“I do mind.” Oakley turned to face him, but Noah merely looked over Oakley’s shoulder directly at me.
“Can I talk to you?”
Waves of anger rippled off Oakley, and I knew if I didn’t get these two as far away from each other right now, we’d have a massive clusterfuck on our hands.
“Fine,” I conceded. But Oakley grabbed my hand, and Noah was in his face within the blink of an eye.
“Let go of her.” His threatening stance and deadly glare made Oakley realize he’d be much better off backing the fuck up and letting go of my hand.
Noah snarled. “Touch her again, and I’ll break your skull.”
“Jesus Christ.” I grabbed Noah’s elbow and stomped off, forcing him to follow me. The entire goddamn house suddenly got filled with a fuckton of people. Where did everyone come from?
Not letting go of Noah’s hand, I cut through the crowd toward the nearest door. It was the door leading down to my father’s cellar. The oaky scent mixed with the smell of berries and plums from the wine welcomed us as the door swung closed.
I tucked my hair behind my ears as I moved down the wooden stairs. “You have some nerve.”
“Me?”
“Yes, you.” My heels clicked as I reached the concrete floor, rows of bottled wine stacked neatly throughout the cellar. “First you reject me—”
“I did not reject you.”
“Yes, you did.” I turned to face him, crossing my arms. “You rejected me, and then you have the nerve to demand to speak to me while I’m in the middle of a conversation with my boyfriend.”Why the fuck did I just say that?
He lifted a brow. “Ex-boyfriend.”
“Formalities.”
“Are you still into him?”
“That’s none of your business.”
“Answer me.” The way his voice dipped—like a low rumble of thunder—forced a jolt of electricity through my insides.
I licked my lips. “As you said, we don’t know each other, so I don’t see why I have to answer you.”
He took a sip of his beer, the chilled bottle gathering drops around the glass. His expression was hard to read, but his eyes—God, his eyes. It was all there. The lust. The palpable tension. His need to fight it.
There were eight feet of distance between us, but I could feel the hunger reach for me. Its claws were desperate and craving to sink into my burning flesh—and I wanted it to. I wanted to surrender to it, crane my neck and offer it my throat. It was the weakest I had ever been in my life…and I didn’t care if it destroyed me.