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  “Bitch. I hate that you know me so well. So what are you suggesting?”

  “Get over this little tantrum before you piss away the best thing that’s ever happened to you.”

  “The best thing? You never liked Tim.”

  “With good reason. Look, you divorced the bastard because he never paid a lick of attention to you. Now, you have a man willing to blanket you with affection, devote night after night to your happiness and pleasure. And you say you’re pissed about the way he approached you. Besides being way too picky, you’re lying to yourself and letting your fear control you.”

  “Gosh, Kat. Don’t mince words. Tell me what you really think.”

  Her sister just snorted. “Stop thinking less about how a new relationship might be painful and think more about what kind of happiness you might be passing up if you let the pain in your past rule your future.”

  Kat’s cutting voice—and the truth—whacked her across the face. Her sister was right. Noah was the anti-Tim—supportive, attentive, able to focus on their relationship. There was just one little, D-cup-or-better problem…

  “Okay, you’re mostly right. But there’s something else you don’t understand.”

  “This better be good.”

  “Seriously, Kat. I’m like…Mount Everest to him. It’s the challenge, not the person. Once he’s scaled me and planted his flag, it’ll be over.”

  “Sounds to me like he’s already planted his flag more than once.”

  Lauren rolled her eyes. “Stop. I meant metaphorically.”

  “You think he’s so hard up that he needs to ruin a decades-long friendship just to get laid?”

  Um, put like that? Well…no. That didn’t seem Noah’s style. But…

  “Kat, I’ve watched him with every other woman he’s dated. I’ve seen the same pattern over and over. Once he thinks he’s got me, he’ll be bored and restless and leave me. Knowing that, it’s hard to just ‘get over’ my fear.”

  “You need to consider three things: A—He acted that way with other women he used as a substitute for you. If he’s pined for ten years, chances are cupid has maimed him for life where you’re concerned. B— Your hurt yourself when you cut him loose because—get this—you’re afraid of hurting. Hello, is logic home?”

  “Kat—”

  “Don’t interrupt. C—You’re looking for guarantees in a relationship before you sign on. Gee, if they all come with one and I didn’t know…color me stupid. Here I thought relationships were about learning to trust and respect one another, sticking it out in good times and bad, and hoping for the best along the way. But gosh, if they come with guarantees of not being cheated on and left, I’ll take that.”

  “Now you’re just being sarcastic.”

  “I’m being right. I’m also hanging up now. Before you get the kids and get busy, while I know you’re stuck in traffic and have nothing else to do, I want you to think about what I said. Noah loves you. I believe the guy. Why shouldn’t you? You’re crazy about him. It’s a great chance to start all over and do things right. The future… Well, what’s that cliché? It’s better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all? I think that applies here. Gotta run. Ta ta…”

  Click.

  Ugh! That was just like her difficult, opinionated sister.

  God bless her. Tears seared the backs of Lauren’s sleep-deprived eyes as she mentally sorted through Kat’s words.

  Noah loved her. Lauren couldn’t run from that fact anymore. Instead, an insidious part of her heart embraced it like a warm quilt on a chilly winter’s day.

  She loved Noah. They knew each other well, respected each other’s senses of humor and quirks. Undoubtedly, he’d drive her nuts a time or two along the way. No doubt she’d do the same to him.

  Cutting him out of her life now…it was crazy. The weeks without him were killing her, like a dull, rusty blade in her chest coming closer and closer to destroying her heart. She didn’t want to be without him. If their relationship ended up being a short one, well, at least she’d have memories and the knowledge that she’d really tried. If she left him now, she’d have nothing but regrets.

  Lauren already had plenty of those, and they sucked. She wasn’t settling for regrets anymore.

  When the traffic stopped again, she prowled through her phone’s menu and hit one of her speed dial buttons. The call connected over the car’s speakers. “Hey, Mom. Are you busy tonight? You’re not? Great! Would you mind if the girls came to stay with you? I need to visit a…friend.”

  Chapter Twelve

  Friday fucking night, and he was alone. And home by ten thirty. How the hell had it happened?

  When a certain dark blonde with flashing brown eyes had let him into her life—into the sweet, honey-wet depths of her body—substitutes had ceased to work.

  She’d captured him completely, without even trying. She had simply been herself, and for ten years, he’d ached for no one else. After a brief week in paradise, Lauren had kicked him out. Largely his fault, yes. But she’d bashed in his heart and snipped his balls when she’d walked out the proverbial door. He’d started a million plans in his head to win Lauren back before he had to remind himself scheming was exactly what she didn’t want. Damn it.

  God knew he wasn’t lacking other offers. Just tonight at his former hot spot, some young blonde had all but humped his leg like a puppy in heat. In the past, he’d been able to muster up enough interest, especially if the blonde had lush curves and chocolate eyes and a husky laugh that went straight to his cock. Like Lauren.

  Now…nothing. He’d danced with the blonde tonight, knowing he’d have to get back in the game at some point. He’d tried to pep talk himself into sleeping with her. Nothing doing. Holding the woman—Jessica? He couldn’t remember—everything south of his belt buckle may as well have been dead. Tonight’s blonde had been too skinny, too young, too…loud and obvious. Self-absorbed. Misty had been much the same. As had a long line of blondes before her.

  Noah sighed as he let himself into his huge, rambling, terribly empty house. Lauren was gone—and not coming back. He’d have to sell the house. Why did a bachelor need four bedrooms and three baths? The wife and kids he’d wanted for a decade weren’t moving in anytime soon.

  On that depressing note, Noah felt his way through the dark, into his living room and made his way down the hall.

  Bed. He’d go to bed. And probably jack off. Again. Thinking about Lauren, her supple curves all spread out on his bed, bound and wet and ready and all his.

  Now he got a reaction from parts south. Sighing, Noah looked down at his stirring cock and shook his head. Jessica and her artificial D-cups rubbing against him had done nothing. One thought of Lauren and every inch he’d sworn was dead suddenly sprang back to life.

  “Picky bastard,” he muttered to his dick as he approached his bedroom.

  The door was closed. Odd. He never closed his bedroom door before leaving the house. It only made the room stuffy…

  But he was running on next to no sleep, and the pressure building up in his balls was nearly enough to strangle him. That, coupled with the constant ache right between his pecs, was really distracting the hell out of him.

  Tired, Noah groped for the knob and found a piece of paper taped to it.

  Scowling, he pulled the paper free. What the…? Had someone been in his house? Who had keys? Mom. His administrative assistant, Jennifer. He couldn’t see either of them leaving a note taped to his door, rather than leaving a voice mail.

  After flipping on the light in the hall, he unfolded the paper and read…

  You. Me. Naked skin. Shared fantasies. A whole night.

  Now.

  His heart dead stopped. Those were the same seductive words he’d used, more or less. The note wasn’t written in his handwriting.

  It was in Lauren’s.

  Holding his breath, he shoved the door to his bedroom wide open.

  His jaw dropped at the sight that greeted him. His cock leapt to
full attention.

  Lauren stretched out on his bed. Ankles and one wrist bound. Writhing like she needed him to ease her ache. Holy shit.

  She was here? Here! Breathe, he admonished himself. Goddamn breathe.

  Her hair tangled in a wild honey-sweet cloud, teasing her neck, toying with the swells of her breasts and her swollen rosy nipples. She was blessedly, beautifully naked…except for a little black mask. Golden candlelight bathed every seductive valley and ripe swell, every inch of her soft, sun-kissed skin. Son of a… Wow!

  Legs spread, Lauren’s bare sex glistened for his gaze. Advertising. Alluring. Calling out to him. His fingers, mouth, and cock all twitched with the urge to answer. Fucking torture…

  “Hi, stranger.”

  Her voice, sultry, thick with arousal, wrapped around his cock, stroking it to a painful turgidity. Noah gritted his teeth and tried to make his brain work, to sort through why she might be here, naked and available, taunting and so fucking gorgeous. But his brain wasn’t firing at all. It just registered naked Lauren and reacted like a hungry dog with a steak.

  “You’ve got five seconds to get off the bed and get dressed,” he growled, “before I shove my cock inside you and fuck you so hard, you’ll spend half the night screaming your throat raw.”

  Lauren didn’t move a muscle, except to send him a kittenish smile. Damn it, the woman was playing with a book of matches in the midst of dry kindling, sprinkled with gunpowder and topped with dynamite.

  “Promises, promises,” she purred.

  She wasn’t just inviting; she was taunting.

  The strategist in Noah knew he needed to rein in his lust, ask why she’d come, where she saw their relationship headed after the fabulous fuck she was goading him into. If he gave in, she might just well leave after her orgasms. He’d be tipping his hand, showing her exactly how much power she had over him. He’d have no bargaining chip when the night was through.

  The man in him only cared about getting inside her sooner than now.

  “Yeah,” he growled, stalking closer and toeing off his loafers. “One I will deliver on.”

  His tight black T-shirt came off in a second. His jeans in about two. He leapt on the bed, insinuating his body between her legs. His tongue thrust deep at the same moment his cock did. He thanked every god he could think of that she was wet enough to take him in one plunge.

  Lauren gasped. “Noah!”

  Home. Perfect. Mine.

  He moaned, the sound tortured, guttural. Had anything ever felt this good?

  Ravenous for her taste, her smell, her touch, he dove into her, submerging himself. Hard strokes of his cock, punishing lashes of his tongue. He sank deep, deeper. It wasn’t enough. It never would be.

  Her one free hand plowed through his hair, clutching at him as she tilted her hips, mewled, and invited him even farther inside her.

  “Yes.” The sound tore from his chest as pleasure shot through his body.

  The intense penetration aroused him, but it was being inside Lauren, knowing she’d come to him, would soon come with him, that was boiling his blood, scalding the need building up inside him.

  But he needed something…

  Without missing a beat, he jerked the mask from Lauren’s face. She blinked, those long lashes fluttering at him, even as her pussy did the same around his cock. Her brown eyes melted as she looked up at him, focused, not looking away. Her gaze lay bare. Vulnerable. No anger, no fear, no reticence. Only acceptance, giving. Total surrender. That look reached inside him, ratcheting up his desire to feral levels, tugging on his heart until he thought it might burst.

  Lauren was destroying him. Not little by little, but in great, big gnawing hunks. And still he needed more.

  The scarf. The one tied around her left wrist. It had to go.

  With a mighty tug, he ripped the offending black wisp away. He didn’t know where it had come from and he didn’t care. He only knew both her hands were free.

  “Touch me,” he pleaded, voice harsh against her mouth. “Hold me.”

  She wrapped both arms around him, holding him close against her as he propelled his way into her tight, clinging sheath again. Again. Again. Until he wanted nothing else. Could think of nothing else.

  “Noah.” His name fell from her lips.

  He didn’t answer. He couldn’t. Instead, he gripped her hips, tilted her up even more and fucked her wildly.

  God, she was killing him. The head of his cock dragged across her sweet spot. She clamped down on him, gripping, sucking him back in, even as her arms held him tight, as if she’d never let him go.

  Lauren fisted his hair in her hands. “Noah!”

  “Why…did…you…come…here?” he demanded, one word between each thrust.

  She cried out and pressed her lips to his.

  As much as he wanted to lose himself in the dizzying flavor of her mouth and that intoxicating kiss of hers, he wrenched away.

  “Why?” he growled.

  She was panting now, every breath a harsh exhalation that ripped through the thick summer air each time he shoved his way into her broiling depths. Her pussy squeezed him hard now. Harder. Jesus, he was going to lose his mind. The ecstasy was building up, heavy, an irresistible ache. He sucked a harsh breath between his teeth, trying to hold off his orgasm long enough to make her come.

  But first, he wanted a goddamn answer. He’d seen it on her face, but he had to hear her say it.

  “Why?”

  “I need you,” she sobbed.

  “For a fuck?”

  She shook her head. When she trembled against him, body taut with need, Noah looked down into her dilated, expressive eyes. She was on the edge, nearly ready to explode. But everything she felt was still shining at him, and he thought he might explode even before she said the words.

  “For always. I love you.”

  That was all it took. The head of his dick dragged against her sweet spot one more time, and she convulsed, thrashing, crying out, his name a chant.

  No way he could resist that. He wasn’t even going to try.

  Pleasure slithered down his spine, gathering into a boiling pool of need in his balls. With a last thrust, the ache burst, shooting through his entire body as he stiffened, plunged, shouted, and clutched Lauren like a lifeline as he drowned in a sea of ecstasy.

  Moments passed. They drifted into minutes, broken only by slowly regulating breaths and heartbeats. Still, Noah didn’t move, remained lodged inside her sweet body, his arms around her. She’d come back—and he would find some way to keep her if she thought for even a second about leaving.

  But Lauren’s arms remained around him, fingers stroking through his hair, gliding down his sweat-slicked back. She pressed a kiss to his shoulder, his jaw, the corner of his mouth.

  His cock stirred with interest again, like he was nineteen, not thirty-nine. Only Lauren could do this to him. She’d better not think of leaving again.

  The string of kisses she continued to gift him with said she was in no hurry to go anywhere. Her mouth fell softly on the blade of his cheekbone, the damp skin at his temple. Her teeth tugged on his lobe.

  “Noah?”

  He closed his eyes. What did she want? Hell, he’d given her the power in this situation. But what if her declaration of love was nothing more than heated passion talking?

  “Tell me again why you came here.” Noah barely recognized his own voice. Scratchy. Rough. Ragged.

  “Not just for sex. The last few weeks have been miserable without you.”

  “You kicked me to the curb and told me I was a scheming bastard.”

  She kissed his cheek. “When you let me finish the expansion presentations without help…I knew you understood that I didn’t want you planning my life.”

  “I got it. But you didn’t believe that I love you. I don’t know how to convince you not to be afraid. What I want…it hasn’t changed, sugar.”

  “Thank God.” She smiled up at him. “You have my sister to thank for making m
e realize that I was leaving you because I was afraid of being without you. Which, as she pointed out, makes no sense.”

  “But now you’re willing to take a chance with me?” His heart started to chug, beating faster with hope so desperate he could taste it.

  “If you’re going to get bored and leave me the way you have Misty and every other woman—”

  “It won’t happen,” he vowed, staring down at her, forcefully penetrating her gaze, willing her to understand. “Tonight, I could have had a woman named Jessica.”

  Instantly, she struggled beneath him, doing her best to dislodge him.

  All that wiggling only served to stir his cock to full length. With a slow glide, he pushed back into the depths of her body, all the way to the hilt.

  “Damn it,” she hissed. “Get the hell off—”

  “I said I could have had her. I didn’t say I did.” He thrust again slowly, his erection sliding through her like a hot knife through soft butter. “Truth is…” he withdrew unhurriedly, then pushed his cock back in at the same pace, maximizing friction, “…I wasn’t even remotely interested in sex until you came here.”

  Again, he treated her to a lazy thrust. Damn, this better be arousing her. The slow burn of her flesh over his was searing him.

  “I wasn’t interested in sex without you,” he clarified. “Seeing her boobs half exposed in a low-cut shirt all night did nothing for me. A mere thought of you…and I was so hard I couldn’t think straight.”

  He thrust again at that agonizingly measured pace.

  Beneath him, Lauren moaned, “Noah.” Her stiff body lost some of its starch.

  “That’s it, sugar,” he chanted on another smooth glide. “Get it through your head; there isn’t going to be anyone else. I’ve wanted you for ten years. You told me the last time we made love that substitutes weren’t enough for you. They’re definitely not enough for me. They never will be again.”

  “Noah.” As she called to him, tears welled, spilled, ran silver down her cheeks.

  “I want to marry you,” he whispered, stroking into the wet heaven of her pussy again. “Have babies with you. Hell, I bought this house for us.”