My hand pauses, and my eyes slightly widen at his gruff command, making me look back at him. My expression must say that I don’t know what he means.
“Stop downplaying and deprecating your efforts and consideration, Andie,” he elaborates, his hands fisting over his knees.
My cheeks flush with embarrassment and appreciation—I can’t decide on one feeling when he rebukes me with gentleness in his eyes. “Oh,” is all I say.
Noah takes a deep breath, holding back what he’s thinking. But it seems like he gives up keeping them in. “You’re smart, Andie. One of the smartest people I know. But you’re so much more than just talented and smart,” he says, his knees dropping to the sides as he crosses themtoo, peering at the ocean.
He removes his cap, rakes a hand through his wavy hair, and turns to look at me. “You’re so kind and generous and effortless with everything you do, Andie. You flood the room with warmth when you walk in, lending silent strength to whoever might need it.”
No one has ever complimented me. Not like this man in front of me does. It’s like he can’t stand the thought of me not realizing my own worth.
His eyes glimmer with the ocean reflecting in them, as he takes a deep breath and bites the inside of his cheek. He again loses the battle of keeping quiet and says his next words in a rush.
“You’re gorgeous, Andie.” My lips part at his words, a gasp falling from them. “You’re so fuckingstunningthat it hurts to look at you sometimes. Because how thefuckdo you not see yourself the wayIdo?” His features contort like he’s in pain. There’s no mistaking the ache, the desperation, the agony in his words.
I have no words to respond. Nothing that could compare to what he just said. All I can do is gawk at him, wonder how I cannot fall for him.
No one has called me pretty in a long time, letalone gorgeous or stunning. But the way he says it…it’s like it’s the most obvious thing in the world.
His words burrow into my soul, reviving it, giving it false hope. Hope I know will shatter, but I’m just like the sand in front of me, drifting into the ocean without resistance, not caring where it might drop me.
I’m barely breathing, but my chest, my heart feels like it has run a mile.
Noah’s features harden, his jaw clenching. “You know the thoughts I have when I look at you?”
I shake my head because what else can I do as I hang onto his words like a lifeline?
“I…” he clears his throat, his eyes boring into mine.
I wonder when he got so close.
Noah’s eyes squeeze shut as he takes a deep breath before opening them. “When I look at you, I don’t want to look away,” he admits, his deep voice sending a shiver down my body.
Or is it the wind?
His eyes don’t miss that as they darken, heat burning in them like a live wire. They flick to my mouth. “Your mouth…I have filthy thoughts about your mouth. Thoughts that would send you running for the hills, corrupt your innocent soul,” he says as if in trance, not once shifting his gaze from my lips.
My tongue darts out to wet them, making a vein feather in his neck as his jaw clenches. “Try me.”
His eyes flare like the fourth of July at my words. “Don’t taunt a man on the edge of a cliff, Rainbow,” he warns, his knuckles turning white.
“I remember my safe word,” I breathe, daring him to take me up on it. My body aches everywhere for him, as my wet folds close around nothing but my panties.
His head drops between his shoulders as he curses under his breath. “Jesus fucking christ!I’m going to hell for this,” he mutters to himself.
My body hums with excitement as I feel his resolve weaken.
He’s on his feet in a second, offering me his hand to take, his next words more of a growl.
“I’m going to show you exactly who I am, Rainbow.”
Twenty One
Noah
Her hand in mine burns me as I hurry to find a secluded fucking place on this goddamn beach.
Heading to the southernmost part of the Nantasket beach, I pull us towards the rocks that offer enough privacy for us to do as we please.