Page 82 of All of Him
“I’m going to kiss you. And this time, I’m going to mean it.”
“You’d better.”
Noah let out a nervous breath, then lowered his lips to mine. I barely felt them at first, unable to fathom what was even happening. As he pressed them harder onto my mouth, I sucked in a breath, and reality hit me.
Noah pulled back, looking for any instant regret in my eyes. I returned his glance, grabbing his belt loops and pulling him closer, like I had the night before. He pressed his forehead to mine, pausing, then nudged my nose with his own, eventually joining our lips again.
It was nothing like the eager kiss we’d had before. It was slow and deep, as if we both knew that we had all the time in the world. The invisible boundary between us had been torn down, absolutely destroyed, and we crossed it with intention. I let my hand wander to the back of his head, holding him, not that he was going to back away. His hands had yet to leave the sides of my face.
He was claiming me, and I was surrendering.
When Noah pulled away, I tucked my face into his chest again, gripping his shirt with both fists.
“I’m not letting go,” I resisted. “I don’t want this to stop.”
“You don’t have to,” Noah said into my ear. “Not this time.”
I let out a breath and loosened my fists, finding his eyes again. Suddenly, with the green light brightly lit, I felt the urge to keep going. Noah smirked, then kissed me gently one more time.
“It’s cold outside,” I said breathlessly. “I think we should go in.”
“Yeah,” Noah agreed, understanding what that could mean. “We should…go inside.”
The hotel door closed behind us, and Noah locked it, leaving me standing in the dark foyer. We’d walked quickly back from the bridge, almost as if nothing had happened. We’d joked about the people we passed, occasionally bumping into one another, but never taking the other’s hand.
Once Noah turned around, it was as if the play button were pressed again. He let his hands fall gently on my hips through my open coat, leaning down to kiss my lips softly. I let my own hands slide into his coat, then up to his shoulders, sliding off the jacket. Without breaking our kiss, he tossed his coat onto the chair behind him, then ran his fingers lightly against my jaw.
I slid off my own coat, tossing it to be smooth, like he had, but it landed on the end table, taking out the hotel phone. Noah couldn’t help but laugh against my mouth and pulled away for a brief second.
“You are something else, Manda.”
I laughed with him, then lowered my hands to the hem of his shirt.
Noah allowed me to peel it off, then went for mine. I was so used to men just ripping off my clothes, but his movements felt so natural and calculated. I felt every part of me flush as he pressed his bare torso into mine and deepened the kiss.
Noah kept his lips on me, eventually moving them to my neck, then behind my ear, his breath simmering. I ran my hands through his hair, trying to savor every second and every part of our bodies that touched. And as his fingers dipped into the back of my pants, I wondered when we were going to stop.
“What happened to you always taking things slow?” I joked.
Noah looked back at me sincerely, shaking his head.
“The clock didn’t start when I kissed you. It started the day I met you. I’ve already been waiting too long.”
His words blasted my heart, and his breath hitched as I crashed my mouth back onto his. I felt his fingers fumble with my button, then the zipper. I lowered my own hands from his shoulders and undid his belt, suddenly needing every part of him against me.
“Fuck,” I gasped, feeling his length against the back of my hand. But then I remembered a very important detail. “Wait.”
Noah paused, stepping back and holding his hands up, as if to surrender. His chest rose and fell rapidly, his expression a plea for me to not pull the plug. “Do you even have a condom?”
Noah nodded, still holding his hands up. I narrowed my eyes at him, suspicious, and wondered if he’d planned this.
“I bought them the day after we kissed. Just in case,” he explained.
I nodded, trying to gather my thoughts. It wasn’t easy with Noah standing in front of me, shirtless, with an apparent bulge.
“Noah,” I whispered, mentally cursing Marcus for my hesitation, “I need to know this isn’t a mistake. I need to know…”
“Manda,” Noah begged, stepping closer to me, but not making a move to reach out, “do you trust me?”
