Total pages in book: 124
Estimated words: 116232 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 581(@200wpm)___ 465(@250wpm)___ 387(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 116232 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 581(@200wpm)___ 465(@250wpm)___ 387(@300wpm)
“See? Surprising.” He moved closer, like he was being drawn to me. “How long did you stand there, watching us?”
“I was mostly watching you,” I admitted.
“Because you were jealous?”
“I’m not sure that’s the right word. Envious, I guess. And a little bit angry.”
He froze. “Angry?”
“At the situation.” I set a hand on my hip and decided to lay everything out there. “I want you, Noah.” My bitterness bubbled to the surface when I put it into words. “I want you, but I can’t have you, and that pisses me off.”
He exhaled loudly, and it was like he’d been holding that breath in for the last month. “Yeah?” His expression mirrored the way I felt. “You should know it pisses me off, too.”
ELEVEN
Charlotte
Noah’s admission filled the room, taking up all the air so there was none left.
It destroyed any filter I might have had and made me ramble. “I came over today, hoping you’d be here. I was going to try to get you to kiss me.” I felt wildly out of control. “To ask you to do things to me.”
His eyes widened.
I’d expected my words to make him retreat—but instead he closed the last of the space between us so he was only a breath away. Close enough it would be easy for me to curl my fingers in his hair and yank him down into my kiss.
I clenched my fists to stop myself.
“We can’t.” His voice was firm, but everything else was in total contradiction, from his proximity to his lidded eyes.
“No, we can’t,” I agreed, my words as hollow as his.
God, the way he looked at me, it sent a shiver of pleasure down my spine. He stared at my lips as if he were searching for all the reasons he shouldn’t kiss me and was struggling to come up with a single one.
“Where the fuck does that leave us, then?”
I didn’t know how to answer that. Noah wasn’t just my father’s employee—he was kind of my boss too. I needed his money, and I needed his place to generate content.
“Friends?” I offered, although it was completely inadequate. How the fuck could we be friends?
His eyebrow arched and his expression turned dubious. It announced he had the same concern.
“I could be a friend,” my pulse sent blood thundering through my veins, “who watches you fuck other people.”
Shock caused him to suck in a sharp breath and his shoulders straightened. “Is that what you want?”
Part of me thought this would be a consolation prize. Since I couldn’t have him, this would be the next best thing. But the other part of me wondered if I was settling at all . . . or if I was getting a better deal than I realized.
I’d had sex before, but watching someone else do it was new and exciting.
What if the next time I watched him it was even hotter?
Just the thought made the throb between my legs return.
He’d asked if I wanted that, and it came from me in a whisper. “I wouldn’t mind seeing a little more.”
He didn’t blink as he considered my statement, but his chest rose and fell with a heavy breath. There was restraint in him, like he was trying his damnedest not to show how much he liked this idea.
“All right.” His voice matched my low tone. “I could do that for you, friend.”
Then, his gaze worked its way over me, evaluating every inch. He noticed my flushed cheeks and the hurried way my chest moved from my short breaths, and whatever he was thinking about, it didn’t take him long to come to a decision.
The brown of his irises seemed to darken like a storm gathering strength, and I was so distracted by it, I didn’t notice when his hands settled on my waist. It wasn’t until we were moving, him urging me back toward the island, that I became aware.
“What are you doing?” I asked.
Noah’s expression was cryptic. “Helping a friend.”
He had me pinned then, and the edge of the countertop kissed the small of my back. The coolness of the stone seeped through my shirt, in stark contrast to his warm hands. It made it difficult to think. “What?”
One of his hands slid down, gliding over my hip and thigh. The caress was gentle but sexual, and my body hummed with excitement. It didn’t give a fuck about who he was or the consequences of letting him touch me like this. I’d been on a knife’s edge watching him with her, and the conversation afterward had done nothing to help.
Noah tilted his head down, bringing his lips so close to mine, it was a cruel tease. “If you’re going to be the kind of friend who watches me fuck someone else,” I could feel the warm brush of air against my skin as he spoke, “then I’m going to be the kind of friend who wouldn’t leave you hanging after.”