One Last Time(46)

He gets to his feet without saying a word. I watch him move around the table, making his way to me. My heart beats so loudly I worry it’s going to explode.

My mind is reeling, and with as much as I want him to tell me I’m right and walk away, I don’t. I want someone to fight for me—just once.

When he reaches me, my breath stops. I want to scream that I didn’t mean what I said, but he cups my face, moving his thumb on my cheek. “Maybe you’re right. Maybe neither of us needs any more complications, but you’re the only thing I want.”

I’m pretty sure I just died.

Has anyone said anything as perfect as that? If they have, I don’t care because my entire world has shifted.

“I want you, too.” For the first time, I’m completely honest with him.

I want him.

I want him to want me, and God help me, I want it all.

Fear ruled me for too long, and I won’t allow it to do so for one more second. Noah and I might not last. We could be a flash in the pan that fizzles out before it gets going, but if I don’t try, I’ll never know.

“Yeah?” he asks with surprise in his voice.

“I’m scared, but yes, I would like to see whatever this is between us.”

“I’m glad you said that.” He grins as he leans closer. “I was getting ready to really put the moves on you.”

If this was him not trying, I can’t even fathom what the hell I’ll be in for.

The truth is, I don’t care.

“Shut up and kiss me,” I demand.

Noah brings his mouth to mine, and I slip my hands behind his neck, holding him to me.





Chapter Nineteen





Noah





I keep waiting to wake up.

It has to be a fucking dream that Kristin is in my arms. Her fingers press against my neck, pulling me closer while I kiss her lips.

“Noah,” she says my name as her mouth moves to my neck.

This wasn’t my intention when I came here. I wasn’t even sure if I should come with Eli, but I needed to see if she was okay. Kristin stirs every protective urge I have. If that prick had hurt her, I was going to bury him.

I’d made a deal with myself that if she had been upset, I would give her time without me pressuring her. The last thing she needs is another person fucking with her head. We’d be friends, I’d do the article I was an idiot to suggest, and then we’d part ways.

When I saw her on the floor, smiling and happy to see me, there was no way I could walk away.

“I’ve thought about you all day,” I tell her as I kiss my way down her neck. “When my plane landed, all I could do was find a way to see you.”

She moans and drops her head back. “You have no idea . . .”

“About what?”

Kristin’s blue eyes meet mine, and I watch the confliction swirl in her gaze. “How much I think about you.”

“You’re not the only one, sweetheart.”

“Good.” She smiles as I drop my mouth back to hers, loving when she opens her lips and I can dive back in. I taste the sweetness of the wine against her tongue. Her fingers slide down my back, but they can only go so far since she’s still sitting.

My hands cup the back of her thighs, and I lift her. She yelps when I sit her on the table, giving me the angle to kiss her better. Instead of giving in to my urge, I take a second to look at her, amazed at all she is. How the fuck did I get this lucky?

How could one drunken reporter find her way into my heart with just a smile?

She runs the pads of her fingers against my cheeks. “I like this,” she muses as she scratches my semi-beard.

I like her touching me. I like everything about her.

“Yeah?” I ask.

She nods with her bottom lip in between her teeth, not meeting my eyes.

“What else do you like?” I ask as she moves her thumb across my lip.

“The way you kiss me.”

Well, I can gladly give her that again, but I know Kristin’s biggest issue is she was silenced. I won’t allow that. I want her to be confident and never worry that she has to hide anything.

“Like this?” I brush my lips against hers, pulling back when she moves in and tries to take over. She lets out a small whimper, and I wait for her to answer. “Is that what you want, sweetheart?”

She shakes her head, but that isn’t going to fly tonight. Nothing will happen unless I hear the words. I’m fighting every impulse to lay her on the table and make her lose her mind. I want to make her feel good, worshipped. My muscles are aching from restraining myself from doing just that, but Kristin has to lead how far this goes.

“I can’t hear you,” I urge.

“No,” she finally says.

“What do you want?”

There’s no mistaking her hesitancy. She wants to say it but doesn’t know how. I have to push her without breaking her. I’m not sure what the right move is to do that, so I move my mouth back to hers.

Her legs wrap around me, pulling me flush against her. My cock strains against my pants as she digs her heels into my ass. She breaks the kiss and runs her tongue against my ear. “That’s more like it,” she rasps.

“Fuck,” I groan as she repeats the motion against my other ear.