Crossing the Line Page 16

  Piper and I climb into a car with dark-tinted windows. Within minutes we are at our hotel, but the guards take us to the alley again to be safe.

  Soon, Piper and I are back in the safety of her suite. The bodyguards station themselves outside our doors and tell us not to open them without a code word. We agree that the code word will be Chicago.

  Piper hasn’t said much since we left the last hotel. She’s nervous and scared, and I don’t blame her.

  I sit down and pull her onto my lap. “You’re flying out of here first thing tomorrow.”

  23

  Piper

  I’m freaking out. Noah is on a mission, but I’m afraid it’s going to get him killed. He’s insisting I head back to Chicago. I’m scared about what might happen, and I don’t want to be away from him.

  “Noah, I’m not leaving New York without you.”

  He cups my face. “Yes, you are.”

  “No,” I adamantly say.

  “Piper—”

  “No! If you want me back in Chicago, then you’re coming with me.”

  “It’s too dangerous here,” Noah insists.

  I get up off him. “You can’t force me. I’m not going until you’re on the plane next to me.”

  “Piper—”

  I cut him off again. “Stop.” I start to leave the room.

  “Don’t walk away from me, Piper.”

  I spin around and glare at him. “Then stop telling me what to do.”

  “I’m trying to protect you.”

  I point at him. “This conversation is over.” I spin to go in the other room.

  Noah stands and comes after me. He grabs my arm and spins me toward him. “Why do you have to always fight me on everything?”

  “Why do you always have to claim you’re trying to protect me then keep me in the dark?”

  He jerks his head back. “What am I keeping you in the dark about?”

  “You kept me in the dark all this time about what you’re doing—”

  “For your safety, which I thought I made clear.”

  “Yes, but you could have told me what you were up to. I wouldn’t have told anyone. You could have trusted me. You didn’t have to carry this all on your own.”

  Noah’s face turns red with anger. “How many times do I have to tell you I don’t want you involved in this for your safety? Why is that so wrong?”

  “Telling me wouldn’t have put me in harm’s way.”

  “You don’t know that.”

  “Yes, I do. I could have helped you more with this,” I cry out.

  “How? Tell me what you would have done different if you knew about this earlier?” Noah is scowling at me now.

  I throw my hands in the air. “I don’t know. I’ve been left out in the dark, but maybe we could have strategized together. Maybe there are angles you haven’t noticed yet. Two heads have got to be better than one on this scope of a project.”

  Noah puts his hands over his face then looks at me again. In a stern voice, he says, “I’m not going to apologize for trying to keep you safe. I never wanted you involved in this because I don’t want you in harm’s way. You don’t know what Kramer is capable of, I do. You’re leaving New York tomorrow.” He walks past me into the bedroom.

  Now I’m pissed. “You’re not the boss of me. Stop acting like you are.”

  “You know what, you’re right. I’m not the boss of you. But I am your boss for work. And I’m telling you you’re going back to Chicago tomorrow.”

  Now he’s done it.

  With my hands on my hips, I snottily laugh. “Wow. Way to pull out your dickhead card again, Noah. But you forget, you aren’t the real boss, are you? That’s Bennett. So stick your boss talk up your ass.”

  Noah stares at me for a moment, not saying anything, then pulls out his phone. He hits a button and puts it on the speaker. It rings a few times as I stand paralyzed, not sure who he is calling, but my stomach drops.

  Bennett’s voice comes across the speaker. “Noah, everything all right?”

  “No, it’s not. I told you not to involve Piper in this, and now we’re in a hotel room with bodyguards outside our door.”

  “What?” Bennett’s voice comes across the phone, worried. “Noah, what happened?”

  The entire time Noah scowls at me. “Kramer Sampson was at the same restaurant we were at for dinner. He threatened me. He knows about at least one, if not all, my meetings, and now he knows what Piper looks like. Then we had two different cars following us. We dodged them in a different hotel and had to call for protection to get us back here.”

  “Shit, Noah.”

  “Yeah. This just got real. So Piper’s on a plane back to Chicago tomorrow morning. You’re on speakerphone, by the way, and she’s standing right here. So since you’re the big boss, go ahead and tell her that she’s going home tomorrow and not staying in New York. Bodyguards will go back with her.”

  My eyes widen, and my face heats up.

  Bennett doesn’t hesitate. “Piper, you’re on a plane first chance possible.”

  “Bennett, that isn’t necessary.”

  “No, Piper. I made a mistake. You need to get back. New York is too dangerous for you to be in if Kramer has any wind of what Noah is trying to do.”

  Noah smirks at me but angrily, and I stay quiet.

  “Piper, that’s an order, do you understand me?” Bennett orders.

  “Fine.”

  “Noah, you be careful,” Bennett says in a voice that makes the hair stand up on my neck.

  “I’ll talk to you tomorrow, Bennett.” Noah hangs up and angrily tosses the phone on the bed.

  “That was really shitty, what you just did.”

  “No, it wasn’t. I’m not going to sit here and allow you to be in any more danger. If you want to be pissed at me, be pissed. If that’s a punishment for keeping you safe, then so be it.”

  I’m shooting daggers at him, probably the hardest I’ve ever glared. I’m so angry.

  You pushed him to do it. He is trying to keep you safe. Stop being such a bitch.

  Yeah, but he’s going to be here with no one now.

  I’m angry but also scared. Not for my safety because I don’t think they will try to come after me, but for Noah’s. I don’t know why, but I feel if I’m with him, then things will somehow be okay, even though my two-plus-two-equals-four brain is telling me that isn’t reality.

  Noah takes a deep breath then softly says, “All I wanted to do was take you out on a nice date. I’m sorry that didn’t happen.”

  I step forward. “That’s not true. I thought we had a great date.”

  “This isn’t what I had planned.”

  I take another step toward him and smile a little. “What did you have planned?”

  “Well, it didn’t involve fighting.”

  I cringe. “I’m sorry.”

  “I feel like that’s all we ever say to each other...although it’s usually me groveling.”

  “You do screw up more than me.”

  “Ha, ha.”

  Wrapping my arms around his waist, I gaze up at him. “I don’t want you to be here by yourself. I’m scared.”

  He puts his arms around me. “I have guards. I’ll be fine. I need to make sure you are away from this though.”

  Suddenly, I’m blinking tears away. “Isn’t there any other way to do this without making yourself a target?”

  A sad expression crosses his face. “I don’t know how.”

  “There has to be.”

  “Piper, it is what it is. I’ve gone around and around on this.”

  A tear drops down my cheek.

  “Hey.” He pulls me to the bed, sits down, and pulls me on his lap. “Everything is going to be okay.”

  “You don’t know that,” I whisper.

  His thumb swipes my tear off my face, and his lips lightly brush mine. “I wasn’t supposed to make you cry on this date, either.”

  I tilt my head at him. “Seems like you had a lot of plans
for this date.”

  “I did,” he says seriously.

  “What else did you have planned?”

  He gives me a half smile. “I was going to take you to a Broadway show.”

  “Really?”

  “Yep. I was giving myself a high five in my head when you said you like to go to shows in Chicago.”

  I stroke his cheek. “That would have been nice.”

  “Tell you what, when this is all over, I’ll bring you back, and we will go to one, okay?”

  I nod. “I did have a really good time tonight at La Tease. It was the best dinner date I’ve ever had.”

  Noah smiles. “Really?”

  “Yes. Thank you.” I lean in and kiss him, trying to forget about how frightened I am that I’ll leave New York and never get to kiss him again.

  It doesn’t matter how many kisses I’ve had from Noah. Every time, it’s like the first. Flutters in my stomach, throbbing body parts, and the scent of his skin consume me, and I’m lost in a Utopia I only get to experience when I’m kissing him.

  He pulls me closer and his fingers grip my hair and his lips and tongue claim me as his.

  “I’ll make it up to you,” he whispers between kisses.

  “What?”

  “Our date that was cut short.”

  “Stop. I had fun.”

  “Me, too.”

  He pulls me down on the bed, and cradles my head in his arm, and he’s gazing down at me. “You look really beautiful tonight, Piper.”

  “So you’ve said.”

  He softly laughs. “It’s worth mentioning more than once.”

  I stroke his cheek and blurt out. “I don’t want to leave you.”

  With a small nod, he says, “I don’t want you to leave me, either, but you have to.”

  I take a deep breath and gaze up at the ceiling, blinking back more tears, as I wish my eyes would stop watering up, but they won’t.

  Noah brings his forehead to mine. “Let’s make the most of tonight, okay? Then when I get back Monday night, I’ll come directly to your place, or you go up to mine instead of leaving work.”

  “Okay.” Once again, I’m kissing him, except this time, there’s an urgency and heat only Noah knows how to bring to me. He unzips my dress before he shoves it off my arms.

  Noah stops kissing me and removes my dress and freezes.

  I’m wearing a black see-through, lace pushup bra and matching crotchless panties that one of the girls secretly packed in the top of my bag. My guess is it was Quinn.

  With fire in his eyes, he growls, “You’ve been wearing this all night?”

  I bite my lip and raise my eyebrow before nodding. I’m trying not to smile.

  “Fuck, you’re hot, Piper,” he mumbles as his lips hit my inner calf and work toward my sex.

  His lips on my thigh makes my pussy pulse, and I sharply inhale as his hands push my legs out before throwing them on top of his shoulder.

  “Oh God!” I cry out as his tongue takes the first swipe.

  Soft fingers graze the lace around my hip and groin, before two slide inside me at once.

  “I can’t believe you sat next to me all night wearing this,” he mumbles, almost absentmindedly, as his fingers curl inside me.

  Moaning, I grasp onto his hair and push his head back to my netherland.

  Noah lightly sucks on my nub, creating a surge of tingles through me.

  His strong hands grab hold of my hips and pull me down into him, as he flicks his tongue throughout me.

  My stomach rises and falls from my increased breath, and my legs are already squeezing his neck. Surges of intoxicating warmth and little pulses race through my body from Noah’s lips and tongue.

  I push his head into me, and he softly laughs then clasps my hands. “I’m going to savor you tonight, Piper.” He moves my hands to my hips and places his over mine and holds them against me, just like the first night we were together and teases me again.

  I know what this means. He’s going to take his time and keep me on edge for longer. But I’m already on edge, and I want to push his head hard into me, but I can’t because he has my hands on lockdown.

  The sea of mayhem Noah creates in me is a pulsing paradise of never-ending pleasurable torture. His hands are firmly holding mine to my hips, but his fingers are stroking mine, sending my blood racing up my arms.

  “Noah,” I cry out as the pressure intensifies everywhere, and my body heats up.

  Rolling currents run through my body as Noah continues to caress me in a slow but steady pattern till my breath is so labored, my mouth is a continuous O.

  My eyes are fluttering open and shut and I’m begging him not to stop, to keep going, to make me fly, but he keeps me on the edge with every cell in my body buzzing with life.

  As his tongue slides over me, his lips pulse quickly against my aching clit before his tongue glides on it again. Over and over, he gives me just a little of his lips, and I get higher than I was before without climaxing, which I didn’t think was possible.

  His hands push mine harder into my hips, and I buck up into his face, crying out, “Oh God, please!”

  Another soft laugh comes out of him, and I squeeze my thighs around his neck as hard as I can and buck into his face again, and he sucks on me so intensely, every cell in my body shatters into euphoria, and I scream out his name.

  My body convulses in Noah’s mouth. Dizziness overpowers me, and everything turns white.

  When Noah releases me, I’m still trembling, and he kisses me on my stomach. Fresh tingles burst through my cells, my chest still heaving from my high.

  His dexterous fingers pull my breasts out of my bra, and his mouth is soon gently sweeping across my nipples.

  New currents roll through me. I moan from his touch and wrap my arms around him.

  Noah’s erection slides across my sensitive nub. He groans, and I pull his face up to mine, hungrily kissing him, tasting my orgasm, wrapping my legs around him.

  He enters me as my hands greedily push on his muscular ass.

  “Oh fuck, you feel good,” he mumbles on my lips as I whimper.

  His girth fills me, shimmying against my already trembling walls, generating a new wonderland as Noah and I melt together.

  “So good,” I whisper, clutching him tighter and digging into his back.

  He buries his lips into the curve of my neck, lightly sucking, then increasing his pressure, and I’m sure he’s marked me.

  “Shit!” I cry out. The sting of his lips sends a perfect pain through my cells, and I wonder if my nails drew blood on his back.

  “You’re mine,” he murmurs while nibbling on my earlobe then pushes his forehead to mine. “I love you. Don’t forget it.”

  I shake my head. With a trembling lip, I whisper, “I won’t. I love you.”

  His dark-brown eyes drill into mine then he crushes his lips to mine, thrusting into me harder and wrapping his arms tighter around me.

  Our bodies are humming against each other, glistening with sweat, scorching with heat, pulsing with adrenaline.

  “Oh...oh...” My sex spasms on him, pushing me closer to unraveling on him.

  A delicious, throaty groan comes out of Noah, as he swells inside me.

  “Harder,” I beg then grab his ass and push him deeper into me, desperate to feel all of him.

  He circles his hips and thrusts harder into me, swiping my sweet spot, over and over.

  “Noah!”

  He stops circling and thrusts in the old rhythm.

  “No...no...don’t stop!” I beg him.

  “You want this, Piper,” he growls, circling his hips again.

  “God, yes, please,” I whimper out.

  “Okay, baby,” he murmurs against my lips, and circles in me so hard, every cell bursts with adrenaline, and then I fly higher when he pumps his seed into me.

  “Fuck, Piper,” he cries out, his body trembling along with mine.

  Seizures unleash on his cock, as my body is in a feroc
ious fight of gripping and releasing him.

  When we finally calm, he rolls onto his side and pulls me along with him, gliding his tongue on mine, caressing my naked back, and entwining our legs.

  Like every night I’ve ever spent with Noah, he fucks me into an oblivion of exhaustion, but this time, he never leaves me. The asshole is gone, and the real Noah and Piper have arrived.

  24

  Noah

  Piper and I stay up all night, talking and laughing between orgasms. When she finally falls asleep, she’s cradled in my arms. I kiss her head and stroke her back, happy she’s finally staying with me, and I didn’t have to play the asshole role.

  I don’t want her to go, but she needs to. It isn’t safe for her in New York, and I have to finish my meetings.

  Kramer may or may not know what I’m up to, but he’s definitely watching me, and that alone has me worried. I knew when I started this mission that I was at risk of his wrath, but now Piper is involved.

  Reaching over to the nightstand, I pick up my phone and search for flights. There is an eleven thirty out of JFK. I book a first-class ticket for Piper and the two guards Phil sent over. I’ll get two more guards for myself in the morning.

  My meeting is at one o’clock with Markler Corporation. I’ll have enough time to go to the airport with Piper and then my meeting.

  It’s five in the morning, but I shoot a text to Nixon. “Call me as soon as you wake up.”

  Nixon is the only one in New York who knows my plans. He’s been my right hand for the last eight years. I need to figure out how this got leaked if Kramer was telling the truth.

  Piper stirs and snuggles closer to me. I stroke her curly brown hair and kiss her head again. Since our first night together, I’ve wanted her like this: in my arms, staying with me, not wanting me to be an asshole. She’s finally open to us being together, and I need to make sure I get back to Chicago as soon as possible and keep Kramer and anyone else away from her. I also need to make sure we sort out HR and Bennett so it’s over and done with.

  A part of me fears Piper might freak out when she gets back to Chicago and rethink us being together. Her career is a priority in her life, and I don’t want her reanalyzing our relationship. My head is telling me I need to be in Chicago to remind her how good we are together, and that I’ll protect her not only from bad men like Kramer but from any gossip that might come up from work.