Fantasy Noah wove his fist through her hair, the way he had in the van, and forced her onto the mattress.You’ll get used to it.
He knelt over her, licking a hot line down her neck.Pull your shorts down. Show me your pussy.
She unbuckled her jean shorts and they melted away, no awkward shuffling required, then she spread her legs, feeling her cunt separate beneath her cotton panties. She was soaking, aching. Her face was pressed into the scratchy mattress, but she didn’t care, she needed him inside her.Please? Can we…?
Shut your fucking mouth. Noah pressed his knees between her legs, spreading them wide. Then he gripped her panties and—
A door slammed open. “Nix! We’re home!”
Nicole sat up so quickly, Tabby’s iPad went flying. “Hiiiiii!”
“Are you okay?” Sam called. “You sound weird.”
“I’m fine!” She pulled her hand from her underwear. “How’s…how’s it going?”
“Good! Scott’s here!”
“Hello, Nicole,” Scott said in his clipped British accent. “We got Chinese takeaway if you’d like some?”
Nicole tugged at her sundress, trying to cover everything up. Her nipples were still rock hard, and her heart was racing. God, what even was her life?
“Nix?”
“That’s great,” she shrieked. “I love Chinese takeaway! I’ll be out in a second!”
“Um, okay,” Sam said. “Can you hurry up? We’ve got the puppies, we could use some spare hands!”
“I could use some spare hands,” she muttered. But that wasn’t true. She neededfewerhands, that way she couldn’t keep touching herself. Yes, she needed fewer hands and more information about Noah. Or failing that, a time machine back to last year, when her life made sense. She got up to wash her hands and help her sister.
Chapter 6
The next day Nicole was sitting at her dad’s desk when something hit her in the back of her head. She turned to see Tabby leaning against the doorframe, arms folded. “About time! I’ve been calling your name for ages.”
Nicole rubbed the back of her head. “You don’t have to throw things at me.”
“That was a highlighter I took out of your pencil cup thing, and you didn’t even notice! Do you have Mondayitis?”
“Maybe,” she lied. Mondayitis wasn’t her problem. Noah Newcomb was her problem. She doubted two waking minutes had passed without her thinking about Noah, The Rangers or sex. She wasn’t sure which topic was the most distressing. When she was readingBlood in the Gears,it was the knowledge she’d lived her whole life without considering the subgroups of men cooking meth, breaking legs and shooting each other. When she was in bed, it was the rough, filthy sex she hadn’t had. Now she was at work, it was Noah acting like he hadn’t made her feel his cock through his jeans.
She’d made sure she was standing at reception this morning, talking to Gil. Her lipstick was fresh, her hair blow-dried, and she’d worn a new pencil dress so tight it required skipping breakfast. A fat lot of good it did her. When Noah showed up, he barely looked at her, just grunted hello and headed down the hall.
“How was your weekend?” Gil called after him. “Do anything fun?”
Noah didn’t even turn around. “Nope.”
Then he vanished into tattoo room two and shouty rock music started playing four seconds later.
Nicole wasn’t sure what she’d expected, but it wasn’t to be brushed aside like an irritating cat. Especially since at the sight of him, her heart started banging against her rib cage. He was sobig. Somehow that always surprised her, as though the Noah in her head was just a cardboard cutout of the man himself. When he walked past her, smelling of soap and cigarettes, she’d had to bite the insides of her cheeks to keep from calling out and demanding to know…what?
If his father was really the boss of The Rangers? If he was dangerous? If he’d spent the last twenty-four hours thinking about her, too?
“Nix! What the fuck, man?”
Nicole refocused on her sister. “Sorry, I…what were you saying?”
Tabby opened her mouth and Nicole knew what was coming. “Don’t tell me to take a break! I’m too busy.”
“But you’re super stressed! Why don’t you take a half day?”