also had a teenaged daughter who was instantly smitten with Gracie and offered to watch her for a few hours while Noah and Serena had dinner in the gardens.
Sitting here in the middle of paradise at twilight, enjoying what had to be the most delicious roasted chicken and veggies Serena had ever eaten, felt like a dream. She sipped her water and watched Noah devour his dinner from across the table.
“So, thanks for today.”
He looked up at her, his expression confused. “For what?”
“For helping me fight off that guy earlier and for paying for us to stay here tonight.” She tucked her hair behind her ear, suddenly feeling self-conscious. “Feels weird to enjoy this stay when the world is on fire around me, but…” She shrugged, staring at a nearby bush covered with colorful butterflies.
“Hey.” Noah wiped his mouth and pushed his empty plate away, reaching over to take her hand. “It’s not weird. Believe me, when times are stressful and everything’s gone nuts, you should take your joy where you can find it. And there’s nothing to thank me for. Seeing you happy and relaxed is thanks enough. Besides, it’s my job, remember?”
Serena met his eyes again, studying him in the gathering shadows while a single candle flickered near the center of the table, casting them both in a dim, warm glow. They were alone on the veranda, with Gracie inside with the sitter, and for that moment in time, it seemed like only the two of them existed in the whole world. A gentle breeze blew and the occasional bird sang from the trees and suddenly Serena couldn’t imagine wanting to be anywhere else except right there with Noah.
“You’re very good at your job,” she said, putting her napkin on the table and getting up to move closer to him. “Very, very good.”
As if sensing the shift in mood toward sensual, Noah scooted back his chair and tugged her forward, until she sprawled across his lap. “Oh, I am. I’m excellent,” he said, before kissing her.
She clung to him, unable to get close enough, unable to get enough of him. His smell, his taste, those low groans that issued from deep in his throat letting her know he wanted her as much as she wanted him—they were all irresistible. Before she could stop herself, she straddled him, grinding herself against his ever-growing erection, riding him toward her own peak of pleasure. He dug his fingers into her hips, keeping her close, increasing the contact between their bodies, even as he arched up to drive his hardness into her softness, as close to actual sex as she’d ever been with all her clothes on. It was shameless. It was scandalous. It was the most erotic, amazing experience she’d ever had in her life.
Her breath hitched in her lungs, and the heat and slickness between her legs grew nearly unbearable as she got closer and closer to climax. She needed this, needed him, more than she needed oxygen. Maybe it was the danger. Maybe it was the constant fight to stay alive. Whatever it was, Serena had never reacted to another man the way she reacted to Noah.
“Please…” she whispered, her mouth hovering over his, their ragged breaths mingling. “Please…”
“Please what, sweetheart?” he all but purred, rubbing his hard cock against her most sensitive spot through their clothes. “Tell me what you need. Say it.”
Sexy talk wasn’t her forte, but Noah made her feel like she could do anything. “Make me come. I need you to make me come. Now, Noah.”
“Whatever you what, baby,” he said, pulling her down on him as he arched up and stars burst behind her closed eyelids. Her whole body went taut as the orgasm washed over her, hard and hot, pulsing through her nerve endings in endless waves of pleasure. The whole time, Noah held her close and whispered into her hair, coaxing her to ride out her climax on him until she felt boneless and weightless and completely sated.
When she raised her head at last to look at him, he was grinning down at her like she’d just done the best thing ever. She started to straighten, but he held her in place, his arousal still hard as ever. Serena reached a hand between them to stroke him, but he caught her wrist. “No,” Noah said. “Tonight was about you, sweetheart.”
“But what about you?” She frowned. “Let me—”
“No.” He pulled her hand up and kissed her fingers. “Seeing you come apart like that