Page 28 of Negotiating Tactics

Whatever attitude had been in my voice was absolutely no deterrent for Noah at all.

“I know I’m him, and I’d be more than happy to prove that to you. But first, explain,” he said.

I shifted, wondering how I had so quickly gotten comfortable.

I had never, ever, in my entire life had a man treat me like this.

And Noah, for all intents and purposes, was a stranger to me. But sitting on his lap, his body solid, strong, warm underneath me felt right.

Felt like something that I could get used to.

And that was fucking terrifying.

So I shouldn’t waste any time scaring him off.

“Well it’s zero because I’ve only had sex five times,” I said.

Not even Birdie, the best friend I’d ever had, was privy to that piece of information.

I wasn’t exactly ashamed of it, just viewed it as more representative of my inadequacies, a topic I didn’t like to think about too much.

Noah didn’t blink.

“Well, say something,” I said after a long moment, one that was tense for me but seemed to have no effect on him.

“Keep going,” he said.

“You’re so fucking frustrating,” I said.

He let out a little laugh, the rumble rolling through his body and into mine.

“You are not the first person to tell me that,” he said, his smile drawing one of my own. “Now tell me the story.”

“There’s nothing to tell. I was in law school. Went out with the guy a couple times. Thought it was time to do the deed. And over the course of those encounters had a total of fifty of the most uninspiring minutes of my life,” I said.

“And you are happy with that?” Noah asked.

I huffed and looked down at him. “What the fuck kind of question is that?”

“My kind of question, so answer it,” he said.

As I’d been talking, he’d circled my hip with one of his hands, moving from the dip of my waist down over the curve of my hip and back again.

This level of touching, again, was something I was unfamiliar with.

But I liked it.

What other explanation could there be for me talking to him like this?

“Are you digging for information or something?” I asked, my attempt at putting up at least some level or resistance, which couldn’t count for much when I was straddling him and letting him touch me like it was completely normal.

“No. Like I said, I like talking to you. And you look like you could use someone to talk to.”

“So, you think I’m pathetic?”

He just chuckled, which made me frown. “Stop reading into shit, Alex. Trust me, if there’s something I need you to know, you’ll know. And you’ll never have to wonder where I stand,” he said.

“Fine. No, I wasn’t happy with it. But I can admit I was a little gun shy. And embarrassed. And then, as I’ve gotten older, I just feel…” I shrugged, not sure what else to say.

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