Winning Her Racy Heart [Racy Nights 1] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) (7 page)

Noah raised his eyebrows but kept silent. Of course Adison apologized. Kari was super hot and he wanted in her pants again. Noah stopped that thought almost as soon as it popped into his mind. Wasn’t that exactly what he was hoping for? What did he want from Kari Tye? Was his attraction to her only sexual? He didn’t believe so, but she wouldn't see it that way. Even though they’d lived next door to each other while growing up, they barely knew each other.

What if Adison wanted more than to simply resume his physical relationship with her? What if his attraction also went deeper? Could Noah handle that? Could he deal with her getting to know both him and Adison again at the same time if she chose to? Listening to her talk about the possibility of Adison changing was enough to bring on a headache. Why did it have to be that smug prick, of all people?

“I know. I was shocked too.” She must have assumed his silence meant he was surprised, and he let her believe it. “But like I said, people can change.”

“What else did he say?”

“Nothing. Just that he was sorry, and he wanted to be friends with me.”

There was something odd about the way she said “friends,” and he couldn’t help but wonder if Adison had said a bit more than that.

“I’d like us to be friends, Kari.” He reached over and covered her hand again. The touch of her skin sent a jolt straight to his dick. “Good friends.” He’d almost said “more than friends,” but she wasn’t stupid or naïve. She had to know he was physically attracted to her.

He watched the emotions cross her face, as if she were making up her mind about something. Was he moving too fast? Had he assumed too much? He took his hand away and picked up the last onion ring on his plate. “You said you were with your Dom for nine years. What happened?”

Sadness filled her beautiful eyes. “He let me go.”

Noah stopped halfway to his mouth. “Why?”

She licked her lips in a nervous gesture. “I was just shy of twenty-one when I met him. He was thirty-six. He listened as I told him about every wicked fantasy I’d ever had, and he talked about his, too, but they weren’t just fantasies. He was actually living these things. He was so gentle and patient with me. I fell like a stone, Noah.”

She picked at the last of the onion rings on her plate. “He taught me everything and took me places I’d only dreamed about seeing. I thought he loved me. I really did. Then on my thirtieth birthday, he told me we were done. He likes them young, you see. As a consolation prize he told me he’d never kept a sub as long as he’d kept me.”

Holy shit
. “Kari, I’m so sorry.” What an asshole this guy must have been. He’d heard about Doms doing things like that, and he had always thought he understood it to a point, but now, sitting here and watching the resignation in her eyes as she told the story, it only sounded sadistic and beyond cruel. Thirty wasn’t old, by any stretch of the imagination. How could any guy give her up for such a shallow reason?

“It’s not all that unusual, is it?” The question was sincere. There was no trace of sarcasm in her voice or her eyes.

“It happens, but still…” He searched her face as his voice trailed off. The pain was still there, deep in her eyes, but she was trying very hard to hide it. Noah wanted to wipe it away. He wanted to chase it from her past and replace it with new memories. “You mentioned that you worked at a shop in Manhattan. Is that where you met him?”

“No. I met him at a party. We hung out at Cheena’s shop a lot though, and when he let me go he actually helped me get a job there.”

“Well, at least he didn’t just toss you out on the street, I guess.”

“Oh no. It was a very amicable breakup.”

This time the sarcasm in her voice came through loud and clear, but what she’d said about her job at the sex shop made him curious about something. As the waitress brought their check and he offered to pay for it, he debated whether to ask Kari a question, and finally he decided it couldn’t hurt to do so. At the very worst she’d tell him it was none of his damn business. “Is that where you made the money to buy the house? At Cheena’s shop?”

She laughed softly. “Are you kidding? Working retail? No. He worked on Wall Street, you see. My parents had given me money when I first moved to New York, and he invested it for me. He was very good with the market, and when he let me go I had a nice chunk of change that I hadn’t even known existed until that day.”

“So, basically he bought you off with your own money.”

“Ouch, Noah. Yeah, I guess he did, but I didn’t know anything about the stock market. The money grew substantially after nine years of careful investments. If I’d simply put it into a savings account I wouldn’t have had enough to buy the house, let alone renovate it. And if he hadn’t let me go, I wouldn’t be back here, about to open my own shop.”

Noah stared into her eyes. “And then I wouldn’t be having dinner with you. So while I’m sorry you were hurt like that, I’m glad that he let you go.”

He paid the check, and they walked outside to stand under the neon lights in the cold. Noah struggled for something clever to say that would extend this night beyond their walking back to Luke’s Bar, where she’d get in her car and drive away. A delivery truck rumbled past on the road, making enough noise to wake the dead.

“That reminds me,” she said. “I have to call about those floggers they delivered the other day, and it won’t be a pretty conversation.”

“Why is that?”

“I wasn’t paying enough attention when I signed for them. I didn’t get all of them, and I hope the others are coming in a separate shipment, but now I have to make sure.”

“Floggers, eh?” He took a chance and pulled her into his arms. “I’d love to see them.”

“Oh you would, would you?” Her smile was sexy and inviting, and Noah’s dick grew rock hard. “Don’t you have any of your own to admire?”

“I have a very extensive toy collection, if you must know.” He held his breath for a second. It was now or never. “Would you like to see it? Only to get ideas for your shop, of course.”

“Of course. I mean, why else would I want to?”

He touched her hair, resisting the urge to tangle his fingers in it and give it a tug. The look in her eyes finally lost its hesitancy as they locked gazes. “I can think of another reason why, Kari.”

* * * *

Kari shivered at the deep sexy tone to his voice. “So can I,” she whispered.

He bent his head to kiss her, and she moaned softly. His lips were as warm as she’d imagined. She parted hers to let his tongue inside. It rolled over hers, sending jolts of pure desire to her throbbing clit and soaking wet pussy.

Kari wrapped her arms around his waist, wanting to pull him inside her body. The man knew how to kiss. She was dizzy in a matter of seconds. The sense of floating away competed with the throbbing in her clit. This was really going to happen! And now that she knew he was dominant, the possibilities filled her with delicious anticipation.

He released her mouth and caressed her cheek, searching her face. “Forgive me. I couldn’t help myself.”

“No forgiveness necessary. I’ve wanted you to kiss me since the day you walked into the shop with my dad.” It was true. There was no point in not telling him that.

He grinned and she bit back a moan. “I guess we’d better go and get our cars then.”

As they walked back to Luke’s Bar, Kari sent Alexa a text telling her she was probably going to spend the night with Noah. The walk back to the bar took only ten minutes, but it might as well have taken ten hours. Kari wanted to run back.

They’d agreed that she would simply follow Noah back to his condo on the east end of town so she didn’t have to leave her car in the parking lot at the bar. Kari couldn’t get into her car fast enough, and she kept silently urging Noah to drive faster through the streets of Racy.

The complex he lived in was no more than five years old. She remembered her father telling her about it on the phone one day. They’d used a lot of locals for the construction crews, and as such the developer had forever cemented himself as favorable to the town.

He pulled up to a brick-front townhouse, and she pulled into the space next to his car in the garage. He opened the door to his condo, and Kari breathed in the scents of sage and leather. She immediately asked to use the bathroom because she needed to catch her breath for a minute.

It had been almost a year since she’d had sex, and that had been near the end of an embarrassing relationship that had lasted all of six weeks. Cheena had warned her against dating a coworker. She hadn’t had a meaningful relationship since The Sir let her go. Should she tell Noah it had been that long? Should they talk about safe words and limits? Such clinical mood-breakers, but she and Noah really didn’t know each other. They’d barely spoken until several days ago.

As soon as Kari stepped out of the bathroom, Noah called to her from around a corner. “Would you like some water to take upstairs? That’s where the toys are.”

She followed his voice and walked into a kitchen with stainless steel appliances and white cabinets. Everything looked and smelled neat and clean. It was such a far cry from the chaotic and haphazard home he’d grown up in that all her doubts faded. He wouldn’t mistreat her. This wasn’t high school, and they weren’t kids. He knew what he was doing. They’d talk about what they needed to talk about when the time came.

“Yes, I would. Thanks, Noah.”

He smiled at her as he handed her a bottle of water. “My pleasure.” Once they each had water, he led her up the stairs.

“How long have you lived here?”

“Since they were built five years ago.”

“Is that how long you’ve worked for Notus?”

“No, I’ve been with them for seven years, ever since I earned my MS. I was back home with my parents for a while before buying this place.”

“It’s really nice.”

He led her into a bedroom decorated in forest green and maroon. The colors suited him, and were soothing and rich. “I’m glad you like it. Now, have a seat, and prepared to be amazed.”

Kari giggled as she perched on the edge of the king bed. “Nice mattress.”

“Yeah. Whatever.” Noah opened the door to his closet and Kari almost dropped her water bottle. One entire half of the back wall was covered with floggers, paddles, cuffs, silk scarves and various ways to tie someone up, all arranged neatly on hooks and little shelves.

“Good Lord, Noah. Where do you keep your clothes?”

He chuckled. “I don’t need a lot of closet space.” He winked at her before cutting his gaze to her cowboy boots. “I don’t have that many pairs of boots.”

“I’m impressed. Really. I also may have to ask you to help me arrange the merchandise in my shop.” She stood up. “May I touch?”

“Sit back down and let me bring them to you. It’ll be more fun that way.” Kari shivered at the tone of his voice, sexy and commanding at the same time. She took her seat again and brought the water bottle to her lips, but her fingers were trembling and it dripped down her chin. She wiped it, and then placed the bottle on the nightstand, more interested in the bright pink flogger he took off a hook than the water.

It was long with narrow strips—the kind that would sting and leave a nice after-bite. She reached out to touch it and he slapped her hand with it. “You’ll only touch when I give you permission to do so, Kari.”

Kari had to bite back a moan. Her clit began to throb again. Between the low, sexy tone of his voice and the teasing light in his beautiful blue eyes, she knew she was in real danger of losing herself to Noah’s control tonight. That thought filled her with a delicious sense of wickedness and desire.

He pulled the flogger back out of her reach. “Understood?”

“Yes, sir.”

Noah’s grin was enough to make her pussy contract. “Hold out your hands, palms up.”

She did as he asked and he brushed the flogger lightly over her palms, holding her gaze as he did so. Kari swallowed against the sudden lump in her throat.

“Have you had one of these used on your lovely ass, Kari?”

“Yes, sir.” She tried not to smile at his words. Had he just said she had a lovely ass?

“Did you like it?”

“Very much.”

“This one stings.”

“I’ll bet it does, but that’s why I’d enjoy it.”

He moved the flogger off her hands and brushed it across the front of her sweater. Kari couldn’t stop the moan this time.

“When I accidentally brushed my arm against your breast the other day I thought I was going to come in my pants.”

Kari could hardly take a breath let alone form a coherent answer. “Yeah…me too.”

Noah smiled. “I was right then.”

“About what?”

“That look on your face. You enjoyed that.”

Kari didn’t know what to say. The realization that he’d known all week how arousing that accidental feel had been for her was overwhelming. He slapped the flogger gently against her breasts and Kari moaned again.

“Ever had your boobs flogged, Kari?”

“Yes,” she whispered.

“How about your pussy?” He ran it down her abdomen and across her left thigh.

“Noah…please…”

“Kari, you can beg me all you want, but you should know that I intend to tease you until you can’t stand it anymore, and then I’m going to tease you some more, just for fun.”

Kari shivered as he held her gaze. He put the flogger next to her on the bed and she was tempted to touch it, just to see what he would do.

“Don’t test me on it, Kari.” Her face burned with embarrassment as she lifted her gaze to his. His eyes were filled with molten desire. “Your ass won’t like the consequences.”

Kari had never been teased like this. The Sir had been all business, and any teasing he’d done was more for his pleasure, not hers. Noah took out a small black leather paddle and crawled on the bed behind her. “Hold your arms over your head.”

She did as he asked, inhaling his cologne. The heat coming off his body was so warm she could feel his presence behind her. He kissed the top of her head then tangled his fingers in her hair and gave it a gentle tug.

“I want to bind your wrists, but we haven’t talked about limits or safe words.”