The Fighter (The High Rise, Book 1) (13 page)

Kam snorts.
“It’s probably just gas.”

I make a
scoffing noise and gaze back down at my niece who’s now frowning at
me which makes me frown right back. Suddenly, she’s all
concentration as her belly compresses and I feel a bunch of taps on
my hand through her diaper at her booty. Damn. But she’s not
finished as she suddenly releases the beast with a crescendo that’s
an explosion of gurgling from her bottom. Well. Okay. A smell like
nothing I’ve experienced before emanates from this tiny human being
and I look up at Kam, surprised.

“Jesus. She
takes after her father. And I think it’s more than gas.” I move my
arms to hold Isabelle out to her.

Biting her
lips to keep from laughing, Kam takes her from me and looks down at
her daughter as she walks back to the bedroom. “Did you poo poo on
your Uncle Heath? You’re breaking him in just right, baby girl,”
she says with a giggle.

I look at
Aaron who’s laughing. “She’s definitely yours,” I announce.

“She’s a Noble
all right,” he agrees.

“Aaron?” Kam
calls from Isabelle’s room. “I’m gonna nurse her. Can you check on
the noodles, please?”

“I got it,” I
say, getting up and going into the kitchen to see if the noodles
are ready.

“Kam says not
to be flinging them on the wall to check,” my brother yells and I
put the noodle I’ve scooped out back into the boiling pot. Damn.
“She says cut through one in the pot with the spoon and if it’s
easy to do then turn the burner off.”

I check,
hollering back to Aaron that they’re ready who relays the
information to Kam then I do as told, turning off the burner.
Grabbing another couple beers from the fridge, I head back to the
living room, handing Aaron one.

“You were
telling me about a guy named Matt,” Aaron reminds me.

I explain that
I think he’s in the same situation we are and that from what I know
so far, he seems trustworthy and I might be able to get him to help
me get us out of this bind. I inform him that I’m still working on
Craig but that Craig seems too sucked into everything with Kyle and
it might not be the way to go.

“What about
the niece?”

I let out a
breath. “I don’t think she’s involved.”

“But you can
still become friends then get her keys?”

“Yeah, maybe,”
I reply trying to convince myself I could do that if it came down
to that.

Kam comes back
in and kneels on the floor, strapping Isabelle into some kind of
baby chair then stands and carries it into the dining room placing
it on top of the table.

“You guys come
have a seat and keep an eye on Isabelle! Gimme two minutes!” she
calls as she goes into the kitchen.

I help Aaron
out of his chair and grab our beers before we go sit at the table.
When I’m seated, I notice the chair Isabelle’s in is vibrating.

I look at my
brother and raise an eyebrow. “Starting her kinda young, aren’t
you?”

He starts to
laugh but catches himself. “Shut the fuck up, man.” He takes
Isabelle’s hand. “Let’s hope Uncle Heath has lots and lots of
daughters so he can see how it feels, okay?” She coos something
back at him and he answers, “That’s right, baby girl.”

Lunch goes
great especially since Kam has made the ultimate dessert: a coconut
cream pie. Before I leave, she tries having me take the rest home,
but I insist on only taking one piece telling her I’m in training
which makes her wrinkle her brow. I put an arm across her shoulders
and hug her to me letting her know it’s okay. She smiles grimly up
at me telling me again she’s going to pay me back.

On the way
home, I fill up my Explorer then head back to the apartment
building getting there around five. I enter the lobby from the
garage and like I’ve got some fucking radar for her, my eyes
automatically go to Laney—still dressed in that fucking tight skirt
with the matching jacket and those fuck-me heels—in the elevator
who gives me a sexy smirk just as the doors close.

Christ.

I want to see
her and as I wait on the elevator, I’m pissed that as a builder I
know the reason there aren’t two elevators in the building which is
that the ratio is usually one lift to ninety apartments. Since this
building has eighteen floors with five apartments on sixteen of
them and two penthouse apartments on the top floor, it just comes
in under the need for two. When it finally returns, I get on with a
few other people, cursing under my breath when twice it stops at
different floors for them to get off.

Once on
seventeen, I decide to put the pie in my refrigerator then come
back down the hall to talk to Laney. I also change shirts since
Isabelle spit up a little on the one I was wearing. So after
throwing on a plain white tee, I head out the door and down the
hall. When I get halfway, Laney comes out of her apartment and not
seeing me at first, starts heading my way. She stops for a moment
when she spots me then she resumes her course coming straight for
me.

I have tunnel
vision as I stalk down the hallway, seeing nothing but her. And
fucking hell, it’s like there’s some kind of electricity flowing
between us as we’re pulled together like magnets.

When we’re
about a yard apart, we both stop for a moment staring at each
other, I notice her breasts heaving with each breath she takes,
which is just before I take a step into her and our bodies collide
in a tangle of limbs wrapping around each other. My lips come
crashing down on hers—best fucking kiss I’ve ever had—and with my
arms around her waist, I pick her up, our mouths still connected
and walk her inside her apartment, closing the door with my
foot
.

Eleven

When I saw Heath
earlier just as the elevator doors closed, I knew we needed to
talk
.

But this. This
is so much better than conversing. Because dear lord it feels good.
He
feels good.

And holy
shit.

Holy shit!

Best kiss
ever.

Inside my
apartment, he pushes me against the door, our mouths still fused,
my fingers gripped tightly in the t-shirt at his back, when he
suddenly pulls away. The look in his eyes is so intense a small
gasp escapes from my lips and I see the side of his mouth twitch
before he bends, placing his lips at my throat where he nibbles,
licks, sucks and nips. His hands glide from my waist up to cup my
breasts making me moan before they continue up inside my jacket
moving it off my shoulders and down my arms to where it drops on
the floor behind me.

He pulls back
to look at me again as if he’s checking to make sure I’m real and
still here. He then looks down at my blouse which is a wrap front
with no buttons and his eyes come back to mine, glittering with
seductiveness as he slides his hands inside moving them up to let
my blouse fall off my shoulders. I cry out when his hands abruptly
grab my breasts then his mouth is on one, sucking on my nipple
through my white lace bra making me arch my back against the door
wanting more. So much more.

I try
untucking his shirt from his jeans but his hands move them away as
they drop to the hem of my skirt tugging it slowly up as he
watches. When he gets it high enough to reveal my white lace thong,
he groans before dropping to his knees in front of me.

Watching him
pull my thong down and off, I’m suddenly nervous as his hand moves
behind my knee to lift my leg and place it over his shoulder and I
blurt, “This never works!” because it hasn’t with my previous
lovers.

He looks up
and gives me a sexy smirk sliding his hand up the front of my leg
where it stops so he can rub his thumb languidly through my folds
making me suck in a breath. And then his mouth is on me and oh my
dear sweet God it’s working.

My hands go
flat against the door and my eyes roll back in my head as it too
hits the door because, holy wow, he knows what he’s doing. And I’m
getting ready to show him my full appreciation for it. Gah!

His finger
enters me, pumping in and out, hitting a spot that no one’s found
before and when he sucks my clit in, I lose it, screaming out
loudly as an orgasmic wave blasts throughout my entire body. I
don’t even feel like I’m inside myself anymore, coming so hard I
think my soul has left my body.

Holy shit.

As I come back
to myself, I feel my legs shaking so badly I’m afraid I’m going to
collapse but he wraps his hand over my leg on his shoulder pushing
his other shoulder against my hip holding me steady as he continues
licking and sucking, consuming, devouring, and I think I’m going to
go insane.

“No! Please,
stop,” I beg on a moan, my fingers tugging hard at his hair. But he
keeps at it, wringing everything from me that he can until I climax
again with a cry of his name and I’m gone. My body is useless,
boneless.

Just as I
think I’m going to crumple to the floor I’m in his arms and he’s
carrying me to my bedroom where he lays me on the bed and proceeds
to undress me. I’m breathing hard, my body covered in a mist of
perspiration and I feel like I couldn’t even lift a finger.

I can only
watch as he jerks his shirt out of his jeans pulling it over his
head and off then he grins cockily down at me and says, “It worked.
Twice.”

Unable to
respond I nod, keeping my eyes on him watching as he removes his
boots then unbuttons his jeans. He pulls his wallet out of his back
pocket and gets a condom out before removing his jeans and throwing
his wallet down on them.

And my God.
His body is magnificent, ripped and cut, muscles everywhere with
beautifully colored tattoos adorning it. My eyes go to his equally
magnificent hard cock that’s jutting out proudly in front of him
and I watch as he puts the condom on, sheathing the thick girth and
generous length.

Damn.

He crawls onto
the bed moving between my legs where he rests his hips on mine,
placing his forearms to either side of me.

“You okay?” he
asks, bending to touch his lips to mine.

“Yes,” I
whisper. “That was…” I shake my head taking a breath and letting it
out, “amazing.”

“You’re
amazing, Laney,” he mutters, kissing me hard and wet and deep. My
hands go to the back of his head my fingers twisting in his hair
then landing on his shoulders when he pulls away to look down at
me. “Been thinking about this for a while.” His hand goes to the
outside of my thigh lifting my leg up and curling it around his
waist. Keeping his eyes fixed to mine I feel the head of his cock
at my entrance and then he slowly, oh, God, so slowly enters me
making me suck in a breath at how fully he fills me.

I’ve never had
anything this intimate happen before. Never had a man get me there
before he did and definitely never had a man keep his eyes on mine
as he slid inside. I’m in so much trouble here because he’s totally
seduced me and now my emotions are reeling.

His lips come
to mine and he kisses me deeply just as he starts moving, his
thrusts slow and deliberate, measured. Then dropping his head to my
side he whispers in my ear, “This is everything I thought it’d be,
Laney.”

And I die
right there. He’s too much. This is too much. Another orgasm blasts
through me, burning me, setting every part of me on fire from the
inside out. Such sweet agony.

When I finally
catch my breath, I experience a sudden moment of clarity and know
he’s destroyed me.

But I can’t
stop it. I don’t want to stop it. I want this forever.

God help
me.

Without
warning, his hands slide under my back and he pulls me up to where
he’s sitting on his knees and I’m straddling him.

“Ride me,
baby,” he groans, his hands at my waist moving me up and down on
him.

I was always
one to follow directions so I ride him. Hard.

“Fuck!” he
hisses, leaning back to put his hands on the bed behind him,
watching me as I move on him.

“Oh, my God,”
I whisper as I take him deep. So good. So fucking good. God.

When I bring a
hand up to caress my breast, he growls and starts pumping his hips
up faster to meet mine. But when I move my other hand between my
legs and start rubbing my clit, that does it. He pushes off his
hands, coming forward and literally throwing me back onto the bed.
Then putting a hand behind my knee he draws my leg up as he drives
in hard and fast going so deep my breath catches with every
thrust.

“So fucking
tight. So goddamned wet,” he mutters, entering me so hard I’m
moving up the bed with each thrust.

I know he’s
almost there when his drives become more erratic, shortened and
even faster, and I watch as his abs become tight, his shoulder
muscles bunch and he slams into me hard with a low groan as he
comes.

He lets out a
shuddering breath before his body comes down on top of mine. I can
feel his heart beating rapidly, his breaths at my neck are hot and
I know I’m completely wrecked when he whispers, “You were so
fucking worth the wait.”