Page 43 of Negotiating Tactics

She pulled hair tie out of my hand and jerked back when our fingers brushed.

I understood why. That simple touch had felt like a bolt of electricity, and no matter how she might want to pretend, Alex had felt it too.

“What business is that?” Alex asked.

Her words said she wanted to pretend, but her eyes were bright with the same hunger that had driven me here. I’d had doubts, thought that maybe, possibly, I had imagined the intense connection we’d shared that night.

Looking at Alex now, I knew I hadn’t imagined it, just as I knew there was so much more for us to explore.

“I think you know what business, Alex. I got you to three, and that’s without getting my cock inside you. We can do better,” I said.

I waited for her reaction, saw the faint hitch in her breath, the grudging smile that lifted her lips.

“Are you always such an arrogant dick, Noah?” she said.

“Always, but not without good reason. Now, let’s talk more about my dick and how good it’s going to make you feel,” I responded, moving the two steps needed to close the space between us.

I breathed what felt like my first breath since I’d seen her last when my hand touched her hip.

I stayed there for a moment, watching the emotion play on her face, breathing again, this time with relief when she decided.

Knowing Alex wouldn’t make this easy, but even more certain I was up to the challenge.

“Let me make a couple of things clear,” she said as I grazed my lips against her cheek.

I backed up just a millimeter and stared down at her, loving her height and the fullness of her body. “Speak,” I said.

“This stays between us,” she said, her expression serious even as her gaze seemed to beg for my touch.

“Meaning?” I asked.

“Meaning no one can know about this. Not even your brothers, and I won’t tell Birdie,” she said.

“Why?” I asked, curiosity the emotion I decided to focus on instead of being pissed at the thought of being her dirty little secret.

No.

It wasn’t that. Whatever the fuck this was had more to do with Alex than it did me. I’d have to remember that.

“I have my reasons,” she said, her adorable defensiveness pulling me out of the spiral that had been fast approaching.

“I get that you’re not the most experienced with men, Alex,” I said.

She sucked in a breath. “That has nothing to do with it.”

“Maybe not, but that’s usually my line,” I said, adding a smile.

I didn’t like what she was saying or what I expected was the source of it, but on some level, I appreciated it.

I had given up the idea that this would be a one-time thing.

The way Alex tasted, the way I wanted her with borderline desperation, had told me as much.

But some part of me, one that I had never experienced before, wanted to hold her close, wanted to scream to the world that she belonged to me.

But even more than that, I wanted to take care of her.

And if secrecy was what she thought she needed, I would give it to her. I knew that letting her believe she had that level of control was the only way she’d open herself to me, and so it was a small price to pay.

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