Page 23 of Bond Strength

Noah was broad and muscular with big thighs and tree-trunk arms, and the memory of all the muscle and power wrapped around me caused my adrenaline to pick up. My cock was hard, my balls ached from our kiss, and the idea of him following through with everything he’d outlined? I’d combust on the spot.

I’d felt attraction before and had fallen into bed with others, but I’d never experienced this intersection of attraction and comfort before. Noah knew me, even though I’d worried in the past that he didn’t. I’d all but given up on finding someone who might, and the fact that he’d been right under my nose this whole time? Mind-blowing.

“God, you’re gorgeous.” He stepped closer. My whole body flushed at the compliment, my atoms rearranging themselves in his proximity. Everything inside me buzzed.

From the moment we’d met, Noah had always claimed my attention, but I’d never imagined we’d be in this situation. As wildly different as it was from my expectations, a thrill rose within me.

“Can I strip you down?” he asked, his voice husky.

“I mean, it’ll make doing much else a bit tougher.” Apparently, even with my whole body on fire, my smartass mouth didn’t quit.

Noah shook his head, a grin on his lips. He reached forward and almost reverently unbuttoned my shirt. His hands were steady and sure, even as his breath hitched. This close, our breaths mingled, and even in the darkness of my room, with only the golden rays of the lantern to illuminate us, the intensity in his eyes was clear. He didn’t look away from me, his focus on me.

Noah’s chest heaved with his shaky breaths. What lay beneath his clothes? I wanted to see the slope of his chest, the definition of those muscles I’d felt wrapped around me earlier.

By the time he reached the halfway point on my shirt, my breathing had increased. Yet I didn’t interfere, letting him take the lead. I wanted to experience everything he’d expressed earlier—craved it. Noah licked his lower lip, then dipped in and kissed my neck. A shiver coursed through me. He continued to unbutton my shirt while he pressed kisses up and down the column of my neck, deliberate and sure. My cock tested the confines of my jeans, an ache in me that demanded to be sated.

The idea of him penetrating me was one I’d never considered, but I’d played with prostate toys in my ass. They’d made me come hard, so I could imagine what it’d be like with him sliding inside me.

He nipped at the curve between my neck and shoulders, and the sweet spot sent a spike of lust through me. A moan escaped my lips, right as he finished with my shirt. He peeled it off my shoulders, and the fabric fluttered to the floor.

I reached for the button on my jeans, but his hands met mine.

“Let me do this,” he said, raspiness still in his voice. Fuck, he wassexy. How had I missed this for so many years?

He kissed along the side of my neck again, nipping and sucking the skin, and I rested my hands on his hips, which were as solid as the rest of him. The idea of tethering myself to that, of plastering against him and never letting go—fuck, my mind got dizzy. His fingers made quick work of the button of my jeans, and he slid those and my boxer briefs down my thighs. My skin prickled with how I was exposed, but his heat, his lips on my body, anchored me in the best way.

My cock jutted forward, no longer confined, and when I shifted my hips, the tip brushed against his thigh. A thrill fluttered through me, and I couldn’t restrain my moan.

“I need you on this bed, Dec.” He sounded wrecked, shattered. “You’re such a fucking dream. You have no idea how long I’ve wanted this.”

My heart lurched.

I might not have been aware of Noah’s feelings, but part of me had missed him all these years, the unvarnished side of him that I’d known before we’d drifted apart. Before life had started putting hurdles between us.

And now, with him here with me, his attention solely on me, I wanted to bask in it for as long as I had it.

“I missed you,” I admitted, the truth escaping me. “More than I could ever have realized.”

“God, me too.” He swept in and pressed his lips to mine. Need burned inside me hot and furious at being stripped down while he was fully clothed. At being on display for him. Something inside me liked that far too much. His big hand rested against my hip, and he squeezed. I ground my cock against his thigh, luxuriating in the feel of his body surrounding mine, the differences between us, him looming over me.

“I’m going to lose my mind if you keep up with that,” he said. “If you don’t get on the bed, I’ll toss you there.”

I arched a brow. “Make me.”

The big, broad grin I’d missed spread on his face like sunlight, even amid the velvet dark. “Happily.” He scooped under my legs, and I rose up in his arms. Noah walked toward the bed and dropped me right in the center. My heart thumped hard at the way he’d swept me up, at the sheer effortlessness of his movements. I’d never realized that would turn me on, but I’d also never realized I was attracted to men.

Today was one discovery after another.

I lay sprawled out on my bed, stripped down and at Noah’s mercy. He’d kicked off his shoes and socks, but he remained in his coveralls. He’d come here for a job after all. The light in the lantern flickered, as it’d been designed to mirror flame, and the swaying shadows it cast along the walls, across his features, mesmerized me.

“I should’ve known you’d be a bit of a brat.” Noah prowled up the bed.

“What gave you the indication?”

“That smartass mouth.” He situated himself between my legs and spread them wide.

Said smartass mouth dried at the sight of him there, inches from my cock. Over the past decade, Noah had matured in a gorgeous way. He’d been pretty when we were younger, but now he was rugged, and the shadows highlighted his cleft chin, the sharpness of his nose, the thickness of his brows. He circled his hand around the base of my cock, his lips curving into a devastating smirk.

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