Midnight Kiss (21 page)

A
FTER PACING HIS ROOM
for thirty minutes, Noah gave up on his plans for getting a good night’s sleep. Instead, he headed for the tiny hotel gym. He didn’t come across a single soul. Even the registration desk seemed deserted. Maybe the blonde receptionist was in back primping for a New Year’s date. Noah hoped so. Nobody else should have to be stuck in this ghostly building tonight.

He ran on the treadmill for an hour, and every beat of his pounding heart was like a hammer driving Elise’s name deep into his brain.

She’d said it was a mistake. A mistake. Because they worked together. Because he lived in Denver. Because it could only be one night.

Not because she didn’t want him.

Was she lying because she didn’t want to hurt his feelings? Or was she telling the truth about not wanting to hurt her own?

Noah hit the stop button on the treadmill. He slowed to a walk, then laid his arms against the front panel to rest his forehead on his hands. His lungs strained for air. Sweat dripped slowly from his hairline. His heart beat so hard he could feel it shuddering in his chest.

Did she want him or not?

He lived in Denver now. It didn’t matter. It shouldn’t matter.

But rationality had never had anything to do with his feelings for Elise. He’d left his girlfriend on the basis of a brief kiss. He’d been emotionally unavailable to every woman he’d dated afterward. He’d moved halfway across the country to try to leave her behind.

But now he couldn’t get the taste of her out of his mouth. The feel of her hands off his body. He couldn’t shake the impossible pleasure of being deep inside her.

Oh, hell. His heart was already long gone. Noah had nothing to lose at this point. He may as well take a chance.

“G
AH
!” Elise sat up quickly, alarmed by the loud trilling in her ear. Her head was jerked to a halt with a brutal snap. For a moment, she thought she was under attack. Then she realized that she’d trapped her hair under her own arm. “Good grief,” she groaned, collapsing back to her pillow.

The phone stopped ringing. Elise shifted around until she freed her hair from its trap, then sat up and rubbed her eyes. Had she drunk too much and passed out?

She looked at the clock. It was just after ten-thirty, and the clock sat framed by two unopened beers. The other bottle was open next to it, only a few sips missing.

No, she hadn’t partied too hard and passed out. She’d just fallen asleep at eight o’clock on New Year’s Eve. Well, at least the New Year hadn’t started yet. She was still well within her rights to be pitiful.

Elise pushed her hair out of her face and took a deep breath that was cut off by the renewed ringing of her phone. She fished it out of the pillows and scowled.
Noah.
What kind of havoc did he want to wreak now?

“Hello?” she asked warily.

“Hi, Elise. Are you busy?”

A glance around showed her open laptop, her abandoned beers and the TV silently playing out fireworks that had exploded behind the Eiffel Tower hours before. “Kind of.”

“Listen. I thought maybe… Would you like to go for a walk?”

“A
walk?
”

“Yes.”

“What? It’s cold. And dark.” And you’re
you.

“I think…” He took a deep breath. “I think maybe we should talk about this, after all. And it’s a beautiful night.”

“It’s cold,” she said again, her pulse tripping with questions.

“Yeah.”

He left it at that. He didn’t say another word. Noah just waited. And Elise waited, too. Waited to be brave enough to say yes. Yes to a walk. Yes to talking. Yes to the question hiding in his voice.

“Yes,” she whispered.

She had the fleeting thought he’d hung up, but he finally answered. “I’ll stop by your room in five minutes.”

The phone clicked dead, and Elise wasted a good thirty seconds just staring at it. A walk. With Noah.
In the middle of a dark night. Then she realized what he’d said. Five minutes.

“Oh, crap!” She was half-naked and sleep-squashed. Vaulting out of bed, she raced for the bathroom and found even worse news there. She’d fallen asleep on her hand and left three clear finger imprints in her cheek. “Crap!” she screeched.

It took her a full two minutes to pull back her hair and scrub at her face until the finger marks disappeared. She brushed her teeth. Then she had another minute to tug on her jeans and pull a sweater over the tank top she wore. A touch of make up, a few brushes of her hair—

A knock rang through the room. “Just a second!” Elise tugged on her socks and her boots and lunged for the door.

“Hey,” Noah said as the smell of fresh soap drifted to her nose. The edges of his hair curled damply against his neck. Her mouth watered.

“Are you okay?” he asked. “Your cheeks are really pink.”

She touched her face in embarrassment. “I was rushing. Sorry. Let me just grab my coat.”

As she whirled away, she had the fleeting impression that Noah had been reaching toward her, and her whole body stuttered at the thought. Had he been reaching to touch her cheek? Had he meant to pull her toward him for a kiss? Surely not. No. Elise shoved the thought away.

“So…” His low voice rumbled over her as she pulled on her coat. “Looks like I interrupted quite an evening.”

Elise glared at the remnants of her pity party before
she rushed through the door, slamming it behind her. “Shut up.”

“Did you steal those beers from the bar?”

“No!”

Noah grinned and fell into step behind her. They were down the side stairs and out into the night before Elise’s cheeks finally cooled. She tugged on her winter hat, squared her shoulders, and took a deep breath. She was ready for battle.

N
OAH DIDN’T FEEL THE COLD
. He didn’t feel anything past the numbness that had slipped over him when Elise had stepped into the pale circle of the security light. Her skin looked white, her cheeks and mouth pink as roses. And with her blue knit hat pulled down over her forehead, she looked about eighteen years old and impossibly sweet. Like an angel.

That patently ridiculous thought shook him from his reverie, and Noah gestured toward the sidewalk. They walked in silence for a long while, but the quiet wasn’t content. It was a pulsing, straining quiet, squeezing them with unspoken thoughts.

Or maybe that was all in Noah’s head.

Without a word, they headed down a sloping trail that led away from the streets of downtown where bars spilled drunks out onto the streets. The farther they walked, the quieter it grew, until the only sound was the occasional music of the black river ahead.

“Noah,” Elise snapped, making him jump. She cleared her throat and shook her head. “Thank you. It’s nice here. Pretty.” The last word was hesitant, as if she weren’t used to using delicate language.

They left the safety of the trail lights, and now only
the moon brightened their way. It glinted and flashed off the river, but it was still dark. Dark enough for what Noah needed to do, anyway.

“Two years ago, you kissed me,” he said.

Her shoes scraped roughly against the trail, but she caught herself before she stumbled. “I know. I’m sorry.”

His jaw tightened. “That’s not what I want you to be sorry for.”

“I don’t get it. Haven’t I been sorry enough? Haven’t I apologized and… It was just a kiss. Why do things have to be so difficult between us?”

“Because I’ve had a thing for you for two years, Elise.”

She stopped so quickly that pebbles skittered off the trail and rustled into the bushes.
“What?”

“That’s why it’s always been so…tense. At least on my side.”

“Noah. That doesn’t make any sense. You never said anything. You never said
anything!
”

“You were in a relationship. A long one.”

“I…no…you had a girlfriend!”

Noah shoved his hands in his pockets and looked up at the sky to give himself a moment. The sky stared coldly back. “I left her. For you. You kissed me and…”

“What?” she whispered, every inch of the word tight with disbelief.

Yeah, he had trouble believing it himself. “I had a thing for you, but I ignored it until the night you kissed me. I called my girlfriend that night and ended it. I knew it was over. And then…” He flashed her a
pained smile. “I found out you were already involved with someone.”

“No,” she breathed.

“Yeah. Pretty pitiful, huh?”

She didn’t acknowledge his huff of laughter. “You pushed me away!”

The pain in her voice surprised him into a frown. “When you kissed me?”

“Yes, you pushed me away. I invited you to my
room,
Noah. And you said no. You didn’t want me. I don’t understand…”

“I didn’t want it to start that way. Not with you.”

“Oh, God.” She covered her mouth with both hands.

Noah shook his head in confusion. Why the hell did she look like she’d seen a ghost? “Look, that’s in the past. Obviously, if I was that into you, things were never going to work out with the woman I was seeing. And your relationship was, um, stronger than it seemed, I guess.”

She pressed her fingers harder to her mouth. Even in the dark, he could see her knuckles turn white.

“Elise.”

The moon glinted off the river behind her, then caught in the moisture in her eyes.

“Hey,” he said, shocked by the sight of tears.

“I didn’t have a boyfriend,” she whispered.

The words must have been warped by the pressure of her hands. He froze in the act of reaching for her. “What?”

“I didn’t have a boyfriend.” She lowered her hands, her eyes watched him with wide horror. “I was embarrassed. Horrified. I’d thrown myself at you, and…we
were going to be working together for a long time. I didn’t want that awkwardness between us. Me liking you, and you feeling sorry for me.”

“What?” he repeated, disbelief buzzing behind his eardrums.

“I didn’t start dating Evan until two months later.”

“You’re kidding me, right? That’s a joke?”

“Noah, I’m so sorry. If I’d known… If I’d known…”

He just watched her, stunned and sorry for what they’d wasted.

“If I’d known,” she whispered, “I’d never have let you go.”

His sorrow swept away at those words. Those words that let him know she’d spent the past two years with want and need and yearning. Just as he had. “God.”

“I’m sorry,” she said again, but Noah no longer wanted regret from her. They’d both been stupid. Idiotic. Foolish.

They deserved each other.

He stepped closer. Tears glistened on her pale cheeks, so he framed her face and wiped them away with his thumbs. “Don’t cry.”

“I’m sorry,” she said on a broken whisper. “I lied.”

“And I’ve been lying to you for two years. But not anymore.”

Her lips were cool and tasted of salty tears when he kissed her, but it took only a few heartbeats before the kiss turned hot and eager. Not quite desperate. Something sweeter than that, because it was the first honest kiss they’d ever shared.

By the time the kiss ended, their arms were wrapped tight around each other, their breath coming too fast.
Elise buried her face in his neck, and he felt the tremors running up her back. She was skittish and afraid, but she still held tight to him. Thank God.

“How could we have screwed up so badly?” she breathed against him.

He kissed her hair. “We’re hard-headed.”

“Stubborn.”

“Arrogant.”

Elise sighed. “And now it’s too late.”

No, he wasn’t going to let that be true. He’d show her it couldn’t be true.

“You smell so good,” she murmured.

Noah shivered when her teeth scraped his neck. “Elise…”

“You’re cold. We should get back to the hotel.”

“I’m not—” he started, than snapped his mouth shut. “Yeah, let’s get back to the hotel. It’s freezing.” Elise giggled—
giggled
—and took his hand to tug him back the way they’d come. They walked faster, rushing toward the streets of downtown, but the hotel was nearly a mile away. When they reached the first little stone tunnel that ducked beneath a narrow road, Noah pulled her to a halt.

She swung toward him with a laugh, but the laughter died in her throat when he eased her against the stone wall and kissed her again. Her breath tangled with his, rushing over both their lips. Firecrackers popped and sizzled in the distance. Fingers of light from passing cars snuck into the tunnel, but didn’t reach their bodies.

“Noah,” she sighed, with the exact amount of yearning he wanted to hear. She snuck both her hands into
his hair and pulled his mouth to hers again, answering any questions about what she might want.

Noah was determined that the next time they had sex it would be on a horizontal surface, he truly was. But her coat was open, and her hips curved so nicely in his hands, as if they wanted to be held tight. She whimpered, tugging him closer, then groaned when he pressed against her.

There was something unique to her. Something that drew him close and took him over. And to think that he could transform someone so strong and unreachable into a whimpering bundle of nerves… Her need humbled him and swelled him with impossible power at the same time.

“Noah,” she whispered. “I can’t get enough of you.”

“Good.” He edged his thumbs under her sweater and found another layer of fabric beneath, this one hot from being pressed to her skin. His hands soaked up the warmth and wanted more. He slid his whole hand beneath the shirt and relief filled him up. Her stomach jumped at the touch, and then she arched into him with a gasp.

Suddenly, all sweetness was gone. Their kisses turned frantic. Their hands greedy. He needed her.
Now.

He unbuttoned her jeans and tugged them open. Finally, he found true heat—his fingers cupped her. Her breath twisted in white wisps on the icy air, but Noah felt sweat limn his body.

“Please,” she sighed.

He’d slide into her right now if he could. He already recognized the hitch that broke apart every breath she
took. She was so close already. Her nails dug vicious crescents into his back. Her hips rocked into his hand. Just a few more seconds…