Page 93 of Fall From Grace
“Come inside, it’s a little cooler,” he told me as he grabbed my arm and pulled me forward. “There’s a little office inside, I’ll show you.”
I smiled, thinking that he might be anxious and a tad excited to show me the garage that was his now.
“I like the name you picked out,” I found myself saying.
He turned and cocked an eyebrow at me before grabbing his neck and smiling almost like he was embarrassed. “I thought you’d like that.” Then he turned back around as we slipped inside. Two other men were inside working and they nodded and grinned at us as we walked past them. “It was only a matter of time before I went and got you and brought you home myself to show you.”
Home.Where was that for me anymore?
I thought I heard Janet’s car starting up and pulled away from Noah as I ran back toward the garage door. Noah took Gus from my hands as he moved beside me as we watched Janet drive away. “She left me,” I muttered.
Noah laughed. “Guess you’re stuck here with me until I bring you home.” He turned back around and I followed, silently thanking Janet for taking my choice away but at the same time, the fear kept me on edge, reminding me of the guilt.
He took me to a back room which was a small office.Hisoffice. I eyed the rolling chair right before he said, “Go ahead and sit down.”
“What time do you get off?” I asked as I plopped down in the chair and started spinning myself in it.
“Are you going to play at your teacher’s desk when you start teaching as well?” he asked, leaning against the desk with his arms folded as he watched me. When I tilted my head back at him, he added, “You might have tried your hardest not to find out about me, but I tried very hard to keep up with you the last few years. You’re suited to be a teacher.”
I started spinning again. “You never posted much online, so of course, I never knew what was going on in your life.”
He kicked his foot out and stopped me from spinning. I swallowed as his gaze heated me up with a smirk. “So, you were curious?” he asked. “You could have just called, even better, you could have come home to me already.”
He pulled me closer with his leg until my knees hit his legs. “Why do you keep expecting me to come back when I said, ‘don’t wait’,” I whispered, trying to dispel the mood between us. It wasn’t working, and with the heavy-lidded gaze he was caressing my body with, it only seemed to have made him worse.
“You’re here, aren’t you?” he caught me with his question. “How did you end up with Janet? You drove, didn’t you?” He leaned over me, placing his hands on the arms of my chair. I leaned back, trying to make myself a part of the chair. “You’re asking to be caught, Priss. No, you’re begging me to keep you… you just don’t realize it yet, but don’t worry, I’m not letting you go this time.”
He loomed closer, his azure eyes calling me in as his breath fanned my neck. I shuddered and leaned away. He followed until his lips were at the pulse thrumming in my neck, a single light kiss made me shiver. I placed my hand between his mouth and my skin. “What are you doing?” I mumbled.
He didn’t pull away and it was killing me. “It’s been a long damn time since I’ve had your body right here for the taking, instead of my hand, Grace, and I’m coming unglued because of it, especially with you right here stuck in my office…”
I let my head fall back as I closed my eyes. “It’s been so long,” I agreed.
I gasped when he scooped me up unexpectedly and tossed me onto the desk. I looked at him stunned as he placed his forehead against mine. “You haven’t even been with anybody else, have you?” It wasn’t a question—he knew. “I know just what I created inside you when we were only thirteen, why didn’t you sleep with anyone else?” he whispered into my neck. “I can tell, I just know. You keep giving yourself away.” I’d been exposed beneath the heated gaze and his long eyelashes.
I pushed him barely. “This is inappropriate.”
“I’ll be inappropriate every damn time I’m with you for the rest of our lives because I’m going to keep you by my side and smother you with all this you’ve made me hold onto for the last few years.”
He cupped my cheek and met my eyes. He kissed my nose, my forehead, my cheeks, and my chin. By the time he was finished, I was shaking with this strong, intense emotion and breathing hot against his face. I grabbed his hand and leaned in.
“Noah, whoa,” one of the other workers said as he stepped into the room then immediately covered his eyes. We weren’t doing anything, but Noah was standing between my legs and an inch from my face when I coughed and shoved him away slowly. “We got someone out here wanting you to do an estimate… I didn’t know you’d be busy,” he said, winking at Noah.
“I’ll be right there,” Noah said, and the worker walked away from the doorway. He looked back at me when he was gone. “Are you hungry? I can make one of the guys go out and get you something, it’s gonna be a few hours.”
I nodded. “I’m fine. Go on and work, I’m gonna stay in here.”
He smiled at me. “Everything’s right with the world again.”
He surprised me so I said, “What?”
“Having you by my side again.” He didn’t give me the chance to say anything as he slipped out the door. I stared down at the jacket beside me and picked it up. Noah’s name was on the tag, I brought it up to my neck and sighed.
That comfort I felt with Noah always reminded me of Nyquil, his presence had a way of making me content with life and everything to the point that I was drowsy. Before I realized what I was doing, I laid down and cradled myself atop the desk and drifted to sleep and hoped when I woke, it wasn’t the guilt that greeted me.
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When I woke, I knew it was Noah’s arms that carried me. The stream of light hit my eyes and I brought my hand up to shield them from the sun. “Finally awake?” Noah asked as he opened his truck door with me still in his arms.