Page 28 of Dangerously Yours

I didn’t even think about what I was doing, instead I just reacted, quickly striking him. The once noisy party immediately went silent, and I knew all eyes were now on me. Cade smirked, then wiped at his mouth which had blood on it.

“Don’t you ever put your hands on a woman again,” I told him as Gabriel and Callum appeared and pulled me away.

“What the hell, Noah?” Gabe asked, and I glared.

“He was hurting?—”

“What the hell is wrong with you, Noah?” Cal asked, basically repeating Gabe’s question. “You know better than to interfere. They were having a marital spat and you came riding to her rescue and for what? I don’t know what you’re thinking?—”

I pushed both men off of me. “Fuck you both. We all know that if someone was hassling Harper or Nicole that?—”

Before I could finish, Gabe turned me around. I looked ahead at Cade and Lulu, and it pissed me off to see her tending to the wound I had given him. She looked over at me, shook her head, then turned back to him. It was a betrayal, and I quickly looked away.

“I thought she needed help,” I finally murmured, then grabbed a glass of whiskey from a passing tray. After slamming it back, I added, “I guess I was wrong.”

“It’s okay. We know you like the woman, and after seeing her in that dress, we can see why. There’s protocol that needs to be followed though, and she isn’t yours to defend,” Callum told me as we walked across the room.

“If he was physically hurting her, someone else would’ve jumped to her defense. They were just having an argument, and now they appear to be fine.”

They might be fine, but I certainly was not. I stood there for several more minutes, and each time I glanced over at her, I would see her tending to him and it only angered me further.

Had she played me for a fool all along?

No, because I knew how much he had hurt her. It had to be just because we were here in this place. I might have been able to do something more than accost the man, even though he deserved a hell of a lot more. Finally, I decided to leave. I had only truly shown up for her, but since she didn’t need me, there was no need to stay.

“I’m getting out of here. I think I will head to the Vault with the others.”

“Are you sure?” Gabe asked. “Harper and I are headed home, and we could drop you off on the way.”

I shook my head. “No, the club is four blocks away, and the walk will likely do me some good. I’ll catch up with you both later.”

I glanced once more at Lulu, and our eyes connected briefly, then I broke off contact and stalked to the exit. Once outside, I looked down at my hand. Fist fighting was my go-to, but it wasn’t wise. I could’ve broken a bone, or worse, and this close to the start of the season, it could spell trouble for me. I wasn’t thinking, but I hadn’t been since I had gotten tangled up with her.

The worst thing was that there was an obvious attraction between us. The timing evidently wasn’t right, so I needed tomove on. There could never have truly been anything between us, so no need to pursue her further. I remembered the group of women hanging around my single friends, and I decided any one of them would be okay to fuck, except the blonde. I had eyes for only one of them at the moment, but she was someone I needed to forget.

I quickened my steps, and had cleared about a block and a half before my cell phone vibrated in my pocket. I pulled it out, and the sender gave me pause. There was a single sentence, but it was all I needed to hear. Turning swiftly, I headed back in the direction of the hotel to get my car. My plans had just changed, and so had my luck. Fate was working overtime, and I knew better than to ignore it.

LULU

I had messaged Noah to tell him that he could let himself in. My nerves were still frazzled from everything that had happened back at the Carter’s retirement party, and even being back home did nothing to ease them. I had no idea what I was going to do. Cade got drunk and showed his ass again, and this was after asking me to let him come back home again. I had refused, so he had resorted to name calling. I never expected Noah to come to my rescue, but he had, and it only made things that much worse. Now, my ex-husband was convinced I was sleeping with the footballer, and little did he know that I was.

While it wasn’t something I would tell him, it was something I had been trying to deny myself. I liked Noah, probably more than I should, and having him stick up for me when no one would pretty much made me fall even harder. The worst thing was that I had sent him away, and to God knows where, which was why I had messaged him as soon as I got home. Now, I had changed into a nightgown and I was debating on having a glass of wine. I finally opted to stare out at the city, not even bothering to turn when I saw Noah in the reflection of the heavy-paned glass.

“I’m sorry about earlier—” he started to tell me.

I turned around. “I appreciate you coming to my rescue, but it wasn’t necessary. Cade could never hold his liquor, and this is just par for our course.”

“It shouldn’t be,” he told me as he came closer. I just shrugged, then turned to look back out at the skyline. He came up behind me, and I couldn’t stop the total-body shiver that wracked my frame the moment he touched me. There was an electricity in his touch, and I heard his own sharp exhale and knew he felt it, too.

“I hate him,” I told Noah, not that it mattered.

A moan escaped as Noah brushed my hair off to one side, then trailed kisses from my neck to my shoulder and back. As he kissed up my throat, I tilted my head to allow him better access. He took that, and more. His hands snaked around me, and my nipples hardened instantaneously as he covered both of my breasts with his large hands, then squeezed. His thumbs flicked back and forth over the hard peaks, making me ache deep inside of my core.

Noah continued his ascent with his mouth, kissing along my jawline to my ear as he dropped one hand lower. His fingers crept slowly down my belly, over my hip, before his hand disappeared between my legs.

“You can’t deny this,” he finally murmured as he nipped along my ear lobe.

“Deny what?” I asked, even though I knew what he had meant.

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