Wildflower (Colors #4) (23 page)

“Noah—” she stopped pushing against me, but I wasn’t finished.

“But what you just gave me? Sweetheart, you’ve gotta see, that was a gift. I didn’t earn it, I haven’t done anything to deserve it, but I’ll be damned if I don’t take it. You were mine. You’ve always been
mine
. There hasn’t been a day that’s passed since I met you that I haven’t been in love with you. Since I was sixteen years old, baby. If I could go back and do things differently, there would be no one but you, swear to God. I’m sorry I can’t give that to you. So fuckin’ sorry. But I’m taking this, Harlow. I’m taking the gift you just gave me, and I’m keeping it forever. And I promise, if you’ll let me, I
promise
, I’ll do everything in my power to be the man that deserves something that precious, because you are
it
for me.”

Harlow remained silent for several seconds. Then she grumbled, “Stop being so wonderful.”

“I love you,” I told her, saying the three words that I’d been dying to say for years. I could see the conflicting emotions as they flittered across her face. I could feel it in the way she held her body. I knew she felt something for me, something that could quite possibly be love, but she was still leery of letting go and allowing me in completely. While that stung, I could give her a little more time if that was what she needed, just as long as those walls eventually fell down. So I gave her what she needed in that moment.

“You don’t have to say it back, baby. I didn’t tell you so I could hear it back. That’s something you’ll tell me when you’re ready. I just needed you to know.”

Leaning down, her hands moved from my shoulders to wrap around my neck as she pressed her lips against mine. “Thank you,” she spoke softly before she kissed me. “You really are wonderful, you know that?”

It wasn’t what I wanted, but I tried to convince myself that it was good enough.

For now.

“Noah,” I whimpered as his lips sucked at my clit. I was close,
so close
.

After the mini-drama at the beginning of dinner, the rest of our date had gone great. We talked more, we laughed, we drake wine, and when it came time to clear the dishes, I discovered the take-out bins from Italiano’s in Noah’s trash.

Giving him hell over that had been pretty fun.

Then he’d taken me to bed and done a bunch of other things to me that had been pretty enjoyable as well.

All in all, it had been a fantastic night. By the time we shut out the lights, I was so exhausted that I was asleep by the time my head hit the pillow.

It had been one of the most restful sleeps I’d had in a really long time, and just minutes ago, Noah had woken me up in a way that every woman should experience at least once in her life.

With his mouth between my thighs, devouring me like I was a five-star meal.

“Baby, I’m close,” I gasped. Then he was gone. I cried out at the loss of his mouth, only to have the noise turn into a yelp as he flipped me onto my stomach. He wrapped his strong hands around my waist and hiked my hips up in the air, driving into me, filling me so full I moaned loudly at the connection.

This was a new position for me, and as he pumped in and out, I knew instantly that it would go on my growing list of favorites. Then, he made it
even better
.

“Fuck me,” he groaned as one of his arms slid around my waist, pulling me up so my back was flush with his chest. “So fuckin’ tight. Always so tight.”

I leaned back against him, twisting my neck so I could get to his mouth as he worked me from the bottom, using his strong thighs to control each mind-numbingly perfect thrust.

“Touch yourself,” he commanded between each sinful grunt. “Wanna see you playing with yourself when you come around me, baby.”

“
Oh, God
,” I panted, doing as he said and trailing my fingers to where our bodies connected. Every nerve ending was a hair trigger, so the instant my fingers brushed against my clit, I went off, spiraling into oblivion as I shouted Noah’s name so loud I was sure the neighbors could hear it.

“
Fuckin’ shit
!” he growled in me ear as he slammed my hips down on his and poured himself inside of me. “Unh,” he moaned with each twitch of his emptying cock.

I didn’t think I’d ever stop loving the noises he made every time he lost control. Hearing him moan, and curse, and grunt was one of the hottest things I’d ever experienced.

A loud ringing sound cut through the room and pulled me out of my blissful haze. Feeling a little groggy, it took me a few seconds to get my bearings and realize it was coming from my phone.

Noah and I were still breathing hard, having just had world-class sex, so we both chose to ignore it until it went silent.

“What the hell?” Noah grumbled as my cell started up again. “It’s two-thirty in the fuckin’ morning.” Before I could so much as move, Noah had pulled out of me and was rolling to reach my phone on the nightstand. “This better be fuckin’ good,” he growled into the phone. After a second, his body went solid. “Derrick? What the fuck, man?”

Derrick
? What the hell was Derrick doing calling me at two-thirty in the morning?

“Yeah, she’s right here?”

It was my turn to go solid as Noah put the phone to my ear. “H-hello?” I asked as dread began to course through me.

“Harlow? I’m so sorry to call at this hour. But we’ve got a situation—”

“Oh, God,” I choked. My throat clogged with tears and panic gripped my chest tightly. Ethan was all I could think about. “Is it Ethan? Is he okay? Oh, God, please tell me he’s okay.”

I felt Noah’s body hit my back as his long arms wrapped around me. I was so lost in my fear I’d almost forgotten he was there.

“Shit, no,” Derrick spoke. “He’s fine, he’s fine. Damn it, Harlow. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you like that.”

My body slumped in instant relief as I fell back into Noah’s firm hold. “Oh, thank God,” I sighed, my heart still beating a million miles an hour. “Jesus. You scared the hell out of me, Derrick,” I said on a small laugh.

“Well…” He drew out that one word and I knew whatever he was about to say wasn’t going to be good. “I got some news that might not make you all that happy, Harlow. We got your brother down here at the station.”

“What? Why?”

“He and his buddy Kyle thought it’d be fun to take Kyle’s dad’s Corvette out for a little late-night joyride. Ethan was behind the wheel and managed to drive the thing right into a light pole. Fucked the car all to hell. We got them both down here right now. Just waiting on you and the other kid’s parents. Not thinking the dad’s gonna take too kindly to his son and his son’s friend fuckin’ up his baby, seeing as he rebuilt it from the ground up.”

In the span of three minutes, I’d gone from scared out of my mind, to relieved, to pissed to high hell. “I’m going to kill him!” I shouted into the phone as I pulled out of Noah’s arms and began the hunt for my clothes. “I’ll be there as soon as I can.”

“See ya,” he replied just before I disconnected.

“Baby,” Noah spoke from his place in the bed. If I hadn’t been fuming at that very moment, I probably would have stopped to appreciate the way his muscles bulged in his arms as he propped up on his side to look at me. Or the way his abs clenched with each slightest movement. “You wanna tell me what’s going on?”

“What’s going on?” I asked sarcastically as I snagged my panties off the floor and yanked them up my legs. “What’s going on is that I’m about to murder my brother!”

I located my bra and shirt, pulling them on in furious, jerky motions as I scanned the floor for my skirt.

“Justifiable homicide, if you ask me,” I muttered more to myself than to Noah as I finished dressing and went for my shoes. “I mean, a Corvette? What kind of dumb do you have to be to think jacking a guy’s Corvette and going for a joyride is a good idea?!”

“Oh, damn,” Noah hissed.

“Yeah!” I shouted back, my hands flying up in disbelief. “Then the little shit
crashed
it!”

“
Fuuuuuuck
.”

“And now he must die.” I spun around and started out of the room. I only made it about two steps when his arms came around me, holding me in place like steel bands.

“Hang on there, wildcat. I’m thinking you need to calm down before heading into a police station.”

I pointlessly fought against his hold for several seconds before finally admitting defeat and turning in his arms. “And I’m thinking you need to let me go so I can get down there before Kyle’s dad puts his foot up Ethan’s ass. Not that he doesn’t deserve it,” I grumbled.

Surprisingly, Noah’s arms fell from around me. I don’t know what I expected, maybe a quick kiss goodbye or something, but it certainly wasn’t for him to pick his clothes up from the floor and start getting dressed as well, informing me, “Give me a minute, sweetheart. I’ll drive you.”

I stood frozen in place long enough to watch Noah go from gloriously naked to disappointingly covered in just a few seconds.

“Let’s go,” he said, snapping me out of my daze as he grabbed my hand and began pulling.

“Wait. Noah, you don’t have to go with me,” I informed him. “It’s the middle of the night and this is my problem, not yours. You shouldn’t have to drag yourself out of your warm bed to deal with this shit.”

He came to a dead stop so fast I ran right into him and stumbled back a few steps. When I looked up at his face, his brows were furrowed in what appeared to be frustration.

“Are we together?” he asked.

“Uh… what?”

“Are. We. Together?” he repeated.

“Um, yeah. Yes, I mean. We’re together.”

“So, it’s safe to assume, since I’m your man and all, that I might not be okay with you dragging
yourself
out of my nice warm bed at two-thirty in the fuckin’ morning to pick your brother up from the
police station
. Now, since that’s been established, you should also know that, as your man, I’ll be by your side whenever situations like this arise.”

We remained in a silent standoff for a while, me at a loss for words, Noah seemingly waiting to see if I understood. Then he broke that silence by asking in a softer voice, “You getting my point now, baby?”

“Yep, loud and clear. Let’s go.”

Without further argument, I led him down the stairs and out into the cold. As I hopped into the passenger seat of his SUV, it was a struggle to keep the smile off my lips. There was no denying, having a strong, intimidating, sexy as hell man at my back whenever I needed him was a
definite
bonus.

My good mood at Noah’s show of solidarity turned to shit the moment we walked into the station, and it only got worse from there.

“This is such bullshit!” Ethan declared from the backseat of Noah’s SUV.

The moment we’d walked through the doors of the station, the thickness in the air set the tone for the remainder of our little field trip. Kyle was pee-his-pants scared at the knowledge his father was on the way, coupled with the sight of his massive football coach standing before him looking ten different shades of pissed off.

But Ethan… well Ethan had an entirely different demeanor altogether. One that I certainly hadn’t expected from him—that was for sure. I cleared the doors to find him sitting at Derrick’s desk, wise enough to appear contrite at the sight of me. But the moment Noah stepped up behind me, contrite was out the window, in its place was a punk-ass, back-talking kid I was dangerously close to throat-punching. Every word out of his mouth—and there weren’t many, considering he clammed up and refused to give more than one word responses—was dripping with sarcasm and hostility. Neither of which I understood.