Don't Let Go(53)

The scar in his eyebrow twitched as he frowned. I wanted to smooth it, touch his face more than anything in the world right then.
“You two were what kept me human,” he said in a whisper. “When what I was doing—” He stopped and his whole face tightened and his eyes went dark. “Wasn’t very human.”
He cleared his throat and forced his expression to clear.
“I’d think about the moment he was born,” he said. “Your face.”
“Oh, Lord,” I said.
He smiled and moved a lock of my hair out of my face, temporarily stopping my heart. “It was beautiful.” He held my hand up between us and held tighter. “You had my hand in a vise, begging me not to let go. I promised I wouldn’t,” he said, the smile in his eyes fading.
“And then you did,” I said under my breath.
He inhaled slow and deep, nailing me with that thousand-mile stare of his. “And then I did.” He looked physically pained by that admission. “I’m sorry I left you alone, Jules. I swore to be by your side and then I left you to carry this by yourself.”
I gave him a small smile. “Everything happens as it’s supposed to happen,” I said, and one side of his lips spread into a smile that turned my insides to a churning ball of energy.
I lost my resolve not to touch him with that smile, and I moved my hand softly over his cheek. Noah sucked in a breath and closed his eyes when I touched him. My breath quickened at the new rush of adrenaline that shot through me, and the look of surrender that heated his eyes when he opened them sent a new burst of nerves buzzing through my belly.
Both his hands came up to my face. “I’m sorry,” he said.
“Sorry?” I breathed, confused and spinning.
Pulling me to him as he leaned in, he nodded. “I can’t hold this in anymore.”
Noah’s mouth landed on mine with a sweet hunger that made my bones feel as though they left me entirely. Energy pulsed through me like lightning at the feel of his mouth, the taste of him, his hands twisting into my hair. It was like I’d been starving for him and one taste triggered everything. My hands went up into his short hair, pulling his head in deeper and bringing a low rumbled growl from his chest that set me on fire. I couldn’t get close enough.
As if he felt the same need, he pulled me into his lap, my legs straddling him as he shoved my skirt up so that I’d fit against him better. Our foreheads pressed together and the tears that filled his eyes stung my core. Suddenly my lungs, my eyes, my throat—everything burned with the emotion of needing him so badly I couldn’t breathe. His arms moved up my back and pulled me so impossibly tight that when I wrapped my arms around his head and he buried his face in my neck, we clung to each other as if our lives depended on it.
I felt his hot tears on my skin, and it brought all the injustice of the years we lost to the surface. Nothing felt more right than being intertwined so tightly we were one, rocking slowly, desperately clinging to each other.
The only thing that pulled me from that embrace was my need for his mouth. I was shaking when I held his face in my hands and saw the rawness in his eyes. I landed back on his lips, exploring his mouth, tasting the salt from our tears.
He dug his fingers into my back as his mouth trailed down to my neck, sending tingles to all the important places. His hands moved from my thighs slowly back up to my hair, lighting up every inch that they passed.
“Oh, God, Noah,” I part whispered, part moaned, as I felt him hard against me and moved my hands over his shoulders, his back, his head again. I couldn’t get enough. “I can’t stop touching you,” I breathed.
“I know the feeling,” he said, shoving my sweater jacket off my shoulders and landing there with his mouth, tasting his way up my neck. Reflexively, my thighs squeezed and I arched against him, making him moan against my skin and dig his fingers into my hair. His kisses went lower, playing at the swell of my tank top neckline while holding me firmly against him, driving me mad.
A tiny voice in the back of my mind was screaming to be heard, telling me to stop. Telling me that it was a bad idea. Telling me that my heart couldn’t take another Noah heartbreak.
But the rest of me was louder. Every cell of my being went on full alert as his hands moved over my body and I felt his need matching mine. I held his face against my chest and moved against him as his breathing grew ragged and he grabbed my ass and rode it with me. He let go and slid his hands up over my breasts to my face, searching my eyes as we both breathed as if we were racing. As if sensing the runaway freight train we’d climbed on was about to jump the tracks. The intensity hit me to the bone, filling me with a need that burned my eyes.
“Jules.”
I saw everything in that one second, everything he couldn’t say, everything he’d ever felt.
“Don’t let go,” I whispered.
Noah blinked back emotion, and when his mouth sealed over mine again it was solid, real, like a promise. He explored my mouth, pulling me deeper and deeper, my mind exploding with the thoughts that this was Noah. That I was kissing Noah again. Touching him.
“Hold on to me,” he said against my lips, gripping me against him with one arm.
I wrapped myself around him as he lifted and pulled his legs under him, picking me up a little awkwardly and dropping me on the rug.
I pulled him down with me. “Nice move.”
A smile curved his lips. “I’m slowing in my old age.”
He dove into my mouth once more, hungry, needing. I wound my legs around him and pulled him down to me, craving the weight of his body on mine. He was so much more solid than the last time I’d held him like this. Tighter, harder. His kiss turned possessive, pinning me to the floor, taking my breath away with his ardor. Making me dizzy with my need for more. I tugged at his T-shirt, wanting skin, and he lifted so that I could pull it over his head.