RUSH (City Lights, #3)(77)

“Yes,” she whispered, as if answering a question I had asked with my searching hands. “Let go, Noah. I want this. I want you. Hard. Please…”

Oh Christ. How was it possible for her to say such things and still feel delicate and soft and sweet beneath me? It didn’t matter. She wanted what I wanted, and my body obeyed her breathy little command immediately.

I braced myself, palms flat, on either side of her, and rose up to thrust deeply into her. She answered with a cry and her legs wrapped around my waist. I thrust again, and then again, harder and faster each time. Then Charlotte—my god, this woman—she wrapped herself around me so tightly, lifting the lower half of her body off the bed to meet my every thrust while I drove into her over and over, each time coming closer to the edge of an ecstasy I had never dreamt was possible.

I gave up trying to keep from becoming lost in her and became lost. Feverish. My skin and bones and thrusting flesh were hers now, completely, and she was mine. All mine. Every inch of her was wrapped around me and she took me inside her so deeply, I couldn’t tell beginnings or endings, boundaries or bodies, just her and me.

In the end, she pulled me to her and I sank down deeper into her, as if that were possible, and she kissed me, clutched me tightly. I felt her tense, felt her teeth sink into my shoulder and then she let go, arching her back and screaming my name.

That was all it took. I thrust once or twice more, erratically, as my climax crested and crashed, tossing me into a delirium of pleasure that throbbed like a second pulse in every ounce of my body to leave me drained.

I collapsed on top of her and wanted to stay there, wrapped in her forever. But I was too heavy. She shifted beneath me, reached for something by the bed.

“Wastebasket.”

I disposed of the condom, and rolled over, taking her with me. I wrapped my arms around the smooth, velvety skin of her back that was slicked with a fine sheen of sweat. She lay full on top of me, her breasts against my chest, her arms still around me and her breath gusting over my neck. Our hearts were thundering together, then slowing together, and it felt as if her warm, soft body were melting into mine.

We lay this way a long time, neither of us saying a word, until she finally lifted her head and kissed me one last time, breathing life into me when nothing and no one else had before.





Chapter Twenty-Five


Charlotte

I woke up, certain I’d had the craziest, most two-sided dream of my life. The first half was a frightening nightmare, the second half the most rapturously joyous experience of my life. Noah was wrapped around me, naked, and my body was humming with pleasure. We’d made love three times, until the dawn was breaking in the east and I had to beg off for some sleep. He was insatiable and had stamina to spare. I don’t know why on earth he ever worried he wouldn’t last a minute; Noah was an incredible lover. A real man where Keith had been just a boy.

And it wasn’t merely the physical pleasure that brought a smile to my lips that morning. It was that even when Noah was aggressive and deliciously rough, the sweet emotion I felt surging through his every touch was an added layer of ecstasy. I’d never felt safer in my life than I had in Noah’s arms, and the memory of being mugged probably would’ve faded out of my mind quickly had my violin not been taken too.

Later. I’ll worry about that later, I thought, snuggling closer to Noah. He stirred, woke, and kissed me with intention.

“Really?” I laughed, incredulous.

“Really,” he murmured, and this time he was gentle and slow; he took his time and cherished every inch of me until I cried out his name, delirious and drunk on him.

*

We took a train from Grand Central Station to New Canaan around mid-morning. The station wasn’t as crowded as it was during a commuter day, but the halls still rang with the echoes of hundreds of footsteps. Noah stuck close to me as we made our way through, but once we took our seats on the old Amtrak he heaved a sigh.

“My mother’s going to throw a fit,” he said as the train lurched out of the station. “Be prepared for lots of hugs and tears from her. My father will shake your hand as if you just closed a business deal, and once Ava stops shouting at me, she’ll probably hug you too.”

I nodded and smiled faintly, watching the scenery outside the window turn into a blur.

“Charlotte?”

“Oh, sorry. That sounds great.”

He turned to face me. “You okay? You’ve hardly said a word all morning.”

“Nervous, I guess,” I said. “It’s a big deal, meeting your family.”

“They’ll love you,” he said. He took off his sunglasses, twisted them by the stem. “Are you thinking about last night?”

“The mugging or what came after?” I asked, trying for levity. “The first terrifying and awful, and the second was the most wonderful, most amazing experience of my life. It seems impossible they happened in the same night.”

He leaned over and kissed me and I smiled, but the unsettled feeling wouldn’t leave. “I keep thinking I forgot something at the townhouse. Or that I left a burner on, or the front door unlocked. And then I remember my violin is gone.”

He dropped his gaze. “I’m sorry, Charlotte.”

“You know it’s not your fault,” I said. “But now that it’s all over, I feel like I’ve lost a limb or something. Stupid, really. I’ve hardly touched the thing in a year. Not seriously, anyway. But I was just starting to feel something again.” I heaved a sigh and brightened my smile. “Anyway, yes, I’m very nervous about meeting your family. But Lucien will be there, oui?”