Page 24 of One Killer Night

I slip my hand into hers as we stroll down the sidewalk. Opening up isn’t easy for me, but my life in Boston is the exception to that. It’s the here and the now. And that’s the part I like.

“It feels like I’ve known him forever. Like we grew up together, but I met him out front of my junior college. He was drunk, in only his underwear, out on the lawn. Campus security was trying to figure out what to do with him. He lied elaborately and told them he knew me.” I laugh, remembering. “I was just passing by, but he was convincing. Or maybe they didn’t want the hassle, so they let him go. We’ve been best friends ever since.”

She seems entertained, wrapping her other palm around my bicep, and our hands stay joined. “Was he in school with you?”

“No, he was an unpredictable rock star in culinary school. His family has money. They’re from Wellesley, which is how I eventually gotinto Boston College. A good word from someone who has the school of business named after them helped get me to the top of the pile. I think it was their way of saying thanks for keeping Chase on the straight and narrow. Little did they know, I’ve always been kind of a hell-raiser.”

She chuckles as some guys pass. “Were you a bad kid?”

Before she can try and coax an answer from me, a voice booms from behind us.

“Hey, man ... hey”—my eyes are on hers until I feel an insistent hand on my shoulder, stopping me—“I know you. How’ve you been?”

I turn, Goldie letting go as I tuck her behind me. Some guy in a Mets jacket smiles back at me, but I look around, confused. “Sorry, man, we’ve never met. You’ve got the wrong guy.”

He shakes his head, slightly slurring when he speaks. “No, it’s me, Peter ... Ronnie’s cousin. You’re, umm ...” He snaps his fingers. “Davis, right?”

Goldie’s face presses against my shoulder, and I can feel her smile. “He’s a Noah, not a Davis.”

The dude frowns, his eyes locked with mine as he works out whatever thought he’s having. But my eyes go to the hand still on my shoulder, and he takes it away.

“Wow. I could’ve sworn ... my apologies.” He gives us a salute before adding, “You look so much like a friend of my cousin’s. I used to visit him every summer in Darkwater Bay until I was, like, sixteen for the sailing regatta. I live in New York now.”

Goldie giggles quietly, whispering up behind my back, “And that’s his whole life story.”

I shrug, smiling. “Yeah, what can I say? It’s like the lady said, I’m Noah.”

He nods and gives us an embarrassed wave, then apologizes again before stumbling back to rejoin his friends, and we continue our stroll. I only glance back once.

“That was weird,” she breathes out before grinning wider, turning her body toward mine as she teases, “Okay, come clean. Are you runningfrom the law and you haven’t told me ...Davis?” She emphasizes the name, making me laugh. “And what happened in Darkwater Bay? Don’t make me call the FBI. A girl has a right to know who her boyfriend is.”

“Very funny,” I laugh and spin her around into the shadows of a convenient alley, her body trapped between me and the brick. I look down, my hand on the wall beside her.

“Boyfriend, huh? You sure?” Our eyes stay connected, the silence growing before she bites her lip. I smirk. “Because I am.”

She nods. “Me too.”

“Then I guess I should come clean. I’m an upstanding citizen originally from Hempstead. But I do have one confession—”

Her eyes are locked on mine as her chin juts up in a challenge.

“I’d really like to kiss the fuck outta my girlfriend.”

“So what’s stopping you?”

Damn.I’m on her in an instant. The feel of her mouth on mine makes me want to lose my mind. This kiss isn’t like our first, slow and savoring. No, we’re already messy and fevered, armed with an urgency.

A need.

My fingers thrust between the strands of her hair as her own curl into my waist before they greedily ascend up my back. It makes me hum my approval because her body molds to mine as she does it.

We’re rough breaths and teasing tongues doing something we shouldn’t.

I nip at the tender flesh of her bottom lip, almost shuddering as she whines. The sound tastes as potent as my desire feels. My other hand engulfs her neck as my thumb runs up and down her throat.

Fuck, I want her. Under me, on top of me. All over.

I’ve never wanted to hear a woman moan my name more in my life. My heart’s beating out of my chest as we kiss and kiss, losing ourselves in the moment, the whole world growing more and more hazy.