“Listen,” he said, forcing his voice soft. “It happened just like I told you earlier. I brought her home, yes. I fully intended to have sex with her, yes. But we passed out before anything happened. I didn’t have sex with her. I haven’t had sex with anyone since before the accident.”
Shit, he’d lost control of his mouth. Of his mind. That wasn’t sexy. Nothing about desperation was sexy. She said nothing, just kept frowning at him, the wheels of her mind spinning in the background.
Noah pulled her hand from her hair and curled it into his, kissing her knuckles. “And I’m not your client. You don’t even want me as a client. You’re still hell-bent on leaving tomorrow?”
That seemed to sober her. Those pretty eyes, warm as caramel, sharpened. She sighed, looked away, nodded.
He drew her gaze back to his. “Then give me tonight. Nothing more. Just two people hot for each other spending the night together.”
Her gaze lowered to his mouth, and she scraped her lower lip between her teeth. “This stays between us?”
That hit him a little sideways. Too often woman wanted others to know they’d fucked him. Thought it somehow made them hotter or more important or…shit, he didn’t understand their thought process. But he was often nothing but a conquest, which had always fit his agenda just fine. Now, he didn’t like the thought of being an embarrassment to Julia. Someone below her normal standards, like she was slumming. But he wanted her bad enough not to mention it.
“Absolutely,” he promised.
“You’re sure? Because in my position, it would be seen as really, really bad judgment to sleep with—”
“I’m not your client. And I’m totally sure.” He slipped his fingers beneath the hem of her tank and thrilled at the feel of her skin—warm, smooth, soft. Leaned in and kissed her shoulder with a murmured, “No one will know but you and me.”
“It’s just that…” Her hands scraped through his hair again, and need enveloped her expression. “It’s a really small community, you know. People love to gossip—”
He kissed her quiet, then pulled away and pressed his forehead to hers. “Why are you suddenly talking so much?”
“Um…nerves?”
Her fingers raked lightly over the skin of his shoulders, creating gooseflesh. He smiled. Kissed her again. “I know a great way to take the edge off.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah. Want me to show you?”
“Oh, Jesus, God, yes.”
He laughed and held her tight as he rolled to his knees, then used his good leg to push up with Julia in his arms—thank God for weighted squats.
“No, Noah,” she said, holding on to his shoulders. “Your foot—”
“Can take twice your weight. I’ll prove it.” He bent at the knees and hoisted her over his shoulder.
“Oh my God. Noah!” She gripped the waistband of his shorts. “What are you doing?”
With one arm around her thighs, he started toward the door. She was heavier than she looked, which he’d known she would be. Muscle always weighed more, and she was all muscle. But the lust in his body acted like a pain reliever, because thinking about stripping her naked in his bed, tasting and touching her everywhere before he sank deep inside her and let go, overtook his mind. There was no room for pain.
“I’m taking you upstairs,” he said, exiting the gym and heading for the staircase. He didn’t care if he had to get up them on his knees, as long as Julia was his reward. “I’m going to spread you out on my big bed, I’m going to undress you, kiss you everywhere—”
“Not if you hurt yourself on the way,” she said when Noah was already on the third stair. “Please put me down.”
“But, see, if I put you down, I’ll start kissing you, then groping you. We might not make it off the stairs before I just had to have you.” He neared the top, breathing hard, the pain in his ankle starting to break through the lust. “And look…here we are.”
He used the banister to help him the last two steps, then swung into his room and tossed her onto his bed, in the middle of his big, fluffy white comforter. Her laugh made him smile. The sight of her dark hair tangled all over his bed, lying across her face made him laugh.
Noah dropped onto all fours over her, knees flanking her thighs, hands flanking her shoulders. She pushed the hair from her eyes, and when it was all out of the way, her gaze homed in on his. She was smiling as she reached up and caressed his face, her eyes following her hands as she touched him everywhere—forehead, cheeks, jaw, chin. Her fingers trailed over his lips, traced his eyelids, skimmed down his nose.
“You’re so handsome.”
The reverent tone of her voice touched something deep inside him. The words seemed to knock on a door to a place where no one was allowed. Women told him he was hot or sexy, usually while in the throes of sex. This felt different. Everything about Julia felt different.
“And you’re so buzzed.” He laughed and cupped her cheek. “But not too buzzed, right? I want you to remember every single minute of tonight in the morning.”