What He Protects (What He Wants, Book Six) (An Alpha Billionaire Romance) (4 page)

“Thank you,” I said tightly, sitting down
in one of the chairs across from the reception desk, all the while trying not
to scream.
 
Why the hell was I
being made to wait out here like I was some kind of imposition?
 
Noah had requested this meeting with
me,
not the other way around.
 
Actually, he hadn’t even requested it
-- he’d just demanded it, not even asking me if I was free.
 
He’d been nothing but cold to me last night,
and now he was making me wait, while meanwhile some mysterious woman with a
binder full of God knows what and a green scarf was able to just come waltzing
into his apartment in the middle of the night, no questions asked.

It was infuriating.

I sat there getting more and more worked
up, telling myself that if he didn’t come out in five minutes, I was
leaving.
 

I watched the clock on my phone, trying
to block out the sound of his new receptionist’s chirpy little blond voice as
she answered his calls.

One minute… two minutes…

At four and a half minutes, I began a
countdown in my head, and there was ten seconds left when Noah finally buzzed
reception.

“Yes, sir,” the receptionist said.
 
“Yes, right away, sir.”

I resisted the urge to roll my eyes,
knowing Noah probably loved that she was calling him sir.
 
“You can go in now,” she said, giving
me a smile.

“Thank you.”

I made my way through the double doors
and back to Noah’s office.

When I got there, he was standing by his
desk, talking to someone on the phone.
 
His suit coat and tie were off, the sleeves of his navy blue dress shirt
rolled up, his collar loose around his neck, showing a glimpse of the crisp
white t-shirt he was wearing underneath.

He motioned me in with one hand, and I
walked into his office.

He ended his call and I immediately
said,
 
“You shouldn’t have asked me
to come for seven if you weren’t ready.”

I was expecting him to be cold with me,
but instead, the side of his mouth twitched into a grin.
 
“I missed you, too.”

I ignored him and walked over to the
chairs in front of his desk, sat down in one and pulled out a legal pad.
 
“Professor Worthington has asked me to
conduct a preliminary interview with you so that we can start mounting your
defense.”

“Mounting, huh?” he said.
 
“I like the sound of that.”

“Noah, please.
 
This is serious.”

“I am serious.”

He walked around his desk until was
standing behind me, then pushed my chair so that it was facing away from the
desk and toward the side wall.
 
Then he moved the other chair so that it was facing mine.

He sat down and put his hands on my
legs.
 
“I missed you, Charlotte,”
he said, his voice husky.

I swallowed.
 
“This is about your case, Noah,” I said.
 
“It’s not about me and you.”

“I called the meeting.”

“Yes, well, I’m deciding what it’s
about.”

He seemed amused again as I looked down
at my legal pad and made a big show of writing the date and time on the top of
the page.
 
But my eyes fell on his
hands, still holding onto my knees, his grip strong.
 
His thumbs were making slow circles on my skin, and he
inched my skirt up just the tiniest fraction, causing my breath to catch.
 
His forearms were muscular and strong,
his watch black and expensive, completing the look of a man who was in control
and could have whatever he wanted.

“First things first,” I said, trying to
force myself to concentrate.
 
“Do
you have an alibi for Katie’s murder?”

“No.”
 
He shrugged.
 
“You know that, Charlotte.
 
I was running in the park.”

I made a note of it.
 
“Did you make any stops that
morning?
 
Was there anywhere you
might have gone where someone could place you?
 
A coffee shop, perhaps?”

“No.”

“Did you interact with anyone during your
run?”

“No.”
 
His hands moved up my skirt to my waist, and he grabbed me
and pulled me toward him, so that my ass was closer to the edge of the
chair.
 
His hands lingered, moving
back down over the curve of my butt before returning to my legs.
 

“You’re not helping,” I said.

“You’re not either,” he said, his hand
sliding slowly down my right leg, past my thigh, my calf, until he got to my
ankle.
 
He picked up my foot and
placed it in his lap before beginning to unbuckle the strap on my high
heel.
 

“Noah!” I said, trying to pull away from
him.
 
But he held me tight.

“Shh,” he said.
 
“It will help me concentrate.”

“How will you taking off my shoe help you
concentrate?”

“Because I can’t concentrate when you
show up here looking like that.”

“Like what?”

“Sexy.”
 
He unbuckled my shoe and slid it off my foot, then grabbed
my other leg and started doing the same to my other foot.
 

“Noah,” I said, trying to pull from his
grasp again.
 
“This is serious.”

“I told you, I am being serious.”
 
He dropped my other shoe onto the floor
and began massaging my foot.

“Fine,” I said, feeling the tension start
to release from my body as he hands kneaded my skin.
 
“If I leave my shoes off, will you answer my questions?”

“I’ll do my best.”

“Thank you.”

“You’re welcome, counselor.”
 
He grinned at me again, like he thought
the whole thing was a joke.

I sighed and turned back to my legal
pad.
 
“So you’re sure no one saw
you that morning?”

“I was on the trail.
 
Everyone jogging that morning would
have seen me.”

“But no one that would necessarily
remember you.”

“There was someone, actually, now that I
think about it.
 
A blond woman was
running at around my pace, and we were passing each other back and forth.
 
I think she made a comment to me about
how she was trying to keep up with me.”

I’ll
bet she did.
 

“Do you remember anything about her?
 
What she was wearing?
 
What she looked like?
 
If she jogs that trail a lot, maybe we
can find her, see if she remembers you.”

“She was wearing a purple sports
bra.
 
Black spandex shorts.
 
Mid-twenties.”

I made a note on my pad and tried not to
react to the fact that the woman sounded gorgeous, fit and blond – your
basic nightmare.
 

“Did Katie ever mention anything about
anyone she was having problems with?
 
A boyfriend, maybe?”

“Katie didn’t have a boyfriend.”
 
His hands moved up over my calves, his
fingertips brushing my skin lightly.
 
When he got to the bottom of my skirt, he pushed it up a little more.

“Noah,” I said, pushing it back
down.
 
“I need to ask you these
questions.
 
It’s for Professor
Worthington.
 
If I don’t get at
least a little bit of information from you, I’m going to get in trouble.
 
You don’t want me to get in trouble, do
you?”

“Depends.”
 
He slid my legs back down to the floor and grabbed my hips,
pulling me even closer.
 
He lowered
his head, his lips tracing a searing line of soft kisses over my neck.
 
“How much trouble?
 
It might be worth it.”

I bit the inside of my cheek to keep from
moaning as his mouth moved up my jaw line, his stubble brushing against my
cheeks.
 
His lips made their way to
mine and he kissed me slow and deep, his hands finding my hair and tangling
with the strands.
 
He kissed me and
kissed me and kissed me some more, until I was breathless.

“Noah,” I breathed, pulling back from
him.
 
“Please…”

“Please what?” he asked.
 
His hands moved from my hips up over
the small of my back, his nails digging into my skin through the fabric of my
shirt as he moved higher.
 
When he
got to my shoulders, he pulled back and looked into my eyes, brushing a piece
of hair off my face.

“Please… I need to do my job,” I
said.
 
But my voice was weak.
 
I wanted to ask him more about his
case, wanted to ask him who that woman was at his apartment last night, what
was in the file she gave him, why she would give him a green scarf… but I was
helpless to resist his touch.
 
He
had a power over me that made me lose myself in him.

“Your
job
is keeping me satisfied,” he growled.

I glanced down at my legal pad, not sure
if he was taking about as a client or something more.
 

“Look at me,” he commanded, and I moved
my gaze back to his, watching as the look in his eyes began to turn from soft
and romantic to passionate and demanding.
 
His hands found the top button of my shirt, and he began unbuttoning my
blouse slowly, our eyes staying on each other until it was completely undone.

He reached up and slowly slid the fabric
down over my shoulder, his fingertips brushing against my skin so gently that
goose bumps broke out all over my body.

Then he was kissing me again, pulling me
up from the chair and into his arms, pressing me against the back of his desk
as his mouth moved against mine.

“Charlotte,” he moaned.
 
“I missed you.”

I wanted to say that if he missed me, he
shouldn’t have been so cold to me last night, but I didn’t want to risk him
shutting down again, didn’t want to risk him taking this exquisite pleasure
away from me.

So instead I surrendered myself to his
kisses, to the feel of his hands sliding into my open shirt and over the cups
of my bra, his hands strong and warm against my breasts.
 
He cupped my ass again and pulled my
body so it was flush against his, my legs wrapped around his waist.

My skirt was hiked up, and I could feel
him, hard through his pants.
 
He
pulled me close, cradling me against him as he kissed me, his hands on either
side of my face, until finally, he laid me back on his desk and pressed his
body on top of mine.
 

He slid his tongue down over my neck,
then kept going over my cleavage, over my stomach, until my whole body felt like
it was on fire.
 
He inched my skirt
up, then grinned up at me devilishly as he removed my panties and spread my
legs.

“Mmm,” he said, sliding a finger up
inside of me.
 
He lowered his head,
kissing the inside of my thighs before spreading me open with his fingers.
 
I could feel his breath on my spread
open pussy, and he blew on it softly, causing me to whimper.

“Noah,” I said.
 
“Please….”

“Please what, Charlotte?”

“Please, I want to feel your mouth on
me.”

He reached up with one hand and grabbed
my chin, squeezed it between his hands and slid a finger inside my mouth.
 
I sucked on it hungrily.
 

“Say it again.”

“I want to feel your mouth on me.”

“Where do you want my mouth?”

“On my pussy.”
 
The words sounded dirty.
 
I’d never talked like this with anyone before Noah, and just
the fact that I was doing it send a thrill up my spine.
 
I wanted him so badly.
 
I was wet, my knees trembling, my legs
spread open for him.
 

He stood up, taking himself away from me,
and I moaned in disbelief that he was going to do this again, that he was going
to tease me, make me beg for him.
 

He stood over me as I lay there on the
desk, looking at me.

Then he leaned down and kissed me hard
and deep, biting my bottom lip softly as he pulled away again.

He reached under me and unhooked my bra,
letting the cups loosen around my breasts before pulling my open shirt off my
arms.
 
Then he pulled my bra off
and dropped it onto the floor.