nut job running around Dallas who hated cats. And coffee.
Or maybe just her.
***
The mornings that Noah had to leave bed with Layla still in it were becoming more and more difficult. At the start of every work day, he slipped out of her apartment and returned to his to grab a quick shower and dress in his station gear. He had a very good reason for not taking his navy T-shirt and tactical cargoes to her apartment. It was because it forced him to get his ass out of her bed.
Leaving sucked, but he took solace in knowing she’d be in his apartment when he returned the next morning. He was a lucky son-of-a-bitch and he knew it. He also knew just because they’d solved the riddle of Rescue’s escapes, and curtailed future ones with a new doorknob, didn’t mean Layla was out of danger. He finished his shower and dried off before getting dressed. It only meant, like she’d said, the two incidents were not related. The mystery of the notes still remained.
It seemed as if his presence had made a difference in that respect, though, because the notes, according to his captain, appeared less frequently. Noah didn’t want them to stop. He hoped he’d be around to catch the person in the act. But, other than that one time, he never got another opportunity.
And that pissed him off. He wanted to catch the damn guy and move on with life. Move on with coming clean to Layla, hoping like hell she’d understand his reason for deceiving her. Stifling a yawn, he left his room and headed down the hall, and when he got to his living room, he stopped dead.
Everything inside him woke up at the sight of Layla standing in his kitchen. The sweet woman garnered that response from him whenever she walked into a room. And he knew—he knew he couldn’t let her go. Ever. She meant more to him than the station. The guard.
<
br /> More than air.
“Good morning.” She smiled.
“Hi, sweetheart,” he said. “I thought you were sleeping.”
With an increased thud in his chest, he stepped close, pressed her sweet curves against the counter and kissed her, long and deep, running his hands up the soft skin of her bare arms then over the gorgeous swell of her chest. She moaned and kissed him back, cupping his face as her tongue met his in a demanding, heated kiss. He got the sense she needed it as much as him. That she wrestled with something on her mind, too. By the time he pulled back for air, she had his shirt balled in her fists for support.
“You okay?” He tipped her chin so he could see her eyes. They smoldered with need and his body throbbed in response.
She nodded. “Except for the fact I can’t feel my legs.”
A grin tugged his mouth. “No problem.” He had a great remedy in mind.
A second later, he swept her off her feet and cradled her against his body, and her half laugh, half gasp warmed his neck as he carried her a few feet across the room to deposit her on the desk set up in the corner. “We have exactly thirty-two minutes before my rotation starts. Take off your clothes.”
“What? Here?” She blinked at him as he opened a drawer, removed a condom, and set it next to her on the desk. The antique was solid and sturdy and he had no qualms taking Layla on it. “Now?”
Noah wished he had more time to lay her out on his bed and ravish her sweetness until she lost her voice from calling out his name when she came. But he didn’t have that luxury.
“Yes.” He locked the door, removed his boots, then pulled off his shirt before losing the rest of his clothes. “The desk is strong, but I’m not. I need you, Layla. Need to be inside you and no way in hell can I wait twenty-four hours until my shift is over. You game?” He moved his laptop to the chair, hoping to God she didn’t shoot him down.
“Very game.” She ripped the tank top over her head and unhooked her bra, tossing them on the pile of clothes he’d created on the floor.
At the sight of her bouncing breasts and tight peaks, he let out a low growl and quickly removed her shorts and bubblegum pink thong that had his dick bobbing in appreciation. Damn, she was breathtaking. His pulse kicked up as he cupped her face and kissed her, claimed her, gave her everything he had, willing her to feel all he couldn’t say. Her breathing increased and she trembled against him.
He drew back and brushed her lower lip with his thumb, staring into her flushed face. “Everything okay?”
She nodded and smiled, her gaze open and happy. “Perfect.”
Guilt stabbed at his gut. He knew he should tell her about his promise to the captain. Secrets had a way of biting one in the ass. But he also knew she’d be upset and he didn’t want to drop that kind of a bomb before walking out to leave her alone for a full shift. No, now wasn’t a good time.
Would it ever be? No. No matter when the truth came out one thing was certain. Layla was going to be hurt, and God, that was the last thing he wanted to do. The reason he was in this mess in the first place was because he wanted to prevent her from getting hurt. He wanted to be with her. To love her, and be loved in return.
And…damn, he felt that with her. It was in everything she did. The way she touched him, made him breakfast, saved him the best cupcakes, looked at him, like now, all soft and adoring. Warmth spread through his chest and his heart shifted into place.
Hell, he hadn’t even known it was ajar.
Not until Layla touched it.
“You are perfect.” He gently pushed her back before sliding his hands down her supple legs to grasp her ankles and set her feet flat on the desk where he spread her open to look his fill. “So damn perfect.”
Noah’s mouth watered. His need for Layla was overpowering. He had to taste her, have her, sink inside her. Christ, he had zero control with her. He leaned in to kiss a path down her throat, then over her collarbone to her gorgeous breasts he cupped in each hand. A thrill shot down his spine at the way her nipples hardened and body arched up to meet him, and damn, he loved how he ripped soft sexy little mewls from her throat when he sucked on a hard peak and rolled it against the roof of his mouth.
“Noah…” She trembled in his hands, gaze half-opened, blazing with need.
She heated his temperature to inferno. With a groan, he placed his mouth on her knee and kissed a path down to her trembling thighs, his heart nearly pounding out of his chest at the mouthwatering view at the center. She was a warm, giving, incredible woman and he was lucky as hell to have the privilege to be in her life. To touch her.
He brushed his fingers over gorgeous, glistening folds.
She sucked in a breath. “Please…I need…”
“I know.” Desire strained his voice and tested his control as he slid a finger inside and she dropped her head back and moaned. He adopted her rhythm and glided in and out at an angle that ripped one of those sexy sounds from her throat. So he did it again. And then again, loving how she gripped the sides of the desk and thrust into him. Her head was back, face flushed, eyes closed, bottom lip between her teeth.
Damn, she was hot.
He glanced back down at their connection and his body tightened. He had to taste her. Had to get his mouth on her. Now. He dropped to his knees and pressed his lips to her center and she cried out and grasped his head with one hand.
“Magic. Noah…don’t stop.” She held him in place, as if he’d ever leave without finishing. Layla was his, and he took immense pleasure in making her his, pleasing her, branding her, giving her everything she wanted. So he explored and nibbled every dip and fold, delighting in her gasps. They drove him out of his mind. And when her throaty pleas turned to needy little pants, he knew she was close.
“Layla, look at me.”
Her eyes fluttered opened and she hit him with a dark, smoldering, needy gaze.
“Keep your eyes on me,” he said, needing to watch her as she burst. To see the pleasure, to know he satisfied her. When she nodded, he held her gaze and lowered his mouth back on her.
She sucked in a breath and clutched his head, going a little wild. “Yes…now, Noah. Now.”
Happy to oblige, he gave her what she wanted, and wasted no time devouring, licking, sucking, sliding his tongue to her rhythm and loved the way her eyes dilated, the pure ecstasy on her face as she came with his name on her lips in a long, drawn out sexy-as-hell moan.
After a good minute of shaking, her body went limp against the desk, and only then did he release her to open the condom. She was incredible. The thought of never being with her like this, never touching her, hearing her cry out his name, feel her pressed against his heart…the very one she owned, was a constant nightmare.
He couldn’t lose her, nor could he tell her everything just yet. The best he could do was show her how much she meant to him.
Chapter Eight
When Layla finally drifted back to her body and found the strength to open her eyes, she was treated to the sexiest, hottest thing ever—Noah rolling on a condom. The man was magnificent, solid, and rock hard…everywhere. Craving gripped her so tightly she shook.
“You are mouthwatering, Noah.”
A gorgeous smile spread across his face and his open, revealing gaze warmed her to her soul. When he leaned over and kissed her, she pulled him close, devouring his lips, kissing him hungry and deep.
He growled and drew back. “You have no idea how sweet you taste, Layla.”
She squirmed, suddenly desperate for him to push inside. But despite their time constraint, he wasn’t in a rush. He cupped her face and placed feather-light kisses up her jaw to her temple, over one eye, then the other, before making his way down to her mouth where—heaven help her—he took his time, kissing slow, and long, and with more devastation than all of their kisses combined.
Her heart cracked fully open and her barriers dropped, no longer needed. She let him in. Layla took a chance and connected with the man she loved for half her life, embr
acing everything she saw in his deep, mesmerizing, open gaze.
That same, slow, warm heat she revered when she felt lost in his arms, comforted, protected, cherished…loved, now burned through her body. She reached up to caress his face.
“Layla…” he uttered, kissing her palm.
His eyes reflected everything she felt in her too tight body, too heated, too everything to process anything beyond what was taking place between them. Now. Here. On his desk, in his apartment.
What was taking place felt so damn amazing, and right.
He grabbed her hips, pulled her to the end of the desk and kissed her, but only briefly, as he ran a hand down the outside of her thigh to grab under her knee and lift her leg to wrap it around his hip. “This is where I want to be.” Then he drew back, and holding her gaze, he slowly shoved inside her.
Breath clogged her throat and her body stilled; he stilled at the exquisite connection.
“Home, Layla.” He closed his eyes for a moment, the look of raw pleasure tightened his features, and when his eyes reopened, they were dilated and almost black. “You’re my home.”
Home was so spot on. He was her home. Her world.
She trailed a hand up his warm torso to settle over his heart, drawing strength in the strong beat under her palm. “Where we belong.”
He shoved a hand in her hair, fingers curling around her neck and head as his lips met hers. “The only place,” he said against her mouth, slowly thrusting, driving her out of her mind. “With you. In you, buried deep.” His voice was thick, breath hot, and damn, the rhythm. Only he knew her rhythm.
She moved with him, meeting his thrusts, gliding her hand down his heated body. He let out a deep, sexy groan she felt all the way to her tingling toes. And when he wrapped an arm around her back and hauled her in close, she cried out when he nuzzled the spot behind her ear. Never had she ever been this open, this close to a man before. She clutched his back, lost in the feeling of their bodies pressed chest to chest, heart to heart, not enough space between for even air. The pull, the heat, the feel of her nipples brushing his muscled pecs was the most incredible sensation. She moaned, louder and louder, until her whole body shook. “Noah.”
Dallas Fire & Rescue_Whine and Rescue Page 8
