Kristina’s heart suddenly slammed against her breastbone.
There was no way Noah was talking about chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream right now. Was there? It sure as hell didn’t feel that way. She went to turn, but Noah planted his hands on her shoulders, keeping her facing forward. Facing away.
“Um,” she said, struggling to respond with all his muscled heat pressed against her back. “But trying something new doesn’t mean you have to give up your old favorite, does it? It would just give you something new to have in addition.”
What exactly was she advocating here? That they should explore the crazy sexual tension pinging between them and see where it led? That they should give in, just once, just to get it out of their system? Or that they give friends with benefits a try? This was all so unexpected that she honestly wasn’t sure.
“Can I help you?” the girl behind the counter asked, smiling at Kristina.
“Oh. Uh. Yes.” Kristina scanned the tubs of ice cream displayed in the case. “Can I please have a sugar cone with Chocolate Therapy and Hazed and Confused?” She gave a rueful chuckle as the girl worked on her cone. Those two ice creams summed up her state of mind pretty good just then.
“What’s so funny?” Noah asked.
“I think the ice cream’s talking to me,” Kristina said, finally peering over her shoulder to look at him. And Noah’s expression made her laugh. “Don’t worry, it’s a temporary condition.”
Noah ordered his cone, and then they were out on the street again. The sun hung lower in the sky now, stretching the shadows across the ground.
“I haven’t been down here in a long time,” Noah said. “Years.”
“Wanna walk over to the waterfront?” she asked. He nodded, and they crossed the street to the brick-paved promenade that fronted the Potomac River. The breeze off the water kicked up runaway strands of her hair. “For the record, holding an ice cream cone in my left hand is very weird. It’s throwing off my ice cream mojo.”
“You have ice cream mojo?”
Kristina chuckled. “Not right now I don’t.” She shifted the cone to her right hand, but trying to curl her fingers around it was awkward with the bandages and felt a little like someone had taken a hammer to the back of her hand. She stuck out her bottom lip.
Noah almost managed a small smile, but the effort made his expression look sad. “I’m sorry you got hurt. Wish it had been me instead.”
The fury that lanced through Kristina took her by surprise. She whirled on him. “Don’t ever say something like that again, Noah. You’ve been hurt enough for a lifetime. Imagine what it was like knowing my best friend had been blown up and lay all alone fighting for his life in a hospital half a world away. I would’ve given anything for that not to have happene
d to you. Even now that you’re doing better, I would still give anything to be able to take it all back for you. So don’t think for a minute that I’d ever want you to get hurt in my place. I would give you my eye and my ear if I could.”
Tears pricked at the backs of her eyes, but she was so overwhelmed with emotion for him that she couldn’t hold all this in. Not anymore. Damn, she hadn’t even realized just how much she’d been bottling up all these months.
Peering down at her, Noah’s brown eyes blazed. “Kristina,” he said, voice strained.
She blew out a long breath, suddenly afraid of what he might say. Because she wasn’t sure whether she wanted him to fight for their friendship, or fight for something more. “Forget it. I’m just upset over my hand. And my messed-up ice cream mojo.”
Noah shook his head. For a long moment, they just stared at each other, and then he finally spoke. “You’re…you’re a good friend. The best. I’m sorry I said that.”
His words unleashed a sinking feeling in Kristina’s belly, revealing more about what she hoped he might want than she was maybe ready to admit. But she forced a happy face and said, “I feel the same way about you. No matter what.”
Chapter Six
Noah’s weight pressed Kristina into the soft bedding, and she loved the feeling of him on top of her. His kisses were feverish and rough, his tongue plundering her mouth until she could barely breathe, his stubble rasping against her chin and cheeks and neck. She wouldn’t have changed a thing about any of it.
He worked kisses down her throat to her chest, shedding her clothing piece by piece as he moved. A hot thrill shot through her when his chin scratched against the soft skin of her belly, soothing, wet kisses following close behind. She spread her thighs to make way for his big shoulders, her whole body trembling at the promise of what Noah was about to do.
He stared up her body, dark eyes hot with intensity. “I will always take care of you,” he bit out.
“I know,” Kristina whispered, her hand stroking his hair.
Noah lowered his mouth to her core, and Kristina lifted her hips, dying for that first touch, for his mouth to devour her.
Oh, please please please…
Kristina whimpered. Her eyes blinked open. And she almost cried.
Despite the very real arousal flooding through her, Kristina was alone in her bedroom. No Noah. No about-to-be-amazing orgasm. No fantasy come true.