What He Guards (What He Wants, Book Twelve) (4 page)

For tonight he’d chosen a stretchy red
bodysuit made of sheer lace.
 
It
was cut high on my thighs, and it cinched in tight at the waist before tying in
a criss-cross pattern over my tailbone.
 
The back was cut so high on my ass that half of my cheeks were exposed,
and the front of the bodysuit pushed my breasts up and out, causing them to
spill over the cups.
 

The entire outfit was see-through except
for a thin strip of solid red material over my nipples and between my legs.
 
There were no stockings, no garters,
nothing.
 
My legs were left
completely bare.
 
For shoes, he’d
chosen a pair of red high heels with a zipper up the back and an open toe.
 

The only good news was that there seemed to
be a sort of cover-up that went with the outfit – a black jacket that
nipped in at the waist and flared out at the hips, accentuating my curves.
 
It hit just above my knee and was made
of a luxurious material that felt delicious against my skin.
 

With the jacket on, I felt sexy and
beautiful.

Without the jacket on, I felt exposed and
vulnerable.

I stared at myself in the mirror,
then
typed a quick text to Noah.

How am I supposed to get to your
office?

Walk.

In this outfit?

Put the damn jacket on and walk,
Charlotte.
 
And hurry.
 
I’m going out of my mind without you
and cannot be held responsible for my actions if you do not get here
immediately.

I smiled,
then
pulled at the bottom of the jacket.

I supposed it wasn’t that bad, as long as
I had the cover-up on.

I sort of looked like one of those
celebrities who wore blazers with no shirt underneath.
 
Of course, those women weighed 120
pounds and had no breasts to speak of.

You’re not here,
Noah texted, accusing.

 
I pushed my shoulders back and summoned my courage, then
walked out of the bathroom.
 
I’d
had a picture in my head of everyone turning to look at me as I walked down the
hall, everyone pointing and whispering, judging and wondering
who
the hell I was, and how I could think it was okay to
blatantly walk around a place of business in such a revealing outfit.

I passed opened office doors and two
associates, neither one of
whom
even acknowledged my
presence.
 
Either they were too
caught up in their own work, or they were used to seeing women dressed like I
was trawling the halls of Cutler and Associates.

I breathed a sigh of relief as I stepped
inside Noah’s office and shut the door behind me.

He was standing at his desk in front of
the windows, and when he saw me, his eyes raked slowly up my body, taking in my
shoes, my legs, my hips, lingering on my breasts before meeting my eyes.
 

Desire burned bright in his gaze, and
heat pooled in my belly.

“Come here, Charlotte,” he commanded.

I walked over to him slowly, until I was
behind the desk with him.
 
I blushed,
suddenly self-conscious.
 
I wanted
more than anything to please him, to be enough for him, to look the way he
imagined me to look when he picked out these things for me.

He reached down and undid the button that
held my jacket together, and my breath caught in my throat, my heart stopping
as he slid the soft material over my bare shoulders, tugging the sleeves off my
arms gently until I was left in just the sheer red bodysuit.

“Turn around.”

I turned around, knowing my ass cheeks
were exposed to him, knowing he was surveying my body.
 
I flushed and turned back around
quickly, but he wasn’t going to let me off that easily.

“Again,” he said gruffly.
 
“Slower this time.”

I did as I was told, goose bumps breaking
out on my arms even thought my skin felt flushed.

“God, you are so fucking sexy,” he said,
brushing his thumb over my cheekbone.
 
I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, enjoying the feel of his
touch.
 
He skated his hand over the
side of my body, down over my waist, my hips,
my
thighs.
 
Then he took my hand and
led me over to the corner.

“I have some work to finish before we
go,” he said.
 
“You will stay here
until I’m ready.”

“Okay.”
 
I swallowed, realizing he meant I would be standing in the
corner.
 
Is this how he was going
to deal with me before we left for Force?
 
By punishing me?

“Look at me.”

I met his gaze and he put his hand on my
jaw, pulling my face gently to his but stopping right before he kissed me.
 
Instead he moved his mouth to my collarbone,
his lips grazing my skin before sliding down my body, his breath hot through
the lace of my bodysuit.

I tilted my head back and breathed
out.
 
It was one of the most erotic
things I’d ever felt in my life.

“Look at me, Charlotte,” he scolded.
 
His tone was laced with authority, no
longer the soft and lustful tone he’d used with me just a moment ago when he’d
told me how sexy I was.

I looked at him.

He kneeled before me, and he took my
hands and placed them behind my back.
 
“Lock your hands together.”

I did as he said, interlacing my fingers
together behind me.

He pushed the crotch of my bodysuit over
to the side, exposing my newly bare pussy.

“Very nice,” he murmured in
approval.
 
He slid his finger up my
slit and I instantly got wet.

I closed my eyes, but he growled, “Look
at me.”

I looked at him, and he looked at me, and
the want in the room pulsed so intense and electric I could feel it, I could
see
it.
 
It was a force so beyond my control that I couldn’t help but
surrender to it.

He moved his mouth close to my pussy, and
blew on my exposed skin, his breath moving from hot to cold and sending tiny
ripples of ecstasy reverberating through my core.

“Noah – ”

“Shh,” he said and stood up.
 
He put a finger to my lips.
 
“You will stay here for now.
 
You will keep completely still.
 
You will keep your hands behind your
back and you will not say a word.”

And with that, he turned around and moved
back to his desk, leaving me standing there in panting want.

***

It was an hour before he let me move, an
hour before he let me unclasp my hands, an hour before he let me readjust my
bodysuit so that my pussy wasn’t exposed.
 
An hour of my desire building inside of me like a boulder gaining
momentum as it rushed down a mountain.

He’d spent the whole time working at his
desk, making phone calls, barking orders, typing on his computer, signing
papers.
 
Every so often he would
glance over at me and give an approving nod as he saw I was following his
instructions.

Finally, he hung up the phone and came to
me, reached down and moved my bodysuit back over so that I was covered.

He reached down and picked up the jacket
I’d been wearing.

“Arms out,” he commanded.

I put my arms out and he slid the jacket
onto me and buttoned it.

His hand tightened around mine as he led
me out of his office and through the halls of Cutler and Associates.
 
We passed a couple of people in the
halls, but for the most part, the office felt quiet.
 
But not from a lack of work.
 
There were people in the building, but
the franticness of meetings and appointments had slowed down, replaced by the
humming drone of writing briefs and researching cases.

When we got to the elevator, Noah pushed
the button for the garage, not the lobby.

“Where are we going?” I asked as the
elevator began its descent.

“Force, Charlotte.”

“No, I mean, why are we going to the
garage?”

“I’ll be driving tonight.”

“You drive?”

He glanced at me, amused.
 
“Yes, Charlotte, I drive.
 
I am a man of many talents.”

The doors opened into a small parking garage,
with just enough spaces for ten or so cars.
 
Most of them were taken up with sedans and SUVs, but at the
very end was a sleek black sports car.

Noah came around and opened the passenger
side door for me, and I slid into the bucket seat, inhaling the scent of
leather and extravagance.

“Fancy,” I said as he settled into the
driver’s seat.

“Put your seatbelt on.”

I slid my belt over my chest and buckled
it.

Noah pulled out of the space and guided
the car out onto the streets of Manhattan.
 
Driving in the city was insane at any time of day, but Noah
drove exactly like he lived – controlled and unflappable.
 
He seemed oblivious to the honk of
horns and the swerve of taxis.

“Are you comfortable?” he asked.

“What?”

“Are you cold?” He indicated the
temperature control on the dashboard.
 

I shook my head.
 
“No.
 
I’m fine.”

The truth was, I wasn’t fine.
 
I was trying to keep my body from
shivering and my teeth from chattering.
 
I wasn’t physically cold – the reactions were physical
manifestations of stress.
 
My
stomach rolled on itself, twisting into a figure eight and a jumpy feeling
coursed through me, causing my leg to jitter.

Noah glanced at me and frowned, so I
forced myself to stay still.

My phone vibrated in my bag, and Noah’s
hands tightened on the wheel as I pulled it out and checked the screen.

“Who is it?” he demanded.

“It’s Julia,” I said, sending the call to
voicemail.
 
“She’s probably
wondering where I am.”

“Have you told her you’re moving out?”

“No.
 
Actually, the last time I talked to her I told her I was
going to be around more.”

His hands tightened again, his knuckles
turning white.
 
“Please tell her
you’re moving out, Charlotte.
 
Let
me know what kind of financial implications there will be, and I’ll take care
of it.”

My phone buzzed with a text before I
could answer him.

Julia.

Charlotte, r u okay??
There was a reporter outside our
apartment just now looking for you!
 
Because of Noah??
 
Cll me.

I breathed out.
 
“There was a reporter outside of my building,” I said.

Noah nodded, unruffled.
 
“That’s to be expected.”
 
He glanced at me out of the corner of
his eye.
 
“It’s only going to get
worse.”

I typed a text back to Julia, my hands
shaking.
 

Is he still there?
 
U ok?

I’m fine.
 
He left when he realized you weren’t
here.
 
But I’m worried about u.

I’m okay.
 
I’m with Noah.
 
I’ll cll you in the morning and
explain.

I started to shut my phone off before
putting it back in my bag, but Noah shook his head.

“No.
 
Phone on at all times.”
 

I nodded, setting Julia’s texts to Do Not
Disturb.
 
I would deal with her in
the morning.

When we pulled up in front of Force, Noah
pulled into the space right in front of the club.

“How do you do that?” I asked in wonder.

“How do I do what?”
 
He shifted the car into park.

“Always get a space right in front of
wherever you’re going.”

“Money.”

“What?”

“Money can buy you whatever you want,
Charlotte.
 
Anything you’ve heard
to the contrary is false.”

He sounded so sure of himself, and I
wondered if he was thinking about how he was going to make sure he stayed out
of jail.
 
He seemed to think that
with enough lawyers and connections and cash he could finagle his way out of
anything.