Page 102 of Chasing Your Ghost

Only hate didn’t at all describe the convoluted feelings he had for her.

He sent her a sardonic smile, his head shaking in wry amusement. “You’re so wrong that it’s funny.”

“Oh really?” she spat. “Tell me exactly how wrong I am, Noah. It’s what you’re so goddamned good at, right?”

“Will you just…” Noah wanted to tell her to shut up, but his body decided to take matters into its own hands, ensuring that Ella couldn’t say anything else in a far more effective manner than he thought possible.

He stalked forward, his frustration allowing him to do something he’d dreamed about doing for years, even more so since she’d started fighting back. Noah grabbed her face, his fingers diving into her loose dark brown locks as he lowered his head and crushed his lips against hers.

He’d kissed women before, had done much more with them, but nothing compared to this. He claimed Ella’s mouth with an intensity that almost frightened him.

What made the kiss so much better than he’d ever imagined it could be, however, was the way Ella claimed him right back, her gasp of surprise giving way to a moan that he was sure would star in his dreams for eternity and her lips working against his with near-bruising force.

As with everything between them, the kiss was a battle. Their lips demanded submission from the other. Their tongues fought for dominance with each brutal stroke. Ella’s teeth joined the fray soon after, every scrape against Noah’s bottom lip an act of warfare against his self-control. And Ella won. Of course she did.

Noah gave in, answering her talented kiss with a deep groan. His hands moved down her body, gliding down her back before tracing over the curves of her waist and hips. He lifted her easily, his arms barely straining under her weight even before he’d spun them around and pressed her against the front door.

His mouth moved down to the impossibly soft skin of her neck, sucking and biting and marking her like he was an animal that had given in to his primal instincts. Ella’s legs tightened around his waist, and in response, his hands gripped her outer thighs harder.

“What are you doing, Noah?” she gasped after his tongue darted out to taste her.

“What I’ve wanted to do for a very long time,” he replied honestly, too far gone to consider censoring his words. Not satisfied with the small taste he’d had, he traced the curve of her neck with his tongue, eliciting a shiver from her. “What are you doing?” he asked, grinning against her skin.

“The same,” she replied breathlessly before gripping his head with both hands and forcing his lips back to hers.

His tongue delved into her mouth, brushing against hers in a dance that had become more alliance than battle. It was pure bliss and fire and ecstasy. It was heaven, and Noah never wanted it to stop. He called a cease-fire long enough to carry her to her bedroom, but that was the only break he could fathom initiating, especially once he found himself on top of her, his hands framing her flushed face as he held his upper body up.

“You really want this?” Ella asked him, her hands pausing in their exploration of his shirt-clad chest. “You really want me?”

Noah leaned down, lowering his lips to her ear. “You have no idea how much I want you,” he whispered, proving his point by shifting his hips forward to make sure she knew just how much he craved her.

Her back curved up, and her nails dug into him. “This is crazy.”

Noah let more of his weight rest on her, allowing one of his hands to move to her waist. “This is the least crazy thing I’ve ever done when it comes to you,” he told her as his fingers slipped beneath her shirt and grazed her heated skin.

Ella’s eyes fluttered closed, and she bit down on her lip. Noah took that as a sign that she no longer thought what they were doing was so crazy after all. He lifted himself up again and impatiently tugged off his shirt, smiling when Ella’s eyes opened to rake appreciatively over his bare body.

Noah began slowly working her shirt up as well but hesitated before he could expose her bra. “Have you done this before?”

“Yes.”

A muscle next to his eye twitched. “With who?”

“Owen,” she replied, naming the guy she’d dated in their senior year of high school. The lucky bastard.

“I never liked that guy,” he muttered. “Now I hate him even more.”

Ella let out a surprised laugh and rolled her eyes. “You’re ridiculous.”

“Maybe,” he sighed, his fingers tracing small circles on her stomach. “Do you want this?” he asked, scanning her face for any signs of uncertainty or reluctance, but her response erased any doubts he may have had about her eagerness.

“Fuck yes.”

He laughed, and it was a laugh that was free from the burdens and weight of his mom’s cancer and Asher’s disappearance. For the first time in a long time, he felt nothing but unencumbered happiness. It was…incredible. More incredible, however, was what came next.

Noah continued where he had left off, pulling Ella’s shirt over her head far more slowly and carefully than his impatient body wanted him to. The blue and white striped top out of the way, Noah looked down at the simple white bra that clung to the generous curves of her breasts. He didn’t care that she wasn’t wearing something with lace, something sexier. Noah had never seen anything more beautiful or sensual—until Ella reached behind her back and unclipped her bra, of course.

He would later be ashamed of it, but the rest of their clothes came off too quickly for any thorough explorations or leisurely perusals. Later, he would kick himself for not studying every inch of Ella’s perfect body.

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