by Grimm, Sarah
Needing distance, she sidled down the bar and slipped to the other side. “Go away. I have to prepare for the lunch crowd.”
He opened his mouth as if he had something he wanted to say then closed it without comment. His jaw clenched tighter, a muscle jerked in his cheek as he stared at her. He didn’t budge.
“Get out, Noah. Come back and see me when you can be civil.”
Isabeau didn’t know what hurt more, the fact that he’d felt the need to lash out at her. Or that his face remained a cool, emotionless mask even as he turned and walked away.
****
After Noah left, Isabeau was so angry that she called Clint and told him to take the night off. If he wondered why she chose to work from open to close behind the bar, he didn’t ask. He just thanked her for freeing up his evening and promised to be on time for his shift the next night.
It was a long, exhausting day. Exactly what she needed to keep her mind occupied and off the sandy-haired singer she didn’t know how to help. Unfortunately it didn’t seem to be enough to guarantee sleep.
Isabeau overturned the chairs onto the tables, mopped the floor, washed the glassware, and cleaned the bathrooms. She disinfected every surface in the kitchen, checked and double-checked the locks on the doors and even did her liquor inventory. Still, sleep continued to evade her.
In case her problem had to do with the chill in her apartment, she crawled out of bed. Using the light from the streetlamp outside her front window to guide her across the room, she adjusted the temperature. Then, because she was already up, she wandered to the window to watch the storm roll in.
She loved storms. Even as a child, when most kids her age were terrified by the rumble of thunder and the flash of lightning, she’d been enthralled by it. She couldn’t remember how many nights her mother had gotten out of bed to check on her during a storm, and found her awake and standing at the window—engrossed in the power and the beauty of nature’s symphony.
The first few times, her mother would coax her back to bed, but Isabeau never remained there. By the time she was eight, her mother no longer bothered. Instead, she would stir long enough to make certain Isabeau was inside the house, not standing in the middle of the sidewalk in the rain as she’d been found a time or two. Then, with a parting kiss atop her head, Nicole would head back to bed.
By the time she was twelve, her mother was gone, and no one cared enough to do that much for her.
Frowning at the painful thought, Isabeau turned her head to the right and looked out over the city, in the direction of Noah’s hotel. She couldn’t see it from her location, but as the lightning flashed across the sky, she wondered how he was doing tonight. If he was any better than when he’d stopped by, or if Dominic had been forced to carry through on his threat to knock some sense into him.
She wrapped her arms around herself against the chill that still hung in the room and continued to gaze out the window. After about five more minutes of storm watching, she finally felt like she could get some rest, so she crawled back under the covers and allowed the music of the rain against her roof to lull her to sleep.
Only to awaken barely an hour later to someone pounding on her door.
Startled, she bolted upright in bed, her hand pressed against the frantic beat of her heart in her chest. A glance at her alarm clock told her it was thirty-six minutes after four. The incessant pounding told her whoever stood at the outside of her reinforced steel security door wouldn’t be ignored.
Wearing nothing but her silk robe, she crossed to the door, paused to peer through the peephole. She blinked to clear her eyes and looked again. With a gasp of shock, she threw the lock and pulled the door open.
Lightning flashed, illuminating Noah as he stood with his hands braced on either side of the doorway. Water ran in rivulets down his handsome face to soak his clothes to his skin, but he didn’t seem to notice. In fact, he didn’t seem to be aware of anything but her as he looked down at her.
Where earlier today his eyes had been emotionless, tonight they were anything but. Her skin flashed hot, her breath caught as deep green eyes filled with longing and desire locked on her. He didn’t say anything, he didn’t have to. His intent was obvious.
Before she could absorb the shock of his arrival, he used his left hand to push the door open wider. His right curled around her waist and pulled her against his wet body. Sensation overwhelmed her—the damp chill that immediately saturated her robe, the hot press of his mouth against hers and the heady combination of pleasure and pain as he fisted a hand in her hair and tugged her head back.
She realized in an instant that this was not going to be like any coupling they’d shared before. His lips were hard and demanding, his muscled arms like steel around her. He kicked the door closed as he feasted on her mouth, devouring, arousing her with his teeth, his tongue. And far from shying away from it, she fisted her hands in his shirt and begged for more.
He tasted like rain. He tasted like aroused man. Desperate to touch him, she trailed her hands down his chest and slipped them under his shirt. Beneath her palms, his body vibrated. Whether it was from restraint or emotion, she wasn’t certain, but she knew it was important for him to work through it. She was more than willing for him to do it with her.
She rocked against him, shuddering as his heat and strength radiated through their clothes. A groan rumbled out of his chest, and he lifted his head to come after her from a different angle. His kiss was voracious, starving. Rough and demanding. She wanted more.
His arm tightened around her waist and he lifted her off her feet. She braced her hands on his shoulders and arched her back in pleasure as his mouth closed over her breast. She sucked in air hungrily, greedily as he suckled her through the fabric, scraping his teeth across her budded nipple—moaning against the exquisite pain, sobbing his name. Shifting her, he treated her other breast to the same beautiful torture until she felt an orgasm building inside her.
His free hand skimmed over her body, slid down the outside of her thigh then up beneath the robe to cup her bare cheek. Her breath left her in a rush as sensation streaked through her. She lifted her knees and hugged his hips. The action separated her cheeks and his fingertips brushed along the division of her buttocks.
“Noah!” she gasped.
“Tell me to leave,” he growled as his fingertips continued downward, following the intimate curve until his long fingers eased between the lips of her sex and his thumb pushed into her in one devastating plunge.
She clamped tightly around him as a contraction exploded inside of her. “Stay.”
“What I said to you—”
“It doesn’t matter.” But his grip loosened. His thumb eased out of her and her body started the slow slide down his until she stood on her own two feet.
“It does. This is a bad idea.”
She couldn’t stop the whimper that escaped as he removed his hands from her and stepped back. Now as damp as he, she shivered at the sudden loss of his heat. “No. No, it’s not.” His eyes were locked on her, highlighted by the strobe of lightning outside her front window. Desperate, she tugged the sash of her robe free, then lowered her arms and allowed the material to slide off her shoulders and pool at her feet. “Stay with me, Noah.”
“You were right, I was angry and hurting. I…” His words trailed off as he brushed his fingers along her collarbone then down, stopping above her nipple. “I shouldn’t be here. I’m not feeling very civil right now.”
“No?” She grabbed the hem of his shirt and pulled it up and off. It landed on the floor near her robe.
“I tried to stay away from you. I tried and I failed.”
“I don’t want you to stay away from me,” she said hoarsely, then reached down and cupped him through his jeans.
He jerked, his breath hissing out of him. “Isabeau.”
Heat emanated off of him as she stroked him. Up, then down and back again. She pressed herself close, welcomed the surge of electricity as her nipples brushed his
chest. Pressing her lips against the underside of his jaw, she whispered, “Take what you came here for, Noah. If you want it hard and fast, take me hard and fast. You can have me however you want me. I’m here for you.”
He came alive at her words—beautifully, gloriously alive. Making a feral sound, he rocked his mouth over hers, mindless, desperate. His chilled, damp hands skimmed over her body. He cupped her breasts, pulling at her nipples until she felt the rush of wet heat flood her. Every nerve in her body came alive, eagerly responding to his crazed urgency.
Her fingers fumbled with the button on his jeans. Because he was soaked to the skin, it was more difficult than normal to work the button free, ease the zipper down. She slipped one hand into the front of his jeans and closed her fist around him, while the other pushed and tugged at the wet denim.
He swore and scooped her off the ground. Encouraging her legs to circle his waist, he crushed his mouth to hers, positioned himself at her opening, then thrust up as he pushed down on her hips. A sob eased up her throat as her body opened for him inch by torturous inch, the sensation intense enough it set off a series of small orgasms.
Every cell in her body singing out with pleasure, she bit down on his bottom lip then slicked her tongue across the injury. His hands flexed, holding her tightly against him as he strode across the room to her bed, his every step rubbing her sensuously against him, driving her farther up that slippery path of desire. They settled on the edge of the bed, her astride him, him reaching around her to shove his jeans off.
She shifted so that her feet were flat on the mattress, fully seating him deep within her. Then she raised herself up, nearly off him before sliding back down. His hands clamped onto her hips, fingers dug into her flesh as he encouraged her to repeat the action. Again she raised herself up, where he held her as his hips hammered upward in deep, powerful thrusts before he pulled her back down.
God, she was more excited by this side of him than she imagined she could be.
He was looking down, watching his body slide out of her as he lifted her almost all the way off him, then slammed her back down. Heat gathered between her legs, spread across the tightened muscles of her stomach. Gasping, shaking with need, she released her tight grasp on his shoulder to take up a fistful of his hair and drag his head back. Their gazes locked. The carnal gleam in his eyes pushed her over the edge.
“Not enough,” he groaned as wave after wave washed over her. “It’s not enough.”
He flipped them over and drove into her, her vision graying as the change in position caused her orgasm to continue rippling through her like nothing she’d ever experienced before. He took her like a man possessed. Demanding and desperate and she loved it. He plunged into her again and again, as her heart crashed like the thunder outside her building.
Bracing himself on one arm, he slipped his hand behind her knee and pulled her leg higher, sliding deeper, increasing her pleasure. She murmured his name, nipped his shoulder. Beneath her hands, the muscles in his back bunched and rippled as he moved within her.
His breath sawed in and out of him as he pressed his face into her neck. He moved faster, harder, pumping into her again and again until his body tightened. The hand he’d pushed into her hair fisted as he buried himself to the hilt and growled with completion.
Slowly, his body began to relax, his full weight settling down upon her. When she could no longer take a deep breath, she pushed against his chest. He responded instantly, rolling to his side and taking her with him. His body trembled with what she expected was more than the aftereffects of a powerful orgasm. She slid her eyes open, noted the devastating need of a few moments ago was gone. In its place was a deep sadness.
“Noah,” she sighed, then pressed her lips against his. She kissed him softly, soothing him the only way she knew how. Cradling his face in her hands, she feathered kisses across his cheek, up to his eyes, his temple. “You can’t stay strong forever, Noah. Let it out.”
His eyes remained closed as he whispered. “I’m sorry, Isa.” When they refocused on her, they were wet with tears. “I’m so sorry.”
“It’s okay.” Her fingers smoothed his wet hair away from his face. She kissed him again and this time she could taste his tears and knew that finally, finally, he was grieving. “It’s okay now.”
The arms he held around her flexed, pulled her tighter against him. She went willingly, molding herself to his body, pressing her cheek against his chest. She held him as he shook in her arms, as quiet sobs tore from his throat. She ached for him, stroking her hands up and down his back, offering him the comfort of her body, of not being alone in his grief. Gradually his emotion ebbed, and he drifted to sleep.
It was only then that Isabeau acknowledged what she’d expected all along. She was in love with him, and she didn’t know how she was ever going to let him go.
Chapter Fourteen
The incessant beeping of his mobile phone’s alarm pulled Noah from sleep. His first thought as he opened his eyes was that he needed an aspirin. His head hadn’t hurt this badly since his younger years when he would wake hung over from a night of too much drink. His second thought was, where the hell was he and how did he get here?
Panicked for a moment, he feared that he may have fallen back on his old ways, gotten drunk and passed out. Then it all came crashing back to him…
The storm.
His grief.
A reckless, all-consuming need to see Isabeau.
He recalled his walk through the slashing rain, the icy chill of the night air that did nothing to cool his blood, and Isabeau herself—in his hands, his mouth, crying out as he took her in a frenzied rush.
Bloody hell. He’d never known anything like the desperation he’d felt last night. Thankfully she’d been with him every step of the way. Still, he feared he’d gone too fast, was too rough. He should have taken more care with her, but he’d been a little crazy.
Had he hurt her? Caused her pain in any way? If he had, he would never forgive himself.
As the alarm continued to chirp, he tossed the sheet aside and rolled out of bed. It wasn’t until the chill of the room washed over his skin that he realized not only could he not locate Isabeau anywhere in the apartment, but he couldn’t find his clothes either. He crossed to where his phone and wallet rested atop the kitchen counter and turned off the alarm. Then, comfortable in his own skin, he stepped onto the landing of the interior staircase leading to the bar and pulled open the door. Relief filled him at the sound of someone moving around in the kitchen below.
“Isabeau?” he called out, his voice pitched just above normal range.
She appeared at the base of the steps. Her eyes skimmed down the length of him, lingering on his groin before returning to his face. A mischievous smile blossomed. “I bet you’re glad it was me down here and not Clint.”
He cringed.
Her smile widened. “While I could happily gaze at your magnificent body all day, you might want to get dressed. I have a delivery truck scheduled to arrive any minute.”
“I can’t find my clothes.”
“They’re behind you, in the dryer.”
Of course. He’d been soaked to the skin when he’d stripped them off.
After a quick shower, Noah dressed and wandered back to the kitchen to retrieve his phone and wallet. He clipped the phone to his waist then flipped open the wallet and removed the magnetic key card to his hotel room before heading down the stairs.
She talked to the delivery man while he leaned against the counter, taking the signature pad and signing her name on the form affixed to it. Then she offered the pad back to the man, took the box he held and turned.
“Hey.” She set the box on the counter, pulling each item out and setting it aside after a brief inspection.
Vegetables. Organic, if his memory was correct. “Hey, yourself.”
As he’d stood beneath the shower’s hot spray, waiting for the heat to clear the cobwebs from his head and ease the ache behind his eyes
, he had done some thinking. Made a few decisions about their relationship. Now that she stood before him, he wondered how much of what he’d decided she was going to want to hear.
He pushed off the counter and crossed to stand at her side. But when he looked down at her, he was suddenly reminded of how much smaller she was than he and the knot of guilt returned. “I didn’t hurt you?”
“Of course not.”
“You would tell me if I did?”
She turned to face him, placing her hand in the center of his chest. “You didn’t hurt me.”
“Good.” He closed his eyes and released his breath in a rush. “That’s good.”
“I’m glad you came to me last night, Noah. That you let me comfort you.”
He should probably be embarrassed by the way he’d broken down in her arms. He wasn’t. Of far greater concern was that she understood he would never knowingly harm her. “About that…Isa you do realize that I didn’t use a condom last night?”
“I wasn’t worried,” she admitted, then shifted her gaze over his shoulder. “Noah, you—”
“I had a complete physical in March of this year,” he assured her. “I was tested for everything from the flu to HIV. I’m clean, Isa. I wanted you to know that.”
Her gaze shifted again, this time to the center of his chest. “Okay.”
He hooked a finger under her chin and forced her gaze back to his. “Why won’t you look at me? Are you sure I didn’t hurt you?”
“You didn’t hurt me,” she repeated softly.
He lowered his head and pressed a kiss to her temple. Her skin was a haven of warmth beneath his lips as they slowly journeyed to her cheek, then her mouth. He kissed her softly, slowly, showing her the gentleness he hadn’t shown her last night. He teased her lips open with his tongue and tasted the rich flavor of her morning coffee.
Reaching up, he wrapped his hand around hers, ran his thumb across her palm. “I’m sorry about yesterday.”
