by Anna Brooks
He replied immediately. Fuck that. I’ll come get you. Been worried sick.
Why do you have a new number?
I knew he’d ask that.
I got a new phone, so new number too. You’ve been worried? I’m the one who was scared. You were arrested. I tried to call, and it went straight to voicemail!!!
I can picture him waving his hand in the air when I read his reply. That’s nothing, just a misunderstanding. I’m coming for you.
No. I’ll find a way to get to you. I swear I’m fine. I’m happy.
I promise.
The bubbles go for a second, and then he replies. You have a week.
I agree to his terms.
Deal.
The last few weeks have been fucked up. I miss you.
Same. Night, D.
Night, angel.
“What are you doing?” I jump when Noble opens the door and then quickly shut off my phone.
“Playing a game. What’s up?”
“It’s late. You need to get some sleep, and the light was still on. And I wanted to apologize for being a jerk.”
God, why is he so perfect?
“I know you’re not a whore, and the fact that you think I would imply that kills me. I don’t think that about you… not at all, not in the least. I want to protect you and make you feel safe, and I want you to trust me. I fucked up because I just feel… because you mean a lot to me.”
“It’s okay.”
“It’s not. I shouldn’t treat you like that. It’s my issue, not yours, and I’m sorry I made it that.” He leans over and kisses the top of my head and leaves his lips linger. “I know you’re keeping something from me. I don’t know what it is, but no matter what, I promise you, I swear, it won’t change how I feel about you.” He pulls back and cups the side of my face. “You know there’s something between us, but it’s… we need all this shit out in the open so we can move past it. Do you understand what I’m saying?”
Yeah. Once I tell him the truth, he’ll have sex with me. The problem is, once I tell him the truth, once I explain Danny, he won’t want anything to do with me. And I’d rather have him in my life keeping this secret as long as I can instead of him knowing the truth and never seeing him again. “Yeah, I understand.”
His gaze lingers on me, and he turns the light out, and then I fall asleep with the vision of him on my mind.
But not long after I doze off, a weird noise wakes me up, and I gasp as I sit up. Tossing the comforter off, I jump off the bed to run to the living room, but I crash into Noble before I’m out of the bedroom. “I heard something.”
“Me too.” His heavy arm wraps around my back, slanted so his hand spans my hip. “Get on the ground.” He shoves me in the bathroom, and it’s not until he’s closing the door and the light from the motion sensors outside shines into the hallway that I realize he’s holding a gun.
If he knew I opened the door just enough to hear, he’d be pissed. But I do it anyway because I need to know what’s going on. Noble needs to do whatever he needs to be the protector. That’s his thing—it’s what he does—and I get it. But I’m tougher than I look. And if he needed me, I wouldn’t hesitate to go postal on someone.
I take a quick glance around the bathroom and grab the can of hairspray from the counter, then reach back for my brush. Armed with one item in each hand, I wait.
I hear the keypad being disarmed, then the knob turning, and the beep that sounds every time the door is opened or closed. Then nothing. Complete silence. If he’s walking around the house, he’s stealthy as hell because I don’t hear a peep. Not even a leaf rustling.
My knees are shaky, and after what feels like ten minutes but, in reality, was probably only one, the door closes. The beeps sound again, and I close the bathroom door. It’s barely shut before he opens it swiftly. I jump back, and his face is carved in granite, but when he sees my defense mechanisms, he smiles. “Put the weapons away before you hurt yourself, baby.”
I simply drop them on the floor, and he grabs my arm, then leads me across the hall to the bedroom where he climbs in his bed and pulls me in next to him. I don’t protest.
He plasters me to his chest, hooking one arm around my neck where his fingers run through my hair, and the other one is clamped across me, palm gripping my hip. The calming strokes against my scalp are not an indicator of how erratic his heart is beating.
Oh, God.
What’s going on?
“Noble?”
He shoves his face in my hair and inhales deeply. “Do you know what it would do to me if something happened to you? If someone took you away from me?”
“Was there someone out there? I swear I thought I heard something.”
He grunts. “I heard something too, but nothing was out there… probably just an animal.”
“Oh. Good.”
“You didn’t answer my question.”
“What was that?” As I wait for him to answer, I realize he initiated this, he’s holding me—cuddling with me—and it’s awesome. Even though I’ve wanted this badly, I thought it’d be awkward since he’s Katie’s dad, but it’s not. It wasn’t the other times he’s been close either. It’s perfect. I’d always had somewhat of a crush on him but never actually thought something like this could happen.
It’s anything but awkward; it’s wonderful. Warm and safe and whole. Complete.
“I asked if you knew what it would do to me if something happened to you.”
I’m not sure how to answer, and as I contemplate my reply, his hand on my waist slides up. His fingertips graze the skin just beneath my pajama shorts.
“I’ll answer for you. It’d decimate me. More than I already am.”
“But I’m fine. I’m here.”
“Yeah, you are. But it’s good to know if something happened to me you’d be able to defend yourself with a brush and hairspray.”
I giggle. “Shut up. I was caught off guard.”
“Yeah.” He hums. “I know what that feels like.”
“Yeah?”
“Oh, yeah.”
I wait for him to elaborate, but he doesn’t, so I prompt, “When do you get caught off guard?”
“Every time I look at you. When I smell you. When I touch you.” His chin nudges some hair off my shoulder, and I feel a very soft but wet press of his lips on my neck. “When I kiss you,” he whispers. He runs his tongue along my ear, and my entire body shivers. “When I taste you.”
The space between my thighs thrums, and I press them together, the arousal spreading through my veins making my breasts heavy and my nipples stiff peaks. I try to maintain a level of calm while my erratic heartrate makes my breath short, but I’m failing miserably.
“When I thought you were in danger just now, the fear that shook me… I’ve never felt that in my life. I don’t give a fuck about your secrets right now.”
“What?” My head is spinning from the sudden change in mood, and my ears are ringing from the lust suddenly thick in the air.
“What haven’t you done before?”
He’s totally messing with my sanity right now because if I’m not mistaken, he wants me as badly as I want him. But if I’m wrong, I’ll be humiliated. Is he just holding me because he thinks I’m afraid so he’s comforting me? Instead of giving him the answer I hope he’s looking for, I feel him out to see if he’s just messing with me. “I’ve never been to the ocean.”
“Oh, yeah?” His hand skims down my leg to my calf and then reverses, his fingers applying pressure behind my knee on the way back up.
“Yeah. And I’ve… I’ve never gone to a carnival.”
“Is that right?” He pushes into me from behind, the hard length of him resting at my lower back.
I force myself to swallow. “That’s right.”
A long beat of silence passes. Then another. And another before a deep rumble vibrates his chest. “You ever been kissed, Brinley? Had a guy put his mouth on you?”
My lips part, and my pulse roars t
o life beneath my clammy skin. I tip my head back and catch the hard line of his jaw, and when he drops his chin to his chest, my heart thunders at the hunger on his face. But I just know he’s asking a trick question. If I say yes, he’ll think I’m a slut. But if I say no, he won’t want to touch me because he’ll think I’m too innocent.
So I answer honestly. “Kind of.”
He watches his fingers as they walk their way down my shorts to the hem, leaving a trail of fire. When he dips his fingers beneath the fabric again, I get a full-body shiver. His hand disappears farther up my leg, and he grunts. “Kind of?”
“Yeah.” I suck in a breath when he pushes his hand up and ghosts his thumb along the juncture of my thigh. “Kind of.”
“Another man has had his lips on yours?” There’s an underlying anger that gives me a secret thrill at his possessiveness.
I moisten the lips he’s staring at. “Yes.”
He growls a feral snarl, and before I can blink, I’m on my back, and Noble’s big, strong body cages me in against the mattress. His hips force me to be still even though I want to push myself against him and rub my throbbing clit until this insane pressure bursts all over him.
He sits up, and instead of tearing his shirt off like I want, he frames my face, then rubs his thumbs back and forth over my cheeks. “So pretty.” My eyes close at the adoration coming from him. But no sooner had they closed, than his hand is cupping my breast. His thumb and forefinger meet, and he pinches my nipple. “Eyes on me.”
God.
“Okay.”
He gathers the hem of my shirt in his hands and pulls the material up but stops short of pulling it off, restricting the movement of my arms. “Look at you. Fuck.” His large hand holds my wrists together above my head. “What about here?” The very tip of his finger heats a path across my collarbone.
I shake my head.
It slides down, between my breasts to my belly button, then back up. He flattens his palm. “Here?”
Another negative.
Trailing featherlight down my arm, he brings his other hand in the same direction, then he takes hold of my breasts, his entire hand encompassing them. “How about these sweet tits, Rinny?”
I fear what will happen if I answer truthfully, and he must sense it because he growls and then his face disappears. He sucks one of my breasts into his mouth. The entire thing. “God.” My back arches, and I watch him as he fingers the stiffened nipple on the other one and continues his assault with his mouth.
“Noble.” I plead with him and try to rotate my pelvis, but his answer is to pinch the underside of my breast at the same time as he nips the nipple of the other one. “Fuck.” I curse and then do it again when his head whips up. “Shit.”
His eyes bore into mine, and a wicked smile floods my panties. “Naughty girl.”
“Noble.” I try to push up, and he laughs. “Please. It hurts.”
“Oh, baby. We can’t have that now, can we?”
I shake my head back and forth on the pillow.
“You’re lucky I want to see your face tonight, all flustered and begging to be fucked. Otherwise, I’d turn you over my knee.” I whimper at the image, and his eyes light up. “You like the thought of that, don’t you?” He slides his hand up to wrap around my throat, and I gasp. “You’ll get it. Just not tonight. Tonight, I want to watch you when you come for me, but it’ll be a while before that happens, do you know why?”
God, what is he doing? My entire body is shivering as though I stepped out of a sauna into a snowstorm.
“Because I’m not done with these perky little tits.” He palms the breast his mouth just devoured, and I look down to see little love bites and broken skin all around, and I weep at the sight. “Yeah, you like my mark on you? I still need to do the other one, but I need you to be a good girl and keep those bad words out of your mouth.” His hand uncollars my neck, and he brings his thumb to my lips. “Open.” I comply, and he slides it in. “Suck.”
My head falls back, and I do as he commands, sucking his finger while he marks up my other breast and I fight to keep my lower body still. Finally. Finally, he moves down my stomach, his tongue tracing every inch with the tip, and his thumb making a popping sound when he pulls it out of my mouth.
He knees my thighs open and cups me with one hand, making a point to press that wet digit against my swollen clit.
Noble
I’m going to go to hell, but right now, I don’t care. Her soft, pliant body beneath mine is unlike anything I’ve ever felt before. Sweeter and just fucking better than anyone else. Right now, she’s not my daughter’s best friend. I don’t even care that she’s younger than me. And I really don’t give a shit that she can do much better than me.
What I do care about is the fact someone was outside my house, and they were here for her. I feel it in my gut. The thought of something happening to her and losing her is killing me. It’s absolutely destroying me and making me act irrationally. But when you know loss like I do, if something good comes along, you grab ahold of it and don’t let go.
And she’s the first good thing that’s come along in forever. And no way in fuck is somebody going to threaten that. She doesn’t need to worry about it. I’ll take care of whoever the fuck dares to harm her, but first I’m gonna take care of her. I need to. At least one time. Just this once. Just a taste.
“Has anybody kissed you here?” Pressing tight to her swollen clit, I reach the heat between her legs. Soaked. Fuck. I sit back on my heels and push her legs open. Looking at her through her flimsy shorts.
Her head shakes, and she sucks in a breath when I run my knuckle along her wet panties. She pushes up to her elbows.
“No?”
“No.”
Okay, I’m done. I cup her between her legs and practically lift her as she falls and her back hits the bed. Her eyes burn bright, and she doesn’t take them off my face while I yank the string on her pajama shorts. In one swoop, I yank her clothes down her legs until she’s bared to me.
Finally.
Her trimmed curls glisten, and my mouth fucking waters. Literally. I have to lick my lips and clamp my jaw closed. I watch her face as I slide one finger between her folds. Christ, she’s so damn soft. Her back arches with just a light touch, and I circle her entrance, then slide my thumb inside to the first knuckle.
Jesus shit, so tight.
She bites her lip, and I bring my hands to her thighs and push them farther apart, opening her to me completely. My calloused palms glide up and down her smooth skin, sweeping my thumbs up and down the juncture of her thigh. Back down to her knees, then up again, but this time, I spread her open and get a good look at the prettiest pussy I’ve ever seen. So pink and so ready. “I’m gonna taste you now, darlin’. You good with that?”
“Yes,” she keens as she squirms.
I don’t give her another warning before I delve into her wet heat. Her hips shoot up, and I clamp my arm around her stomach to hold her still and bring my hand to her ass to pull her closer.
Fuck, she’s unbelievable.
Slowly, I explore her. Ass to hole to clit, I memorize what makes her breath catch, what makes her legs quiver, what makes her drip.
I growl against her sensitive, plump flesh as I feast on her. It’s just like I’d expect it to be from her; sweet and spicy and all fucking mine. I see my mark on her tits, and it spurs me on even more. “Noble. God, Noble.” Her legs shake, and I move from her clit to her hole and fuck her pussy with my tongue, needing to taste her orgasm before it leaves her body. Dying to be inside her any way that I can.
My cock is painfully hard, and I press my hips into the mattress to alleviate just a little bit of the torturous pressure. Just when she starts to tighten and her muscles spasm around my tongue, I lift my head and watch her eyes squeeze shut in frustration. “Noble.” She finally looks at me with desperation.
“Not yet.” Her legs are trying to close, but I shake my head. “Leave them open.”
“B
ut—”
“You’ll get it when I’m ready to give it to you. Now keep them open while I eat you.”
She drops her head and spreads her thighs wider, and I eat. “God,” she whines.
At this point, I can’t tell if the heat that’s causing my neck to erupt with sweat is from how hot she is or how hot she makes me. It’s both, really. It’s everything I shouldn’t want and shouldn’t take from her that’s driving me to blissful insanity.
I devour her and bring her to the edge a few more times before finally, I can’t take it anymore. Her sounds, her taste, her feel. I have to let her come; otherwise, I’m gonna make a mess in my shorts, and I haven’t done that since middle school.
I slide two fingers into her tight channel and suck her throbbing clit, but this time, I don’t stop when she clamps down. I hum against her, loving the way she cries out and grabs my head, pushing me deeper.
It takes a Herculean effort, but I slowly and gently remove my fingers as I kiss the inside of her thigh, giving us both a moment to come down. I’m still painfully hard, but I know this can’t go further. It shouldn’t have happened at all, but I can only take so much before my primal instincts take over.
I lift my head to find her eyes closed and a small smile on her lips. I bask in the fact that I made her happy and rest my forehead on her hip while I gain my bearings again. But with the tantalizing smell of her, it doesn’t help at all. If anything, it makes it worse because I just want to drown in her.
She rakes her fingers through my hair, and I sigh deeply before I push up. Her sated eyes flare with desire when she looks at my dick through my boxers, so hard and so ready for her. I lean over her and press my lips to her forehead. “Night, little one.”
Ignoring her protest, I walk out and close the door. I rush across the hall to the bathroom and lean against the door as I try to catch my breath. Nothing will satisfy the urges right now, but I know I won’t be able to sleep with this hard-on. And nothing will make it go away until it’s inside her. Even then, it’ll probably still be in a permanent state of solidity.
But that doesn’t stop me from turning the water on in the shower, then stepping in and gripping my cock. I stroke for an embarrassingly short period before I explode, her taste a tattoo on my tongue and her name a whisper on my lips.
