The Sextet - Entanglements [The Sextet Anthology, Volume 4] (Siren Publishing Everlasting Classic)

DEDICATION

To all those women who hold back their hearts to protect them. Set them free. Better to have them broken than unused.

Chapter 1

Noah was on fire, and all he wanted to do was set Angie ablaze with the same intensity. He kissed her, his tongue invading her mouth yet again to rub against hers. He’d never burned for a woman the way he did for her, and he’d be damned if he didn’t bring her satisfaction before he found his own.

Pulling away from the kiss, he lowered his head to draw one of those perfect, rose-colored nipples into his mouth, waiting for the purr that always rose from her when she was excited. He shifted to the other breast, lavishing it with attention and loving how the nipple puckered into a hard, delicious pebble.

Angie’s fingers threaded through his hair, holding him where he was, and a sensuous moan slipped from her lips. “Noah…” His name was a breathless whisper. “Now.” His cock twitched, ready to give her what she wanted. But he’d hoped to make the interlude last and last. A quickie wasn’t on his agenda tonight.

“Now?”
So soon?
He’d only begun to worship that hot body. His hand reached between her legs, stroking and petting, opening her up to his probing fingers. One finger plunged inside as his thumb stroked her clit. She was so warm and wet, but not as damp as he knew she could get. Her body could weep for him, and he wanted to take her to that point, to feel her juices flow over his fingertips. He’d just have to kiss her white stomach, take a playful nip at each hip, and give her pussy a nice, long, wet lick. Just thinking about her taste made his dick harder.

“Now, honey. I want you
now
.”

With a shake of his head, he kissed his way down her body, wanting to tease and taunt her until that glorious purr appeared. He settled his mouth on her soft, warm core and gave it a kiss before his tongue wriggled over her clit. Then he sucked it gently into his mouth.

“Oh, God.” Angie tugged on his hair. “
Now
. I want you
now
.”

Since Noah wanted her just as desperately, and since his cock felt near to bursting after tasting her musky essence, he kissed his way back up her body, settled his mouth on hers, and plunged inside her.

She wrapped her legs around his hips and groaned, meeting each of his hard thrusts with a push from her hips. Her body felt like paradise as the rhythm became faster. His balls slapped against her body as he pumped inside her, his tongue matching the rhythm as he plundered her mouth.

Ripping her lips away, she panted for breath. “I’m coming!” she breathed in his ear.

Noah went wild, letting her soft warmth pull him toward the sun. Her knees squeezed against his waist the way they always did when she came, and he let his own orgasm wash over him. His semen blasted from his body deep inside Angie as he closed his eyes and called her name. She made him feel so wonderful, he couldn’t stop pushing into her with small, slow strokes long after his satisfying spasms ended.

Every time he made love to Angie, his feelings for her grew. Yet just below the sated thrumming of his body, he knew something wasn’t quite right. Listening carefully, he realized what had been missing.

Her purr.

The sensual haze vanished in a heartbeat. “Angie?”

Her legs dropped away. “What?” The word was short, clipped, and the disinterested tone told him all he needed to know.

“You did it again, didn’t you? You faked it!” Much as he wanted to roll away and blister her ears, he didn’t let his anger take control. God, but the woman exasperated him sometimes. Why in the hell couldn’t she learn to let things go? Just once! “You didn’t come.”

“I did.” Lying was definitely not her strong suit. Did she even realize she always nibbled on her bottom lip when she told a fib?

“Bullshit. You faked it again.” Every ounce of his contentment vanished. “I would’ve waited for you. I wanted this to last, but you said—”

Her soft fingertips pressed against his lips. “I know. I just…couldn’t relax tonight. It’s not you. I told you that before.”

“Gee, that makes me feel
so
much better.” Rolling away from her would probably make her feel rejected. Deserted. Like he did at that moment. Instead, he braced himself on his elbows and stared into those beautiful blue eyes. “Imagine that. You’re worried about work again.” They both knew
why
she was too tense to let her body respond, so there seemed to be no reason to ask.

Angie nodded as tears brimmed her eyes. “I tried to turn it off, but…” As she turned her head to the side, her long, blonde hair dragged across the pillow. “Look, it’s not you. I keep telling you it’s not you. Isn’t that enough?”

“Hell no, it’s not enough.” Angry, frustrated, and getting damned sick and tired of this same scene playing out every time he tried to make love to her lately, Noah flopped to lay at her side. “I love you. I don’t wanna get myself off while you fake an orgasm.”

She punched the pillow and put her face close to his. “I fake it ’cause I don’t want to hurt your feelings.”

That stupid comment forced an aggravated growl. “And faking it
doesn’t
hurt my feelings? It’s not really making love if all you do is pretend. It’s fucking. I told you, I’m done with that kind of life. I don’t want to just fuck you, baby.” Although fucking was nice sometimes, to let go and get a little wild with each other, it simply wasn’t enough to help a relationship survive. “I want to make love to you, too.”

“I love you,” she said, snuggling up against his side and kissing his cheek.

Noah’s anger settled into disappointment. “I love you, too. I love you enough to be honest with you, to trust you. I hate that you can’t trust me.”

Propping herself up on an elbow, Angie glared down at him. “You think I don’t trust you?”

“If you trusted me, you’d be honest about everything. What you want. How you feel. If you didn’t want to—”

Her hand lightly slapped his bare chest. “I wanted to!”

“Liar. You wanted to sit and worry about work instead.”

Her frown told him he’d hit the bull’s-eye.

“So why’d you get into bed with me when you knew I wanted you?” he asked.

“I wanted to make love…at first. But then I thought about that library project again and all the other stuff I have to do and—”

Before another insult jumped out of that tempting mouth of hers, Noah rolled out of bed, grabbed his briefs, and headed to the bathroom.

The slam of the door was loud enough, Angie figured the neighbors heard. She wiped away tears that leaked from the corners of her eyes. How much worse would things between them get when they finally moved in together?

Their relationship hadn’t always been like this. Far from it. Almost two years, and only the last three months had been bad.

Well, not entirely
bad
. Just different…And mostly in bed. In every other way, they complemented each other.

Type A
. How many people had called her type A in her life? Angie had lost count. That “flaw” used to work to her advantage, allowing her to be organized and meet all her obligations. Being organized had helped her create her successful architectural firm.

Besides, she could always turn off the obsession with work when she wanted to. And anytime Noah took her into his arms, she’d always wanted to. Yes, she could turn it off.

Liar.
His voice echoed through her mind.

She’d lost that vital ability to set work aside about six months ago, and their sex life had suffered for it. The type A had become a control freak of epic proportions, one so consumed with worry and planning that she couldn’t be honest with the man she loved more than life itself.

For God’s sake, she’d become one of those horrible women who faked orgasms! When had completing projects become more important than Noah James? When had work become her whole damn life? When had she lost so much of the real Angie Traylor?

The bathroom door opened, and Angie wiped away the lingering tears, trying not to show him her vulnerability. Noah stomped out and grabbed his jeans. He shoved both legs into the pants and dragged them up his body. His short brown hair was now smoothed back into place, losing that bed-ruffled style that was so freaking sexy. His chocolate eyes looked…sad—a look she’d put there. “You’re not staying?” she asked. “I figured we could snuggle.”

Since they’d decided to move in together when the condo he was in the process of renovating was complete, they’d taken to spending most nights together. At first, they’d alternated which apartment they stayed in. Seemed like now, they always ended up here.

His frown reached down and squeezed her heart. “I haven’t been home in over a week.”

“Seriously?”

His eyes darkened even more. “You haven’t been to my place since my birthday.” The words were just angry enough to be accusatory.

She shrugged.

“You said it cut the commute so you could finish that damn library,” he said.

Angie hung her head, feeling selfish and miserable. Her body was tense, still wanting his touch. Yet she’d let Noah’s sensual questions, each of his gentle inquiries as to what she liked and what she wanted, go unanswered. Instead of being honest, she’d turned their lovemaking into just another task to complete and check off her lengthy “to do” list. “Oh, Noah… I’m so sorry.” Sadness washed over her, sending more tears rolling down her cheeks.

The mattress shifted as Noah sat down next to her, gathering her into his arms. “What’s wrong?”

“I’m a control freak.”

No surprise he didn’t argue with her.

“I’m a bitch, too.” She bowed her head, her tears dotting the sheets.

A squeeze and a kiss on top of her head soothed her. “You’re not a bitch. You’re just stressed out.”

“Too much on my plate,” she added with a dejected sigh.

Noah’s finger under her chin forced her to look up at him. “You don’t have too much on your plate. Problem is that you think you have to worry about every single piece of food on that plate. Hell, you worry about every single piece of food on the table, in the kitchen, in the pantry, at the grocery store…” His wink took the sting out of his words.

“I’m a bitch.”

“You’re not a bitch. You just need to learn to trust people.”

“I trust people.”

His snorted laugh would have hurt had he not been snorting for the same reason she felt like doing so. It
had
been a ridiculous statement.

“You don’t trust your staff.”

“My name’s on the door! If something gets screwed up…I’d have to fix the mess.”

“Ah, c’mon, Angie. You only hire the best. You train them ’til they’re automatons. Anything gets fucked up, they’d immediately know it and fix it.”

He had her there.

“Ever missed a deadline?”

“No.”

Noah’s eyes seemed to bore through her. “Ever lost a contract you bid on?”

“No.”

He stroked her hair, pulling lock by lock over her shoulder. “Fretting and worrying about what
could
happen won’t keep it from happening.”

But that was exactly what she thought—if she worried about it and always stayed on top of things, nothing bad would happen.

Right?

Wrong!
“I hate feeling like this!” Angie wailed before burying her face against his chest and crying in earnest.

Noah couldn’t believe he was actually happy to see her weep. Her tears normally twisted his gut into knots. But this was the first time he’d seen a crack in that wall of stress Angie had carefully constructed around herself the last six months.

Letting her cry until that store of tears was spent, he held her close, smoothing his hands over her silky hair and whispering his love in her ear. When she finally seemed to have a semblance of calm, he kissed her forehead. “So—are you ready to do something about it?”

She leaned back, her red-rimmed eyes staring up into his. “Something about it? Like what?”

“Like change.”

“People can’t change. Learned that in every psychology class I took.”

“It’s hard for people to change, but they can.
You
can. You weren’t always this obsessed with work, you know.”

Hope lit her eyes. “I want things to be the way they used to be.”