I purr as he thrusts up against my center. The second the tip of his dick rubs against my clit, my head falls back and I groan out in pleasure. It has been too damn long. His hands run the length of my thigh wrapped tightly around his waist. Eagerly, he pushes up my skirt and continues climbing towards my sex. Grabbing my skin so hard it hurts, he slowly rubs out the pain. He inches his way up to my hip, and pulls at the strap of my panties, making the fabric snap back against my skin.
“Eva,” Noah whispers. “I need you. Now.”
I startle and look up to meet his eyes. I need him, too.
“Then take me, Noah. Because I’ll always be yours.”
He pauses for a moment before his eyes look down at my lips. Glancing back up, he slowly lowers his face to mine, and kisses me softly. He savors me like it's the last time he will ever taste me. I release a light scream when he grabs my ass and forces me down against the bulge in his jeans. A sly laugh escapes his lips as he licks, nips, and sucks his way up my chest. I respond by taking his ear in my teeth and nibbling lightly before saying, “You call this pretending?”
His hands freeze. His movements stop. He mutters something under his breath before he quickly backs away and I am forced to drop my legs and come to standing. Coldness fills my body where his warmth used to be as he stands a few feet away and barely has the nerve to look me in the eye. Glancing down the alleyway, he takes a moment before looking back my way.
“Go home, Eva,” he says. He turns to leave, pauses for a brief moment at the end of the alleyway, and then walks around the corner without a second glance.
Chapter Forty-One
Noah
Quickly, I walk back towards the bar. Her careless comment was like pouring water on the hottest flame. Footsteps sound behind me before I have the time to process any more of what I just allowed myself to do in that dark alleyway.
“Noah don’t you dare walk away from me again,” she shouts.
The door to the bar opens and Rex walks a few feet out into the night.
“We good out here?” He questions.
I nod. He glances behind me and I can only guess Eva motioned the same because he quickly disappears back through the door. I stand with my back to Eva and wait for her to speak first.
“Why do you keep running from me? Why won’t you let me talk to you?” she asks.
Turning, I finally look at her. Her lips are swollen from our encounter. Her hair is a hot mess, her eye makeup is smudged lightly from the heat of our contact. Fuck, she’s breathtaking. Right now, there is nothing on earth I want more than her. But I can’t be a momentary stepping stone in her path anymore. I need forever. I want forever. And she once told me she couldn’t promise me that.
I look to the floor, and whisper, “I don’t know what you can say that can change the way I feel. I don’t know anything you can come up with that will erase the way we ended.”
“I didn’t end us, you did,” she yells.
My eyes snap to hers. Can she really be serious? I was there that day in the hospital. I heard what she had to say. The only reason she is standing in front of me right now is because she took a chance on her dream and it didn’t work out. Just like that other woman in the bar right now, trying to crawl back for a second chance.
“You made it really clear you were done with me, Eva. I’ve never been one to beg and stick around where I am not wanted.”
She crosses her arms over her chest, and the bourbon takes over momentarily as I glance down at her cleavage, still red and marked from my lips a few minutes ago. Forcing myself to glance back up, I shoot her a look that dares her to challenge me. I dare her to protest the truth. A truth I know she will repeat if given the chance.
“What are you talking about?” she asks, confused. “I didn’t..”
“Oh come on,” I hiss. “How can you even deny it? You said it yourself. ‘Your dream,’ remember? How you ‘hoped I’d be happy for you.’ I bet that dream didn’t work out so well after you healed up from a few broken bones and you want to come here and see if I will let you sneak back into my world like you were not about to just drop me for what you thought was a better life.”
Her eyes widen, and I know I have hit my target. Bingo. She just gave herself away completely. There’s no need for her mouth to confess what her face just said.
“You can’t be serious?” Eva angrily asks with a roll of her eyes. “And yes, while we are on the subject, thanks for checking in on me, asshole. You know, after I almost lost my life. If you are so upset over the lies you have obviously conspired in your mind against me, then don’t you think someone that cared that much would have at least stuck around more than a day? Hard to believe you are so upset Noah when you obviously didn’t care if I lived or died.”
My heart breaks. That was a bastard move, I know it, but she doesn’t know what I heard. And to hell if I am going to tell her I was there that day. That I heard what she said. She knows the truth. Her stubborn ass just refuses to admit it so she can get what she wants.
“I wrote you a note,” I say harshly. “Didn’t you get it?”
She laughs. “Yeah, a note, that’s right. Our entire relationship’s end was summed up on one piece of paper. Such an easy way out - for a coward.”
“Coward?” I take a few heated steps toward her.
She doesn’t budge. She doesn’t even blink an eye.
