RUSH (City Lights, #3)(69)

“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 didn’t stop. My hips bucked helplessly as he continued 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. “My legs…don’t work anymore.”

Noah got slowly 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 laid 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 more therapy after.”

I snuggled up close to him. “Okay, but if you change your mind tonight…”

“You’ll be the first to know.”

“I’d better be,” I laughed lightly, my eyes getting heavy.

“It’s different, taking it slow,” he said. “Kind of nice for a change. I want to savor you, Charlotte. You feel so unbelievably good. You taste so good…”

“God, Noah,” I said, my body responding again, despite the euphoria that was weighing me down like a heavy blanket.

“You’ve given me so much,” he murmured. “I have to give to you…something. I have nothing.”

I wanted to tell him that wasn’t true, but he kissed me softly, and all I could manage was a shake of my head, and then sleep reached up with warm hands and I dragged me down.





Chapter Twenty-Three


Charlotte

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 fa?ade. 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. Are you ready?”

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.”

“Okay. Oh! Anthony will be there too. You guys will probably be the only non-musician types so you can make fun of us Juilliard geeks together. I didn’t tell you when you first met him, but he looks a bit like Donald Glover. But taller. And Melanie, my best friend, will be there. She sort of looks like Velma from Scooby Doo, only with black hair.”

“Okay…”

“Um, Mike Hammond is our resident percussionist. He looks like the lead singer of Matchbox Twenty. Do you remember them? Great band.”

“Why are you telling me all this?” Noah asked as we rounded the third floor landing. The music was louder now and footsteps thundered above us.

“So you don’t go in unprepared,” I said. “And I’m nervous as hell, so I’m rambling.”

Noah laughed. “I can tell.” He pulled me to him. “Don’t be nervous. 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 bannister. “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 have some idea,” I laughed.

She glanced at the violin case in my hand. “Holy shit, it’s on, now. This party just got epic.” Her dark eyes took in Noah behind me. “Oh, I see you brought a GQ model with you, as one does.”

A blush crept up my neck. “This is Noah Lake. Noah, Regina Chen.”

Regina grabbed his outstretched hand briefly then started back up the stairs. “Come on. The guys are going to flip. Game of Thrones, Walking Dead, Mad Men…Like I said, epic.”