Page 74 of Before We Fell

Slipping out of my suit coat, I draped it over one of the leatherback dining chairs and prowled toward her.

Brown eyes dropped to my chest, my hands at the buckle of my belt on my suit pants. Cautious eyes flickered back up to my face.

“What are you doing?”

“Changing dinner plans for the night.”

We had reservations at Pierpont in Union Station. Something told me she’d be in even more awe walking through there than she would be the food. Too bad we’d have to miss it.

“Oh?” She moved to spin, but I reached her, stopping her with a hand on her hip.

“Don’t. Stand back how you were.” I guided her, her lithe body trembled beneath my hand as her expression turned wary, but her cheeks hot pink. Drifting my hand up the side of her body, I then slid it down her arm, covering her hand with mine and pressing both to the glass. I’d already loosened my belt and I ripped it out of my loops, dropping it to the floor.

“I had reservations for us tonight. Someplace nice. Someplace where in that dress, every single man would stare at you with lust in their eyes and the woman would seethe with jealousy.”

“You did?” Her voice had gone breathy.

Aroused.

The sweet, soft sound hit my ears, shooting a burst of adrenaline surging through my veins until my fingers dug into the top of her hand at the window.

“Yeah, but now I’m thinking I don’t want to share you.” I dropped my forehead to her cheek, nudged her until she was facing the window. My other hand took hers and placed it on the window.

“Noah—”

“Shh…we won’t do anything here. I just want to play a little bit.”

Without pause, I pressed my lips to her shoulder. Tangling her thick, long locks in one hand, I pushed them over her other shoulder, giving me free access to the back of her neck, the deep V-dip of her dress that went halfway down her back. Every inch of me craved getting closer to her. The make-out sessions we’d done on couches, a mild flare to the heat I felt now, her body pressed against mine, quivering, knowing we could be interrupted.

“I had all these plans for you,” I murmured, pressing my lips to her heated flesh. “Was going to take you out for dinner, walk around the plaza, get some ice cream or frozen yogurt near the water fountains. It was going to be so romantic—”

“Who needs romance,” she quipped and my lips curved into a grin against her shoulder.

“You deserve it,” I answered before returning to my ministrations. Her dress covered so much of her, but I was content memorizing what she showed in that moment. The rest would come soon.

“But now I’m thinking, we need to order room service and push back those plans until tomorrow.”

She tugged her hands from my grip on the window and swiveled so fast her back was to the glass and her hands were at my jaw before I felt her move. Pulling me down to her, she didn’t have to lift to her toes with those heels on and her lips brushed against mine.

I caged her in, my hands on the glass, my body against her. The lights in the room were dim, and we were many floors up. I still wanted privacy for what I wanted to do to her. Taking her naked against the glass with the light silhouetting our bodies to strangers wasn’t on the list, even if I doubted anyone would see or notice. But she was mine, and I was determined no one have any hint of the sexiness that lived just beneath the sweet veneer of her friendly and kind teacher’s skin.

Still, I stayed still while she peppered my lips with hers. “I’m not all that hungry for food, Noah.”

Twenty-Three

Lauren

His whiskey eyes darkened,beneath the thin layer of his button-up dress shirt, muscles flexed, pulling my attention from his face to his chest, his broad shoulders, and his arms rippled with muscle.

Finally, I get to have him.

Beneath my fingers, his jaw held no stubble, showing off the sharp cuts of his square jaw and pop of his cheekbones.

His nostrils flared as he inhaled slowly. “Lauren.” He breathed out my name on a heavy sigh, thick with tension and self-control.

I relished it. This man who had at our first meeting, intimidated me. From the first moment I saw a photo of him, he was cut to perfection, grief and anger etched in his features. That anger and sadness had now softened into something so much more beautiful.

Because of what he felt for me.

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