Noah (7 page)

His hands move to my ass as he pulls me flush
against
his body and I
can feel his hard length against my stomach as it strains against
his pants. He lets out a groan laced with want as our bodies rub
together. I think I might have him horny enough to dance with me.
"I wish I could, babe, but I just got called into work."

My hands that are resting on his biceps push against
him, creating several inches of space between us. "You've got to be
kidding me!" I cry. "You were the one who made me come tonight. I
didn
’
t even want to be
here and now you're ditching me?"

I know I'm acting unreasonable but the alcohol is
fueling my hissy fit.

He steps forward and reaches out for me but I take
another step back. My movement causes him to stop. His hands move
to smooth out his
Armani
jacket, probably making sure I
didn't create any wrinkles when I pushed him away from me.

"Be reasonable, honey. You knew when I started at
this firm that the hours would be long and strenuous. If I could
stay here with you, I would. You're who I want to be with right
now, but if I stay I'll lose my job." His sincerity seeps through
each word
,
causing me to
wish even more that he could stay here with me.

"I'm not leaving you alone at the club, Skye. I'm
leaving you with Kendall and Noah. You'll have fun and Noah will
drive you home. I'll be back in a few days."

"A few days!" I shout back, louder than before. "Why
do you need to go for a few days?"

"It's a last minute trip. My boss needs us to land
this huge client and I have to go out there to seal the deal."

What he's trying to explain to me makes sense,
doesn't it? Damn...I'm not sure. I've had one too many Long Island
I
ced
T
eas so I may be acting irrational. Lawyers
travel for work. This is his job. He loves his job.

Caleb attempts to step towards me again, and it may
be childish, but I move off to my left until I'm standing behind
Kendall. "Fine, go then. Leave me."

All right, now I know I'm being irrational and our
little fight has caught the attention of half the people in the VIP
area now watching the show I've put on. Well
,
they're not going to get any more of one
here.

"Baby..."
O
ne of his many pet names for me passes his lips,
but I don't cave in. If he wants to go then he can, but there is no
way in hell I'm saying goodbye.

After a moment
’
s hesitation, Caleb gives up on me, walking over to
Noah and whispering something in his ear. Then he leaves the VIP
area and the club completely.

"Come on
,
Skye, don’
t let that
douche ruin your evening for you."

"He's not a douche, Kendall. I acted
irrationally."

"You did not," she gasps, acting offended at my
words. "If he did this shit once or twice to you then yes, you were
acting irrationally, but he does this shit to you all the time,
Skye. He's never around, and when he is Caleb acts like he's a
first-class citizen and you're the woman in coach he let tag along.
The saddest part is you don't even see it. You think he's your
knight in shining armor. You deserve a lot better than that douche
and I'm not going to stop saying it until you get it through your
pretty little head."

She's wrong, of course. Caleb has been nothing short
of amazing to me all these years. I need to be more understanding
of what his life is like
,
the way he's understanding of mine. He can't
control the fact that his boss is making him leave for a couple
days. Kendall just doesn't understand the sacrifices it takes to be
in a serious relationship.

I do.

"How about we forget the last ten minutes and drink
our cares away?" I suggest. This will be both fun and change the
subject.

“Woohoo! Now you're talking
,
Skye. I'll go pour us some champagne from
the bottle at our booth."

"I'll come with you."

This is a good thing. I'm going to enjoy the night
out with my friend and when I get home tonight I'll text Caleb and
apologize for the way I acted.

***

I'm not sure what time it is or how many drinks I've
had, but I'm feeling good. I'm...happy.

Kendall and I are back on the dance floor dancing
through song after song from
Nicki
,
Jason
,
Drake
, and
Ellie
. I get lost in the beat of each song and
can
’
t feel anything but
pure alcohol
-
induced
happiness. The lights blur around me as Kendall grabs my hips. I
rest my hands on her waist and we move together. She slips one leg
between mine and we grind together, swaying back and forth to the
beat and laughing at nothing at all.

As we finish moving to a
Rihanna
song, Kendall
leaves me to get us both another drink. I close my eyes and
continue to move back and forth to the pulse of the bass. I'm
putting on quite the solo show, which I'm sure is drawing in eyes
from all over.

Obviously
,
the drunk me is under the assumption I'm a good dancer.

I drag a hand through my straight blond hair and let
my other hand trace down the curves of my body as the song changes
from a slow beat to a faster tempo. Then the song changes again and
I recognize the anthem to a much more innocent time for me. I smile
as the familiar lyrics to
Bootylicious
by
Destiny's
Child
play across the club.

Two arms move around my waist and I'm pulled back
into a large, secure body. My head falls back on the man's chest
because I have nothing to fear–it's Noah's chest I'm pressed
against and his arms around my body, I know it.
Bootylicious
is our song from when we were teenagers and he used to tease me
about my small ass. We seek each other out whenever the song is
played and we're both in the room.

One of his hands moves up my body and into my hair.
He pulls the short locks off to one side, leaving the other side of
my neck open and exposed. His beard brushes against the space
between my neck and shoulder, making my whole body hum. Sparks of
desire spread to my southern region as his lips move to my ear and
he whispers, "Dance with me, shorty."

I don't know if it's because I'm so comfortable being
around him, or the amount of drinks I've consumed, or even just
because it's our song, but I turn around in his arms and reach
around his neck, holding him close to me. His mouth curves into a
smile when my fingers knot in the back of his hair. I am too short
to dance like this comfortably so he bends his knees and we're able
to sway back and forth to the fast tempo.

I rest my head on his upper chest, underneath his
chin, as I breathe in the scent on his shirt. It immediately washes
any remaining tension out of my body and comforts me. Noah's always
found a way to make everything better. Right now I feel safe and
protected. He's my home.

We dance close like this until the song ends and then
I reluctantly lift my head and gaze into his light brown eyes.
"Thanks for the dance," I hum out softly.

"I'll always dance with you to
Bootylicious
,
shorty. It's our song." His hands stay mounted on my hips as his
thumbs brush over my hipbones. His eyes are pinned on mine and I
smile up at him before biting down on my lower lip.

"It is our song, even if I don
’
t have the booty to dance to it."
Confirming the obvious I shake my hips back and forth in his
hands.

His nostrils flare and he chuckles deeply before
sliding the palms of his hands around to my backside and squeezing
my butt cheeks. "Oh, I don't know. You seem pretty bootylicious to
me."

"Noah!" I gasp and pull away
,
laughing as he lets go of my ass.

"You said you didn't have a butt, I was just showing
you that you're wrong."

I turn my head around, trying to get a look at my
backside before glancing back up at Noah. "I guess it's a booty,
just not a big booty."

He ignores me and reaches out to grasp one of my
hands in his. He drags me back to our booth as he responds,
“
It
's
a nice, smooth and tight ass. It may be
small but don't underestimate it. I could hold your ass in the
palms of my hands and there's something undeniably sexy about
that."

I feel my cheeks growing warm at the compliment.

Oh Lord, I can't believe he just said that. Noah
doesn't usually compliment and flirt with me. Maybe it's the
alcohol loosening his
tongue
and causing him to do things he normally
wouldn't do, like compliment my ass and dance with me.

When we reach Kendall, Noah helps me sit down in the
booth. "I think you both are half a dozen drinks over your limit.
Why don
’
t I take you
home?"

Kendall seductively licks her lips as she leans
across the table, bringing her face just inches in front of Noah.
"You want to take me home, Noah? I've been waiting for you to want
to try me out."

I see the moment Noah realizes Kendall misinterpreted
what he said. His back stiffens, his eyes go wide, and then he's
leaning back to create some distance between them.
“
No
,
I mean I'll take you home to your apartment and
then I'll take Skye back to her apartment. We all go home
alone."

“Well,
that's no fun
.”
S
he pouts, but then
she's grabbing my hand and pulling me out of the booth with her. We
head out of the bar and into a waiting taxi.

The back of the taxi is crowded as I'm placed between
Kendall and Noah. I can barely keep my tired eyes open. My eyelids
keep drooping and
I can
no longer fight their heaviness, caving and letting the bastards
close as I rest my head on Kendall's shoulder.

"Damn, she had a lot to drink tonight," I hear
Kendall whisper inches above my left ear.

Noah sighs from the seat next to me. "Yeah, I've
never seen her drink like that. She must have been seriously upset
to let her guard down in my club. She hates Club Desire and she
hates what I do for a living."

They're talking about me like I'm not even here right
between them. They must think I'm sleeping or passed out. I try to
move my lips to let them know I can hear what they're saying, but I
can't move my mouth. My tongue and lips are temporarily paralyzed,
numb from all the alcohol.

Just great.

"I don’
t
think she hates what you do as much as you think she does. I
mean
,
she got me a job
working for you, didn't she?"

"Not really. If I recall I got you your job, but I
see your point."

A soft feminine hand begins to pet my short blond
hair as Kendall continues, "You know, she deserves a lot better
than that asshole she's dating. I hate him, Noah. I fucking hate
him. I don't know how you can be such close friends with him."

I want to tell my best friend that he's not all that
bad, but again my lips won't move–my entire body is ignoring the
commands my brain is sending it. At least I know Noah will stick up
for Caleb.

"I know what you mean, but you have to let her make
her own decisions. I've known Skye a long time and if you try and
control any part of her life or tell her to do something, she'll do
the opposite."

"So you don
’
t like Caleb and her together?"

Noah's quiet for a minute before he answers. His
voice is more subdued and melancholy. "Caleb's my friend. We've
done a lot together and he's been a fun guy to hang out with, but
is he a good boyfriend? Absolutely not. He treats Skye like an
object, letting her collect dust in their apartment until he wants
to play with her again. She deserves better than that. She should
be with a man that will show her off wherever he go
es
, beam with pride because he's
the luckiest guy in the room, and show her how lucky he is to be
with her every day of his life. I can't stand that they're
together.

"But they love each other. Caleb's a flirt and I hope
to God my fear is unwarranted and he never cheats on Skye, but it's
out of my hands. I've warned her and that's all I can do."

"I knew it. You love her," she responds sweetly.

A second hand lingers on top of my head before softly
caressing my hair. The fingers are larger and rougher, and I know
it's Noah's hand petting me.

"It doesn
’
t matter whether I love her or not, her heart is
already taken."

"But he doesn
’
t deserve her," Kendall whispers harshly. "Did you
hear that bullshit excuse he gave tonight on why he had to leave?
There's no work trip. He made it up. Who knows what the hell he's
doing right now. He's probably fucking someone else as we
speak."

"Kendall," Noah says in a low demanding voice.
"Unless you have proof of that it's none of our business. I've
asked her a few times why she never questions Caleb's excuses, we
even stopped talking once after a fight we got into over
that
, but she
doesn
’
t think they're
stories. She believes him. I gave up a long time ago telling her
that Caleb was no good for her. Now I just sit here hoping he
changes his ways and becomes a man worthy enough for her, because
she'll never leave him. She'll never leave the comfort and security
he
and his lifestyle
give her."

I want to chime in, I want to defend Caleb and tell
them they're wrong. Caleb is a good guy, but instead I'm quiet as
the vibrations of the taxi bring me in and out of sleep.

Noah's hand leaves my hair and he trails his knuckles
softly across my cheek before I lose consciousness completely. A
small whimper leaves the back of my throat, but they likely didn't
hear it with my mouth closed.