His gaze flicked sideways. “Yeah, but that was a bit of a mess. We don’t have to go there again.”
She realised he was nervous, a little convinced she was going to change her mind and bail. That made her feel better for some reason. “What if I want to go there?”
Noah dipped his head and she knew he was hiding a smile.
“You’re allowed to want me,” she said, feeling prickly. “I like that you want me.”
Those unearthly eyes snapped up to meet her. “Do you?”
It was a fair question. The attraction had been there since day one and she’d resented it, hated it and was now giving into it. But did she like it?
“I…yes. I like that you want me. It makes me feel very…” she wanted to say ‘overwhelmed’ but that wasn’t right. “…different.”
“Good-different?”
She nodded.
“I can live with that.”
He wrapped his arms around her, creating a warm gate across her lower back. Nicole pressed her head into his shoulder and tried to relax. How would the sex start? Would he carry her to his bedroom? Were they going to do it in his kitchen?
Noah shifted, bending so his mouth was beside her ear. “You want to hear a story?”
“About what?”
“Places bad men go to have a good time.”
The world around her seemed to be vanishing, narrowing into a single space. She shifted closer to Noah, needing his warmth. “Okay.”
“Sometimes when we needed to blow off steam, we’d hire out a club, put all our own people behind the bar. Have a party. Do you know what I’m saying, Nikki?”
She nodded, scared to speak and break the veil of intimacy between them.
“Word would get out pretty quickly. Guys tried to buy their way in. Girls’d do whatever it took to get through the door. Can you see them lining up outside?”
She nodded, because she could. It would look like Emerald Bar last Saturday, only darker and the girls would be wearing even less clothing.
“It’ll be a big place. Packed from top to bottom. Can you see that, baby?”
Nicole closed her eyes and saw, big rooms lit with neon lights and half-naked women carrying trays and big, menacing man-shadows. The music in Noah’s kitchen seemed louder, perfect for the scene. “Is this party real?”
Noah’s fingers traced across her collarbone. “It’s real right now. It’s a big loud party and there’s pills and empties on every table and people fucking in the corners.”
A chorus of moans took up in her mind, like in porn. “What am I doing there?”
“You came with your friend,” Noah said, instantly solving the problem she’d had when attempting her own fantasy bikie scenario. “She’s off fucking a guy in the bathroom, you’re all alone.”
She closed her eyes, seeing herself sitting on a couch alone, wanting it and fearing attention. “Are you there?”
“Yes.”
She could see him, bigger and scarier than the other men in the club. Women watching him, talking to him. He was important, even she could see that.
Noah sat back and tucked a finger under her chin. “Hey.”
“Hi,” she said, opening her eyes. She felt shyer than she could have believed possible.
Noah didn’t seem to be suffering from the same stage fright. His hand slid lower to cup her breast. “Name?”