“What else do you want to tell her?” Noah moved his head to the side of the phone to talk to Emery.
“I want to tell you, Ashley, that I’m okay. I’ve moved past what happened to me, or I’m trying to and I want you to be okay. If you’re ever not okay, get in touch with Rachel. I’ll be back for you. I love you.”
Noah hit stop and dropped the phone to his thigh. “Em, what are you running from?”
“Everything,” she responded. She grabbed her phone and walked into her bathroom, shutting the door and effectively ending the conversation that she didn’t want to have with Noah. That she would never have with Noah.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Exclusive
After a few weeks of exclusivity, she woke to Noah still in her bed, his face inches from hers. He looked even better sleeping bare-chested with his hair sticking in every direction. She slid her body as close to his as she could get and kissed him awake. His tongue parted her lips and they kissed for what seemed like hours. Even half asleep, his desire for her was evident and currently rubbing her inner thigh. His kisses consumed her and chased away her nightmares, frightening away the demons that lurked just below the surface of Emily.
“Now, that’s a good morning I could get used to.” Noah’s voice vibrated against her neck. He trailed kisses down her neck and pulled at the top of her tank top, laying kisses on the tops of her breasts. Making his way back to her lips, they kissed until her lips hurt. Then he lazily kissed down her jaw, her neck, and across both collarbones.
“Noah,” she moaned. Emery’s body was on fire, but she also felt a chill. She wanted him everywhere on her body, but she wanted him to know they couldn’t be what his eyes told her he wanted. He circled her nipple with his tongue and she wanted his tongue where it’d been last night. Things were getting out of hand. She’d become addicted to his touch, almost fearing how much she wanted it.
And…there he went, depositing himself in between her legs, making her back arch and her hands grasp the sheets so hard she thought she would rip them. The heat rose in her gut, building until she screamed his name so loud he stopped what he was doing to laugh.
Guilt coursed through her at the sound of his laugh; he was enjoying himself pleasuring her and she wasn’t returning the favor. She didn’t know how to, but she couldn’t tell him that. He thought she was there because of an abusive boyfriend. Emery wanted to come clean, to look into those expressive eyes and tell him everything. But then those eyes wouldn’t look at her the same. His fingers wouldn’t make her feel the way they did. His lips wouldn’t ignite her entire body.
When she finally came down from her orgasm, she cleared her throat. “Noah?”
He kissed the inside of her thigh, still amused by her reaction to his touch. Her insides clenched again at the contact. “Yeah?”
She paused, wondering if she could say what she wanted.
He pushed himself up the bed, the sight of all of his muscles flexing at the same time causing her to forget what she’d wanted to tell him. “Yes?”
“Tell me how you want me to touch you,” she blurted, embarrassed.
Noah chuckled and took her hand gently and laid it on his chest. “Emily, you touch me like I want to be touched. When you want to touch me, just do it. You can touch me anywhere you want.”
So she did.
From: Romona Hicks
To: Rachel Helms
Don’t ask me any questions. I need birth control. Do I go to a free clinic or a doctor? Can you ask Derrick if my ID would stand up? I think I have to hit the health clinic because I don’t have insurance. I just don’t know…fuck. I want to erase this message so badly.
From: Rachel Helms
To: Romona Hicks
FUCK MY LIFE. Go to the free clinic. I don’t want to know what this is about, do I? I want to stab my eyes out. I am happy for you too.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
Try
It had been two years since her last birthday in Atlanta. The relative peace she’d found in Nashville was a surprise.
She smiled as she stretched out her legs and arms lazily, sweat dripping down her neck and rolling down her chest. It was ridiculously hot for April—just last week she’d been in a sweater. Emery eased herself off the lounge chair and plunged into the water, her body instantly relieved. She pulled up her red bandeau top and tried to escape her mind. Two years of not really doing anything, with no direction other than to hide, had passed, and more quickly than she’d expected. She’d been taking classes and was a junior already. That’s what you get when all you do is work and study.
Floating around the pool, she let her mind wander, and it went to Ashley, as usual. She was eleven now. Emery missed her so much it hurt to think of her, so she tried to occupy her mind with other things…with Noah.