Exposure (9 page)

His forearms flexed as he took a sip of
coffee and set it down. "I'm sorry," he said into the phone, his
voice low. "I can't make it for a few weeks. I know. I miss you,
too."

The hairs on her arms stood erect. Dread
coiled in her gut.

He had someone else.

She placed a palm to her forehead. Of course
he did. They never said anything about exclusivity and neither of
them did commitment. This temporary thing between them was no
different. So why did her stomach clench at the thought of him
doing these things with someone else? She wasn't the jealous
type.

He turned suddenly on the stool, eyes
widening a fraction. His gaze leveled on her, devoid of any
recognizable expression. "I have to go," he said into the phone,
still watching her.

Making her feet move, she walked deeper into
the kitchen and poured herself a cup of coffee. Turning, she forced
herself to face him and leaned her butt on the counter.

With his jaw tight, his gaze traveled the
length of her. "Damn, Raven. The only thing better than the sight
of you naked is you in nothing but my shirt." His voice,
sleep-roughened and low, caused heat to replace the anxiety in her
belly.

She took a sip of coffee, staring at him
over the rim. "If you need to go, I understand."

"What are you talking about?"

Pushing off the counter, she rounded the
island. "We never said anything about not seeing other people in
this arrangement." Shame filled her knowing she probably hadn't
satisfied him last night, hadn't allowed him to do half the things
he'd wanted.

He grabbed her arm when she went to pass
him. "I'm not seeing anyone else. That call was…regarding something
else."

She'd never known him to lie, not up until
last week anyway when she'd found out the past ten years had been
false. According to him, it was one lie, just about his alter ego,
but how could she be sure? "You don't need to make excuses. I won't
break. If you need to get it somewhere else--"

He took the coffee from her hand, set it
down, grabbed her hips and pinned her to the counter in one swift
blur. Her breasts and hands trapped between their bodies. He shoved
his face close, breath heavy across her cheek. His gaze bore into
hers--a searing arctic blue seething with anger.

"I'm not seeing anyone else and I don't
share. I may not be the forever guy, but I have never cheated when
I'm with a woman. Not until it's run its course and I've ended it
do I move on. Understand? There is no one else."

Remembering to breathe, she nodded. Her
heart jack-hammered in her chest, but not in fear. In desire. This
fierce, intense side of him, almost brutal in the animalistic
stance, had her damp. Needy.

He flinched as if shocked by his actions. He
swiped a hand down his face and expelled a breath. Shoving off the
counter, he backed away.

She grabbed the ties of his pajama bottoms
and hauled him back. "That was hot. You going all alpha and angry?
Really hot, Noah."

His gaze was disbelieving.

Reaching between them, she palmed his shaft,
satisfaction rising when he thickened in her hand.

His hands dropped to her hips, fingers
flexing. "Raven, baby…"

"Have I also mentioned how much I like you
calling me baby? Surprising, that. But I like it." Normally, she
hated pet names. Her mother used them constantly. But coming from
Noah, in that voice of his speaking through a haze of lust and
skirting the edge of control, her knees weakened.

Sucking in a breath, he fisted the hem of
her shirt, shoving it up to her waist. His gaze dropped. A groan
rumbled from his chest. "You're not wearing anything under my
shirt." His voice was breathless. Awed.

As if he needed confirmation, she shook her
head.

Suddenly, they spun and her back was against
the wall, him on his knees in front of her. Showing her his hands,
he pressed one and then the other on the wall on either side of her
hips, silently telling her he wouldn't move them. "Open your legs,
baby."

The breath caught in her lungs, but she did
as he asked, bracing her feet farther apart and using the wall for
support.

He grunted his approval. His blue gaze held
hers for a moment before dipping to her sex. Leaning in, he licked
a path up her inner thigh and she shuddered.

Never, not once, had a man gone down on her.
She'd never concede that kind of control and the vulnerability gave
her pause. But this position, with him on his knees and her above
him, didn't strike fear into her chest. Instead, she ached.

"Noah…please."

"Please, what?" He mumbled, licking his way
up her other thigh, teasing her inches from where she wanted
him.

Damn.
Damn, damn
. "Kiss me
there
."

Without hesitation, he brought his tongue
between her folds and tongued her opening. Hot, wet strokes that
had her eyes rolling back in her skull. The tip of his tongue
flicked her clit and her head hit the wall.

"Oh God. Noah…"

"Right here, baby. You taste better than I'd
imagined."

She whimpered, her hips bucking toward him.
His tongue swirled, licked, penetrated, and she went mad. Her hands
fisted in his hair, tugging, guiding, but he knew exactly what he
was doing. In and out his tongue darted, easing back so he could
nip her clit and then repeating the insanely delicious process
again.

"Come, Raven."

She breathed his name, looking down at him.
Something shifted inside of her, at seeing him between her thighs,
her core aching. He was watching her, blue eyes severe, darkened by
his own need. His hands flexed against the wall, as if the
restraint were too much. The muscles in his forearms and biceps
bunched.

A tingle shot through her, the only warning
for the impeding explosion. She locked her knees, arched away from
the wall and quaked through the onslaught.

He never let up, sucking and biting until
the last of her tremors ceased and she couldn't breathe. When her
legs gave out, he caught her.

N
oah stood and
wrapped his arms around Raven's waist before she could fall. Half
carrying, half dragging her, he stumbled backward into the living
room until his calves hit a chair and he collapsed with her
straddling him. She buried her face in his neck and he remembered,
almost too late, to keep his hands on the chair.

She licked his neck, sucking her way to his
jaw. Her hands fumbled with the elastic of his PJs, tugging them
down. He raised his hips in assistance until the bottoms pooled at
his ankles. And then she had him in her hands, stroking with the
perfect amount of pressure to make the world stop.

"Ah yes, baby."

He pushed a few strands of hair away from
her face that broke loose from her ponytail and set his hands on
her thighs. When she didn't object, he slid them up her belly to
cup her breasts. Either she was lost in what she was doing or the
touch didn't bother her. Wishing he could get a better handle on
her triggers, he caressed her body, warily watching her to make
sure he didn't push too far.

He ran the rough pads of his thumbs over her
nipples and she sucked in a breath, stilling, eyes closed tight. He
froze, waiting on a cue from her.

Her eyes flew open, hands leaving his cock
to cup his jaw. She stared down at him, gaze searching, but damn if
he could read her. She rose up, keeping his gaze transfixed to
hers, and aligned their bodies for him to enter. He held his breath
as she paused, suspending them between pain and bliss. And then she
lowered her hips, taking him to the root.

If he were the kind of man who wept, he may
have done it right then. She was his first lover not using a
condom, and the words to describe the full sensation of her tight
walls along his shaft hadn't been invented. There were none.

Her hands dropped to his shoulders and held
tight. She released a measured sigh, as if remembering she was
supposed to breathe. Then her eyes drifted shut and her head fell
back, exposing her throat while the ends of her hair brushed his
thighs. A thrust of her hips and he was snapped from his haze.

One hand splayed on her back to support her,
he worked the other between them to where their bodies joined and
circled her clit.

She cried out, clamping around him and
thrusting with more force. He rose up to meet her, burying himself
deeper every time and still never deep enough. Her fingers fisted
in his hair, nails raking his scalp.

Fucking love that.

Bringing his mouth over her breast, he
sucked, swirling his tongue around the nipple and biting gently.
His arms banded behind her back, holding her to him so he could
give the other breast equal attention. She mewled and arched into
his mouth.

Their movements grew frenzied, bodies
slapping and breaths soughed and untamed sounds that just drove him
even closer to the brink. Just as he was about to beg her to come
so he could plunge, her walls fisted around him, milking. She
quaked in his arms. He drove twice more and stilled, face buried in
her shoulder and mouth wide mid-bite. The roar as he came was
muffled by her skin, but he felt it all the way to his toes.

She collapsed onto his chest, crushing her
breasts against him. Unable to do more than lean back, he ran his
hand up the delicate curve of her spine.

"We'll need some protein if we're going to
keep this up."

He laughed, surprised he had the energy.

After a few moments, her breathing grew deep
and she nuzzled into him. Something inside his chest pinched, not
entirely painful, but unfamiliar. Spent himself, he reached for a
throw quilt folded over the arm of the nearby couch and covered
them. His last conscious thought was how damn nice it felt to have
her slight weight on him.

***

R
aven swallowed the
bite of pizza she'd been chewing and looked at Noah from across the
table in the kitchen alcove. Neither had wanted to cook, and she
didn't have any clean clothes, which left going out not a viable
option. He'd been quiet since their…nap in the chair.

"Are you sure you want me to stay the whole
month?" She was still embarrassed as hell to have fallen asleep on
him, curled up like a contented cat.

He looked up sharply and narrowed his eyes.
"Yes." She opened her mouth, but he raised his hand to stop her
argument. "I said yes. I meant it."

"Okay," she said through a sigh. "Tomorrow
morning I'm going to head to my apartment and pack some things.
I'll spend the night and come back here after work on Monday."

He seemed about to say something, but his
cell buzzed on the table between them. The name "McCannon" appeared
on the screen, unfamiliar to her, but Noah's face drained of color
and his jaw tensed. Grabbing the phone, he rose. "Excuse me. I need
to take this." He was across the living room and out the balcony
door before she could respond.

Leaning back in her chair, she eyed the few
pieces of remaining pizza. She forgot how much he could pack away.
Then again, they had worked up an appetite. Grinning, she rose to
wrap up the leftovers and then took her bottle of water into the
living room.

Noah was still on the balcony, facing away
from her and back tense. He'd thrown on a tee and sweat pants after
their nap, but his feet were bare and it was freezing. Snow was in
the forecast for later tonight. He seemed oblivious to the
cold.

After disconnecting, he stared at the screen
as if debating whether to shuck the thing twenty floors below.
Bracing his hands on the railing, he leaned into them and ducked
his head. His shoulders and forearms knotted with his grip.

Worry rose in her throat. Without
hesitation, she crossed the room and opened the door wearing
nothing but his T-shirt. Folding her arms against the biting wind,
she stepped next to him, bouncing from foot to foot. "What's
wrong?"

He closed his eyes and shook his head.
Straightening, he swallowed and tucked a strand of hair behind her
ear. "Nothing." He drew in a breath. "Come on. You're going to
freeze out here."

Too cold to confront him, she led the way.
Inside the condo, he stopped near the fireplace, gaze distant. Lost
was not a good look on him, and hell if she could remember seeing
it more than once. The night his parents died, the same expression
had haunted his face. He had no other family and besides the guys
who worked for him, not many close friends. It had always been just
the two of them really, in a little bubble. What could possibly
have him down-shifting that quick?

"You're scaring me. What's going on?"

He snapped to attention and shook his head.
"Nothing. Just business." His gaze seemed to take her in for the
first time since before their nap. "I…I know you want the details
of my past, want to understand why I insist on security. But not
now, baby. Just know that…" He briefly closed his eyes and ground
his jaw. "They've killed people, Raven."

The hair on her arms stood. "What?"

He nodded, gaze distant, and then he sucked
in a breath as if washing away what he'd said. "How about I
introduce you to my shower so we can warm up?"

Her head jerked in whiplash. She opened her
mouth and quickly closed it again. Okay, he was done talking. If he
wanted her to know more, he'd tell her. Later. Her belly twisted in
warning but, slowly, she nodded.

They stripped and stepped under the multiple
showerheads, spraying from every direction. The man had a fabulous
bathroom. She turned to tilt her head under the spray when she
found him staring at the tile, jaw working a grind. Gone was the
distance. Though he was lost in thought, anger was humming just
under the surface.

"Maybe I should go home tonight. You
obviously have something to work out."