Page 20

“Okay, let’s cross that off the list. You’re a sleepwalker with a penchant for alternative hairdressing?”
Her white, even teeth, which could cause him serious harm—or serious pleasure—glistened in the low light as her smile widened. “Nope.”
“Then why?”
He followed her slim fingers as they lifted to the side of her head. She caressed the shaven track slowly, the movement so intimate that his stomach clenched. He watched the smile slowly leave her face, replaced by a pensive, almost haunted look.
Walls.
“It just felt… right.”
Noah wanted to push for more, but he held his tongue. He knew all about wanting to keep one’s innermost self under lock and key. In a little over six days he would walk away from her and from whatever the week held for them, to return to the life that he showed to the world. He didn’t need to pry into hers beyond finding out what would bring them the most pleasure in the time they spend together.
He tried for a smile even though it felt a little skewed. “It’s more than right. It’s incredibly sexy.” Against that rich tumble of hair, that sexy swathe just begged to be caressed.
He took a sip of whiskey and, unable to stop himself, drew closer, crowding her, invading her space. She inhaled sharply but didn’t pull away. He liked that. Hell, it turned him on even harder.
Stormy grey eyes darted to his and stayed. Another huge turn-on, her eyes. The expressions flitting through them made him want to keep gazing into the mesmerizing depths and decode her every thought.
“Thank you,” she responded politely to his compliment.
He caught a glimpse of that stud again, saw it glint on her tongue.
“Open.” He made his command firm.
Her eyes narrowed a fraction, but she complied a second later.
“What stone is that?” he asked.
“A pink diamond.”
Jesus. A diamond-studded blowjob. He was sure he incinerated a few million brain cells just from processing that information.
“Did it hurt? The piercing, I mean.”
“Yes. Very much.”
His nostrils flared. “Was it worth it?”
A small smile and a sip of champagne before she answered. “At the time, I wondered what the hell I was thinking. But then the pain became secondary. I was already in love with it. And it achieved the results I wanted.”
Intriguing. “Which was what?”
“Independence. I was sixteen and hated being ordinary.”
“At the risk of sounding clichéd, baby, anyone who thinks you’re anywhere near ordinary is a damn fool.”
Another blush that spiked another flame straight to his cock. Hell, at this rate, he’d blow his load long before he got anywhere close to what he had in mind for them.
“My mother was horrified. I got an earful about how I’d ruined my body.”
“But you didn’t give in and take it out?”
Her mouth curved higher. “I was a budding rebel. We came to an agreement. I wouldn’t get the lobe full of ear studs I was threatening to buy, if I got to keep this.”
“She agreed?”
She nodded. “I guess she figured the stud was less… visible than the ear studs would ever be.”