A slow, triumphant smile curled his lips, and his whole body filled with a warm, bubbly sensation. Yes, he was pathetic enough to suck that up for his withering ego.
“The best ever is still to come.” He lifted his head, scraped his hands into her hair, and cupped her head, lifting it from his shoulder. Her eyes were still closed, a look of complete relief and satiation loosening her features. With color flushing her skin, her long dark lashes curved against her high cheekbones, she looked angelic. “Ready for a shower?”
A tiny smile twitched on her lips. “If I can stand.”
“No need.” He slid off the bed, dragging her with him, and lifted her as he stood.
She giggled, and the sound fizzed through his body like champagne. “Your leg’s getting a workout tonight.”
A lot of him was getting a workout. The very best kind. And with her arms locked around his shoulders, her mouth exploring his again, Noah was already scheming ways to keep her here beyond tomorrow.
Julia’s eyes fluttered open to distant male voices. She was surrounded in white—white pillowcases, white sheets, a white comforter—and felt like she was lying in a cloud.
Heaven? Had she died and gone to heaven?
No. Hell, no. She’d never go straight to heaven after spending the night in the devil’s bed.
She squeezed her eyes shut, turned her face into the puffy comforter, and groaned. Her body ached in all sorts of ways she’d never ached before. All good. Each ache bringing back the memory of another delicious sexcapade with Noah.
She’d never known sex could be so good. So wicked. So intoxicating. She’d been with men she classified as good lovers, so last night had not been just a nice surprise but an eye-opener. Noah, she feared, was a man she wouldn’t soon forget, even if she was simply his first hurdle on his track back to the women awaiting his return to the exciting life.
For Julia, last night had changed nothing outside these four walls. She was still currently unemployed and in debt, with a smattering of friends who would still talk to her after her fall from grace. Now she just needed to find those thin walls
Noah had taken down last night, replace them, and get on with her day. Her life.
Easier said than done while surrounded by feathers after the greatest night ever.
She closed her eyes, pinched the bridge of her nose, and let out a long, resigned sigh to resuming that thing she called a life. The sooner she got started, the sooner she’d let go of the sweet temptations Noah offered. She’d simply take memories of the laughs they’d shared, the intimate doors he’d nudged open, and the sweetness of his head on her chest as he’d fallen asleep with her.
A burst of raucous male laughter exploded from somewhere downstairs, and alarm tore Julia
from the uncomfortable thoughts. She sat up, holding the comforter to her naked body, and searched for a clock. The blue numbers on the nightstand’s clock read 11:02.
“Holy shit.”
She scrambled to her feet and looked around the floor, but her clothes were gone, along with Noah’s.
“Shit,” she whispered again. “Shit, shit, shit.”
She dropped the comforter and darted into Noah’s closet, but stopped short. The thing was packed floor to ceiling—workout clothes, jeans, dress shirts, suits, and tons of shoes. Jesus, the man was a clothes whore. Who knew?
Grabbing the first shirt within reach—a flannel button-down—she slipped it on, grateful when it covered her to midthigh, then moved to the double doors of his bedroom, where one stood ajar. Spurts of excited conversation came over a steady background of grungy rock music, and sounds she didn’t understand—thwap, swoosh, swoosh, swoosh, scrape, then another thwap.
“If you just tweak the joystick twice to the right, you’ll do a backside 1620.” The incomprehensible statement came from someone male and young. Not a kid, but maybe a twenty-something. “Yeah, like that. Then if you make a full circle, you’ll get a frontside 1080 off the toes rocket air.”
What in the hell? Was that even English?
The group broke out into an “ooh-ahh” fest with a random “great move” and “you’re racking up the points” and “that’s so sick, dude.” A video game? He had a bunch of his buddies downstairs playing videos while she was still naked in his bed?So much for “no one will know but you and me.”
She poked her head into the hallway, where, twelve feet away, a decorative wrought iron railing overlooked the great room at the front of the house—which was the group’s current location. Now, she just had to get down the stairs and across the house without anyone seeing her—at least not until she was fully dressed and coming out of a bedroom across the house from Noah’s. Only, the room where everyone cheered sat in the middle of the house.
Dammit.
Thank God, thank God, thank God she was leaving today. At least if his buddies caught sight of her taking this walk of shame to her own room, she’d never have to see them again.
But, somehow, that didn’t make her feel better.
She slipped out of the bedroom and peeked past the railing. She could see three people sitting on the sofa, facing away from the stairs. She pressed her back against the wall and took the stairs slowly, staying silent on her bare feet.