Naked (8 page)

He turned on the faucet and let the water run over a plate. Behind him, he heard more clinking.

Looking over his shoulder, he noticed Luke had brought a few more empties. “Can you believe that we’re so adult, we actually clean up along the way instead of leaving it all for the next morning.”

Noah laughed. “Sometimes I can’t believe we even lived this long.”

They had done some crazy, stupid things when they were younger. Including jumping off the roof onto a trampoline. Poor Luke had ricocheted back toward the house and smashed his head into the eaves trough. He’d gotten a concussion and been in the hospital for two days.

“Violet’s nice.”

Violet was incredibly nice. But shy. Fearful even. Almost scared of her own shadow.

Noah left the plate he was rinsing in the sink and turned to his friend, only to be greeted by the mischievous grin he’d known since they were kids. “She wants to fuck you, Youngblood.”

Youngblood. The nickname he’d gotten when he and Luke had watched the Rob Lowe movie of the same name and had decided they were going to play in the NHL.

Obviously that didn’t happen.

“I get this feeling she wants something from me. She’s just afraid to ask for it.” There was definitely something in her eyes. He just couldn’t put his finger on it.

“The only thing you’re capable of is giving her a good fucking.” He wasn’t being mean. He wasn’t being rude. But after almost twenty years of friendship, Luke knew Noah’s boundaries, and, even though they’d never talked at length about what had happened with Megan, he knew he wasn’t capable of going there again. “A girl like that is looking to slum. Give her what she wants so she can tell all her friends.”

Noah didn’t want to be Violet’s means to slum it. He didn’t want to be any woman’s means to dip their toes into the inferior dating pool. All the more confirmation that he didn’t want to start his own business and just be a contractor. His position as a junior foreman at a major construction firm was a way to elevate his status to be more than just the guy who laid the concrete. He’d already been tossed aside once because he didn’t wear a suit every day, and he didn’t think he could handle that again.

Despite Luke’s words, Noah didn’t believe Violet just wanted to slum, but he wasn’t given the chance to contemplate it when a loud voice carried from the other room.

“Luke!” Harper yelled.

His friend hung his head, running his hand over his beard and up across the top of his head.

It never failed to amaze him that even after five years, each time he looked at Luke’s arms, he always noticed something different in the full sleeves of tattoos. Like right now, there was a shading of fuchsia inside the scrollwork near his right wrist.

“Luke!” she yelled again. “I need you.”

Luke frowned. “What made me go into business with her again?”

Five years ago, Luke and Harper had opened a tattoo shop—Luke the talent and Harper the office manager. They were a perfect team, but he’d never met two people who bickered and sniped at each other so often.

Noah shrugged. “It obviously wasn’t for sex.”

“She’d be much nicer to me if it was.” With a shit-eating grin, he went back to the rest of the group.

As far as he knew, Luke and Harper had been completely platonic for the five years they’d been in business together, because Luke wasn’t the type of guy to put sex above business.

He’d never had a girlfriend longer than it took him to come. Girls threw themselves at his feet, all of them thinking they would be the one to wrangle and finally tie down the bachelor. But Noah had yet to see it. And he had a feeling he might never see it.

Noah made his way into the living room, shocked when he found Harper straddling Luke on the floor.

“Charlie, you just have to go after it.” Harper rode Luke’s body like a bronco and his eyebrows had practically disappeared into his hairline.

Harper pushed up her breasts; they were less than an inch from his mouth. “Guys like this,” she continued.

Luke shook his head, terror darkening his face. “No.” He let out a hard breath. “No they don’t.”

“Oh, no…” One of her eyebrows lifted in defiance and she continued her grind on his pelvis. The fisting of Luke’s hands on the floor beside him didn’t go unnoticed.

Violet stared with wide eyes at his friends. They were making a great impression. He wanted her to come over here again, for fuck’s sake. But she didn’t look horrified. She looked…intrigued. Fascinated, even. Her head was cocked to the side. A tiny smile curved at the side of her lips as she watched intently as Harper tried to seduce his best friend. Was she learning something?

“What the hell are you doing, Harper?” Noah said.

“I’m showing Charlotte what she needs to do to get the guy.” She grabbed the collar of Luke’s shirt and lowered her head to his neck.

“What guy?” Noah was always the last to find out the scoop.

“There is no guy.” Charlotte wasn’t even paying attention. She was more fascinated by the bottom of her drinking glass. “She’s being hypothetical.”

Suddenly, Harper gasped when Luke grabbed the hair at the nape of her neck. He whispered something in her ear, and it shut her up. Immediately, she removed herself from his lap and scrambled away, resting her back against the wall.

Maybe there
was
something between them…

“Wow.” No longer mesmerized by the free show, Violet looked at her watch. “It’s after two. I should get going.”

“It’s early.” Harper righted herself, straightening her shoulders and clearing her throat. “I know there’s another bottle of vodka in the cabinet.”

Violet waved her hands as she stood, straightening her shirt and pulling her scarf closer to her neck. “No, I couldn’t drink another drop.”

“I’m going to walk Violet to her door.” Noah sidled up to her, placing his hand at her back. “Is that all right with you?”

She nodded and bit her bottom lip, her hands tightening on the edges of her scarf around her neck.

When they turned and walked away, Luke called out, “See you tomorrow morning.”

Harper snickered.

That was wishful thinking on Luke’s part. This girl was like a frightened deer. One wrong move and she was going to bolt.

They took the few steps down the pathway that led to the sidewalk and walked in silence to her front door, all the while Violet fiddled with her scarf, arranging it then rearranging it. She had to be hot. It might not be summer yet, but the spring was unseasonably warm.

Her keys jingled as she pushed one into the lock and opened the door.

“Thanks for stopping by tonight.”

When she turned, her eyes were lowered to the ground. “I…had fun.” She smiled, but looked surprised. Had she not thought she would? “Drank a little more than I expected. Tomorrow might be an Advil and couch day.”

“I’m sorry if Harper…” He had no idea how hard she might have pressed Violet while he was with Luke in the dining room. “She can be a little intimidating. Her business is…”

“She’s great.” Violet sighed. “Fascinating, actually.”

“Harper’s the most genuine person I’ve ever met. She has a heart of gold. Just remember next time you can say no to her drinks.”

She smiled and nodded, biting her lip, still refusing to make eye contact.

Wasn’t he the smooth operator? They were talking about his friend, rather than the elephant standing between them—the fact that she had showed up because she wanted to kiss him, for him to kiss her.

She kept biting that lip, drawing attention to the one place he knew he was going to conquer tonight. Electricity crackled between them and tied their bodies together in the most overwhelming way. Their eyes met and, with nothing more than a silent cue, he took matters into his own hands.

Guiding her inside with his hand at the small of her back, he stepped over the threshold.

When he closed the door behind them, she asked, “Don’t you need to get back to your party?”

“I will.” He leaned against the door, the rim of the small window at the top cutting into the back of his head. “But I’m ready for a little one-on-one time.”

She cleared her throat. “Exactly what kind of one-on-one time are you expecting?” She questioned him, but she looked hopeful. Like she was just waiting for an invitation.

“You showed up tonight, Violet.” He grabbed her hip and pulled, twirling her around so that her back was now against the door. He hovered above her, one palm on the glass window, the other still at her hip. “You tell me.”

His lips were inches away from her face. Their exchange of breath fueled his desire. He’d been attracted to her prior to this evening, but watching her tonight, in his group…She might not have said much, but when she did it was as if she belonged.

He reached up, brushing the pad of his thumb across her bottom lip. “I’ve been wanting to use my tongue on you all night.”

She shivered. A tiny whimper escaped her mouth.

“Where would you like my lips?” His hand made its way to the back of her neck and despite the scarf blocking him, heat scorched through the fabric, burning his skin. It turned his brain to ash, obliterating every function that required common sense. Because common sense told him that pursuing this secretive stranger was only going to lead to trouble.

He reached forward with his other hand, but she stopped him by wrapping both palms around his wrists, wrestling his arms to his sides. “No touching.” She pleaded with him, her eyes seeking out his with a sharp request for privacy. She was hiding something underneath that scarf. He didn’t care if she had a bird’s nest hiding under that scarf. It wasn’t going to change how much he wanted her.

But he’d play by her rules. He had never been one to follow direction, to stay in line with the status quo, but he’d do it tonight if it meant any part of
her
got to touch
him
.

If she wanted control, so be it.

“You’re safe.”

She looked up at him, wonder and appreciation staring at him, but something was holding her back.

“You want control?” He wiggled his fingers, then clasped his hands behind his back. “I’m yours to command.”

This girl was dying to come out of her shell and he had no problem letting her experiment with his lips. His cock. She could have anything she wanted.

Anything except his commitment.

“Show me you’ve thought about this just as much as I have.”

She readied her lips, swiping that torturous tongue around her plump flesh while inching forward. Then her lips covered his, softly at first. Tasting. Learning. Heating up his body and scrambling his mind with each swipe of her lips, each sharp intake of breath and tiny groan. His hands wrung at his back wanting desperately to touch her, but he kept it in check.

She continued for a few minutes, or it could have been hours. Admittedly, he’d gotten lost in her drugging kiss. But he wanted more.

He dipped his tongue into her mouth, testing the waters.

She obliged by opening her mouth wider, letting him invade. Without the use of his hands, he pressed forward with his pelvis. It was the only way he could make it harder, stronger, to prove that he wanted her. He kissed her exactly as he’d planned, rough, urgent. He kissed her so she’d remember his lips. His taste.

When he pulled away, the tiny flecks of gold in her eyes glittered in the soft light from the hallway, but there was still a heaviness to her body language. She was still holding back.

“What do you want, Violet?”

It took a few moments for her to respond, but when she did, it made him sad. “I’ve never really been asked.”

He’d spent his entire life indulging his every whim and having every one of those whims, no matter how stupid, supported by his family and friends.

She stepped to the side and settled onto the small table beside the front door. “I’m not sure what I want.”

Shame. Because he knew exactly what he wanted.

“There are so many things I haven’t…” She let her words hang in the air. Her sentence was incomplete, but her message was loud and clear.

“Do you want me to teach you how to use power tools?”

She laughed, a sweet giggle that touched his insides. He felt it in his chest. In his groin. Everywhere.

“There are so many things I’d like to teach you, Violet.” She groaned when he stepped between her legs and pressed his erection into the apex of her thighs. “And every single one of them requires you naked.”

She moved her hips, rubbing her center against him, using him to get off.

This woman was dying to fall apart at the seams. The walls may not come down tonight, but maybe he could at least get her to take a quick peek at what he had to offer.

“Is that what you want?” Her head fell back on a groan when he kissed her jaw. “Me? Naked?”

“Preferably.”

Her eyes widened, but with a determined set to her jaw, she asked, “What if I want
you
naked?”

The stomach he hadn’t realized was turning settled at her words.

She wanted this.

And he wanted a means to stave off the loneliness.

“Just tell me when and where.”

She kicked out her feet and pressed her heels into his ass, pulling him closer. With a tug at the open neck of his shirt, she said, “How about right now?”

Which caught him off guard. With the constant change in her emotions, this girl was going to give him whiplash.

“Would you be interested in…?” Her words lingered. Her intentions hung between them louder than any proposition she could have made.

He wasn’t expecting this tonight. He wasn’t prepared. He’d planned on kissing the shit out of her and leaving her wanting more, leaving with the satisfaction that she’d be taking her own pleasure after he left. But did she want…?

He never thought to bring a condom.

His face scrunched up in probably the most unsexy look. “I don’t have any protection.”

Disappointment flashed across her face.

You’re a fucking idiot!

She took a deep breath. “That’s all right. I want to take this slow. On my terms.”

Good fuck. This is going to happen.

“I move back to the city in four weeks and while I’m here…maybe we could…”