Defender (Seattle Sharks 9)

Fuck, she smelled like pears and honeysuckle, and the scent only intensified when she brushed her hair back so she could see better.

“See?” she asked, pointing to the little line she’d drawn. “I’m perfectly on track for four a.m.!”

“Yep, you’ve definitely had enough alcohol to be sober at four a.m.” I slipped my phone free and tapped the screen to display the time. “But it’s just now one a.m.”

She spun, and I clutched her quickly to keep her from landing on her ass. “But...but that means I’m drunk.”

“Yes. I already figured that out.” I moved my hands from her arms, but quickly secured her again when she wavered.

She tapped my nose. “Because you’re smart. I like that about you. I mean, I like a lot about you. So many things about you,” she whispered as her eyes drifted to where Faith and Lukas sat on the couch, oblivious to the world as they kissed. “They do that all the time.”

“Well, they are engaged. That whole love thing, you know.” I grinned at how perplexed she looked. “What do you say I take you back to the hotel?” I offered.

Her hands flattened on my chest. “Are you asking me back to your room?” she batted her eyes at me.

She was so fucking cute.

“Absolutely,” I admitted. “Where I’m going to lay you down on the bed…”

“Yes?” she leaned up.

“Pull back the sheets…”

Her lips parted—

“And tuck you in.”

—then pursed in a pout.

“You’re no fun, Nathan Noble. Must be the last name. Noble, Noble, Noble,” she repeated as I grabbed her purse.

“Hey, I’m going to take the birthday girl back to the hotel,” I told Faith and Lukas. “She’s toast.”

Faith startled. “Oh no! How drunk is she? I should have paid better attention.” She scrambled off Lukas’s lap to take Harper’s hand. “Are you okay? Do you want to sleep in my room?”

A glance at Lukas told me exactly how much he didn’t want that, but would give Faith anything she asked for.

“I’m fine!” Harper told her with a wave of her hand that almost took out the waitress. “Oh, sorry! Can I get my bill?”

The waitress looked between us.

“Harper, I already paid the tab. It’s all good.”

“In that case, we’re good to go! You stay here and finish making out, Faith. Really. It looks super fun! I mean, making out in general. Not with Lukas or anything. Okay, we should definitely go!” she told me, swinging my direction.

“I don’t want to leave Sawyer,” Faith told me. “But I can leave Lukas…”

“No, it’s fine. I’ll get her to bed and send the car back for you.”

“Let’s go!” Harper tugged on my hand, and I let her pull me from the platform.

“Noble!” Faith called out.

“What’s up?” I shouted back to be heard above the music.

“You’d better live up to your name!” she threatened.

Noble. “Ha. Haven’t heard that one before, Gentry!” When she didn’t laugh, I nodded. “Of course. She’s perfectly safe with me.”

“What if I don’t want to be safe?” Harper teased, running her hand up my side.

“You know that little chart you have?” I tilted her chin up so I could look in those incredible, heavily drunk eyes.

“Yep!”

“It says you don’t get to make decisions like that for the rest of the night,” I told her in a whisper.

“Lame!” she called out.

I swept her off her feet and carried her out of the club and into the waiting limo. Once I’d given our driver instructions to take us back to the hotel, I buckled her seatbelt, then mine.

Her head lolled to my shoulder. “So we’re not having sex.”

I choked on air. “I’m sorry?”

“Relax, I said we’re not having sex. Sheesh. I was just thinking that we’d be really good at it, you know?” Her eyes were locked on mine.

Do not think about sex. Don’t do it. Don’t do it. Don’t you dare…

Hot skin, soft thighs, gasping moans…

I was so going to hell.

“Yeah, I know,” I told her, my voice rougher than I wanted it to be. My only hope of surviving this ride was praying the traffic was lighter at this time of night and we’d get back to the hotel sooner.

“I mean, we’re just really well matched.” She tugged her dress up and shimmied, probably to keep her breasts in the dress, but it just made me think of them falling out.

“We are?” I questioned.

“Absolutely. I mean, we have this whole pheromone, chemistry thing going for us. That’s obvious.” Her hand moved to rest on my thigh.

“Obvious,” I repeated because my blood was so not hanging around in my head.

“But we’re also both experts in our fields, which is a must for me. I couldn’t be attracted to someone who wasn’t as driven as I am. At least, I don’t think I could. But I might even make an exception for you because you’re so pretty and you smell so good.” She pivoted, running her nose along my neck.