Page 25 of Guarded (Hopeless Blessed #3)

Noah

I was going to explain more about Lyle. I swear, I was. But then Jeremiah’s lips covered mine.

And thoughts of anyone else ceased to exist.

His hand came up to cradle the back of my neck as he deepened the kiss. I’d love to say I reciprocated, but in truth, I was letting him lead us. I had to.

I was too caught up in my descent. The fall into obsession that’d surely break me.

Please don’t break me, Jem.

It wasn’t even because he was my fated mate. It was because of how he was kissing me. Tenderly. Gently. Like I was something precious. Something to be revered.

I’d never felt that way with anyone. Fuck, how I’d wanted to though.

He pulled back and studied me, uncertain. “Is this okay? I don’t want to rush you, Noah.”

It didn’t slow my descent, but rather altered my trajectory. I wanted to pull Jeremiah down with me. For him to feel this sensation of forgetting who we used to be, who we were before he came into my life. Before this kiss .

Everything had changed now. Really, it had been changing for weeks. I’d known that when I’d welcomed him into my room dressed the way that I was.

I answered him by grabbing the front of his shirt and hauling his lips back to mine. I wasn’t passive this time, I returned his kiss with fervour. My grip was solid on his shirt, not letting him retreat. Not when he was giving me everything I’d ever wanted.

Everything I’d ever needed.

Jem wasn’t going anywhere though. His arms wrapped around me, pulling me closer. His hands weren’t exploring my body like I’d half expected they might though. No, they were just holding me tighter. This wasn’t sexual. It was intimate.

It was another thing I’d never experienced. Kissing had been a means to an end. One I had to initiate every time. Rushed. Perfunctory.

Not like this. Jeremiah was kissing me like he never planned on stopping.

Eventually though, we did break the kiss. Our faces hovered inches apart, and I knew he was seeing the same things in my eyes as I was his. Wonder. Shock.

Hope .

“Fuck, Noah,” he breathed, cupping my face with hands so warm they’d make a human wince. “Where have you been all my life?”

Desperately pinning my hopes on the wrong person. Two kisses with Jeremiah had me rewriting my own history in my mind. Lyle had never been the one for me. He could’ve treated me liked a goddamned prince, and it still never would have worked out.

Because he wasn’t Jem. It was that simple.

I’d thought I’d been denied the happily ever after when Jem had flown away from me, but I’d been wrong. This right here was the fairy tale I’d been promised.

Slow down, Noah, I reminded myself sternly. He doesn’t want to be tied down yet, remember?

I swallowed around the lump in my throat. Now more than ever, I wanted Jeremiah to be happy. Given he’d explicitly told me that he wasn’t ready to commit yet, I needed to put the brakes on.This was the epitome of the right person at the wrong time. Jeremiah was my person.

But the timing was fucked.

“I wish I’d met you sooner,” he murmured, stroking his thumb over my cheekbone.

“Me too,” I said truthfully. What I didn’t admit was why. I wished we’d met so I could’ve saved him from Hell. All those millennia he’d suffered for…I’d never be able to give them back to him.

But I could give him his freedom now. The chance to live the life he’d always wanted.

Then, when he was ready, I’d be right here waiting for him.

I thought Jem might take me back into his embrace. Maybe tackle me against the door and turn this sexual.

But, once again, he surprised me.

He retreated and gave me a crooked grin. The kind that stopped your heart in your chest and made you wish for a camera. “I believe I have some art to hang?”

Right. The art. That was the reason he was here.

My whole body tingled from the loss of contact. I grabbed his hand in mine and it all went quiet. “Let me show you where everything is.”

T he mood might not have been sexual earlier, but that was then. This was now.

Now I was watching Jeremiah’s naked shoulders bunch as he lifted the frame into position and asked for my approval.

Licking my lips as sweat trickled over each nodule of his spine.

Seeing the absurdly sexy look of concentration he wore as he aligned the picture just so.

Picking out each of his muscles as he stretched and hammered.

I’d forgotten my demand that he do this shirtless. Evidently, Jeremiah had not. I’d been openly drooling since he’d shed his top. It was a good thing I was sitting down, because there was no way my knees were strong enough to hold me up right now.

“Does this look straight to you?”

My eyes were firmly locked on his denim-clad rear. Damn he did fill out a pair of jeans well. “Nothing about what I’m thinking is straight.”

Jeremiah’s laughter had me reluctantly dragging my gaze upwards. He was smirking at me over his shoulder. “Now who’s going for the cheesy lines?”

I leaned my chin on my hand with a sigh. “You can’t blame me when the material is right there.”

“As much as I love having your eyes on me, if you don’t give me the okay, you’re going to potentially end up with a wonky frame. ”

“Fuck the frame,” I drawled, spreading my legs a little wider. Not much, just enough so Jem could see the effect he was having on me. “Or, better yet, fuck me. That sounds infinitely more fun.”

His gaze fell on my bulge with predatory efficiency. “For an angel, you have one hell of a dirty mouth.”

“You bring it out in me,” I said truthfully.

Confidence wasn’t something I lacked…except for in the bedroom.

My past had made sure of that. With Jeremiah though, it was surfacing.

“Must be your demonic influence. You should be careful how you wield it. Next thing you know, I’ll be asking you to lie back on the bed so I can kneel over your face. ”

Smoke filled the air and Jeremiah gave a panicked hoot. He set the picture down and peered at it closely. “Balls. Sorry. I don’t think it’s singed.”

Right then, I couldn’t have cared less about the art. What I did care about was the frown on his face.

Getting up from my chair, I went over to him and rubbed his shoulders. God, they felt just as wonderful as I’d been imagining. “It’s okay. It’s my fault.”

“It’s not your fault that I keep losing control around you,” he grumbled, still inspecting the art. “I should have a better handle on it.”

“What if I like that you don’t?”

His forehead crinkled as he peered up at me. “What?”

I shrugged, hating that I was blushing. Again. “I like it, Jem. I like knowing I can make you lose control sometimes.”

The confusion faded as desire took over. Jeremiah got to his feet, taking my hands in his as he faced me. “You do?”

I bit my lip, trying to hold back a whimper. I couldn’t help it, okay? His sweaty chest was right there. Begging for me to lick it. To taste him. To go to my knees and unbuckle his belt to see what I’d been fantasising about every day since he’d sent me that photo.

“I do,” I said breathily.

Jeremiah’s crooked grin was back as his chest brushed against mine. “You like that I can’t think clearly when you’re near me?”

“Yes.”

His hand smoothed my hair off my shoulder and his lips found their home there. “You like that the mere mention of you in a sexual scenario has my demon desperate to break free?”

I held back another whimper as he kissed up my throat. “Yes.”

“You like that I’m going fucking crazy right now?” he whispered in my ear, one hand cuffing my hip. “That I can barely focus on a simple task because all I can think about is you in this fucking lingerie?”

“I do.” I moaned as his teeth sank into my earlobe. “Heaven punish me, but I do. I love it, Jem. I love how crazy I make you.”

His dark pupils had almost swallowed the amber as he leaned back to study my face. “Tell me why.”

Not a question—an order. My knees threatened to buckle as my cock throbbed in the tight lace. “Because you make me feel the same way.”

It was the truth, but not the whole truth. I loved it because no one had ever felt this way about me before. For the first time, I wasn’t alone in how fast I was falling.

I hadn’t expected to feel such a sense of…relief.

“Good,” he breathed. “We’re in this together.”

Together. That word played on a loop with the ones from earlier . There’s no room for anyone else.

I didn’t want anyone else. Just him. Only Jem .

My Jem.

His hot fingers went to my back, tracing the top of my corset. “I can’t believe you wore this for me.”

He seemed genuinely touched. I couldn’t stop myself twisting to kiss his cheek. “You should be expecting a lot more from me, Jem.”

“No,” he rasped, running his fingers along my spine. Even with the corset between us, I felt his touch like a brand. “I don’t think I’ll ever expect anything of you, Noah. That way, I can keep being surprised by you.”

I flushed. No expectations might have seemed like the opposite of what I was after, considering he was my fated mate, but it was actually kind of perfect. He didn’t expect anything from me.

Which meant I could just…relax. Huh. That was a first for me. In the bedroom, at least.

He brushed my hair back over one of my shoulders, kissing my neck as it was revealed. “You’re so beautiful, Noah.”

It wasn’t his touch that would be my undoing, but his words. I wanted to tell him the same. To persuade him to let us exchange marks and bond right now.

But it was too fast. It wouldn’t make Jeremiah happy.

He deserved happiness more than anyone else I’d ever met, and I’d be damned before I’d be the one who stood in the way of that.

“Thank you,” I rasped instead. “You make me feel beautiful.”

Jeremiah kissed along the top of my corset, paying special attention to where my wings appeared. He stroked the sensitive flesh, first with his fingers, then his lips. “One day, I want us to do this with our wings out. I want to see if I can make you come just by touching them. ”

“I’d like that.” I shivered. I knew angels could climax that way, but I’d never tried it.

It was strange. I’d never thought of the firsts I hadn’t shared with Lyle, but I was suddenly grateful for them.Maybe part of my soul had held back, knowing I’d want to share them with Jeremiah.

His big hands slid down to my hips and slipped under the line of lace. “I’m not taking this off yet.”

“You’re not?”

“No,” he said, his voice hoarse. “I’ve been having this dream, you see.”

He was barely touching me, the only points of contact where his hands rested. But I could feel him. His breath on the back of my neck. The heat rolling off his body. Jeremiah was surrounding me. Taking up all of my space.

What was more, I wanted him to. I wanted Jeremiah to consume me. To take over everything until he was all that existed.

“What dream?” I rasped, realising he was waiting for a response.

“A good one.” He chuckled, the sound pure sin. “It involves a lace thong exactly like this.”

His touch skimmed around the top of the thong, his hands moving in unison until they met at the front. My breaths came faster in anticipation, but he didn’t move any lower.

“In this dream,” he continued, “I’m behind you just like this, but I’m on my knees.”

Oh fuck. There was only one reason why he’d be on his knees with me in this position. Thank god I’d taken the most thorough shower known to man earlier.

“You’re bent over. Here. Let me show you.” His hand drifted up to my back, stopping between my shoulder blades. He pushed firmly until my hands went flying out. They landed on the edge of the chair I’d been sat in earlier, and I braced my weight on one of the arms.

“That’s it, beautiful.” I felt him kneel behind me, his breath travelling down my spine. “Now spread your legs for me. Just a little wider.”

I did as he asked, my whole body flushed. “Don’t you need to take off the underwear?”

He gave that sinful chuckle again, ghosting his fingers along the lace. “No, sweetheart. You’re going to keep these on and we’re going to see how dirty we can make them.”

My cock was already doing a good job of that. I’d been leaking like a faucet ever since Jeremiah removed his shirt.

“I don’t understand,” I panted. “How are you going to?—”

I didn’t get to finish my sentence because Jeremiah showed me exactly how he was going to rim me with the underwear on.

By straight-up licking me through the lace.

A thousand nerve endings exploded. The scrap of material didn’t dampen the sensation, it heightened it. The scratch of the lace contrasted with the silken heat of his tongue, making me push up on my toes. “Jem. Oh, fuck. Jem!”

Jeremiah hummed in satisfaction before spreading my cheeks wider with his hands. His stubblescratchedagainst the sensitive skin as he swirled his tongue over and around the material.

I was lost. It was only Jeremiah’s grip on my hips keeping me here on earth.

There was no sense of urgency either, just him feasting on me.

It went on and on until I was gasping his name with every breath.

My underwear was soaked when he finally pulled back.

My shaking knees were threatening to give way as my lungs worked overtime.

“Need more,” he grunted, hooking a finger around the lace and tugging it sideways. “That’s better.”

I cried out as his tongue returned. He swirled it around my hole until it was relaxed enough to allow him entry. “I can’t. It’s too good, Jem.”

“You can, baby,” he said breathily, pulling back for a second. “You’re going to dirty up this underwear for me, Noah.”

He didn’t give me a chance to respond before he returned to his mission. He was thrusting his tongue into me like he would his cock. If he was half as good at that as he was at this, I’d be the luckiest fucking being on any plane.

My hips were moving of their own accord now, pushing back on his face as I chased the high. I knew I was moaning. Crying out. Shouting his name like he was the goddamned messiah. I didn’t care. I didn’t give a shit who might hear me.

I wasn’t thinking about anything except Jeremiah.

“So close,” I panted, my head falling back as I rode his tongue. “I’m so close, Jem.”

Fingers wrapped around my cock, and I realised he’d reached between my legs to grab me. To stroke me through the lace. Every part of my pleasure belonged to Jeremiah now.

Like I said, I was one fucking lucky being.

It wasn’t his tongue or hand that took me over the edge though. No, it was the filthy moan he suddenly let out. Like being on his knees for me like this was the best thing he’d experienced in some time.

I came with that sound in my ears, but as the orgasm cleared, it wasn’t the only sound I heard. No, I could hear the warning bells ringing, screaming at me to pay attention.

You’re falling for him. Slow down, Noah. This path leads to madness.

It did. I knew that all too well…but I wasn’t sure I could stop myself walking it anyway.

Worse, I didn’t think I wanted to.