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“What are you doing?” I breathed.
“Putting these stupid posts to good use,” he said gruffly, and wrapped his arms around me, to unclasp my bra. He flung that away too and laid both hands on my breasts, fantastically rough and needy. He crushed his mouth to mine again, his tongue swirling circles, and I felt that unspoken promise again in the raw, wanton kiss.
“I love these,” he said, moving to lick and suck at my earlobe, while his fingers teased my nipples.
“I noticed,” I managed and reached for him, needing to feel his skin against mine. I lifted his shirt up and off and greedily let my hands explore the tight muscles of his abdomen and the hard planes of his chest. “And you…I’ll never get used to this.”
He cut off my words with another of those kisses that seemed to be crafted to erode my sanity, and he grabbed my wrists and lifted them over my head.
“Hold on and don’t let go,” he commanded, and I nearly came with just those words, with the anticipation of what was coming next. It was so good to see him like this, full of confidence, aggressive, so sure of every move he made. A little voice whispered he’d been with countless women before the accident; he had experience to spare.
But he’s mine now, I thought, until my thoughts were swept away as Noah knelt before me, kissing my stomach while his hands gripped my hips.
“Oh God…” I whispered as he tugged my panties down until they landed around my ankles.
“Step out of them,” he growled and no sooner had I one foot free, than he hooked my leg over his shoulder and put his mouth between my thighs, delving deep.
I cried out and clutched the bedpost above my head for dear life as Noah kissed me the same way he’d kissed my mouth—with intense, driving passion that was almost animalistic except that he knew exactly what he was doing.
I felt the ecstasy swell and roar and crash almost immediately, but he kept going, sucking and then swirling his tongue until my hips bucked helplessly against his relentless kiss. I came apart under him again, and he would have tried for a third time if I hadn’t begged him to stop.
“I can’t hold on…” I gasped. “And my legs…don’t work anymore.”
Noah slowly got to his feet, tracing a path up my body with his mouth until he was standing. Then he swept me in his arms and laid me on the bed where I seemed to sink into the soft mattress. He lay over me, held me, a Cheshire cat smile of satisfaction on his lips.
“What about you?” I said, still trying to catch my breath.
“If I did what I intended, you shouldn’t want to do anything more than sleep for a hundred years.”
I sighed heavily. “That’s so true. But if you’re suffering…”
He laughed. “We have time. And besides, it’s too easy for me to get lost in you, your body, your scent, your skin.” He flopped on his back beside me. “I almost need to recover, myself. From today in general. And you. I have a feeling that when we do sleep together, I’m going to need therapy after.”
I snuggled up close to him. “Okay, but if you change your mind tonight…”
He grinned. “You’ll be the first to know.”
chapter twenty-three
The following Friday, Noah and I took a cab to Regina Chen’s place in Hell’s Kitchen, my hand clutched tightly in his the whole way. The red brick building loomed above us with its rectangular windows and fire escapes zigzagging up the façade. The strains of music—modern radio, not live—and voices talking and laughing could be heard, even though Regina’s place was four flights up.
“You ready?” Noah asked.
“Um, sure. I guess.” I buzzed the door. “It’s going to be loud in there. And crowded. Areyouready?”
He smiled down in my direction. “Baby, I was born ready.”
I snorted a laugh as the door buzzed open, but I felt Noah tighten his grip on my arm as we started up the first of three flights of stairs.
“There’s a rooftop terrace if it gets to be too much,” I told him as we climbed, “or we can just leave…”
“Charlotte, this is your night. We’re not leaving until you want to.” At one of the landings, he pulled me to him. “You’re going to do great and then after…” He bent and kissed me, one of his patented Noah Lake kisses that suffused my entire body with heat and left a lingering promise of more when it ended.
A door on the floor above us opened and Regina Chen’s voice wafted down on a current of loud music. “I don’t know who the hell it is; I buzzed them in like a million years ago…” I looked up to see Regina lean over the banister. “Oh. My. God. You’re actually here. Charlotte Conroy is actually here!”
Regina hurried down the stairs and threw her arms around my neck. “I’m so happy, you have no idea.”
“I havesomeidea.” I laughed.
