Page 31 of The Photo
“They tie at the sides with green ribbons.”
“Careful,” he warns. “You might miss your flight if you continue telling me about clover porn.” A warm tongue glides over my parted lips. “I’d love to watch you do all sorts of playful things, Rowan. You’d like that too, wouldn’t you?” His knees bend. Hands glide over my bare thighs. My dress hitches. Fingers cup my heat. “You’re so responsive to me. Why shouldn’t it work?”
Rough stubble grazes my neck when his teeth nip my earlobe. That simple sensation rockets my libido sky high. I groan into him, shunting my pelvis forward.
“Let’s keep in touch. We’ll video fuck, if that’s even a thing. I haven’t thought about the logistics, but I guarantee it’ll be sexy, dirty and a whole heap of naughty,” he says through a raspy chuckle. “I promise you; I’ll be on the other end of your phone tomorrow.”
“Don’t make me promises you can’t keep. There’s a difference between having you on a video call and having you beside me. I’ll never see you in person again, and we both know it.”
Noah steps back. His palms float from my biceps to my elbows, and I sigh. He lets go. A hand drags through mussed up hair and he looks to his toes. The way he stands, with a tilt to his hips and protruding washboard abs, makes him glorious. If I let him, he’d eat my heart out.
“It’s been fun, Noah.” I can’t look into his eyes when he lifts his gaze to the sound of my voice. “I can grab a cab outside.”
“I’ll go with you. I still need to pick up my car.” He reaches for his towel, ready to loosen it.
Oh sweet Jesus, if that towel comes off, I’ll forget about my flight and may lose my insanity at the same time. I have to go right this second, or I’ll get expelled and Chelsea will be an accomplice. I’d much rather take the tip of his dick in my––I need to leave. “They’re waiting for me, Noah,” I say hurriedly. “I think it’s better if I go now, by myself. Chelsea covered for me this morning. I owe her big time. Thanks––and, goodbye.”
“This isn’t goodbye,” he says matter-of-factly, folding his arms over his glorious chest. “I’ll see you soon.”
The dull pain in my chest is a sign that he's just plucked the silly vital vein I tried so hard to shield. With each forward step, my pulse surges. When I close his apartment door, I leave my heart on the doorstep and cross my fingers like a five-year-old, naively wishing he’s telling the truth.
Thirteen
The airport departure lounge is noisy and chaotic. Travelers queue in snaking lines, clutching passports and dragging cases. I hate how this place is like a waiting room for ‘destination lonely life.’ It’s a pause between two worlds that separates my life with Noah’s.
“Cheer up, misery guts.” Chelsea flops an arm around my neck. “Let's look at the full picture. Neither of us thought you’d even meet the guy, let alone suck his big bendy rainbow.” She fans her face with travel documents.
Our heads nudge side by side. “I wish we never met,” I huff. “Then I’d have no clue what I’m missing out on or how much my heart could ache.”
Chelsea nips my chin between her thumb and forefinger, jiggling my jaw affectionately. “Life sucks sometimes. Look on the bright side. You can message that girl, Lucy, and tell her you had sex with Noah Adams. Sex trumps a repost a million times over.”
I shrug. “Well done, me.” My halfhearted fist pump makes her groan. “I’ll never breathe a word of it to anyone. It’s a secret. Just pretend it never happened.”
“But it did.”
“Only I know that, and you know that. Let’s keep it that way.”
“And, Sam. Don’t forget about that asshole.”
“What is it with you and him?”
“Nothing.” Her lips vibrate when she blows out, acting aloof.
“Chelsea, why is your face painted in guilt?”
She sucks in her lips, and wide eyes slide to the nearby escalator, following its journey. “I got drunk and may have accidentally let him position his penis inside me.”
I tip my head back and laugh. She’s so in denial. “You had sex with him?”
“It was just a bit of dick, for a short period of time.”
“Sex.”
“We don’t need to dissect this, Rowan. It was nothing.” She flicks her hair.
“Seems like you're trying very hard to convince me it wasnothing.”
“I’m not the girl who’s keeping her famous fling under wraps.” Chelsea prods my chest. “You haven’t even told me how things were left between the two of you.”
