AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Everything okay?” she asked.
“Never better.” I kissed the top of her head.
The temperature had cooled between us a little since the bar. The dance. The proposition. But the heat—the tension—was still there, simmering under the surface, making itself known.
My phone chimed again, and I discreetly opened Connor’s text.
Connor: For what it’s worth. I think you’d be good together. So I’m only going to ask this once… can you really give her what she needs?
I turned it off. I didn’t need him breathing down my neck about this. I wanted Aurora—fuck, I wanted her so much—and she wanted me. We were adults. What we did was between us and no one else.
Sure, if it were up to me, I’d have laid it out for Austin before now. Talked to him man to man. Teammate to teammate. But Aurora wasn’t ready for that. And I respected her too fucking much to go behind her back.
Austin was her brother; he wasn’t her keeper.
“What’s wrong?” She tugged my arm, and I lowered my head to hers.
“Nothing.”
“Let me guess”—a resigned sigh slipped from her lips—“Connor—”
“How did you know?”
“Because Ella texted me too.”
“They need to learn to butt out.”
“They only care.”
“They think I’ll break your heart.” But no one is worried you’ll break mine.
“Noah, I—”
“Shh, shortcake. I don’t want you to think about anything right now except all the dirty things I’m going to do to you the second I get you alone.”
A shiver ran through her as I brought a hand to her neck, brushing my thumb over her jaw. “You do things to me, Aurora Vivienne Hart.”
“Noah, I—”
Of course, the Uber driver chose that second to pull up outside the house. I climbed out first, helping Aurora out.
Anticipation zipped between us, the air snapping and crackling.
“You good?” I asked her, and she nodded. Those bewitching green eyes of hers searing me right down to my fucking soul.
We walked to the house side by side. We didn’t touch or speak or even look at each other, but damn if it wasn’t the best kind of foreplay. The air was charged between us, full of delicious anticipation. A band pulled so tightly that it was mere seconds from snapping.
But knowing she was the present I got to unwrap tonight was a rush like no other.
The second we were inside the house, I kicked the door shut and crowded Aurora against the wall. “Look at you,” I drawled, letting my eyes run over every curve. “You drive me wild, shortcake. And you’re mine.”
All fucking mine.
Slowly, I lowered my face to hers, trailing my fingers along her collarbone and threading them into her hair to angle her face right where I wanted it. “Just so we’re perfectly clear,” I breathed the words into her lips. “This is—”
“Noah, don’t.” She silenced me with a finger to my lips. “I know what you’re going to say. You can’t promise me anything beyond tonight, and I’m not asking you to. I’m not. But I want you, Noah Holden, more than I have ever wanted anything in my life. And just this once, I’m going to allow myself to have it.
“Even though I feel like I’m going to wake up any second and realize this was all a dream, I still want to enjoy every second while it lasts.”
