A Million Guilty Pleasures: Million Dollar Duet (7 page)

“Of Scarlet Lotus,” Noah acknowledged before pulling his hand back and tucking it away in his pocket. “I’m really sorry to hear of your wife’s illness. Can I ask how she is?”

“She’s doing exceptionally well,” a voice said from behind us.

Everyone turned to see Daniel walk into the room with what I assumed was my mother’s chart in hand. He pulled up short when he saw Lexi standing beside my father. “I see you’ve met my daughter and my nephew,” he said with a grin. “Small world, eh?”

“Yeah, it would appear so,” my father replied, his tone signaling to me that he knew he was being bullshitted. “So about my wife?”

“The transplant was textbook smooth,” Daniel replied, his demeanor utterly professional. “From here, it’s a waiting game to make sure her body doesn’t reject her new heart.”

“Can we see her?” I asked.

“Right now, rest is imperative to her recovery. Any sort of excitement,” he said, looking pointedly at the various people in the room before settling on me and Noah, “won’t be good. So how about if we limit it to just you for now, Mr. Talbot? Sandra will take you to her in a few minutes.”

“But Lanie is her daughter,” Mack started to protest.

“I want to see her,” I said adamantly.

“And you will,” Daniel answered. “Just please, be patient. One at a time for now.”

“You go first, Lanie,” Mack offered, even though it was etched in every fine line of his face how badly he wanted to be at her side.

I gave him a reassuring smile. “It’s okay, Dad. I’ll get to see her later.”

“Why don’t I take you to get something to eat?” Noah kissed me on the temple and rubbed my back soothingly. “I was worried you would be so upset that you’d forget to, and I was right.”

He gave me that irresistibly sexy smirk, and I bit down on my bottom lip, trying not to attack him on the spot. My dad wouldn’t have appreciated that little porno moment.

“We’ll go with you,” Polly offered, linking her arm through Dez’s. It really warmed my heart to see my two worlds coming together so seamlessly.

It seemed silly to me now that I’d ever thought Noah’s life and mine were too different for us to ever have a life together. After all, when you took away the money and the fancy houses, cars, and clothes, weren’t we all still just human underneath? Money truly cannot buy you love, and even though it could change some people, that didn’t mean everyone who had a little of it were snobs. Truth be known, I was the snob for thinking Noah and his loved ones weren’t good enough to live in my world. Not only were they good enough, but they had already become a permanent fixture of it. I couldn’t remember my life before Noah, and I didn’t want to imagine the future of my life without him in it.

“Yeah, I think I like that idea. We’ll all go together,” I said as I pulled away from Noah and took his hand instead before I turned back to my father. “Tell Mom I love her and I’ll be in to see her as soon as I’m allowed, okay?”

“Sure thing, sweetie,” he answered.

Daniel gave Noah and me a knowing grin and then took his leave. Lexi, Dez, and Polly followed close behind, but as Noah and I turned toward the door, my father stopped us.

“Lanie, a word please?” he asked, and then looked at Noah. “In private?”

I gave Noah an apologetic yet nervous smile. As much as I hated to watch him walk away, I couldn’t deny my father the audience he requested. Besides, Noah was here to stay for as long as I wanted him, per his own words. I hoped he realized how long a lifetime really did last.

As if reading my mind, Noah cupped my cheek and kissed me gently on the forehead. “I’ll be waiting for you at the elevator,” he said before following our friends out.

I took a deep breath to still my nerves and then turned to face my dad, a smile plastered on my face. “What’s up?”

“What took you so long to come see your mother?”

“What do you mean? I came as soon as Dez told me.”

Mack picked up the newspaper he’d been reading earlier and held it out to me. There, on the front page of the entertainment section of that day’s
Chicago Times
, was a picture of me and Noah on the red carpet at the Scarlet Lotus Ball. The caption read: “Chicago’s most eligible bachelor, off the market?”

“Dad, I can explain—” I started.

Mack threw his hands up and stopped me. “No need to, Lanie. All I know is that you were in town, and even if I hadn’t
seen that article, I was already questioning how the hell you managed to make it here so quickly from New York. I’ve been so preoccupied with worrying about your mother that I didn’t even notice how suspicious it was that you just happened to get a full scholarship at the last moment and whisked yourself away to New York at the drop of a hat. Then a couple million dollars shows up in our bank account with no clue as to where it came from, and your mother’s doctor is taken off the case in favor of a prestigious cardiologist, who just so happens to be the father of your quote-unquote roommate, who just so happens to be the cousin of”—he motioned toward the newspaper again with a flick of his hand—“Chicago’s most eligible bachelor. The man’s got more money than he knows what to do with, and my daughter, a kid who was so shy she didn’t even go to her own prom, is dating him and has her picture plastered all over the newspaper?”

Mack sighed and shook his head. “It doesn’t make any sense, but right now I don’t care. We’ve been given a miracle, and I suspect all these
coincidences
,” he said, using air quotes around the word, “have everything to do with it, but I won’t question that miracle because it means I get to hold on to my wife a while longer. Just don’t make me regret it.”

A smile so huge it hurt my cheeks spread across my face. “I won’t, Daddy.” I hadn’t called my father that since I was seven. I went over and gave him a big, fat hug because he deserved it and because we both needed it. “Thank you.”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah. Get out of here and go get something to eat. You’re too skinny,” he said, waving me off. “And when all of this is over with and your mother’s back home, I want the two of you to come over for dinner and a proper introduction.”

Translation: he wanted to introduce Noah to his Smith and Wesson.

Despite the fact he was letting me off the hook, I gave him my best please-don’t-pull-out-the-shotgun-and-embarrass-me look. Noah was important to me, and the last thing I needed was for Mack to pull the protective-father routine. I was twenty-four years old and more than capable of taking care of myself. Mack might argue that point if he knew the lengths to which I’d gone to help my family, but I saw what I’d done as a show of strength, not weakness. Regardless, I knew once they got to know Noah, he’d sweep them off their feet the same way he did me.

“It’s a date,” I told Mack. “I’ll be back in a bit to check on Mom.”

Once I’d left the room, I blew out a huge puff of air and sighed in relief before I made my way toward the elevators. I hadn’t gone far when a pair of hands shot out from an opened doorway and grabbed me, dragging me inside. There was no squeak of protest, no fighting off my would-be attacker, because I smelled him even before I saw him.

“Noah, what are you doing?” I laughed as he put my back against the wall and pinned me in place with his body.

He started devouring my neck with kisses. “I told you I was hungry.”

“No, you didn’t. I said I was hungry,” I corrected him with a giggle.

He shrugged, securing my hands above my head with just one of his. “Po-tay-to, po-tah-to.”

My body relaxed under his touch. “You’re insatiable, Mr. Crawford.”

“Ah, so finally you’re catching on, Miss Talbot,” he said as his free hand cupped my right breast and began to massage it.

“So what are we doing here then?”

“I think you’re in need of some … what did you call it? Stress management?” His hand moved down my side until he slipped it underneath my skirt and down the front of my panties. I moaned the second his fingers came into contact with the soft flesh there and began to manipulate my clit. The Cooch shivered in delight.

“Mmm, yeah. You needed this, didn’t you?” His tongue wrapped around my earlobe and he sucked it into his mouth.

The Cooch bobbed her head emphatically and wept from his touch.

I tried to pull my hands down so I could immerse them in his thick hair, but he held me firmly in place. “Uh-uh, Lanie. No touching. Only feeling.”

He accentuated the last word by dipping a long, broad finger inside me, languidly pushing it in before pulling it back out again just as slowly. The heel of his palm pressed against my clit, massaging it with his movements until I felt like my knees would buckle and I’d fall to the floor. But there was no danger of that because Noah was very capable of holding me up.

I felt a second finger push inside and then he stroked the walls of my pussy until I rolled my pelvis against his hand. Back and forth he flicked his fingers, maddeningly slow and then fast before slowing down again. It was enough yet too much, all at the same time, and I felt my body coiling with sensation, ready to spring with just the right stroke.

“Not yet,” he whispered against my lips, then claimed my mouth in a searing kiss. Noah removed his fingers, leaving me
wanting. When I groaned in protest, he broke the kiss and looked down on me with that evil little smirk that always made my girly bits break into a chorus of hallelujahs.

“Patience, kitten. You know I always take care of you.”

True story.

Noah pulled his body away from mine, and moved my arms down until my hands were planted flat against the wall at my sides. He hummed in contemplation as he looked me over and then bit down on his bottom lip. “I’m going to let go of your hands now, Delaine, but I want you to keep them in place. If you move them, you will not get your release. Do you understand me?”

“I really hate you for this,” I said, but knew I would do anything he asked. So did he.

He smirked again. “No, you don’t. You already told me you love me, and you can’t take it back.” He kissed the tip of my nose and then slowly pulled his hands away.

Noah

Sinking to my knees, I slipped my hands beneath the hem of Lanie’s dress and pushed the skirt up and over her hips. I couldn’t help the overwhelming urge to nuzzle her center, so I flicked my tongue out to sample the sweet taste of her arousal that had seeped through the black silk material. “Mmm, hors d’oeuvres. I think I’ll keep these for later.” I ripped her panties from her body. Those fuckers had been outlawed and had no business creating a barrier between me and what I wanted.

Lanie gasped in surprise and I smirked up at her. “Never know when I might get hungry again,” I said with a shrug.

“Not that I’ve forgotten your blatant disregard for the no-panties rule, Miss Talbot. You will pay for that. Later.”

I tucked her panties in the front pocket of my jeans. Once they were securely in place, I put my hands on the inside of her knees and pushed, spreading her creamy thighs wide for invasion. I didn’t take my time, didn’t make it slow or sensual; I buried my face between her thighs and attacked. Lanie’s back arched and her knees buckled, but I held her in place with my hands firmly grasping her hips. There was no escaping me or my mouth until I was ready to release her.

I pulled back minutely, mixing the coaxing with the demanding, and saw her fingers twitch out of the corner of my eye. “Please don’t move those hands, kitten. I’d hate to have to stop before I give you what you want, but I’m a man of my word, and I will, so don’t test me,” I warned with my lips grazing her sensitive spot.

“Please, Noah. Please, I need to …” I fucking loved to hear her beg for what only I could give to her. It made my cock impossibly hard, and I was overcome with the urge to get it wet.

Really, there was no reason we couldn’t both be appeased at the same time—kill two birds with one stone, or cock, as it were. Getting dental was a necessity first, though, so I nipped at her clit, letting her guttural groan linger and then grow into something altogether animalistic as I sucked on the taut knot with a vigorous hunger. Giving her delectable little pussy one last, long lick, I stood before her and planted my hands against the wall on either side of her head. When I pressed my body against Lanie’s, I made damn sure she could feel my hardness.

“This is what you fucking do to me. It’s really quite painful,
but I assure you, the pleasure is also there,” I told her, relishing her moans of appreciation as I continued to work myself against her very naked, very wet cunt. The purpose was to drive her crazy, which it did, but I was also insane and unwilling to wait any longer.

Quickly stepping back, I made fast work of my belt and jeans before pulling them down far enough to let my dick spring free. Then I slipped my hands between her thighs and onto the wall, forcing them to spread as I lifted her until she was at the perfect height with her legs draped over my forearms.

“I’m going to take my time with you once I get you back home, but for now, this will have to be quick. Hold on to me, kitten,” I said, finally giving her permission to touch me.

Lanie hooked her arms under mine and grabbed the top of my shoulders with her hands and I entered her … deep. When we both moaned out in pleasure, I was forced to muffle our sounds with my mouth or risk drawing unwanted attention or causing some nosy nurse—or, God forbid, her father—to come investigate. I most definitely did not want to kick off my official relationship with the woman I loved by having her father threaten to send me to the morgue. Although apparently rigor mortis had already set in, at least in my cock—I was that fucking hard for her.

Not to worry, I was buried balls deep inside my Lanie, and that was more than enough to take care of the issue at large. Over and over again, I thrust into her, going deeper and deeper with each urgent stab. She sank her nails into my shoulder, and I could feel the bite from them digging through my shirt, but it didn’t deter me because that shit felt good when I knew it
was derived from the pleasure I was giving to her. My girl’s kisses became needy, my thrusts frenzied until finally I felt her walls clench around my cock with a throbbing pulse and she moaned into my mouth. Her body stiffened and her thighs attempted to clamp shut of their own accord as she shuddered in my arms with her orgasm. It was all the permission I needed to finally let go myself and spill my seed into her with a final strangled grunt, my hips jerky with incomplete strokes until I was spent.