CHAPTER FIVE
After Harvey introduced Celina, Noble struggled to overcome his shock. The woman was drop-dead gorgeous. No, she was stunning…stunning like the sexy, smoking-hot woman staying across the hall from him. Noble didn’t understand how a troll like Harvey—friend or not, the man looked like Danny DeVito—had snagged someone as beautiful as Kate Hudson. Celina was so far out of Harvey’s league she wasn’t even on the same planet.
At least Noble now knew who wore the pants in their relationship, and it wasn’t Harvey. The minute Celina had found out they were going to the strip clubs, she blew a damn gasket. Sparks were all but shooting out of the fiery redhead’s eyes as she’d railed on her groom-to-be. If looks could kill, Harvey would be in the morgue instead of sitting beside him on the massive party bus, pouting like a little bitch.
“Celina’s just gonna have to get over herself. I’m not going to bow down to any damn woman…girlfriend, fiancée or wife!” Harvey stomped his foot. “After the wedding, I’ll have her on her knees in the honeymoon suite working her wicked tongue all over my dick.”
Not unless you pucker up and start kissing ass now till Saturday, you won’t.
Noble didn’t like drama, anger, or tears. He’d learned how to stay in good graces with the ladies instead of the doghouse. Clearly, Harvey hadn’t been schooled on that lesson yet. Based on Celina’s rage, the man had bypassed the doghouse and was next in line to be euthanized.
“Yanno,” Noble began, “if it’s going to upset your bride, we don’t have to hit the strip clubs. We could go find a bar and drink till we puke.”
“The hell we don’t!” Harvey barked indignantly. “No woman is going to tell me what to do. We’re going to hit every damn strip club we can find, on principle alone.”
Poor bastard. He doesn’t know shit about women.
Noble inwardly shook his head. Maybe after a dozen drinks, he could drill some basics into Harvey’s head. If not, well…there were plenty of divorce lawyers around.
An hour and a half later, they sat in sleazy, dimly lit strip club number four. Like the other clubs they’d visited, the scent of testosterone, pussy, and stale beer hung heavy in the air. Noble tipped back his bottle of brew and glanced at the girl on stage. She ground her crotch on the pole in time with the thumping music reverberating off the walls. The dancer looked as bored as the nearly naked woman straddling Harvey’s lap.
He was bored out of his mind, and this wasn’t the epic bachelor party Harvey had promised. Noble wished he were back at the hotel exploring Ivy’s silky flesh with his tongue.
“That’s it…uh-huh…just like that. Daddy’s going to treat you real good, baby girl.” A hungry glaze infused Harvey’s heavy-lidded inebriated, eyes as he tucked a couple of twenties under the corner of the stripper’s G-string. “Get bad for me, you naughty little slut, and shove your juicy snatch in my face.”
Noble bit back a laugh and drained his beer.
In almost mechanical motion, the women complied. Gripping Harvey’s head, she rubbed her crotch in his face as she flashed Noble an inviting smile. “When I’m finished with your friend here, I can take you to a private room and give you a proper lap dance, handsome.”
Noble’s stomach swirled. The only crotch he wanted in his face was at the hotel. “Nah, I’m good. Harvey there is the man of the hour.”
She rolled her eyes and shrugged as his old pal let out a yell and latched his mouth onto the skimpy triangle between her legs. Grinding his nose in her crotch, Harvey grabbed hold of her ass cheeks.
The stripper jerked away and sent him an angry glare. “No touching on the main floor.”
“Then take me someplace private so I can eat you up.”
The stripper scoffed caustically. “Trust me. There’s not enough money on the planet for me to go one on one with you.” Harvey was already so toasted the insult didn’t even register. With a heavy sigh, the woman backed off his lap. “Time’s up. Bathrooms are in the back. There’s lotion and towels on the sink. Jack off and come back if you want. I’m sure another girl will give you a dance.”
“But I want you,” Harvey whined. “You’ll give me a repeat customer discount, right?”
The woman wrinkled her nose. “Not on your life.”
Frowning, Harvey stood, tossed some bills on the table, and jerked his head toward the door. “Come on, bro. We need to find a club with nicer strippers.”
Weaving slightly, Noble followed his stumbling drunk friend out outside.
After Harvey stumbled up the steps of the party bus and plopped down in one of the seats, he flashed Noble a lopsided grin. “This is the shit! You having fun, bro?”
Not in the slightest. The alcohol-induced buzz fogging his brain lessened the sting of disappointment. “A blast, man. A blast.”
Harvey nodded, pulled a flask out of his suit jacket, and twisted off the top before taking a long pull. “Fuuuuck meeee,” he bellowed.
The smell of whatever was in the flask hit Noble’s nose, stealing the air from his lungs. “What the fuck are you drinking? Battery acid?”
“Moonshine,” Harvey slurred, shoving the flask toward Noble. “Take a drink. It’ll melt the hair off your balls.”
“I’m good.” Noble shook his head, shoving the bottle back toward Harvey.
The man had been shots of Patrón, Absolut, Johnnie Walker, Jägermeister, and now moonshine. He wondered how long before Harvey was puking his guts up or passing the fuck out. While Noble would never break the bro code and abandon his friend, he was definitely ready to head back to the hotel and spend some quality time with Ivy.
The goofy smile on Harvey’s face suddenly vanished. “Fuck, man. I’m getting married on Saturday.”
“That you are.” Noble laughed.
Harvey took another pull of the moonshine, screwed the cap back in place, and tucked it in back inside his jacket. Suddenly, his eyes filled with tears. “I’m one lucky son of a bitch, aren’t I?”
“Damn straight you are.”
“I have a successful business and a beautiful woman who wants to marry me. Me! Do you know how many fuckers on this planet would fall to their feet and worship her?”
“Probably a ton. She’s a beautiful girl.”
“Yeah, she is.” Harvey’s voice quivered. “And Celina picked me. Why’d she pick me, man?” A tear tumbled down the man’s cheek, followed by another…then a whole stream.
When the man started blubbering like a baby, Noble had no idea what to do. No way was he going to cuddle and whisper reassuring platitudes in Harvey’s ear like he did the women back home who came unglued from time to time.
He’d have to try and talk the man down off the ledge. “Clearly she picked you because you’re a good man and she—”
“No I’m not. I’m a prick,” Harvey bellowed. “But she still loves me…I mean, really, really loves me. I just don’t fucking know why.”
“’Cause you’re a boss.”
“But I’m not…I’m nothing but a fraud,” Harvey wailed. “Celina was my first.”
“Your first what?”
“My first fuck! I was a virgin when I met her.”
Noble was glad he was sitting down, because that bombshell rocked him hard. “What about Dee—”
“I never did Dee Ann. I just lied and said I did, ’cause every other guy in town said they’d done her. I didn’t want to fuck her… She always smelled like bologna. I hate bologna. I just didn’t want anyone to know I was still hauling my cherry around. I’m sorry, Nobe. I never should have lied to you.”
Harvey’s confession washed away his obnoxious exterior and exposed a butt-load of insecurities. Noble actually felt sorry for the man.
“Don’t stress. I never fucked her, either. I was too afraid my dick would rot off.”
“You don’t hate me, do you?” Harvey sobbed.
“No, man. Never.” Noble clapped him on the shoulder.
“Thanks, man.” He wiped at his tears. “I did good, didn’t I? I did good finding Celina, right?”
“Yeah. You did good…damn good.” Noble grabbed onto the seat as the bus made a sharp turn. His head was swimming long after the driver straightened back out. “Damn! I drank more than I thought I did.”
Harvey sniffed, wiped his eyes, and raised a fist in the air. “To being fucked up!”
Noble grinned and bumped the man’s knuckles. The two of them burst out laughing.
Harvey leaned over and instructed the driver to find another strip club, then slid forward and passed out, face first, on the floor.
Noble bent down and quickly rolled him to his back, checking to make sure he was still breathing. Harvey sucked in a loud snore and Noble grinned.
“Forget the strip club, man. Take us back to the hotel. My friend is baked.”
“Can we get four more shots here?” Celina called to the waitress rushing past their table.
Ivy’s stomach swirled. She’d been matching her sister, shot for shot, all night long. While she wasn’t feeling any pain, she’d definitely had enough to drink. Tomorrow morning her head would be pounding like a million jackhammers and Ivy would be cursing every ounce now blurring her system.
The thundering pipes of a motorcycle blasted through the overhead speakers. All the women in the club went wild as a hunky, bad-assed biker took the stage. He was covered in muscles and tattoos, wearing black leather, with a discernable bulge beneath the black pouch between his legs.
Celina tossed back one of the shots the waitress left at the table before jumping to her feet. “Oh, my god! Look at the hunk! Fuck me! What I wouldn’t give to suck the chrome off his tail pipe, stroke his kickstand, and ride his Fat Boy into the sunset.”
Ivy laughed as she lifted one of the glasses to her lips and immediately set it back down. Celina let out a whoop and shoved her way to the stage, where she started waving a fist full of bills at the stripper now bumping and grinding on the stage.
“You’d probably have a lot more exciting life with that beefy biker than you will Harvey,” Ivy whispered to herself. That sad truth sobered her some.
When the dancer’s set was done, Celina returned and grabbed another shot off the table and raised it in the air. “To all the well-hung, skilled men in the world who know how to make women come like freight trains…I will certainly miss you all.”
“I’ll drink to that.” Ivy picked up a shot and tossed it back in one gulp. Memories of Noble’s gifted lips and tongue blazed in her head. Warmth that had nothing to do with booze and everything to do with a year and a half of pent-up sexual frustration enveloped her body.
A country tune blasted through the speakers. Ivy turned her head, watching as a tall, broad-shouldered, narrow-waisted cowboy took the stage. He was wearing a black leather vest, chaps, and G-string along with a pair of six-guns slung low on his hips. The black hat he wore hid his identity, but Ivy was already imagining Noble’s handsome face in the shadow beneath the brim. As the tempo of the music ramped up, the sexy cowboy began bumping, grinding, and rolling his hips in blatant sexual fashion. Eager women shoved money in his extra-large G-string.
Ivy’s attention was fixed on the cowboy’s sensual movements while raw and dirty fantasies of Noble unfurled in her mind. Sleeping with the stranger no longer seemed frightening. If spending the night with him, lost in orgasmic splendor made her a whore, so be it. The time had come to end her self-imposed sexual drought.
When the waitress dropped off another four shots, Ivy plucked one up and downed it. Hopefully she’d imbibed enough to make her southern sensibilities pass the hell out. Ivy didn’t need her mental moral police patrolling her psyche, making her second-guess her decision.
“What’s so wrong about unleashing eighteen months of unbridled lust on a willing man?” Ivy blurted out.
“Not a goddamn thing.” Celina pounded her fist on the table. “Wait. Who are we fucking?”
“Nobody.” Yet. “I was just askin’ a question.”
“Oh. Not a damn thing,” Celina replied, dropping her fist to the table again.
Ivy smiled. She’d missed her zany, impulsive sister. But the Addison siblings were grown women now. Celina was marrying a dipshitiot and going back to Seattle. Ivy was risking every penny from the massive settlement the court had awarded her to open a bakery in a small, quiet town. A town that probably wasn’t a Mecca of hot, single men. She might not get another chance to get laid until she was old and gray. One uninhibited night busting up the furniture and exorcizing sexual frustrations with Noble might be the only relief she’d find for a long, long time.
“I wanna go h-home with you…stud.”
Celina’s slurred plea pulled Ivy from her thoughts. Her sister was all but climbing the biker dude who had been dancing on the stage earlier.
“I’mma wrap my lips round your big ol’ pipe and do ’lisciosly naughty things with you all night long.”
“Whoa,” Ivy blurted out.
She bolted from her chair to stop her sister before the stripper actually took Celina up on the offer. But the heel of her shoe snagged the leg of the table. As the floor came rushing up to meet Ivy’s face, she jerked her hands up, and broke her fall. She landed on the cold tile with a bone-jarring thud and cried out as pain screamed up her arms and through her shoulders.
“Ivy!” Celina yelled. “Oh, my god. Are you—”
“Now that’s fucking funny as hell.” The dancer threw back his head and laughed.
“Shut the fuck up, Sons of Anarchy. It’s not funny. Do something… Help her,” Celina spat, no longer slurring.
“Not my job to babysit you drunken bitches.”
The pain was receding as Ivy slowly hauled herself from the floor. “I’ve got it. I’m good.”
“You’re a pig…a motherfucking prick. I hope you get every STD on the planet and your dick rots off, asshole,” Celina screamed.
The stripper growled, flipped her off, and walked away.
Ivy couldn’t help but laugh at her fuming sister. “I guess you don’t want to ride his Fat Boy anymore?”
“I wouldn’t touch his Fat Boy if it were the last one on the damn planet. It’s probably two inches big anyway. And bet money his G-string’s stuffed with socks. Let’s get outta here. That bastard’s ruined my buzz.”
While wobbling on her heels as she dusted herself off, Ivy noticed her sister looking a bit too pale. “You’re not going to barf on me, are you?”
“Not unless I drink another shot. Then all bets are off.”
Ivy had surpassed her limit as well. Outside the bar, they clung to each other, singing and laughing before flagging down a taxi. Then, they giggled all the way back to the hotel. Once she made sure her sister was safely tucked in bed, Ivy staggered down the hall toward her own room.
She paused at Noble’s door and raised her hand to knock but stopped herself. Her sluggish brain wondered if she was sober enough to enjoy all the fun she wanted from him. The thought of passing out in the middle of what was sure to be the wildest sex of her life made her frown. She didn’t want to crush the man’s ego, especially one as sexually compelling as Noble…whatever his last name might be. No, she wanted to be wide-awake and enjoy every delicious hard inch and thrust. But the urge to tap on his door was like a dark force. She couldn’t fight it.
Giving in, Ivy knocked and waited. She stood there for several long minutes, mentally willing the door to open. Teetering on her heels, her heart sank. He’d either changed his mind, fallen asleep, or was still out with his friend. She took two wobbly steps back as disappointment seeped through her and plucked the key card from her purse. Ivy swiped the plastic in and out of the sensor, but it refused to cooperate.
She kicked off her shoes and growled. “Come on, you temperamental sum’bitch,” she slurred.
“Looks like you need another lesson.”
Noble’s deep voice startled her. Ivy spun on the balls of her feet to find him easing in behind her. The alcohol buzz she had going on paled to the intoxicating heat and masculine scent surrounding her. She gazed up into his glassy green eyes and the air around them sizzled.
“Iss broken,” she softly slurred.
“I think you might have had a few too many cocktails tonight, didn’t you, darlin’?”
“I’ve had enough.”
“Enough for what?”
“Enough to do this.” Bolstered by the obscene amount of alcohol she’d consumed, Ivy turned and boldly wrapped her arms around his neck. Lifting onto her toes, she closed her eyes and pressed a soft, inviting kiss to his lips.
Noble welcomed her brazen action by cupping a hand around her nape and feathering his thumb along her jaw. As he took control of the kiss and deepened it, he sank his other hand into her hair, gripping a fistful of her thick curls. She moaned in delight as tingles raced across her scalp. Noble grunted and delved his warm, wet tongue deep inside her mouth.
She clung to him in desperation as their kiss turned raw…urgent.
He swallowed her kitten-like mewls as he pressed his steely body to hers. She was drowning in the passion and promise of his soul-stealing kiss. If Noble hadn’t held her pinned to the door, her legs would have given out when he arched his hips and nestled every inch of his thick, hard cock against her dripping folds.
Demand uncoiled low in her belly, then slammed up her spine and sputtered through her limbs like fireworks. Everything this gloriously talented man did to her made her head spin…and they weren’t even in bed yet. Ivy wasn’t sure she’d survive the magic he was capable of weaving over her once they actually made it to the mattress.
With a whimper of impatience, she lifted her leg and hooked it around the back of his thigh, silently offering herself to him. The fantasies dancing in her head since she’d first laid eyes on him were coming true. The hum of lust and demand roared in her ears as she feasted on his tongue.
With assurance of the primitive pleasure she ached for, Noble rocked his hips, nudging her needy clit. Ivy gasped and ground her sweltering pussy against his massive length. She couldn’t wait to drag him into her room and into her blistering body.
Noble eased from her mouth and skimmed his hot lips over her jaw before leaving a trail of fire down her neck. “Tell me what you want, darlin’.”
“You,” she panted breathlessly. “Every…thick, glorious inch.”
“Thank fuck.”
Dipping his head, Noble traced the swell of her heavy breasts with his tongue. Her nipples tightened and she arched, wishing he’d draw each pebbled peak into his mouth and assuage the ache there.
“We need to take this inside your room before I lift that pretty dress up over your hips and have my wicked way with you here and now.”
His words excited her in a way she hadn’t expected. Blaming it on the alcohol, Ivy didn’t give a rat’s ass if he fucked her in the hall or in the damn lobby.
Silently reminding herself she wasn’t an exhibitionist, she nodded. “I vote we take this inside my room.”
She felt him smile against her throat. “I do, too.”
Easing back, he studied the contours of her face. She could feel the flush of arousal warming her cheeks as she gazed at his glistening and slightly swollen lips. Tendrils of craving flickered in his hooded emerald eyes. His cock lurched against her center. Impatience clawed at her as Ivy handed him her card key.
A wicked grin kicked up the corners of his lips as he slid the plastic into the sensor. The light immediately started flashing green. He twisted the handle and opened the door a couple of inches. “Slow and deep, remember.”
“I’m counting on it, cowboy,” she purred.
A feral growl rolled from his chest as he claimed her lips again, more urgently than before. Ivy clutched his shoulders, gripping his shirt in her fists.
Noble tore from her mouth, shoved the door open, and plucked her off her feet. Pressing her tightly against his decadent body, he carried her into the room.
His gaze locked onto her lips as he set her down on her feet. “I can’t wait to tame your sexy ass, gorgeous.”
“We’ll see who tames who, cowboy.” With a cocky grin, she bounced onto the tips of her toes and climbed his body like a spider monkey.
Ivy locked her legs around his waist and clasped her fingers around the back of his neck before she latched on to his mouth with a fiery kiss of her own.
Noble scooped her ass cheeks up in the palms of his capable hands, then thrust his fat cock against her dripping crotch as the door snicked shut. Their tongues tangled as a symphony of moans floated through the air.
Long minutes later, he tore from her mouth. “Will you let me take control of you, beautiful?”
“Take control?” Ivy repeated. Her mind was jumbled and spinning from the powerful kiss. She didn’t understand what he was asking.
“Yes. Control of you…your pleasure.”
His words slowly slogged through her alcohol- and lust-soaked brain. A tinge of apprehension rippled over her. Maybe he really was a serial killer. Panic started rising inside her. Ivy swallowed tightly. “You’re not going to hurt me, are you?”
The quiver of fear in her voice made Noble blanch. His brows slashed. A serious expression morphed over his handsome face. “No. Hell no. I’d never hurt a woman.”
His adamant reply swiftly settled her unease. “Good, because I’m not into pain.”
“Neither am I. Besides, I’d much rather drown you in pleasure than pain, darlin’.” A mischievous grin played over his lips. “Will you let me do that to you?”
“As long as you don’t go getting all kinky on me.”
“I’ll make sure the clowns are safely locked out in the hallway. How’s that?”
A laugh sprang off her lips. “But…clowns turn me on.”
He shot her a feigned look of surprise. “In that case, I’ll be right back.”
“What? Wait. Where are you going? I was just—”
“I need to run down to Circus Circus and rent a clown suit and some of those big floppy shoes. So I can—”
“You’re not going anywhere, cowboy. At least not until I’m done with you.”
“Is that right?”
“Uh-huh.”
Noble teased the corners of her mouth with his lips and tongue. “I can’t wait to turn you into a quivering mass of sated bliss.”
“I’m certainly not going to stop you.”
“I was hoping you’d say that.”
Noble clutched her to his chest, melded his mouth to hers, then turned and pressed her against the wall. Caged in his steely arms, her body sang, her cells melted like lava, and Ivy fell deeper under the spell of his hot, silky mouth.
She felt the cold air of the room charge her hot flesh when Noble tugged her dress over her hips. As he worked the material up her body, exposing more of her, goose bumps skittered over her limbs. Noble eased from her mouth just long enough to lift the dress over her head and toss it to the floor. He gazed at her nearly naked body. A decadent promise flickered in his emerald-colored eyes, sending a shiver of excitement to roll over her.
“You’re fucking stunning, baby,” he murmured with undeniable approval.
Before she could respond, he seized her lips and swept his tongue deep inside her mouth with a hungry growl. Lifting one hand from her ass, Noble gently stroked his calloused fingers up and down her arms. Each fluttering caress amplified the ache throbbing within.
Ivy tried to search for patience, but the freight train of lust filling her veins was chugging downhill and picking up speed…fast. The need to feel his hot flesh melded against hers, to feel his fat cock driving in and out of her annihilated all hope of finding any semblance of restraint.
Pawing at the buttons of his shirt, Ivy whimpered in frustration. His lips, still pressed to hers, kicked up in a knowing smile. He slowly released her mouth.
“Hold on tight to me, darlin’.”
She squeezed her legs tighter and locked onto his body before he moved his hands to his shirt. Holding her prisoner with his gaze, Noble pulled several buttons free and drew the shirt over his head. As it floated to the floor, joining her dress, Ivy damn near choked at the expanse of sun-kissed flesh stretched over hard and rippling muscles.
The mere sight of all that man stole her breath. She could only imagine how delicious he’d look when he stripped off his jeans.
“Mercy,” she whispered.
“That’s exactly what I’m thinking about you, baby.”
His lurid gaze slid up and down her body like a stroke of electricity. Ivy’s heart thrummed. Cream spilled between her legs. The scent of her feminine musk hung heavy in the air. A second later, Noble’s nostrils flared, and she knew he smelled her arousal, too.
Powerless to resist the temptation, she flattened her hand against his abs before tracing her palm over each sculpted ridge. His muscles bunched and flexed beneath her skin. He sucked in a low hiss before gripping her wrist and prying her from his hot flesh.
“Naked, now.” His raspy voice was edged in desperation as he gently eased her feet to the floor.
More than ready to comply, Ivy reached behind her back and unfastened her bra. The straps slid down her arms, lifting the lacy cups from her flesh before slipping to the carpet. Noble cupped her breasts in his palms, thumbing her throbbing nipples. Ivy sucked in a gasp as he bent, opened his mouth, and laid siege to one aching peak, then the other. Beneath his talented tongue, lips, and teeth, shards of lightning arced, splintering sanity into fragments. The indescribable friction from every lave, suck, and nibble made her body sing and pulsate in a maddening rhythm.
Short, quivering breaths spilled past her lips as Noble inched his magnificent mouth down her body, leaving an exquisite trail of liquid fire over her already ignited flesh. Ivy moaned and writhed as the flames consumed her.
Moving lower still, Noble swirled the tip of his tongue over her belly, making the muscles there twitch and quake. Ivy sank her fingers into his thick, soft hair and closed her eyes as he peppered kisses from one hipbone to the other.
His moist heat teased the sodden triangle of silk between her thighs and Ivy forced her heavy eyelids open. Noble was now kneeling in front of her. With his lips pressed to her flesh, face tilted up, he watched her. His incinerating gaze singed her soul. Ivy had agreed to give him control, but it took all the willpower she possessed not to shove his face into her weeping center. Gripping his hair tighter, she watched as he hooked a finger beneath the thin string and ripped the silky fabric away. She didn’t give two shits that she’d just purchased the thong. She’d buy more tomorrow, if she could walk when they were through.
She eagerly parted for him to put out the fire he’d conjured, but Noble didn’t oblige. Instead, he drew the wet silk to his face, inhaled deeply, and stared at the saturated golden curls between her legs.
Dammit! Why is he moving so slow?
“Noble,” she mewled pitifully.
“I think I’m addicted to the scent of your sweet heat,” he murmured, sending his cool breath wafting over her wet center. “I bet you taste like a ripe, juicy apricot.”
Every muscle below her navel clutched.
Ivy whimpered.
Clearly, the man was no stranger to seduction.
Capable.
Competent.
She was suddenly worried about two things. One, when he finally stopped dawdling and put his hands and mouth on her, she wouldn’t last more than a few seconds. And two, the intensity of the orgasm expanding inside might very well render her unconscious.
Unconscious nothing…it might kill me.
Ah, but death by massive O—induced by a living, breathing man instead of her battery-operated boyfriends—would definitely be the way to go.
As he glided his masterful hands up her thighs, Ivy jolted slightly. He sent her a crooked smile before he flicked the tip of his tongue along her damp yellow curls.
Okay, so she wasn’t going to die by orgasm. He was going to tease her to death.
“I’m burning alive here,” she groaned.
“Not yet, darlin’…you’re simply smokin’. I intend to build a fire so wicked inside your sinful body that the flames will be licking all the way up your spine before I put them out. Starting now.”
Noble reached up and gently parted her slippery folds with his thumbs. Ivy held her breath as he leaned forward and inhaled a deep breath. When he extended his wide, wet tongue, every muscle in her body tightened in anticipation.
The first swipe tossed her into a swell of sensation so overwhelming she cried out. Pressing her fingertips to his scalp, she held on as he slowly dragged his tongue over her pulsating clit.
Even before he’d started to drive in and out of her melting center, Ivy was lost, spiraling toward the heavens. But when he eased back and slid his long, thick fingers inside her and began scraping his teeth over her screaming nub, Ivy lost the feeble grip she’d had on her control.
Prisms of colored lights exploded behind her eyes. “Oh, yes. Oh, god…Noble,” she screamed.
Her body trembled.
Her heart thrummed in her ears.
Panting, she thrust her hips forward, rocking herself over his mouth and clamped hard around his wicked stroking fingers.
Noble gripped her ass and moaned.
Holding her in place, he dragged his fingers over her G-spot and wrapped his lips around her clit, suckling with a sublime suction that forced her orgasm higher and harder. Grinding against his face, Ivy screamed, loud and long, and dissolved into a million quivering shards of ecstasy.
“Fucking beautiful,” Noble murmured, lightly stroking his fingers inside her while brushing his tongue over the throbbing tissue surrounding her clit.
Aftershocks pulsed like strobes, zipping and sputtering through her system as she slowly swayed down to earth. Forcing her heavy lids open, Ivy blinked through the fog permeating her brain, only to be seized by Noble’s sharp, hungry stare.
“Again. I’ve got to watch you and feel that again.”
A shiver, elicited not only from his words but also from the feel of him sliding his fingers from her core, rippled through her. The sight of him lapping the nectar from his fingers excited her all over again. Noble then plucked her off her feet and carried her to the bed.
When he placed her in the middle of the mattress, the room started to spin. She wasn’t sure if the dizzy sensation was born from too many shots or the lingering aftereffects of the most mind-blowing orgasm of her life. Either way, she closed her eyes before she did something stupid, like barf her guts up and ruin another round of marvelous magic.
Ivy felt the bed dip, then the warmth of Noble’s body as he climbed between her thighs. She chanced fate and opened her eyes, watching as he bent his mouth to her pussy and effortlessly coaxed another orgasm—bigger than the last—from her.
Boneless and sated, she soon discovered that Noble wasn’t finished with her…not by a long shot.
She was lost in the pulsating, clutching haze of splendor his mouth conjured for the third…no, fourth time when the sound of his zipper releasing sliced through her screams of ecstasy. Ivy’s tunnel was still contracting and fluttering as she felt him hovering above her. Claiming her mouth with his wickedly skilled tongue, Noble drove his cock deep inside her.
His thick, heavy shaft stretched her with a fire so exquisite and sublime a sob tore from her throat.
“Relax, darlin’. I’ll take the pain away,” Noble murmured, squeezing a hand between them and softly strumming her clit.
Just as he’d promised, relief, like a soothing spring rain, washed over her…softening her walls until she was undulating beneath him.
“That’s it, gorgeous,” he urged, slowly gliding in and out of her sinful core. “Christ, you feel…like silky…hot, slippery silk. Fucking amazing.”
Stroke after deliberate stroke, he dragged his bulbous crest over her electrified nerve endings. Ivy was powerless to do anything but climb the peak as he built her up right along with him. Soon, Noble was gripping her legs, wrapping them around his waist, before he bent and scraped his teeth over her nipples. Arching her shoulders into the mattress, she groaned. Nipping one, then the other between his teeth, Noble then drew each peak into his mouth and laved the sting away with his masterful tongue.
Drowning beneath the cascade of sensation, Ivy moaned and writhed as she helplessly sailed to the stars. He thrust and nipped, laved and plunged for long, superlative minutes before his tempo grew quicker…harsher…more precise. Ivy’s whimpers morphed into panting, keening cries of surrender.
Her limbs began to tingle.
Her pussy fluttered and clutched.
“That’s it…give it to me…baby. Come…hard for…me,” Noble panted in a strained but unyielding tone.
Beneath a tumbling cascade of bliss, Ivy cried out his name.
With a hiss, Noble hoisted her legs against his chest, wrapping her ankles behind his neck, then slammed his glorious cock in and out of her sucking, quaking pussy. The sounds of their whimpers and grunts mixed with their hard, slapping flesh echoed off the walls in a steady staccato.
Blinking past the blur of euphoria filling her mind, she stared at his chiseled face. Saw the tic of his jaw and the sweat drip from his forehead…studied the way his lips pressed in a thin, tight line of determination.
God, he was gorgeous.
But when she dragged her eyes to his, Noble held her prisoner with his penetrating stare. The man wasn’t anywhere except right there with her, gaze fixed solely on her. She’d never been with a man who’d watched her like this. But then she’d never been with one as intense and focused on her pleasure before, either. Ivy found it unnerving yet erotically empowering.
Noble had unknowingly touched some primitive part sleeping inside her.
Gripping the sheets in her fists, Ivy met his every thrust, slamming and slapping her ass against his thighs. Noble’s eyes grew darker. His nostrils flared.
“Again,” he roared. “Come for me again.” His feral command sent liquid silver spilling through her veins.
While he slammed in and out of her, Ivy slid a hand to her pussy and toyed with her clit. His eyes narrowed as he watched her strumming herself.
“Damn…that’s sexy as…fuck,” he panted.
Cinching his hands around her legs, Noble pressed them hard against his chest as he thrust deeper and harder. “Give it to me, baby…” he barked, digging his fingertips into her flesh. “Now!”
Ivy closed her eyes as she strained to reach that surging oblivion one more time.
Lifting her hips to meet his driving rhythm, her body bowed as release slammed through her again.
“Noble,” she screamed in a harsh, hoarse cry.
“Look at me!” he roared.
Beyond a kaleidoscope of colors exploding behind her eyes, Ivy forced her lids open to find Noble…jaw clenched, brows slashed, and his jade-colored eyes sliding out of focus.
“Shatter hard for me, baby,” he panted.
The command had no more left his lips than Ivy exploded with a force that shocked her senseless and rocked her to the soul.
As Noble followed her over, they sang out their rapture in a chorus of screams and grunts. A myriad of mystifying emotions swirled and melted in the throes of pleasure, sending tears spilling from her eyes. Unwilling and unable to decipher their meaning, she quickly blinked them away as Noble collapsed to his elbows and buried his face against her neck.
As night gave way to dawn, Ivy lost count of the orgasms Noble charmed from her body and the ones she’d sucked from him. Sated, spent, and exhausted, she floated off into the darkness, taking with her the realization that the man in her bed had changed her…forever. Fluttering back to the surface, she heard Noble’s deep voice spilling over her as a warm, wet cloth gently slid over her sex.
When she opened her eyes again, she discovered that not only was her body throbbing with a delicious ache but also, sadly, she was alone.
Her mouth felt like it was stuffed with cotton, while a nauseating film stained her tongue. She rolled to her side, and Ivy’s head began pounding like a gong. The room felt as if it were swaying.
“Shit. I think I’m still drunk,” she mumbled as she splayed a palm across her forehead.
Suddenly, an ear-piercing ring came from the phone beside the bed. With a groan, Ivy reached across the nightstand and snatched up the receiver.
“Hello,” she croaked, glancing at the clock.
It was nearly noon, but it felt more like four in the morning.
“Rise and shine, sweetheart!” Her mother’s chipper voice sent an invisible spike through Ivy’s skull. “Daddy and I are heading downstairs for brunch. Would you like to join us?”
“No thanks. I need more sleep.” And aspirin…and water…and to never drink again.
“You and Celina sound exactly alike. She turned down our offer to eat, as well. By the way you two sound, I presume it was a proper bachelorette party last night?”
Trust me, Mom, once I got back to my room, there was nothing proper about it!
Biting her tongue, Ivy peered over her shoulder at the empty bed. All that was left of Noble remained trapped in the sheets…the scent of masculine cologne melded with the earthy scent of sex, imprinted—like her brain—with the memories of the most spectacular night of her life.
“It was…incredible,” Ivy replied.
No, she wasn’t talking about the bachelorette party, but her mother didn’t need to know she’d spent an unforgettable night with a stranger named Noble.
A melancholy emptiness sluiced through Ivy’s veins.
The lonely woman inside her wished the man had stayed. She would have given anything to be snuggled up against his warm, rugged body. Logically, she knew it was better this way. There was no awkward morning-after conversation, no fake promises, no worries of any kind. Still, knowing it was called a one-night stand for a reason didn’t lessen the emptiness gnawing inside her.
“Well, I hope you two behaved last night and didn’t do anything…foolish or tawdry.”
Oh, foolish and tawdry was an understatement for what she’d done.
“Neither of us are in a trending video on the Internet this morning, Mom. Don’t worry.”
Well, not unless Noble had stashed a hidden camera in Ivy’s room. But his focus hadn’t been on any lights or camera. No, it had been completely settled on nothing but the action.
“That’s reassuring, dear. Just make sure you two girls sober up before the rehearsal dinner. Harvey’s parents are flying in this afternoon. And you know that first impressions are—”
“They’re everything. Yes, Mom. How could I forget?” she drawled. “Celina and I will be on our best behavior. Neither of us wants to be dragged into the fiery depths of bad-impression hell.”
Ivy lifted the pillow Noble had rested on last night and pressed it to her face. Closing her eyes, she inhaled his intoxicating scent while memories of the pleasure they’d shared spooled through her brain. The mere smell of him prompted a familiar hunger to blossom deep in her belly.
Her mother’s tone turned arctic. “Don’t get sassy with me, young lady. I simply don’t want Celina’s future in-laws thinking I’ve raised alcoholic or promiscuous daughters. Proper southern ladies do not stay out until the wee hours of the morning, barhopping and getting three sheets to the wind. I’m not particularly proud of the two of you at this moment.”
Are you ever? The question lay poised on the tip of Ivy’s tongue, but she swallowed it down and sighed. “I’m going back to bed, Mom. I’ll see you and Daddy at the rehearsal dinner, where Celina and I can try and make it up to you.”
“Fine. But just make sure you two don’t oversleep. I expect both my girls to be on time. Understood?”
Ivy gritted her teeth. “I’m twenty four, Mom. Not three. We’ll be there on time. Bye.”
Without waiting for a proper goodbye, she hung up the phone.
Her bladder was screaming, and her mouth was sending out an SOS for a toothbrush, toothpaste, and a vat of mouthwash. But most of all, Ivy needed aspirin. Instead of rolling out of bed, she hugged Noble’s pillow to her chest and inhaled. She savored his glorious scent for a long moment.
Though she didn’t remember everything, thanks to the liquor she’d imbibed, Ivy recalled nearly all of it. The sex with Noble had been the most epic experience of her life. Was it any wonder she felt a bit let down this morning? Honestly, the man had totally ruined her for any other.
The brutal longing not only to enjoy his sexual skills again but to also learn more about him alarmed her. She wasn’t supposed to feel anything. Yet knowing she’d never see him again sent emptiness weaving through her system, like an intricate spider web.
She should have spent more time preparing herself for the rush of emotions that were now bombarding her instead of focusing on getting Noble into bed.
With a grunt, Ivy rolled off the mattress and padded across the room. She winced as her sore and swollen folds protested each step. Her sexy sequined dress lay in a heap on the floor by the wall. Right where Noble had first quenched the fire blazing inside her.
Shoving the memories down, she stepped into the bathroom. Before she tended to her bloated bladder and fuzzy tongue, Ivy tossed back several aspirin to quell the pounding in her head. After a long, hot shower, she ordered room service, choked down a bacon cheeseburger and iced tea, then crawled back into bed. The alarm she’d set on her phone woke her at four thirty. Thankfully her headache was gone which made getting ready for the rehearsal dinner a hell of a lot easier.
Wearing the bodice-hugging burgundy lace dress with a wide tulle skirt that her mother had approved back at the bridal shop in Dallas, Ivy hurried outside. As she neared the Venus Garden Chapel next to the massive fountain in front of the hotel, she saw her parents and Celina talking to an older couple. Ivy easily assumed they were Harvey’s parents, based on the fact that the older man looked like Celina’s narcissist groom-to-be.
Time to make that all-important proper first impression, Ivy inwardly groused.
Her mother flashed a wide smile as she extended her hand toward Ivy, welcoming her to the intimate circle. “And this lovely creature is Celina’s older sister, Ivy. Dear, I’d like you to meet Harvey’s parents, Mr. and Mrs. Hays.”
Pulling out all the rigors of southern belle etiquette and charm, Ivy bowed demurely before politely articulating the proper niceties expected.
“What stunning daughters you have,” Mrs. Hays gushed.
Both Ivy and Celina flashed the obligatory retiring smiles, while Janice bestowed praises of Harvey’s kind and gentle attributes. The lies pouring from her mother’s mouth made Ivy’s stomach roll. As if reading her mind, her father, Jeff smiled and sent her a knowing wink.
“May I have a moment with you, dear sister?” Celina asked, batting her lashes like a simpering fool.
“Of course, my sweet.” Ivy almost choked on her own saccharine-laced reply.
She looped her arm in Celina’s and meandered toward a pair of baroque statues, well out of earshot of the posturing parents. “I swear to god, if Harvey doesn’t get his ass down here soon, I’m going to march upstairs and drag him out by his dick.”
Ivy started to laugh.
“It’s not funny,” Celina fumed. “His mother has the world’s largest sequoia stuck up her ass. She’s as warm and welcoming as a barracuda. Do you know what she asked me?”
“No, what?” Ivy asked, still chuckling.
“She wanted to know if I was in a”—she raised her fingers in the air, using them as quotes—“delicate condition. Evidently my expression told her I didn’t have a clue what she meant, so she asked me point-blank in a nasty tone if I was pregnant. When I assured her I wasn’t, and that Harvey and I were in love, she looked at me like I’d just slapped her with a raw tuna.”
“No way.”
“Yes way. Thank god they recently retired to Florida. Hopefully I won’t have to see them except at Christmas. It’s all I can do to be civil to that old cow.” Celina clenched her jaw and exhaled mightily through her nose. “Oh, and Daddy Dearest isn’t any better. He hugged me and actually squeezed my ass. Harvey’s dad is a stereotypical Uncle Bad-Toucher. I’m already trying to figure out how to keep him away from the kids we haven’t even had yet.”
Ivy peered over her sister’s shoulder and studied Mr. Hays. The old fart caught her staring at him, then smiled and sent her a wink. Ivy wanted to retch.
“And for fuck’s sake, do not go near that lecherous old fart,” Celina warned. “He’ll probably try to toss you to the ground and mount you like a damn elk or something.”
“Not if he wants to go back to Florida with his dick and balls intact.” Ivy smirked. “It takes a special kind of pervert to feel up your future daughter-in-law. I’m just sayin’.” Ivy sighed heavily. “Does Harvey know his dad groped you?”
“Not yet. But he will before the night is done. Speaking of nights…how bad was yours?”
“It wasn’t bad at all.”
It was fantastic…amazing…life-altering.
“Ours was. Harvey and I spent all night battling for the crown of Barf King or Barf Queen of Las Vegas. My stomach muscles are killing me. I’ve never puked so hard or so many times in my life. I’d like to say I won the crown, but Harvey was way more fucked up than me. My poor baby spent most of the night on the bathroom floor.”
“Ewww.”
“I know one thing. We won’t be drinking wine or any other liquor with dinner tonight.”
Ivy pressed a hand to her stomach. “Me, either. I’ll stick to water.”
“Right? We wouldn’t want to embarrass Mother, now would we?” Celina rolled her eyes and pinched her lips together to bite back a laugh. She darted a glance over Ivy’s shoulder as a look of relief swept her face. “Finally, Harvey made it. Oh, hell…he looks pissed. Now what’s wrong?”
Turning, Ivy arched her brows when she saw the groom, red-faced and scowling.