Candice scowls while Monica’s face flames, telling me she’s my main problem here. After all, she thinks I’m stealing her boyfriend away; while Candice simply just doesn’t like me for shit that went down ages ago.
Monica steps forward and gets right in my face. “You better watch yourself, trash.”
“Or what?” I fire back, stepping back into her and smirking at the way she wobbles on her hooker heels.
A big arm curls around my waist and I’m just moments from shooting my ass back and nailing the guy in the junk for touching me when that strange familiarity comes over me. I’d bet every last dollar in my jewelry box that if I look down, I’d find a muscled, tattooed arm. And besides, from the jealousy pulsing through Monica’s eyes as she takes in the arm on my waist, it’s no secret who it is.
“I thought I told you two to leave her the fuck alone,” Noah’s low, rumbly voice growls over my shoulder. “She’s one of mine now,” he adds. “You fuck with one of us, you fuck with us all.”
Monica sucks in a sharp breath and I watch on with curious eyes as Candice reaches out and takes her elbow. “Come on,” she murmurs to Monica, clearly seeing that pursuing this couldn’t possibly end well for them. “She’s not worth it.”
With that, Candice drags her away and I find myself turning around in Noah’s arm as he refuses to drop it from my waist. “One of yours, huh?”
A wide grin spreads across his face as he looks down at me, studying my face. “You look fucking gorgeous,” he tells me.
The force of his intense gaze has me wobbling on my feet and he tightens his strong arm around me, holding my body close to his. A second later, his eyes narrow suspiciously. “Are you drunk?” he questions.
I shake my head, unable to stop the smile. I mean, damn. Being in his arms is so thrilling. “Not quite,” I tell him. “But it won’t take much.”
Noah’s head snaps up as he looks over my shoulder at his sister who’s currently fending off Rivers’ grabby hands. “Why’d you let her drink so much?”
“Please,” Tully scoffs. “She should be drinking more. The girl seriously needs to relax after the shit Monica keeps putting her through.” She raises her eyebrows. “I know what you could do to help her relax.”
Rivers scowls down at her as Noah shakes his head in exasperation.
I fight the laugh that threatens to come booming out of me. I wouldn’t mind a bit of relaxing, especially if it involves getting naked with Noah. Oh, God, I can just imagine the feel of his skin moving against mine.
Damn it. Head out of gutter, Henley.
A shiver takes over my body and before I know it Noah’s mouth is at my ear. “Are you cold?”
I shake my head, secretly hating my traitorous body. “No,” I smile. “I’m good. Better than good.” I realize after the words come out just how flirty and forward I sound, but I shrug it off. I seriously don’t care. I’m having fun and besides, what harm could a little shameless flirting do?
Noah’s body begins to move against mine and it doesn’t take a genius to work out that he’s dancing with me, but my god, I’m freaking melting. His knee pushes between my thighs and I find myself grinding down onto him as our bodies move in a sensual dance.
It’s as though only we exist in this moment. It’s just me and him, not a soul around us. Completely lost to each other.
God, I want so much more right now.
I knew something was going on between us as the week went on, that much was clear; however, neither of us have actually admitted it out loud. There’s been shameless flirting and ‘accidental’ brushes of fingertips across my burning skin, but not once have either of us actually said that this is happening, that this pull between us actually means something, and that this is what we want.
That first day was filled with confusion but as each day went by, the confusion morphed into belonging and now that belonging is changing into need and desire. Hell, I don’t know if Noah is just flirting for a bit of fun, but to me, this is something more, and right now, it’s damn hard to deny.
His body calls to mine and it’s like an electric current running through my veins, drawing me to him and making me wonder what his lips taste like.
This is ridiculous. I find it hard to comprehend that it’s even happening. This week has been a page out of a fiction novel. It couldn’t be real. This stuff isn’t reality for me. I feel like I’ve been living in some kind of fantasy world where the loser girl actually gets the popular guy. I should stop imagining it, that way when my hopes and dreams are inevitably crushed, it won’t hurt as bad.