don’t,” she encouraged.
Noah’s mouth set into a grim line. “You’re right. Let me see what he wants. I’ll keep it short.” He climbed out of bed as he answered the phone, walking toward the wall of windows, his back still to her. Completely naked, and it was still late afternoon—if he wasn’t careful, someone could see him. Though they were pretty high up, and maybe he didn’t care.
She admired the firm curve of his ass, his long, strong legs. He had a lean, muscular body, one that she’d had her hands and mouth and tongue all over these last few hours, and she yearned to do it all over again. She felt like she couldn’t get enough of him and that was crazy.
Nuts.
Insane.
“What do you mean, there’s a photo? I haven’t done anything out of the ordinary this weekend. I’ve been on my best behavior, damn it!” Noah yelled into his phone, startling Natalie.
She sat up in bed, holding the sheet over her chest, watching as he started to pace. He wouldn’t even look at her. “Mystery girl? Is that what the headline said? What website?” He paused, then she heard him mutter, “TMZ motherfuckers.”
Oh no. Was he talking about a photo of the two of them? Together? Worry gnawed at her gut and she tried to ignore the nervous fluttering of her stomach.
“I know you told me to keep my…indiscretions private, but we weren’t fucking in the street, Walt.” He paused again, listening to whatever Walt the manager was saying to him. And it was something major since she could hear his muffled yelling over the phone. “She’s nobody. No one. Don’t worry about it.”
Oh God. Did he really just say that? Holy. Crap. She climbed out of bed, not caring that she was naked and on blatant display. Like he cared—she was nothing and a no one.
She moved through the suite at lightning speed, grabbing her panties and pulling them on. Trying her best to get the bra on, but the delicate lacy fabric had gotten twisted when Noah practically tore it off of her earlier, and she was having a hell of a time. Frustrated, she went to her purse and shoved the bra inside, then snatched her top off the floor and tugged it over her head.
“Hey, hey, hey, where are you going?” Noah wrapped his arms around her from behind and she lurched out of his embrace, whirling around to face him. He frowned when he caught sight of her expression. She probably looked super pissed, which made sense because she was super pissed.
Royally pissed.
“What’s wrong?” he asked when she didn’t say anything.
“I need to go.” She lifted her chin, trying to keep her emotions together. The worst thing she could do was cry in front of him. “This was a…mistake.”
He stared at her, his expression completely unreadable, and she hated that. She wanted him as torn up as she was. “A mistake?”
She shrugged. “A weekend of fun, right? That’s all we wanted. Nothing serious. Just…Vegas and sex.”
“Vegas and sex,” he repeated, his deep voice a dull monotone.
Natalie nodded vigorously, not wanting to admit how much it hurt to hear him describe her as nothing and a nobody. She should’ve expected that. He was Noah Wilde after all. Rock star extraordinaire. A sex god who could have any woman he wanted. Why would he care about a little nobody like her?
“Nat.” He blew out a harsh breath and ran his fingers through his already tangled hair. “I don’t want it to end like this.”
Her heart sank. Yes, there was going to be an end to this. She knew it. She’d told herself from the beginning there would be. It was her own fault that she thought for even a millisecond that there could be more.
There could never be more. She was living in a fantasy world.
“Just…come back to bed with me. Please.” He stared at her, his expression pleading. She wanted to give in. Desperately. But she shouldn’t. “Forget that phone call. Forget that stupid photo—”
She interrupted him. “So there’s a photo of us? Really?”
He sighed and nodded. “Yeah. On TMZ. Guess Perez picked it up too. They don’t know who you are and I refused to tell my manager. I don’t want to bring a shit storm into your life, Nat. The paps find out who you are and they’ll follow you everywhere. I was trying to protect you.”
By calling me a nobody. Whatever. “Protect me?”
“Yes. Protect. You,” he reiterated. “But forget about all that. Let’s go back to bed, Nat. Tomorrow will come soon enough. I don’t want to give you up yet.”
Her heart rose at his words and she bashed it back down. She absolutely should not go back into that bed with him. He was rude. A user. His excuse that he wanted to protect her didn’t fly.
But she let him take her hand and lead her back to the bed anyway.
Chapter Nine