What He Hides (What He Wants, Book Seven) (An Alpha Billionaire Romance) (3 page)

The thought of wearing these things to a
club, in front of a crowd of people…I reached for my phone and thought about
calling Noah, telling him there was no way I could wear this out.
 
But I could already imagine the
conversation.
 
He would tell me I
wasn’t ready for Force, that we could do it another time, that he wanted me to
be comfortable.

And if he didn’t take me to Force, I wouldn’t
be able to look for Audi James.

So I gathered up the clothes along with
all of my courage, and headed for the bathroom to try them on.

***

Ten minutes later, I stared at myself in
the mirror.

The dress clung to my curves, the rips
down the middle showing off my black lace push up bra and ample cleavage.
 
The bottom of the dress clung to my ass
and hips, the fabric stopping mid-thigh.
 
If I bent over even a little bit, or if the dress pulled up even a
centimeter, you could see the thin straps of my garter belt where they attached
to my thigh-high stockings.

My hair was wild around my shoulders, the
apples of my cheeks pink, my skin flush with excitement.
 
I lined my lips with a red lipstick and
surveyed myself in the mirror critically.
 
I didn’t look bad, exactly.
 
It was just… I didn’t like being on display like this.
 
I felt like every flaw was
magnified.
 
Everything I was
self-conscious about was out there for the world to see.

I wasn’t used to this.
 
Even in college, when girls were going
out in tight tank tops and short shorts, or halters and jeans, I was never that
comfortable with my body.
 
The
craziest I ever got was a V-neck t-shirt. My instinct was to grab a sweater and
wrap it around myself so that I’d have something to cover myself with at the
club.

From down the hall, I heard the sound of
the door opening, and footsteps echoing across the kitchen floor.

“Charlotte?” Noah called.
 
“Are you here?”

I took a deep breath and closed my
eyes.
 
He’d picked out the outfit,
and yet… I was still afraid I wasn’t going to be enough for him.
 
How could I be?
 
I’d seen the looks women gave him --
everyone from the receptionist at the police station to the hostess at the
restaurant to random, gorgeous women on the street.
 
Noah was beautiful, his body absolutely perfect.
 
It was as if God had carved him out of
stone, making every line and curve and muscle flawless.
 
It was intimidating to feel so exposed,
even more so to do it in front of someone who was so undeniably sexy.

I slipped my feet into the black stilettos
that had been nestled in the box beneath the tissue paper.
 
They fit my feet perfectly, but the
heel was so skinny I was sure it was going to snap under my weight.
 
But it didn’t. In fact, the shoes felt
very sturdy under me, and they lengthened my legs and made my waist look
tinier.

I walked toward the kitchen, my hands
shaking,
hoping Noah would find me acceptable.

When I got there, he was at the counter,
his tie loosened around his neck and his sleeves rolled up.
 
He was going through a stack of envelopes,
flipping though them rapidly.
 
He
took my breath away, that’s how gorgeous he was.
 
Even doing something as mundane as going through the mail,
he was beautiful.

He didn’t look up at first, and I jutted
my chin into the air and waited.

When he finally turned, his jaw went
slack.

“Holy shit,” he muttered.

“Is it okay?” I asked, pulling at the
bottom of the dress self-consciously.

He crossed the kitchen in two long
strides, took my hands in his and looked me up and down.
 
His eyes lingered on my body, taking in
every inch of exposed skin.
 
“Fuck,” he said.
 
“How the
hell am I going to last until we get to the club?
 
I need to have you right here.”

He moved his hands up my arms until he
was touching my face, then pulled me close and kissed me.
 
His kiss was soft as first, but it
deepened in intensity, his tongue moving past my lips.
 
Shivers of anticipation shimmied
through me as he pressed his body against mine.

Noah pulled back and looked at me, the
pad of his thumb grazing my lower lip. “How can I let you go out looking like
this?” he asked.
   
“Every man in that club is going to want you.”

“I doubt that.”
 
My cheeks warmed, and for the first time in my entire life,
I felt beautiful.
 
Not just that
feeling you got when you felt like you looked good, when your makeup was done
and you were wearing a new outfit or had a new haircut.

No, this was different.
 
I felt
beautiful.
 
I felt like
Noah
thought I was beautiful, like he really
did see me as the sexiest women alive.
 
It didn’t matter that my stomach wasn’t flat or that my breasts were too
large, or that my nose was a tiny bit crooked.

In this moment, I could tell Noah thought
I was gorgeous.
 
And that made me
feel like it was true.

“There’s just one thing… “
he
breathed into my ear.
 
His breath tickled my skin, making the hair on the back of
my neck stand up and goose bumps break out on my arms.
 
His tone was casual, but his voice was
low, raspy, laced with mischief.
 

“What?” I asked warily.
 
Whatever this one thing was, I knew I
might not like it.
 
With Noah,
nothing was ever that simple.

“You’re wearing it wrong.”
 
His hands reached up and grabbed the
top of my dress, pulling it all the way down until it was at my waist.

He reached his hands behind me and
slowly, almost excruciatingly so, began unhooking my bra.
 
At first, I thought he was going to
make good on his promise and have his way with me before we even got to the
club.

But then I figured out what he was doing
– he expected me to wear this dress, with the tears up the middle, with
no bra on underneath.

“Noah,” I said, grabbing the cups of my
bra and holding them to my breasts.
 

“Shhh,” he said, taking my arms and
gently placing them back down at my sides.
 
He carefully slid my bra off, until I was standing there
with my breasts completely exposed.
 
Noah took a moment before replacing my dress, drinking me in with his
eyes.
 
My nipples hardened under
his gaze.

“Shit,” he said, his breathing getting
faster.
 
“Do you know how hard it
is not to fuck you right here?”
 
His hand reached out and caressed my shoulder, then continued down my
arm, his thumb grazing my breast so softly I almost wasn’t sure he was actually
touching me.

“Noah,” I said, swallowing hard.
 
“I can’t –”

“Shh,” he said again, his finger moving
to my lips.
 
He reached down and
pulled my dress back up slowly, until I was covered again, only this time,
without a bra.

If I’d felt exposed before, it was a
million times worse now.
 
I could
feel the air on my skin, through the rips in my dress, could feel my breasts
straining against the material.

“Noah,” I said again, reaching for my
bra.
 
“I really don’t –”

He grabbed my hand, his grip tightening
around my wrist.
 
He leaned in
again, pushing his body into mine.
 
“You are so beautiful,” he said, his hold on me becoming stronger,
 
“and you’ll wear what I say.”
 
His voice was husky now,
commanding.
 
He pulled back and
looked me in the eye.
 
“Do you
understand?”

I nodded.

He dropped my hand and kissed me softly
on the lips.
 
“Come on.
 
The car is waiting.”

***

I was quiet in the back of the car as we
drove to Force.

I was nervous.

Nervous about going to this club.

Nervous about looking for Audi James.

Nervous about hiding something from Noah.

How could I expect him to tell me things,
to let me in, if I wasn’t willing to do the same?
 
But he doesn’t let
you in,
I told myself.
 
And
he is hiding things from you – that woman who was out on his terrace, the
way he refuses to talk about his case, to even help his defense in any way.

Noah had secrets.
 
Lots of them.
 

And he was so damn protective with such a
need to control everything.
 
If I
told him about the phone call, he wouldn’t take me to Force.

And I knew, deep down, there was a reason
this anonymous caller had called me and not someone else.
 
Whoever it was could have called Noah,
or Professor Worthington, or Josh. But for some reason, they’d singled me out.

I wasn’t sure what that meant.
 
But I knew I needed to make sure I did
everything I could to help Noah.
 
And my instinct was telling me that right now, I needed to go to
Force.
  
And I needed to find
Audi James.

Noah reached out and took my hand.
 
“Why so serious?” he asked.

I shrugged.
 
“No reason.”

“We don’t have to do this if you’re not
ready, Charlotte.”

“I’m ready.”

His fingers intertwined with mine, and I
felt myself instantly relax.
 
I
marveled at how someone who was obviously hiding so many things could make me
feel so safe.

We didn’t talk for the rest of the
drive.
 
But it didn’t matter
– somehow it was enough to just have him holding my hand.
 
His touch was more powerful than any
words he could have said.

When the car finally came to a stop, Noah
got out first,
then
held his hand out to me.

I stepped out, steadying myself on my
stilettos and glanced around.

We were on a short side street, one that
was empty and deserted.
 
Usually,
even on the side streets of the city, something would be happening.
 
There would be delis or bodegas or
apartments, delivery trucks or people bustling by as they cut through to the
main roads.
 
But here there were
just two huge brick buildings, one on each side of the street.
 
There was no sign of the club anywhere.

“Where is it?” I asked, looking
around.
 
The way people talked
about Force, I’d expected music filtering out onto the street, people dressed
in costumes waiting in a long line outside, bouncers and security guards
flanking the doors.

But there was none of that.

Just Noah and I, standing in the street.

“Here,” Noah said, pointing to a brick
door shaped like a half-circle that blended in with the building.
 
On the bottom of the door, in tiny
little stenciled letters were the words FORCE.
 
You could barely see
them,
they
were so small and faded.

“Wow,” I said sarcastically.
 
“They’ve really spared no expense.”

The side of Noah’s mouth twisted into a
wry smile.
 
He gave me a long,
appraising look.
 
I saw a flash of
doubt move over his face – it was subtle, and it didn’t last long, but it
was definitely there.

“Noah,” I said, taking his hand and
squeezing it.
 
“I want to be here
with you more than anything.”

“Say that after we go inside,” he said.

He opened the door.

A long hallway stretched in front of us,
the walls painted a dark cranberry color.
 
The floor was black and concrete.
 
There were doors leading off the hallway, but everything was
silent.
 
There were no sounds coming
from anywhere.

I swallowed, suddenly nervous.
 
Where were all the people, the sex, the
whips and chains and ropes?
 

Noah’s hand tightened around mine as he
began leading me down the hallway.
 
Lamps hung down from the ceiling, shedding a dim industrial light over
everything.
 
The faint smell of
must and smoke permeated the air.