Noah groaned against my mouth, his tongue making insistent forays into my mouth as I opened for him. His hands traveled from my arms to my hips and then around to palm my ass, lifting me up and closer to him. He turned until my back hit the door, trapping my body between his and the unyielding wood.
I felt as though I was coming alive again after a long, dreadful sleep. Awareness tingled in my breasts as my sensitive nipples, bare beneath the thin material of my dress, crushed into Noah’s hard chest. Between my legs, a pulse of unrelenting desire made me grind against him, searching for release.
His fingers kneaded the muscles of my backside, shifting me until my center was lined up with the impressive bulge in his pants.
“I knew it,” I murmured into his mouth.
“What?” Noah broke the kiss just long enough to frown at me.
“Knew you’d be massive and magnificent.” I canted my hips a little, rubbing into him before I began to kiss him again.
“How can you be sure?” He pulled back just a little, a teasing light in his eyes. “Maybe I’ve got balled up socks in there.”
I paused, catching my breath as I leaned my forehead against his.
“Maybe we should open this door so I can find out for certain.” My lips curved. “My curiosity knows no bounds, and I’ll do anything to satisfy it.”
His eyes darkened. “Anything, huh?”
“Oh, yeah.” I let go of his neck and wriggled free. “Let me open the door, and I’ll be happy to demonstrate.”
Noah released me, and I dropped to the floor where I retrieved my evening bag and the key card. With a promising smile, I managed to unlock and open the door.
“Won’t you come in?” I offered him what I hoped was an alluring smile.
He paused, his hands braced on either side of the door, his expression serious.
“Are you sure, Alison?”
I didn’t have to stop and think. “Absolutely. Please, Noah. Come in.”
If I’d expected that he’d play it cautious, slowing down this speeding train to make certain that we were both certain of what we were doing, I’d have been very wrong. Once the door clicked shut behind him, Noah stopped only to turn the locks.
Then he advanced on me.
My heartbeat sped up, but I stood my ground, with the backs of my legs against the mattress of my king-sized bed. Noah stopped less than a foot away from me, his hands going to his neck, tugging down his tie and undoing the top button of his shirt.
“Do you want to know something?” He spoke slowly, his voice low. “The minute I saw you today in that dress, walking up to me while we were waiting for the shuttle . . . from that minute on, I wanted you.”
My cheeks heated with a mixture of pleasure and desire. “Did you?”
“Hell, yeah.” He pulled the tie off and over his head, tossing it onto a nearby chair. “And that scared me shitless.”
“It did?” I felt stupid, answering all of his confessions with questions. But I had to know. “Why?”
He paused, and then his fingers continued moving down the front of his shirt, unbuttoning it. “Because I haven’t wanted anyone like this in a very long time. So long that it felt like—” He stopped and closed his eyes, exhaling long. “I’m afraid I won’t know what to do. How to—to make you feel good. And I told you that day at the hospital.” His eyes flew open and fastened on mine. “I’ve never been with any woman except Angela. What if I’m crap at sex and she was just too nice to tell me?”
I tried to hold back a laugh, but it didn’t work. Quickly, I stepped toward him, covering the small distance between us and laying my hands over his where they’d paused on his shirt front.
“Noah, I have every confidence that you’re not bad at sex. Just because you’ve only been with one woman doesn’t mean you’re not going to be . . . really incredibly talented at this.”
He threaded our fingers together. “Are you willing to take the risk and find out?”
“Not only willing, but downright dying to.” I loosened my hands from Noah’s and began to take over the work of unbuttoning his shirt. “Remember that I’m going to be a really easy-to-please judge. I haven’t slept with a man since . . . Tom.” I swallowed. “Since my fiancé was killed.”
“Really?” Noah tugged his shirt from his pants and reached over to unfasten the cuffs of his sleeves. “So between the two of us . . . Jesus, this is likely to be over fast.”
I laughed and eased his shirt from his shoulders. “The great thing is that if it is, we have the rest of the night to get it right.”
