Fly With Me (Wild Aces #1)(15)

Tonight Noah wore a pair of jeans that encased his long legs and my fashion eye instantly recognized as Diesel, and a steel gray dress shirt with the collar unbuttoned and rolled sleeves that exposed a nice amount of tanned skin. Easy and Thor flanked him, another guy who looked a little older than the rest of the group, but no less hot, by their side.

Noah laughed at something Easy said, and I watched, a knot in my chest, as Easy nudged him and Noah’s head turned, his gaze on me, and the laugh slid off his face to make way for the gleam in his eyes I recognized from earlier when his hand slid between my legs.

Noah left the group without a word, walking toward me, and then his arms were around me, my body enfolded in his, his lips brushing the top of my head.

He pulled back, a soft smile on his face that complimented the gleam. “Hey.”

God. That “Hey” melted its way through me, leaving me warm and gooey on the inside, like chocolate melting cake. Hot didn’t quite cover it. Nothing covered it. This feeling inside me, like a slow burn I couldn’t extinguish, was simply beyond my control. I was thirty years old, I’d been around the block enough times I basically had my own corner with a lemonade stand, and he made me feel fifteen again. Well, fifteen in the body of a thirty-year-old woman who had hit her sexual peak and wanted to take advantage of the hottie in front of her.

“You look gorgeous,” he whispered, his words sending a thrill down my spine and validating the hour spent primping in front of the mirror.

I’d definitely brought my “A” game tonight and I liked that he was the kind of guy who seemed to appreciate it. There were a lot of guys who wanted a low-maintenance girl who went hiking, and did marathons, and didn’t wear makeup. That girl was awesome; I was just not that girl. Those guys inevitably got upset when it took me an hour to get ready for a night out, or bitched when I pushed luggage weight limits to the max on trips. Those guys said soul-crushing things like, Do you really need that many pairs of shoes?

I was fully aware of the fact that I could kind of be a pain in the ass, and I definitely appreciated that so far Noah seemed to like that I was the kind of girl who didn’t know the meaning of the word “understated.”

’Course, given his friends and his profession, I doubted there was much I could do that would shock him.

I grinned, letting my gaze devour him like a hungry lion faced with a gazelle. “You look pretty good, too. How was dinner?”

He matched my smile. “Boring.”

His head dipped, his lips claiming mine. “I was too busy looking forward to dessert,” he whispered against my mouth before his tongue slid in and he kissed me senseless.

My arms wrapped around his neck, my chest plastered against his, his hands on my lower back, grazing my ass. He didn’t hold back because we were in public, or because we were surrounded by our friends, and considering it definitely wasn’t in my nature to hold back, I was greedy for more.

His tongue was tendrils of fire licking through me, his hands sending sparks throughout my body, his lips embers that warmed me, my body humming with need and heat. I’d told myself we would hang out with our friends for a bit and then maybe sneak away. That plan was becoming more untenable with each second he kissed me.

Noah pulled back first, smiling down at me, his eyes twinkling, his tongue sweeping out over his lips as though he wanted every drop of me.

Gah.

His arm wrapped around my waist, pulling me against his body, the thump of his heart beating against my skin. I tipped my head up, inhaling the scent of his cologne, my face buried in the crook of his neck. It took a remarkable amount of willpower to keep from dragging my tongue along the skin there.

Easy cleared his throat loudly, the sound pulling us apart, a teasing smile on his face. “We were thinking of playing some blackjack. You guys in?”

I’d almost forgotten they were all even there. My sister stared at me with wide-eyed curiosity. The other girls looked at Noah like he was the last piece of cake and they all had a wicked sweet tooth. The guys had various expressions of amusement on their faces.

“Do you want to play blackjack?” Noah asked me.

I shrugged. “I’m not great with cards, but I’m up for it if you want.”

I didn’t want to play blackjack. I didn’t want to be in this casino. Right now all I wanted was Noah naked and a room with a bed. And really, at this point, the bed was optional.

He nodded to Easy. “Yeah, we’re in.”

Totally stupid, but I kind of liked being part of a we.

He nodded toward the guy I hadn’t met yet. “Joker, this is Jordan. Jordan, this is our squadron commander, Joker.”

More melting. It was impossible to miss the fact that he introduced me like I was someone special, someone he was proud of. Impossible to miss the way his arm tightened around me or his voice rose as he made the introductions, as though I was someone he wanted to show off instead of just a casual lay.

I wasn’t entirely sure why this mattered, but yeah, it kind of did.

I smiled and held out my hand. “It’s nice to meet you.”

He returned my smile, his gaze speculative, his big hand engulfing mine. “It’s nice to meet you, too.”

He wasn’t as hot as Noah or Easy, or even as cute as Thor, but he was definitely handsome. He looked to be maybe a decade or so older than the rest of the group, and he carried himself with a calm air the other guys lacked. His cockiness wasn’t as in your face and I figured the thick platinum band on his left ring finger had something to do with it.