Her gasp ended in a laugh. “No, we couldn’t! People will see us!”
He waggled his brows. “Not if we’re careful.”
She started to protest again, but he grasped her hand, tugging her along.
Outside the office, she couldn’t bring herself to look Noah’s secretary in the eye as they passed her desk and Noah said, “I’ll be out for a while, Maureen. Take messages, and ring me on my cell if the office is burning down.”
They rode the elevator down a floor, anticipation and sexual energy crackling between them. When they exited and strode along the corridor below, Noah nodded to and acknowledged a couple of people as they passed. However, no one seemed to pay any particular attention to them.
When they turned a corner, Noah cast a quick look up and down the hallway before opening the nearest door and ushering her into a dimly lit room. He closed and locked the door behind him.
She looked around. The room was furnished with a double bed, a night table, a desk and a TV, and came equipped with its own bathroom.
She couldn’t believe they were doing this! She nearly jumped when Noah slipped his arms around her from behind and nuzzled her neck. “Someone will hear,” she said weakly.
“Don’t worry,” he said in a low voice. “This room has some soundproofing—an extra drywall to keep noise out—” he placed a kiss on her neck “—and in.”
“Oh.”
His hands stroked just below her br**sts. “Though,” he murmured, “we should probably try to keep down the decibel level.”
“Think about your reputation in the office,” she cajoled halfheartedly as his hands slid beneath her top and under her bra to cup her br**sts. “If someone hears us…”
She trailed off as his hands caressed her.
Behind her, he was hard and hot. He blew into her ear. “Thanks to you, my reputation makes me the great seducer. I might as well try to live up to the title, don’t you think? Where’s the fun otherwise?”
Right. Of course.
The longer he kissed and caressed her, the more sense his logic made. In fact, he was starting to sound like a veritable genius…. She turned in his arms and pulled his head down to her for a hot kiss.
Soon his suit jacket hit the ground, followed by her top, and his shirt and tie.
He traced her cle**age along the contours of her lacy black bra. “Pretty,” he murmured before divesting her of that item as well.
He slid his undershirt over his head and she trailed her fingertips over his flat, muscled chest and along the biceps of his arms.
Love had liberated her to admire him openly and desire him unabashedly. He was gorgeous and he was all hers.
The look in his eyes when her gaze connected with his again was filled with desire. “You’re invited to touch me anywhere…and everywhere.”
His words shivered over her skin, making her ni**les tighten and the heaviness between her legs increase. She itched to be surrounded by him, consumed by him.
He bent and placed a kiss at the corner of her mouth. “Of course,” he said, “I expect reciprocal privileges.”
She heated at the thoughts that conjured.
He pulled her close then, and she gave herself up to a kiss that seared them both. The evidence of his need fueled her own.
When they broke apart, he said, “I’ve got to be with you,” and she could only think he’d given voice to her own need.
Quickly, they pulled off the rest of their clothes.
When he was gloriously naked, she reached out and stroked his erection, and he sucked in a breath. She watched as his eyes closed, his face a mask of need and desire and pleasure.
“You know we’re going to have a fantastic life together, don’t you?” he said hoarsely.
“Mmm-hmm,” she responded as she continued to stroke him, then added teasingly, “is this the fantastic part?”
Without waiting for a response, she dropped down and took him in her mouth, stroking and caressing him, hearing his hissed intake of breath.
“Oh, yeah,” he groaned. “Kayla.”
She took her time and, when she was done, she stood up and met his passion-clouded eyes.
“Wow,” he said hoarsely. Then he picked her up and tossed her on the bed. She let out a squeal but he cut it off with a swift kiss.
He trailed kisses down her body, blazing a trail of tingling sensation that caused her to shift restlessly. When he reached the juncture of her thighs, she whimpered.
“Shh,” he whispered, his breath hot against her.
“Easy for you to say,” she whispered back as his hands caressed her thighs.
“Trust me,” he said soothingly.
And she did. In the deepest, truest sense, she realized, as he kissed her intimately, sending sparks shooting through her.
Her hands tangled in his hair. “Oh, Noah…”
When she thought she could stand no more, he lifted his head and reached for the pants that he’d discarded at the foot of the bed, then pulled out a small foil packet. He quickly donned protection, then stretched out next to her, gathering her into his arms.
She felt seductive, making love clandestinely with the man that she loved while wearing only the beautiful, sparkling engagement ring that he had given her.
He moved over her, seeking entry, and she shifted to accommodate him. She sighed as he slid inside her, and he expelled a breath that was half groan, half moan.
Then they moved together, loving each other and building to a crescendo that had her quivering and clinging to him.
“I love you,” she gasped.
“Likewise,” he replied on a groan.
She could feel the tension building within her, the world dimming. She knew she was close.
“So, is it enough?” he whispered in her ear, his breath coming heavily.
“More than I ever dreamed,” she responded, and that was her last thought as she went tumbling over the edge along with him…and into their future.
Epilogue
“Who would have guessed Matt would be the last Whittaker standing,” Noah said in disbelief. “The rest of us were running around trying to take each other out of the game while he just sat back and watched.”
Allison nodded in agreement. “The fiend.”
“Yeah,” Noah joked. “To think he had the nerve to thwart your grand scheme to marry off all your annoying older brothers so you could rule the world.”
He and Kayla, along with Elizabeth and Quentin and their baby, had shown up at Allison and Connor’s townhouse in the Beacon Hill section of Boston to watch the New England Patriots take on the Pittsburgh Steelers in one of football’s more heated rivalries. After his recent marriage to Allison, Connor had put his luxury condo on the market and moved into Allison’s townhouse, though they had kept Connor’s house in the Berkshires as their getaway home.