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“No?” I breathed, acutely aware of the smile it brought to his lips against my face.
“No.”
Painstakingly, I straightened, turning in his hold as he shifted to pin my ass against the table. Jameson’s distinct scent laced the air between us and my body screamed to kiss him again. To taste my fill.
I cleared my throat. “You know, you’re not as intimidating as you think you are.”
“And you’re not as charming as you thinkyouare.”
“Everyone else seems to think so.”
“That’s the problem.”
“Sounds an awful lot like jealousy to me.” Running a hand down the hard plane of his chest and cursing the way every inch of me wanted to lean in for more, I smiled coyly. The idea of making a man like Jameson jealous was…empowering, to say the least. He wet his full lips, effectively gluing my focus to them for what he said next.
“Just communicating expectations. Isn’t that part of the whole relationship thing?”
“You’re obviously an excellent pupil. I think my work here is done.” When his dimples betrayed his amusement, I couldn’t restrain my smile anymore, the leash snapping like a cheap hair tie. “It was hardly a hug, Jameson,” I said, patting his chest in what I hoped was a reassurance. “He was showing me how to take a shot.”
“It’s not about Axel.”
“No?”
“It’s about seeing you in someone else’s arms.” His voice tightened, jaw flexing. “Or smiling for another man and realizing how much I hate the idea of anyone else touching you.”
My pulse was an erratic percussion solo, chest rising and falling in rapid succession, brushing up against him. Slowly, Jameson raised a hand to brush stray strands of hair off my face, electrifying my blood. His eyes darted behind me for a beat before his smirk broadened, oozing arrogance, and I hated that I liked it. Hated that I wanted to know exactly why he looked so confident.
“So youarejealous,” I taunted, the words breathless. Eyes darkening, he rested his forehead against mine.
“Will you just—” his word was amputated by a harsh exhale, and then his lips were molten hot, crushing mine, stealing the air from my lungs, his warm, rough fingers scraping through my hair, gripping me tighter.
My world imploded.
Every movement was dangerously decadent, heady exhales exchanged as he kissed me like I belonged to him. Ravaging and claiming, while caging me against the table as his tongue plundered, demanding I yield to him. Fuck, I did. Gratefully, greedily, I complied, wishing he would pillage more than just my mouth. I finally had my answer. The Rhodes mendidkiss like they needed everyone in the building to know who their women belonged to. Deepening the claiming with a swipe of his tongue, his touches turned sinfully sweet, and I melted into a pool of submission against his palm.
EIGHTEEN
JAMESON
Kissing Noel was…inevitable. I’d craved her since the moment she’d shown up with her explosion of out-of-place colors, but the draw had been suffocating since she’d practically attacked me on the dock. Unfortunately, the long-awaited heat in my body and the rush of sensations were overshadowed by the looming presence of Eric fucking Connely watching from the front of the bar.
I was going to kiss her,regardless. Was going to steal her breath, either way. But the moment I’d spotted the shithead behind her, I knew I had to make it fucking count. How anyone could hurt someone as precious as Noel, I would never comprehend. Hell, I barely knew her and would do anything to keep her safe and satiated. Women were to be worshipped and protected, not fucking manhandled into compliance. This one, in particular, was owed a karmic debt for the shit hand she’d been dealt with that prick.
So yeah, I might’ve played it up a notch, might have lowered myself to grip her thighs and lift her onto our billiards table. Might have made more of a statement by tossing the cue across it behind her. But the rest—the way she tasted, the way my entire body craved more of her as those lean legs locked around me, the need to touch and serve and fill her—that was all Noel. Brilliant, funny, beautiful Noel.
The electric current that ran between us? Out of this fucking world.
Goddamn. There were a hundred-and-one reasons I should have left her alone. One-hundred-and-one reasons she was better off without me, with someone younger. If I could have kept my ego in check, and mouth shut, she and Axel would have made a hell of a pair. But as sparks sizzled, the scent of her nearly overwhelming me, I no longer gave a damn about the ‘should haves’. Because this woman had her talons so deeply embedded in my body that it was thrumming.
And I fucking wanted her.
Wanted her so badly that my sense of surroundings seemed to fade into static, the buzzing in my palms overwhelming as I ran one up her thigh and the other gripped her ribs. Not for the ploy. Not to keep her away from the coward in the corner—although that was still urgent. I wanted Noel McShanefor me. Selfish. Stupid. But I’d sprinted past the point of caring.
The softest little moan slipped between her lips as I sucked the bottom one between my teeth, and she tightened her legs around my waist. My steadily growing erection gave a little pulse against her belly and she sucked down a breath. Why the fuck did I decide to finally kiss hermy wayin a crowded bar where absolutely nothing could be done about it?
A throat clearing pulled us from our stolen moment, my mind full of mouthwatering images of this fiery goddess splayed over my bed. Of what her bare curves would feel like pressed against my body. Noel panted against me for a beat, surprised brown eyes locking on mine and then we both peeled our foreheads apart. Her face fell the moment she spotted Eric, something like disappointed understanding slithering into her expression. I instinctively stepped between them, keeping her tucked behind me as she slid off the table to her feet.
“Can Ihelpyou?” I snarled, staring down a fuming coward playing brave as he crossed his arms.
