Tycoon Takes Revenge (12 page)

Soon his suit jacket hit the ground, followed by her top, and his shirt and tie.

He traced her cleavage along the contours of her lacy black bra. “Pretty,” he murmured before divesting her of that item as well.

He slid his undershirt over his head and she trailed her fingertips over his flat, muscled chest and along the biceps of his arms.

Love had liberated her to admire him openly and desire him unabashedly. He was gorgeous and he was all hers.

The look in his eyes when her gaze connected with his again was filled with desire. “You're invited to touch me anywhere…and everywhere.”

His words shivered over her skin, making her nipples tighten and the heaviness between her legs in
crease. She itched to be surrounded by him, consumed by him.

He bent and placed a kiss at the corner of her mouth. “Of course,” he said, “I expect reciprocal privileges.”

She heated at the thoughts that conjured.

He pulled her close then, and she gave herself up to a kiss that seared them both. The evidence of his need fueled her own.

When they broke apart, he said, “I've got to be with you,” and she could only think he'd given voice to her own need.

Quickly, they pulled off the rest of their clothes.

When he was gloriously naked, she reached out and stroked his erection, and he sucked in a breath. She watched as his eyes closed, his face a mask of need and desire and pleasure.

“You know we're going to have a fantastic life together, don't you?” he said hoarsely.

“Mmm-hmm,” she responded as she continued to stroke him, then added teasingly, “is this the fantastic part?”

Without waiting for a response, she dropped down and took him in her mouth, stroking and caressing him, hearing his hissed intake of breath.

“Oh, yeah,” he groaned.
“Kayla.”

She took her time and, when she was done, she stood up and met his passion-clouded eyes.

“Wow,” he said hoarsely. Then he picked her up and tossed her on the bed. She let out a squeal but he cut it off with a swift kiss.

He trailed kisses down her body, blazing a trail of tingling sensation that caused her to shift restlessly. When he reached the juncture of her thighs, she whimpered.

“Shh,” he whispered, his breath hot against her.

“Easy for you to say,” she whispered back as his hands caressed her thighs.

“Trust me,” he said soothingly.

And she did. In the deepest, truest sense, she realized, as he kissed her intimately, sending sparks shooting through her.

Her hands tangled in his hair. “Oh, Noah…”

When she thought she could stand no more, he lifted his head and reached for the pants that he'd discarded at the foot of the bed, then pulled out a small foil packet. He quickly donned protection, then stretched out next to her, gathering her into his arms.

She felt seductive, making love clandestinely with the man that she loved while wearing only the beautiful, sparkling engagement ring that he had given her.

He moved over her, seeking entry, and she shifted to accommodate him. She sighed as he slid inside her, and he expelled a breath that was half groan, half moan.

Then they moved together, loving each other and building to a crescendo that had her quivering and clinging to him.

“I love you,” she gasped.

“Likewise,” he replied on a groan.

She could feel the tension building within her, the world dimming. She knew she was close.

“So, is it enough?” he whispered in her ear, his breath coming heavily.

“More than I ever dreamed,” she responded, and that was her last thought as she went tumbling over the edge along with him…and into their future.

“W
ho would have guessed Matt would be the last Whittaker standing,” Noah said in disbelief. “The rest of us were running around trying to take each other out of the game while he just sat back and watched.”

Allison nodded in agreement. “The fiend.”

“Yeah,” Noah joked. “To think he had the nerve to thwart your grand scheme to marry off all your annoying older brothers so you could rule the world.”

He and Kayla, along with Elizabeth and Quentin and their baby, had shown up at Allison and Connor's townhouse in the Beacon Hill section of Boston to watch the New England Patriots take on the Pittsburgh Steelers in one of football's more heated rivalries. After his recent marriage to Allison, Connor had put his luxury condo
on the market and moved into Allison's townhouse, though they had kept Connor's house in the Berkshires as their getaway home.

It was a blustery Sunday afternoon in November, and they were all sitting around Allison's family room, baby Nicholas asleep upstairs, waiting for the football game to start. Matt would have been there, too, but he'd begged off, citing an early dinner with some business associates.

“Matt plays his cards close to his chest,” Quentin said. “We'll never know whether being the last unmarried Whittaker was his goal all along or whether things just happened that way. As we all know, Matt's always been sort of enigmatic.”

“Well, I think it's time we got Matt to his happily-ever-after,” Allison said. “After all, I tried to get you and Noah married off, and, Noah, you and Quentin helped me get married off. We practically owe it to Matt. I, for one, consider it almost my duty.”

Noah and Quentin groaned in unison.

“What?” Allison demanded.

Noah and Quentin exchanged looks before Noah said, “Let's just say sometimes we wish you'd stop taking the sisterly loyalty thing to its illogical extreme.”

“Ha, ha,” Allison retorted. “The fact of the matter is, we have to do something—”

“And you're not above enlisting my help and Quent's,” Noah finished.

Allison lifted her chin. “I'm not above making strategic alliances.”

He snorted. “You're also not willing to concede defeat.”

“The fact of the matter is,” Allison said, ignoring him, “Matt doesn't stand a chance. I'm not above some scheming, and you and Quentin obviously know something about snagging a lifelong partner to head down the aisle with.”

Noah cast her a skeptical look. “Just
how
are we supposed to get Matt shackled? He's notoriously private. I'm his brother, and I don't even know if he's seeing anyone.”

Allison glanced over at Kayla. “Kayla would know. She gets the dirt on a lot of people.”

Noah turned to gaze at Kayla, too. As usual, just looking at her made him feel good. Her hair was pulled back in a ponytail, and her ice-blue turtleneck contrasted nicely with the creaminess of her skin. He thought again about how much he loved her. “You know,” he said, “you never did tell me who tipped you off about me for your column.”

“Um.” Kayla's eyes strayed to Allison.

Noah followed her gaze. “Don't tell me,” he muttered.

Allison stopped with a glass raised halfway to her lips. “Don't flatter yourself.”

Noah arched an eyebrow.

“Oh, all right.” Allison made a dismissive gesture with her hand. “I may have said at a cocktail party or two,
There he goes! Go get 'im!
But only because I didn't want Kayla sniffing around
me
for a story.”

“So you'd throw your own brother to the bloodhounds?” Noah asked in mock offense.

“No,” Allison said archly, “but I'd feed him to the single women in the room.” She looked from him to Kayla.

“And I don't see you complaining.”

He looked again at Kayla. He'd found love in the most unexpected place, but it worked for him. With her help, he'd put the past behind him instead of trying to forget it with an endless stream of women and parties. Though he and Kayla came from different backgrounds, it was like finding the other half of himself:
the better half.

He dropped his arm onto Kayla's shoulders, pulling her to him. “Have I been complaining, Kayla?”

Kayla looked at the man who'd opened her eyes to a whole other level of closeness. Thanks to him, she'd learned that rejection and hurt and distrust weren't the inevitable consequence of loving someone who'd grown up in better circumstances than she had, just as she'd learned that those same circumstances of birth were the least important aspect of her relationship with Noah.

She looked now into Noah's green eyes, so happy that she was nearly giddy, and so secure in his love that she could tease right back. “Mmm, no complaints, but I'm spreading the word to Jody Donaldson and Sybil LaBreck that your title of Boston's most eligible bachelor should be passed on to Matt. As far as I know, he isn't seeing anyone.”

Allison laughed.

Noah raised his eyebrows. “Honey,” he pretended to plead, “don't tell me you're taking a cue from Allison and using the society pages for matchmaking.”

Kayla smiled at him, while Quentin and Connor
joked about Noah joining the “married men's club,” and Liz said, “Hear, hear!” in approval.

“You know what they say,” Kayla said sweetly, just before Noah's lips claimed hers, “you can take the girl out of the gossip column, but you can't take the gossip columnist out of the girl.”