by B. J. Harvey
Zoe: Would I have to give a speech for these awards?
Noah: Screaming ‘Oh god’ and ‘Noah’ over and over would suffice as an acceptance speech.
Zoe: You're incorrigible.
Noah: I'm just looking at what I want and deciding on how I can go about getting it.
Zoe: Play your cards right, and you might just have a chance.
Noah: Never been much of a gambler. I'm more into positive affirmations.
Zoe: Such as . . .
Noah: Yes please . . . right there . . . harder . . . faster . . .
Jeez, am I too young to have hot flashes? I shift around in my seat, my breathing coming faster now as a wave of heat travels from my cheeks all the way down to my toes. Even my best pornographic imaginings of Noah don’t have such an intense effect on me as the thought of him taking me into one of Sean’s back rooms and giving me my prize is.
Zoe: I need a minute.
Noah: I need a hell of a lot longer than a minute.
I look up to see his retreating back as he walks away, phone still in his hand.
Well then, safe to say the feeling is mutual.
Chapter 12
“What I Like About You”
Noah
That woman is driving me crazy. Crazy and suicidal, because if I wasn’t sure about my growing feelings for Zoe before, I sure as hell am now.
Zander had already given me the ‘back off’ speech at the bar.
“We’re cool, as long as you stay away from my sister. You’re a friend and I respect you, but that’ll all be lost if you touch her. You’re six years older and she’s been through the ringer lately. The last thing she needs is another guy screwing with her head like the last one did.”
“She told me about him.”
His head had reared back in shock. “She told you about Justin?”
“Yeah, and if he’s stupid enough to show his face around here then it won’t just be you he has to worry about, put it that way.”
He’d stared at me for a beat before nodding, that respect he’d talked about evident in his intense glare.
Then he’d slapped me on the back and walked back over to his fiancée.
And in a moment of weakness, I’d sent a text to Zoe telling her I liked her dress.
It had gotten out of hand and now I’m walking away to get some breathing room. I’m giving myself a time-out because if I don’t walk away, I’m likely to ignore everything her brother just told me, and drag Zoe to the nearest private room, supply closet, dark corner . . . you get the point.
About an hour and a few drinks later—something I make sure I keep in check—Daniel gives me the sign that it’s go time.
We both walk over to Zander, who’s leaning back against the leather seat with his arm draped possessively around Kate. She gives me a wink when she sees us, sitting up straight and turning toward her man.
“Zan,” she almost purrs, running her hand over his chest to get his attention.
“Yeah babe?”
“I have a surprise for you . . .”
He looks at her suspiciously with a furrowed brow. “Really? Does it involve you, me, and a spanking bench, ’cause right now that look on your face has me wanting to find one.”
She giggles and blushes but continues on. “No, but this is your bachelor party, and you’re only going to have one of them. So the boys have organized a stripper for you down the hall.”
His eyes widen and he chokes on his drink. “You got me a stripper?”
She shrugs. “Yep. So go enjoy the show and I’ll see you soon.” She moves onto his lap, her legs straddling his legs, and plants a big fat kiss on his lips before jumping off and nodding at Daniel and I.
“C’mon, man, the stripper charges by the hour and you don’t want to keep her waiting.”
Zander gives Kate one last cautious look before standing up and following us past the bar and down into Sean’s room at the end of the hallway. I’ve never been in one of the rooms here, but the reputation of his club is still so secretive and illicit, that he’s told us there is never a shortage of patrons wanting to go ‘upstairs.’
“Here you go, Zan. Your one last hurrah before the ball-and-chain shackles you for life.”
His teeth tug at his bottom lip, as he looks between Daniel and I, the most unlikely of friendships but one that we all value. You’d think it would be awkward the way we came together, but because it was Mac and because of the way she is, she paved the way for all of us to stay friends without the baggage.
“She’s more than okay with this. Just go inside and wait, okay?” Daniel urges. Zander nods and walks into the room, and we pull the door shut behind him.
“Jesus, he’s going to flip his lid after this,” I mutter as we walk back down the corridor toward the bar.
“Nah, this is revenge I’m told. Something about a strip tease in which she couldn’t touch him. She wanted her chance to do it to him, and now’s she’s got it.” Daniel shrugs and looks around for Mac, his eyes softening when he sees her. “And as for me, I think it’s time I got my wife home. She looks like she’s preparing for a bender, and it’s never pretty the next day when she has a hangover.”
“And here’s the stripper now . . .” I announce as Kate walks past us with a shit-eating grin on her face.
There goes those two for the night.
When I spot Zoe talking to Zach, Zander’s best friend and ex-roommate, an unfamiliar surge of jealously courses through me. He’s more honorable than me though, and his body language is friendly toward Zoe but nothing more than that.
She says something to him and nods before downing the rest of her glass and walking toward me at the top of the stairs.
“I’m going home. I’m feeling drunkenly mellow, but any more and it’ll get messy, and me and messy don’t go well together. So I’m catching a cab.” She smiles up at me, and as if I’m having a major brain malfunction, all I can think about is pulling her body against mine and kissing the shit out of her. Again. “See you at work on Monday.”
I throw my arm out and hook it in hers, pulling her back as she tries to walk past me. “I’m not letting you go outside by yourself when it is . . .” I look at my watch, “ . . . eleven p.m. Besides, I was about to leave anyway. At least if we leave now we can share a cab and I won’t get hunted down by Zan. Well, it’ll give me a good head start on him anyway.”
“You wanna . . . share a cab?” Her eyes are full of hope, a flash of heat running through them.
“It’ll save you money, and I’m going that way anyway to get to my place. So it’s a win-win. Wait right here and I’ll just say my goodbyes.”
Nodding, she fidgets adorably as she just stands there waiting.
“Right. I’ll be back.”
I find Mac and Daniel talking to a group of people I don’t know. Tapping Mac on the shoulder, she spins around and shoots me a hilarious drunken grin. “Noah! Come join us. More shots!”
“Next time. I’m heading home. Going to share a cab with Zoe and make sure she gets home alright.”
“Noah . . .” Daniel growls, his eyes narrowed
“It’s just a cab ride, Dan. No harm, no foul.”
“Zander will throw a shit-fit. No, he’ll hunt you down and feed your cock back to you,” Mac says, simply stating fact.
I snort with laughter. “And what has my cock got to do with any of this?”
“You’re thinking with it.” She giggles. “And that’s a lot to think with.”
Daniel chuckles and pulls Mac into his side. “As you can see, my wife has had far too much to drink. But just be careful, alright?”
“Yes, Dad,” I reply. I give Mac a hug and Daniel a shoulder hug—anything more is for pussies—and turn back around to find Zoe, who is still standing where I told her to, those long legs of hers seeming to go on for miles.
It wasn’t a lie when I told her I wanted them spread for me. How I wanted her screaming my name as I made her come. Or, how she does have the best
ass and rack in the place, an ass that I’m staring at right now and imagining my hands cupping as I hoist her up to straddle my hips.
Dammit. Now my cock has decided to come out and play, and that’s something that is not easy to disguise when you’re as . . . gifted . . . as I am in that department.
“We need to get out of here,” I growl when I reach her.
She tries to turn around to look at me, but I put my hands on her hips and push her forward, guiding her down the stairs carefully before grabbing her hand and literally dragging her outside onto the sidewalk.
The bouncer, whose name I can’t remember but I do know him, gives me a nod and a knowing smile. “Lucky bastard.”
It’s on the tip of my tongue to set him straight and tell him that there is not going to be a lucky night for either of us, but Zoe tugs at my arm and pulls me toward a taxi.
Opening the car door for her, I stupidly watch as she slides along the seat, her skirt inching up higher and higher, showing me what I’ve wanted to see more of all night—including the edge of blue lace underwear hugging the curves of her ass cheek. Fuck my life.
I give the driver her address and lean against the door, digging deep to find the new Noah—the one who won’t go inside with Zoe when we get to her place.
The entire cab ride is quiet, Zoe staying on her side of the seat and staying unusually quiet. Whenever I look over at her she looks contemplative, as if she’s mulling something over in her head.
Fifteen minutes later, we pull up to the curb outside their brownstone townhouse. I get out first, offering my hand to Zoe and helping her out of the car. “Keep the meter running. I’m just going to get her inside,” I instruct the driver.
She pulls out her house keys and unlocks the front door but then she just stands there, not turning the handle and stepping inside.
“Zo, what’s wrong?”
“I can’t decide what to do.”
“What do you mean?”
“I want to invite you inside for a night cap but we both know it wouldn’t be for a drink, it would be for sex. And I think I want that but then . . .”
I put my hand on her shoulder and pull her around so that she’s facing me. Stepping forward, I push her against the wooden front door and press my body hard against hers while dragging my hand up her neck and tangling her gorgeous hair between my fingers. My cock throbs at the mere contact with her, the promise of what lies beneath that torturous dress of hers taunting it.
“I’m not going to come in with you . . .”
Her face falls.
“We’ve both been drinking, and there is not a shit show in hell that I’m going to take the chance that I will forget another moment with you like this.” I lean forward and nuzzle my nose in the crook of her neck, dragging my lips gently up her satin soft skin and sucking her ear lobe between my lips. The first taste of her has my head—both of them—aching for more.
Her arms latch on to my waist, fingers gripping through my shirt, but I have to push it out of my brain because otherwise I’ll lose my determination to show her that this means more to me.
“I want to savor the moment when I get you in bed. I want to take my time with you. I want to make it count.” I run my tongue along her jaw to the corner of her parted lips, her breath coming in short pants now as her hands glide around and up my back. “So although I’m going to get back in that cab and go home to an empty house and an empty bed when I want more than anything to have you in there with me, I’m definitely going home.” My lips are barely touching hers now, and my body is pulsing with the need to take and take from her, but not before I give her everything she’s ever imagined and more when the time is right. But now, it’s about more than satisfying our needs. It’s about showing her that she means something to me. That this thing building between us means more.
“You don't want to forget this time?” she asks, her eyes locked on mine, the heat of our mingled breath warming my lips.
“You described how our first kiss was to me, and if it's even half as good as what you said, I'm not gonna give myself the chance to forget a moment like that with you again.” Her entire body trembles against mine and it’s then that I lose the last semblance of control I was holding on to so tightly.
“But until the time is right . . .” I run my tongue along the seam of her lips with the intention of giving myself a quick taste. That plan goes out the window when she opens up and my tongue dips inside her mouth, circling in reckless abandon. My fingers tighten against her head just as hers bite into my shoulders and then it’s on like Donkey Kong. She gives as good as she gets—there is no overpowering one or the other, it’s like a well-practiced dance and I realize in my lust-filled haze that her description of our kiss was not even in the same ballpark as this kiss. She made me want to kiss her again but this kiss, right now, has shifted everything I’ve ever believed in.
This kiss makes me want to hold on tight and never let her go.
I shift my thigh until it is pressing between her legs while I continue to plunder her mouth and she meets me grind for grind.
Then a loud honk from the idling cab waiting for me breaks through and I ease my lips back from hers, placing one last soft closed-mouthed kiss on her swollen lips before releasing my hold and slowly stepping back. Holding on to her bare shoulders, I rub my hands down her arms and back again, never once breaking eye contact with her.
“Go inside, sweetheart,” I tell her in a hoarse voice, not hiding the fact that this is one of the most difficult things I’ve had to do in a long time. My self-control is waning and the best thing to do is leave while I still can.
She nods, bringing the fingers of one hand to her mouth but failing to hide the small smile that’s plastered all over it.
“I’ll see you Monday,” I add before reaching around her and opening the door, waiting until she’s safely behind it before closing it again.
Resting my forehead against the cool wooden surface, I take a few more deep, calming breaths before turning around and forcing myself to get back into the cab.
And the award for the most stupid, the most controlled, and worst of all, the horniest, most pent-up man in all of Chicago goes to . . .
Chapter 13
“Ass Like That”
Zoe
“This habit of yours needs to stop.”
“What habit?” He quirks a brow and leans his shoulder against the doorframe.
“You’re always hunting me down at work.”
He shrugs nonchalantly as if he’s not fussed.
Fucking Noah. His name shouldn't be Walking Dildo, it should be Twat Tease. That big, sexy, infuriating man has my vagina doing somersaults whenever he’s near me. When he touches me, my bones melt and I turn into a wanton hussy who wants to rub herself all over him like a desperate dog in heat.
“Why do you think that is?” he muses.
“Because your ego needs reassurance now and then?” I smile back at him sweetly, putting my hands on my hips and squaring my shoulders, preparing myself for his next onslaught. My recent experience with this man both in consult rooms and on my doorstep on Saturday night has my blood thrumming.
The corner of his mouth curls up into a wry smile. “Why do you want me to stop?”
God he looks sexy standing there, trying to be the bad boy doctor he likes to think he is. He’s a combination of McSteamy and McDreamy from Grey’s Anatomy, except hotter, dirtier, and far sexier—if that is at all possible. And wearing those blue scrubs which are tight around his arms? Then there’s his jawline, the likes of which I wish I could just stare at all day and run my hands up and down, relishing in the sprinkling of stubble that he lets grow just enough to . . .
He chuckles and I shake my head to clear the Taylor fog—as I’ve now christened it—that I was lost in, remembering that I haven’t answered him.
“Because it’s unprofessional.”
“I’d love to get unprofessional with you, sweetheart. In fact, name the time and place a
nd I’ll make sure I come ready.”
“That’s not what you said Saturday night.”
“What I said Saturday night was that I want to take my time with you.”
Images flash in my mind. Noah bending me over the bed. Noah spreading me wide in the chair. Spinning me around into reverse cowgirl . . .
“You okay there, Zo? You seem a bit . . . flustered.” That fucking smirk comes out to play, and suddenly all I want to do is slap it right off that beautiful face.
My cheeks burn red and I narrow my eyes, taking a deep breath to calm my thoughts and my hormones, before walking toward him. I stop by his side as he straightens to let me pass.
“Am I wearing you down yet, Zo?” he asks in a low, downright seductive voice—the kind every hot-blooded woman would want murmuring in her ear in the throes of wild monkey sex.
“You’re winding me up, and not in a good way, Dr. Taylor. Just lay off a bit while we’re at the hospital, okay?” I look up at him, sounding sincere but kinda hoping he never stops doing it.
“Sure thing, sweetheart. But I did actually come in here for a reason.”
“Oh?”
“I’m having a get together at my house this Saturday. Nothing big. Mac and Daniel will be there, along with the rest of the crowd.”
“Including my brother?”
He pauses and frowns slightly. “Yeah. But that was an interesting conversation, I’ll tell ya that. Especially since he found out I took you home.“
“I bet,” I add on a laugh. “He grilled me on Sunday too.”
His expression turns serious, his eyes soft as they watch me for a reaction. “It would be great if you could make it though. You’ll know pretty much everybody. ”
Women often psychoanalyze everything a man says, especially if they’re attracted to said man, and trying to resist the temptation and charms of said man. Even if every part of their body wants to just give in and make it easy for him—or be easy for him, same diff.
