He’s not cocky, or even smiling. His eyes are way too intense, locked on mine, and my throat goes dry.
“Most women can’t orgasm from…with a partner, and some can’t even get there on their own, so it doesn’t matter. I’m just selling a fantasy.”
“Have you had one?”
It’s like all the air is sucked from the room as his gaze travel down to my lips, then back up to my eyes, and I have to look away.
“It doesn’t matter.”
“Savannah.”
My chest is tight, and I’m not sure if I want to cry or yell at him or get his lips on mine.
Scratch that, not the last one.
But also, mostly the last one.
I mean to walk away. To end this conversation by leaving his house and maybe never talking to him again, at least not until I’m less mortified. Instead, I shake my head. I’m hardly aware that I’m doing it, but something flares in Noah’s eyes, something like anger. I watch his chest go up and down like he’s trying to control his breathing.
“It’s the part that scares me the most about this book, which is saying something, because I haven’t even been able to finish the ones with nothing in them. I don’t think I can have one, though, so it’s fine. That’s what research is for.”
I really need to get out of here. To never see him again. Hopefully Izzie will understand.
“I bet you I could.”
Chapter Twenty-One
Noah
If That’s Okay
Savannah freezes, her breath hitching in a way that makes me want to pull her into me and kiss her senseless, but she’s one sudden movement from bolting, and I’m worried that if she leaves now, I’ll lose her. Not just this ridiculous proposal I threw out, but all of her. I had this insane idea that this was how I could be with Savannah without it complicating things, if we just did a no strings attached, safe space kind of arrangement, but she keeps shutting me down. And I want to respect that. I shouldn’t be pushing so hard, but every excuse sounds like she’s convincing herself more than me, and though her words are cutting, her body keeps pulling closer. Responding to mine.
“What?” She’s breathless, and it does absolutely nothing to calm the semi I’m sporting.
“I bet I can make you come,” I repeat. “That you’re not broken, he just didn’t know what he was doing.”
“And you do?” She looks at me expectantly.
I like her feisty so much more than sad and shutting down.
“One way to find out.”
“I don’t want to be your pity fuck, Noah.”
I’ve never heard her curse before, but now she’s fighting tears, and I feel like the biggest jerk. I wish I’d never said anything and just left her in the library, but now the damage is done. There’s no way but through.
I let go of the hand I’ve been holding and brush my thumbs against her cheeks, my fingers at the back of her neck, itching to run through her hair.
“What are you doing?” She’s pissed off and breathless, which shouldn’t be a turn on, but my dick reacts.
“I’m going to kiss you,” I tell her. “If that’s okay.”
“You don’t?—”
“Because I want to,” I cut her off, my eyes on hers, and I think she stops breathing. Maybe I do too, before she nods almost imperceptibly, but I’m so trained on her that it’s like I feel the intention before it happens, the permission in her hazel eyes, and I go for it. I press my lips gently against hers, tasting the honey-flavored lip balm I’ve gone hard watching her apply, and I’m not sure if I groan or manage to keep it on the inside, but then I bring my tongue to her lips and she lets me in at the same time as her arms wrap around my neck, pressing her body to mine. She shoves her hands into my hair, and I moan out fucking loud. The kiss grows hungry and it’s everything I thought it would be yet a million times better.
I need to pull away before it goes any further, but first I nip her bottom lip and pull her closer, so she feels what she does to me.
