“Hope.”
She should have locked the door. Noah stood in the doorway, his big body blocking out the sun. “Go away, Noah.”
“That is not going to happen. You’re going to talk, and you’re going to do it now.”
“I am not talking to you. I want to be alone.” Tears coursed down her face, but she was filled with anger. At herself. At Christian. At Noah for standing there and looking so perfect.
His jaw squared, and he walked into her tiny room. “I’m not going to do that, Hope. I’m done playing around. You can hate me later, but you’re coming with me now. We’re going to walk back downstairs and pick up our lunch, and then you and me and Jamie are all going back to the ranch. You’re not leaving the house again until you explain to us what’s wrong.”
“You can’t force me to go with you.”
“Sure, I can. I’m bigger and stronger and quite frankly, I think I’m meaner than you.”
“I’ll call the sheriff.”
“I’m sure you will if you can get to a phone. I think you might find that hard to do after I tie you up.”
“You think you can kidnap me and make me talk? What if there isn’t anything to talk about, Noah? What if I just don’t like you? What if I just don’t want to be around you?”
She’d struck a direct hit. She could see that plainly in the way his eyes flared. He wasn’t as confident as he seemed, but he simply crossed his arms over his chest and continued. “I don’t think so. You might not like me, but I sure as hell feel something for you. And I know you’re in trouble. So yes, I will do whatever it takes to get through all this stubborn crap and make sure you’re safe. If I end up in jail, then at least I’ll know I did what I had to do.”
“Get out of my house.”
He looked around. “This isn’t much of a house. It’s more of a hole in the wall that it looks like you’re hiding in. And it reeks of smoke. You can’t stay here.”
He wasn’t going to let it go. He wasn’t going to leave her alone. How did she get him to drop it? “So you’re going to fix me? You? You can’t fix yourself, Noah. Everyone in this town hates you. You’re the last person who can help me.”
It was horrible, and she wanted to call back the words the minute they left her mouth. Had she really sunk this low that she’d become cruel to the people who tried to help her? At least when she was drinking she was just horrible to herself. She was just about to ask for forgiveness when he moved into her space. She was forced to look up, and there wasn’t a bit of forgiveness in his eyes. His lips were turned up in a cruel little smirk that was so far from his normal sweet grin that Hope wondered if she hadn’t truly woken a beast inside Noah Bennett.
“Is that what I am? The most hated man in Bliss County? Well, then I guess it won’t matter than that one more person hates me.” He practically spat the words from his mouth, and he gripped her shoulders. “You know, Hope, I lived for years with a woman who really knew how to cut me down to size. You’ve got nothing on her. Why don’t you tell me how useless I am? How bad I am in bed? How perverse I am? Do you want to know why I’m perverted in my ex-wife’s eyes? Let me tell you. I made the mistake of telling her some of my fantasies because I thought it could save our marriage. I told her I wanted to tie her up and spank her ass. I wanted to bend her to my will in the bedroom. I wanted to fuck her in some fairly kinky ways. You know something, Hope, I never wanted to do the things to her that I want to do to you. A little over twenty-four hours and I want to shove my cock up your ass while you’re trussed up like a sacrifice to my pleasure. So if you want to hurt me, you tell me how pathetic I am for wanting those things. That’s what will get to me. Don’t give me some crap about how everyone hates me. They couldn’t hate me any more than I hate myself.”
“I’m sorry.” She whispered the words because she couldn’t speak them out loud. She really saw into Noah Bennett, and she understood him. He might not have earned his self-loathing the way she had, but it was there, mirroring her own. He didn’t deserve it.
“Goddamn it, girl, don’t you cry. Don’t you cry.” His hands moved from her shoulders to her face, cupping her cheeks and turning her chin up. “Don’t cry, Hope.”
He leaned in and brushed his lips to hers, and it was like a wildfire went through Hope. This was what she needed. She needed him. She needed to lose herself in Noah. She went on her tiptoes and wrapped her arms around him. She touched her tongue to those plump, sensual lips of his, and he went wild.
His fingers moved up, tangling in her hair, holding her still as he pillaged her mouth. His tongue surged in, dominating her own. She softened, ceding control. How long had she wanted this? A man who could take control. A man with whom she could relax and let him pleasure her, show her how to pleasure him. She’d found plenty of men who would take from her, but none who would give back. She thought it would be different with this man.
She rode the wave, holding on to Noah as he pushed her against the wall, pinning her there with his body. She was caught between the wall and his solid chest as he kissed her until she was breathless.
“I want to do nasty things to you, Hope. I really meant it. You should run from me.”
But she was deeply interested in all those nasty things he wanted to do. “I’m not running, Noah.”
She might later, but she needed him now. Now, all the dark thoughts were replaced with desire. She wanted to get to her knees and take him in her mouth. She wanted his hands in her hair, pulling as he worked his cock in and out of her pussy. She wanted him to lube up her ass and make her feel the burn.
She would be his for a while. She would belong if only for a few moments.
“Take off that shirt, Hope. I want to see your breasts.”
He kept close, giving her very little room. He stared down at her, his eyes warm again, that terrible darkness banished. She was nervous, but Noah needed this, too. His ex-wife had obviously done a number on him, making him feel like a freak. But she wanted what he could give her. She craved it.
With shaking hands, she undid the top button on her shirt. It was bulky and cheap, but it didn’t matter. He didn’t care about the shirt. He wanted to see what was under it. That was what she was really nervous about. She’d put on a few pounds. She wasn’t seventeen anymore.
“Stop it. Stop questioning yourself and show me your breasts.”
She picked up the pace, the dark command in his voice breaking through her self-consciousness. She let the shirt hang open and unhooked the front clasp of her bra before she could think twice about it. Her nipples peaked in the slightly chilly air. Her breasts were heavy, but those nipples perked up as though wanting Noah’s attention.
He hissed slightly, and his hands covered her breasts. “Fuck, you’re beautiful, Hope.”
He dropped to his knees, and she could feel the roughness of his five o’clock shadow on her skin. It gave her an edgy, restless feeling. She let her hands drift up to the silky darkness of Noah’s hair. His tongue flicked out, teasing at her nipple.
She whimpered a little and tried to get him to take more.
He pulled her hands into his own, gripping them on just the right side of pain. “You don’t control this, Hope. I meant what I said. I’m going to be in control of this. If you can’t handle it, all you have to do is tell me to stop. You say no and this ends.”
She didn’t want that. Not when she was so close to maybe getting what she needed. “Please, Noah.”
“I’ll tie you up if I have to,” he swore before leaning forward again and sucking a nipple into his mouth.
Fire shot straight from her nipple to her pussy. She forced her hands to stay at her sides. Noah’s arm circled her waist, pulling her into the heat of his mouth. He sucked and bit at her nipple, making her squirm and moan until he released the first and moved to the second. His teeth grazed her.