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“Where was your dad in all of this?”
The cloud of pain that blanketed her face made him curse silently. “He wasn’t around. He died when I was twelve.”
He cupped her cheek and relaxed when she turned her face into his touch. “Shit. I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay.” She looked up at him. “Your turn. What was the most rebellious thing you did as a kid? I bet there were plenty.”
“You wound me, baby.”
“But I’m right.” It wasn’t a question.
Noah shrugged, enjoying the banter despite the growing urgency of the need bubbling beneath the surface. “I learned to play poker when I was fourteen. I wanted a set of wheels badly and sweet-talked my best friend’s older sister into teaching me how to drive before I was legally allowed to. On my sixteenth birthday, I organized a poker tournament in my friend’s basement. I made thirteen thousand dollars that night and went out and bought a hot rod the next day. I knew I would be in deep shit when my dad found out, but I also knew he couldn’t ground me forever. Plus the car I got—a Chevy 63 Impala—was his personal weakness. He halved my punishment a week later and drove me down to the DMV to get my license after I passed the exam.”
One beautifully shaped brow arched. “So you’re saying you get your way more often than not?”
He drained his drink and set the glass down. Reaching forward, he slid a hand around her nape, his thumb caressing her smooth-as-silk skin beneath her jaw. “If it’s something I really want, I never let it get away.”
He leaned in and savored her the way he’d been dying to for the last ten minutes. Her soft mouth opened beneath his, and Noah groaned at the intoxicating taste of her. She tasted of champagne and hot, sexy possibilities.
This time he dove deeper, flicked his tongue against hers and pushed past until he got what he wanted. The first scrape of that diamond against his tongue made his blood surge hotter.
“Fuck, you go straight to my head,” he murmured against her mouth.
She made a small, impatient sound and opened her mouth wider. Her fingers curled into his hair, her nails scraping his scalp to drag him even closer. That greedy little move set him on fire.
Reluctantly, he pulled away. “Slow down, baby.”
“Why?” she breathed against his mouth.
“Because I don’t want the first time I fuck you to be a rushed job. You deserve better than that.”
She pulled away and stared at him, wide eyed. “What makes you think you know what I deserve?” The question was a rough, confused demand. One that ripped across his senses.
He frowned. “You want to clue me in on what’s going on, sweetheart?”
She stared at him for several more seconds before she shook her head. “Nothing. Nothing’s going on. I just… I’m not very savvy as to what—” She stopped and pulled in a long breath.
He caressed her nape until her shoulders lost a little of the tension that had seized her. “I guessed as much, which is why I want to take this slow.”
She flicked him another glance, her eyelashes quivering as she lowered them. “You must think I’m a complete nut job.”
“Yes, I do.”
Her shocked laugh eased a little more of her tension, just as he’d intended. “I guessed right, then. You’re no gentleman.”
“And you’re no lady. You bit me within half an hour of meeting me.”
Her gaze dropped to his mouth and the tiny cut, raw again from their fevered kiss. “You’re going to make sure I never forget it, aren’t you?”
“That depends.”
“On what?”
“On where else on my body you intend to use those perfect, sharp little teeth.”
Her mouth dropped open. “I don’t!”
“You will if I tell you to. If you agree to what I want, you won’t have a choice but to obey me.”