Page 41 of The Broker

He’d asked if I wanted that, and it came from me in a whisper. “I wouldn’t mind seeing a little more.”

He didn’t blink as he considered my statement, but his chest rose and fell with a heavy breath. There was restraint in him, like he was trying his damnedest not to show how much he liked this idea.

“All right.” His voice matched my low tone. “I could do that for you,friend.”

Then, his gaze worked its way over me, evaluating every inch. He noticed my flushed cheeks and the hurried way my chest moved from my short breaths, and whatever he was thinking about, it didn’t take him long to come to a decision.

The brown of his irises seemed to darken like a storm gathering strength, and I was so distracted by it, I didn’t noticewhen his hands settled on my waist. It wasn’t until we were moving, him urging me back toward the island, that I became aware.

“What are you doing?” I asked.

Noah’s expression was cryptic. “Helping a friend.”

He had me pinned then, and the edge of the countertop kissed the small of my back. The coolness of the stone seeped through my shirt, in stark contrast to his warm hands. It made it difficult to think. “What?”

One of his hands slid down, gliding over my hip and thigh. The caress was gentle but sexual, and my body hummed with excitement. It didn’t give a fuck about who he was or the consequences of letting him touch me like this. I’d been on a knife’s edge watching him with her, and the conversation afterward had done nothing to help.

Noah tilted his head down, bringing his lips so close to mine, it was a cruel tease. “If you’re going to be the kind of friend who watches me fuck someone else,” I could feel the warm brush of air against my skin as he spoke, “then I’m going to be the kind of friend who wouldn’t leave you hanging after.”

How the hell did he expect my brain to function when he had his hands on me? I uttered the only word I could remember. “What?”

“You got so worked up watching, you put your hand here, didn’t you?” The hand he’d rested on my thigh moved, sliding over the thin fabric of my leggings until it was nestled between my legs and cupping me.

I let out an excited sound of surprise, one that was tinged with need.

Thank God his question was rhetorical because my voice abandoned me. He sensed it, because a wicked smile curled at the ends of his lips.

“It wasn’t enough, though, was it?” he asked. “You didn’t get to come.”

I pressed my lips together and gave the slightest shake of my head. Why did it seem like my answer pleased him?

Because he wants to be the one to do it.

When his hand moved, grinding against my needy clit, it pulled a whiny moan from the depths of my body. My hands curled around the edge of the cold countertop, holding on against the onslaught of pleasure.

“I know I shouldn’t be doing this,” he said, although it sounded like a lie. His fingers dragged across the center seam of my leggings. “Do you want me to stop?”

Once again, I shook my head, and that pleased expression that made him look so damn sexy flashed across his face.

“Take off your pants,” he commanded, “so I can give you what you need.”

All the air swept out of my lungs.

He was so different from the last time we’d been together. He’d been putting on a front before, hiding his true self so his aggression didn’t scare me away. But now I’d seen behind the curtain, and I was grateful. Because this dominant version of Noah?

It was incendiary.

I didn’t know how I was able to move because the excitement radiating inside my core made me shake, but I kept my gaze fixed on him and slipped my hands beneath the tight waistband of my leggings. He stepped back, giving me space to bend at the waist and slowly peel the clinging fabric down.

Every new, bare inch of skin I exposed to him made my pulse climb higher.

He watched me with a discerning eye, like I was a student demonstrating something newly learned for an instructor. I tugged the fabric free from one ankle and then the other,discarding my pants in a wad on the tile floor I’d planned to mop later.

When I straightened, I was naked from the waist down, and I bit my bottom lip as Noah’s gaze focused on the bare cleft between my legs. I wasn’t overly bashful about my body, but we were in his kitchen, where bright afternoon sunlight seemed to stream in from every window.

What if his neighbors saw?

Wouldn’t you like it if they did?

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