“You just described owning a cat,” Noelle says, smiling fondly at Cat. “Sounds like he chose you to be his mom.”
Maybe she’s right. Not just about naming him—he deserves something a little more permanent. And maybe I could stop referring to him as “not actually my cat.” If he wants to be my cat, I could be his human, I suppose.
“Moving on from Cat,” I say, leaning against the kitchen counter and taking in Noelle in my space. I realize, with a jolt, that she’s the first person I’ve had in here since I’ve moved in. And she… Fuck, she fits well. I swallow. “So, what was it you said about ordering food and me getting to touch you?”
17
NOELLE
My imagination didn’t do her justice.
She tastes like a lemon drop, sweet and sour, and she goes straight to my head faster than any shot ever has. I think I could spend hours just kissing her and be perfectly content. We haven’t even made it to her bed yet, because I pushed her against her bedroom door the second it was closed. She puts her whole body into the kiss, pressing it against me. Her fingers rake down my back, and she gasps as my tongue dances with hers.
I step back, tugging her with me. Her cheeks are flushed, her gray eyes hazy. Stopping as the back of my legs hit the edge of the bed, I pull my sweater over my head and throw it aside. I’m wearing a tight crop top under it, but Shay’s eyes widen. She swallows, like the gravity of everything is hitting her all at once.
“Still with me, sweetheart?”
She nods, slowly dragging her gaze up from my exposed midriff. “Yeah. It’s just, it’s been a while. What if I…” She trails off, biting her lip nervously.
I clasp both her hands with mine, pulling them toward me.
“You don’t need to worry about that. I think I could come just from kissing you.”
“But I want to do more than that.”
“Oh, we’re going to,” I tell her. I place her hands on the waistband of my pants, and her fingers take over, unclasping my belt. She draws it out of my belt loops torturously slowly, and I feel every bit of the friction as it slides around my waist.
Shay drops it to the floor and moves onto my button next, then my zipper. I expect her to just push my pants down, but she sinks to the floor with them, looking up at me, and sending my heart haywire.
She kisses her way up my body, every stamp of her lips so light that it feels like a feather tickling my skin. She hooks her fingers in the band of my crop top, and I raise my arms so she can tug it off. I have to close my eyes and take a deep breath at the soft curse that falls from her lips, the sound coursing down my body, fluttering over my skin, like an autumn leaf.
Her fingers are trembling as she toys with my bra clasp, trying to undo it. I lean down, pressing my forehead against hers, and feel her body relax into me.
She undoes the clasp, and I shrug out of my bra. I can’t look away as she steps back, taking me in. Shay’s lips part, her gray eyes going impossibly dark as she lets her gaze traverse every inch of my body. I keep my eyes on her as I push my underwear down and step out of it. The breath rushes out of her.
I kneel on the bed, shuffling backward so I can watch as she undresses—quickly, like she wants to close the distance between us as soon as she can. And close it she does; the second her clothes are on the floor, Shay is crawling on the bed toward me, her expression ravenous.
She sits up on her knees when she reaches me, steadying herself by grasping my waist. Her thumbs press lightly into my hips, and the feel of her draws my body in closer to her.
I’m a second from begging her to touch me when she drags her hands up my torso and brushes her thumbs over my nipples.My head falls back, a groan spilling from me. The ends of my hair tickle my lower back as my body bows toward her.
Shay’s touch is hesitant, like she’s overthinking every shift of her fingers over before she moves them. My brain feels one step ahead of every movement, and something about the anticipation drives me wild. Until she does something completely unexpected and ducks her head, circling one of my nipples with her tongue.
I clench my fists as the heat of her mouth consumes me. Each flick of her tongue sends a ripple of pleasure through me, like little pinpricks of electricity hitting me from all angles. I sink my fingers into her hair and gasp as she draws my nipple between her lips.
“Fuck, sweetheart. That feels so good.”
“You feel good,” she murmurs, kissing the spot between my breasts before sweeping her tongue over my other nipple.
With one hand, she grips my thigh; the other traverses the shape of me, settling between my legs. I feel her take a deep breath before she draws her finger through my lips, pressing the tip against my clit.
I’m so goddamn sensitive that I cry out, my hips pressing into her of their own accord. My cry spurs her on, and she adds a second finger, rolling my clit between them—slow but building.
“Oh,” I whimper, rocking against her hand. I cup her chin, pulling her face up and bending down so I can kiss her. I savor every second of the kiss, her tongue dancing against mine until we have no choice but to break apart to catch our breath.
Shay places her free hand flat on my chest and nudges me back.
“Lie down.”
