Demanding hands slid along her jaw and down to her throat to curl over her nape. The hold grounded her and made her soar at the same time.

“S… sure. I’ll take care of it… Bye, Warren.”

“Leia?”

“Yes?”

A tiny pause. “I’ve missed you.”

She answered with the part of her that wanted everything to stay the same. The part that fought the changes and decisions she didn’t want to make. “Me too.”

Noah took the phone and dropped it into its cradle. He parted her shirt and divested her of it. Then he undressed without taking his eyes from her.

Prowling onto the bed, he parted her thighs and settled himself between her legs. God, he felt so right there.

His thick cock probed her entrance, but he didn’t slide in. Instead, he speared his fingers into her hair and continued to stare down at her.

“Everything okay?”

“Yes,” she answered.

“Who was that?”

“Warren Snyder.”

“He’s not a ghost.”

“No.”

“Is he an obstacle?”

“No. He’s my savior,” she whispered.

30

Noah waited a beat to let the rush in his ears die down a little. When he was sufficiently calm, he tried to speak. “Your savior.”

“Yes.” She opened her mouth, changed her mind, and bit her lip.

He rubbed his thumb over her lower lip, felt it tremble against his skin. “I’m going to find out everything about you, Leia. You can speed things along by volunteering information or I can seduce it out of you. Either way, you will tell me what I need to know.”

“That’s not fair, Noah.”

“Fuck fair. You’ve just told me someone holds an important place in your life. By the sound of his voice, he’s not a hundred years old with fading eyesight. And I’m guessing he’s not a blood relation.”

She swallowed. “No.”

Another red haze washed over his eyes, and he tried to suppress the clamoring in his head. “Why was he asking about me?”

“I don’t know… He was curious, I guess.”

“Tell me about him, Leia. How is he your savior?”

“He was there when most of the shit in my life happened.”

“Elaborate.”

She grew restless beneath him, flexing her hips in that helpless way that caught him on the raw. Not reacting to the proximity of their bodies was impossible, but right. What she needed to tell him was more important than his body’s demands.