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“A kiss,” Noah answered, his voice gruff and husked with an edge.
A shiver raced over the surface of my skin, goosebumps following in its wake and my nipples tightening to an ache. I was acutely aware of the slick need between my thighs. I shifted restlessly on my feet in a futile effort to relieve the pressure building there.
“I thought that wasn’t smart,” I said, my voice coming out all breathy.
I felt so foolish around Noah. Maybe I’d been a scandal in high school, but I was anything but since then. I knew he was far more experienced than me, most certainly with having casual fun.
“Maybe I don’t care if it’s smart or not.”
He was plastered against me. I felt the hot, hard press of his arousal in the cradle of my hips and wished we were already home. It was enough that I’d already decided I wanted to act on my desire, but I didn’t feel crazy enough to do something about it right here. A gust of wind blew through the parking lot, and I shivered slightly.
He stepped back, and I heard the door latch click when he reached around me. “Let’s go home.”
A few minutes later, I learned that the small space in a car could feel incredibly crowded. The air felt heavy, almost like a charge about to go off.
I was hot all over with my skin prickly. Need was racing through my body in a loop, and I needed a way to discharge the intense, unfamiliar feeling. I had vague memories of that old high school boyfriend who got me pregnant. When you were young, sex was kind of hit or miss. It wasn’t great, but I did remember the excitement before, feeling like maybe something good would happen. The few sexual encounters I’d had since then—dating relationships that went nowhere—had left a lot to be desired.
My endless to-do list was always hovering in the back of my thoughts. I just couldn’t relax enough to enjoy sex. Noah had this strange effect on me, leaving me more turned on than I’d ever been. And I knew him. I knew him well even though I hadn’t seen him in years. Maybe it was my younger self who thought he was so handsome and unattainable. Maybe it would turn out to be a disappointment, but I was going to grab this chance.
Because this week would end, and I would return to my life. The ticker of my to-do list would click on like a clock in the background of my life. Every minute counted.
This didn’t have to be anything but a suspended week in my life. Even if it was only one night. I didn’t care. I wanted it too much to let anything else get in the way.
“Just one night,” I whispered, my words landing like sparks on dry kindling.
“One night won’t be enough,” Noah said flatly, pouring fuel on that kindling.
“How do you know?” My eyes whipped to his as he rolled to a stop in the driveway in front of the house.
He pressed a button, and the engine went quiet. “I just know.”
Staring at him in the glimmer of light cast from the porch light, I felt my mouth go dry and my belly spin. As if I were falling from a great height and didn’t know how to slow my fall. Despite, or perhaps because of my internal turmoil, my need felt as if it were ramping up inside, suffusing me and spinning through my veins.
“Oh,” I finally said.
A moment later, Noah was walking beside me as we crested the top stair on the porch. I was reaching for the doorknob when Noah caught my free hand. Glancing over, I lifted my brows in question.
“If you don’t want this, all you have to do is say so.”
His gaze searched mine, and my heart kicked out a wild rhythm. “I do, though,” I finally said.
A whining sounded from the other side of the door. My cheeks got hot. “First, I have to let Matilda out.”
Noah’s chuckle sent heat racing through me.
“Of course.” He opened the door, and Matilda dashed out, circling us excitedly in greeting before leaping off the stairs and running to the side of the snow-covered lawn she’d identified as her preferred bathroom area.
Noah waited with me on the porch, and we watched together as she ran through the snow, yipping and snapping at the snow that flew up around her. A few minutes later, I watched as Noah tucked crumpled paper under the logs he’d just placed in the fireplace before tossing the match in. In another moment, the flames were crackling to life.
After we came in, Matilda had happily taken the chew toy Noah tossed her way and settled on her bed in the corner of the living room, focused on the task at hand. Meanwhile, I was a bundle of nerves. Anxiety was tangling up inside my desire, and I didn’t like the feeling. I felt a little rusty when it came to sex. My bold proclamation earlier was now feeling ridiculous.
I lifted my wineglass off the coffee table and took a big gulp. The single margarita I’d had at the bar hadn’t done anything to soothe my rattled nerves. But then, I didn’t want any of my senses muddled. Perhaps I was nervous, but I wasn’t about to back down.
Noah turned toward me. His eyes landed on mine immediately. It felt as if sparks were lighting the air between us, snapping and crackling from the taut tension.
I wanted to look away, but I didn’t. I stared right back, lifting my chin slightly. “How come I never noticed you before?” he mused, almost as if to himself.
“Because you were four years ahead of me in school. Way out of my league,” I said with a little laugh. “There’s also the fact we haven’t seen each other in years.”
