Noah (10 page)

It was then that I realized it was time to let loose a little bit. I was out on my own, with nobody telling me what to do. If I wanted to get wild and party I could.

It was time to live the way I’d never been able to before; to do everything that I knew my dad wouldn’t approve of, just because I could.

Even thinking about it made me smile.

                  
Shalan

His muscular arms
held me tightly, making me feel safer than I had in a long time. The smell of his cologne filled my nostrils, making my desire for him heighten. He’d removed his backwards hat and was lingering over my naked body, ready to fill me completely. I ran my hands over his tattoos that I was able to see, while his lips made contact with my collarbone, slowly traveling my body until he reached my most sensitive private of areas. His eyes looked up into mine as his mouth brushed over my sex. I could feel myself trembling beneath him. I wanted his tongue to drive inside of me, and give me pleasures that I’d never felt before. I wanted to get lost in this strange man that made me hot between the legs.

Then I opened my eyes.

I woke up and it was dark outside. Country music played from the radio and Noah was humming instead of singing the words. He was too focused on the road to notice that I’d opened my eyes. Though feeling blushed, I decided to do whatever I could to not think about the dream I’d clearly just had.

Who could have blamed me for it, after taking one look at him? I couldn’t remember ever being so turned on by a stranger in my life, and it was all because of the way he looked. Though young, probably my age, he was so well-defined. Even his large hands were muscular.

I swallowed the sexual thoughts and remained quiet for a bit, determined to not let him see my predicament.

We’d stopped for lunch when we made it to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. One would think it would be weird traveling with someone I didn’t know, but Noah was easy to be around. He didn’t ask a ton of questions, and he didn’t seem to mind all mine. I still hadn’t asked him anything really personal. We talked about music and things we both liked to do, but that was about it.

After we drove around the town for a while, stopped by the Salvation Army, and a Walmart so I could buy some cheap clothes to wear, we got back on the road. Noah was determined to get as far North as he could before the day was over. Since this was his trip, and I was only tagging along, I couldn’t complain about his schedule, as long as I was as far away from my old life as possible.

Though still worried about the repercussions of my actions from the night before, I felt safe for some reason. It was weird because I’d never been in a situation with a stranger, yet at the moment he was as close to a friend as I had.

I sat up and stretched the best I could in the truck. “How long was I asleep?”

“I don’t know. A few hours maybe.”

“Really?” I’d never been able to sleep in a car, which only let me know how tired I must have been. “So where are we?”

“Almost to New York City. I figured we could grab a bite to eat and find a place to stay tonight. Is that cool with you?”

I’d explained to Noah that the only money I had was his tip from the night before. For some reason, and it better not have been because he thought it would get him access to my panties, he’d offered to pay for my room and food, until I could figure something out, or it was time for me to go home. I felt bad, especially since I knew he was probably limited with how much money he’d brought with him. He wasn’t exactly frugal the night before with his money, so I didn’t want him running out because of me. When I suggested that, he just laughed and told me not to worry about him. “Sounds good. Just remember that places in the city are more expensive. We might want to find something on the outskirts to save a couple dollars.”

“And get bedbugs.” He laughed. “Shalan, I’m not risking the chance of bugs crawlin’ on me while I sleep.”

Just thinking about it gave me the heebie-jeebies. “Okay. Since you put it that way.”

A little later Noah parked in front of a hotel that only offered Valet. A man came and took the keys from him, while we grabbed our things and headed into the lobby.

My parents never had money for us to go on trips or take vacations. The marble floors were extravagant and I felt out of place immediately, especially with a ball cap on my head.

Noah walked right up to the front desk and got our rooms, so I thought. He came back over and handed me a card. “This is for you.”

“What room number am I in?” I needed a shower so bad. When we’d stopped earlier I’d brushed my teeth with only my fingers. I’d bought a travel toothbrush at one of the gas stations that we’d stopped at, but knew Noah had probably been smelling my stank breath all day.

“You’re in three fourteen.” He started walking towards the elevator with me.

“Cool. What room are you in?”

He smiled, giving me this look that almost seemed ornery. “Three fourteen.”

It took a second for me to interpret that it was the same room number he’d given me. “But -.”

“It has two beds, Shalan. I’m not tryin’ to take advantage of you, if that’s what you think.”

I put my head down, feeling a little overwhelmed for getting myself into this situation. “It’s fine.” I had to keep reminding myself that he was doing me a huge favor. I couldn’t be picky about the accommodations. “What if you meet someone and need to be alone?”

“I’ll make you hide in the bathroom until I’m done.”

I turned my face so he couldn’t see my shocked reaction. There was no way I was going to stand in a bathroom listening to him get it on with a stranger. He was sick.

He burst into a chuckle. “Seriously, woman, you’re so easy to mess with.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” I took offense to his comment. He didn’t know me.

“Don’t believe everythin’ you hear. I ain’t always serious.” He laughed more. “I ain’t plannin’ on bringin’ anyone back to our room, unless you’re into three-ways.”

I shoved him, realizing he was definitely joking. “No! I’m definitely not the type of person that shares.”

“Yeah, most girls feel that way.” He looked up at the moving numbers on the elevator. “It’s a damn shame.”

I shook my head and prayed that the doors would open so I could get some distance between us. When they did open I hauled ass down the long hallway until I reached the number on the door that I’d been searching for. Noah was right behind me, but he’d stopped joking about threesomes.

Thank God!

Our room was immaculate.

I walked right in and plopped down on the soft bed. Noah took the bed nearest to the window and kicked off his boots before sitting down and grabbing a folding brochure.

“Do you want to order in, or go downstairs to the restaurant. It’s the same food either way.”

“How do you know that? Does it say that on that paper?”

He handed it to me. “Probably somewhere, but I’ve been here plenty of times with my grandmother.”

“You’ve been in this same hotel before?” I needed a second confirmation on that.

“Yes. My family always stays at this chain anyway, no matter where we travel to. We earn points for stayin’ with them.”

“And you’re farmers?”

He sat up and leaned forward so he was facing me. “Yeah, why?”

“I don’t know,” I shrugged. “I guess I thought farmers were poor.”

Noah laughed and put his hands behind his head. “We do alright.” He was quiet for a second before he asked, “So, room service or restaurant?”

“Can I shower first?”

He motioned towards the bathroom and rested his head back on the pillow. “Go for it. Wake me up when you’re done and we can go.”

The bathroom was even more gorgeous than the lobby. Marble was from floor to ceiling and the tub had actual jets in it. The shower had one of those waterfall heads and the pressure was intense compared to what I was used to. On the sink was little samples of different shampoos and lotions. I was beside myself with excitement over the whole ordeal. It was also difficult to decide whether I wanted a bath or a shower.

I chose a shower since I knew that Noah was waiting for me. The hot water felt so good against my tender skin. I was sore from sleeping in the camper and then the truck. While washing my body, I thought about the man that was sitting right in the next room. I imagined what it would be like for him to slip into the shower with me. It was so wrong, but I couldn’t stop doing it. By the time I turned the water off, I’d gotten myself so flustered that I almost needed to take a cold shower.

It wasn’t until I hopped out that I realized I didn’t have a brush, or my bag that had my underwear and toothbrush in it. I wrapped in one of the large white towels and opened the door to retrieve them. Noah sat up and smiled when he saw me standing there and I just froze.

It wasn’t that I felt vulnerable or violated. His eyes were fixed on my body, and the skin that was exposed. I bit my lip and thought about what it would be like to drop the towel. I wondered what would happen, running different scenarios through my mind while standing there. “You need somethin’?” His question made me snap out of my trance.

“Um, no, I can get it myself.” I grabbed the bag and hurried into the bathroom, completely embarrassed.

I hadn’t tried on any of the clothes I bought, so trying everything on was making me nervous. It wasn’t like me to wear a skirt, or a dress, but I’d picked up one of each. I’d also managed to grab a couple pair of jeans that were from a fancy store I never could have afforded on my salary. The jeans were worn in certain spots, with custom rips down the front of each thigh. On the back pockets were just enough bling to make them snap and take away from my hips, that I felt were too wide.

The shirt was a little tight and way too low. I considered putting on a plain t-shirt and calling it a night. Then I thought about Noah, and how he looked without a shirt on. I wasn’t expecting anything from him, but having someone that looked like him staring me down made me feel good about myself. I refused to allow myself another moment to consider changing.

The blow dryer on the wall took forever to dry my hair, but it worked and that I could be thankful for. After applying makeup to my eyes and a light layer of gloss to my lips, I stood back and looked at myself.

It was weird that I barely recognized the reflection in the mirror. It had been forever since I’d gotten dressed up and worn makeup. I wasn’t even sure why I kept it in my purse for so long.

Since I knew I’d taken forever, I put my hand on the doorknob and slowly opened it. Noah was sleeping with the remote to the television in his hand. I walked over and leaned down to take it from him, to give him time to rest before we went out. My touch was enough to startle him awake. He grabbed my hand that had a hold of the remote and looked around the room, before stopping on me. I watched his eyes traveling from my legs then up to my breasts. It should have made me angry that he was being so blatantly obvious about it, but it didn’t. He let go of my hand and it fell to my side. I couldn’t move. I just stood there letting him take me in. My breathing increased as his focus finally made it to my face. When he started to sit up I moved backwards. He was a good ten inches taller than me, so once he was standing I had to look up to see his face. “You ready to eat?” He walked past me as if the past four minutes hadn’t happened.

As much as I should have felt ashamed for wanting a rise out of him, I felt saddened that I hadn’t gotten the reaction I wanted. “Yeah. I’m ready.”

Noah took ten minutes to shower and change, before we headed downstairs to eat. I sat on the bed waiting for him to walk out in only a towel, but he’d been smart and taken his clothes into the bathroom with him.

The elevator ride was just as awkward as the ride to our room earlier. I could feel his eyes on me, but refused to turn around and call him out on it.

For the life of me I couldn’t figure out why I was so worried about him being interested in me. I’d just caught my boyfriend cheating on me with my best friend, and ran off with a complete stranger to escape life. I had no right to flirt or even hang out with the guy. Everything about the last twenty-four hours of my life were insane and reckless.

The restaurant was crowded and we were finally
seated after having to wait several minutes. Our table was located against a wall. I took the back booth seat, while Noah sat in the chair across from me. While looking at the menu I noticed our waitress had come over and take in Noah. It gave me butterflies to watch him smile and speak respectfully to our server.