I turned to see he had moved a step closer, and with the midday sunlight shining down over us, it was difficult to look anywhere but at him. His eyes were magnetic, but it was his expression that made them extra hypnotic.
“I—”
“Yes?” Noah reached out and pulled my glasses down my nose.
“What are you doing?”
“I couldn’t see your eyes. It was bothering me.”
Deciding removing my glasses was a better option than having him reach for me again, I folded them in my hand and glared his way. “Better?”
“Much. Now, did you really leave something in the car, or are you running away?”
My mouth fell open. “And why would I be running away?”
“Because you heard I was coming to the game.”
“And you think that would make me run?”
“If it doesn’t, maybe it should.” Noah lowered his head until his mouth was by my ear. “I couldn’t stop thinking about you last night, and that sexy little sound you made when I—”
“Stop.” My voice sounded breathy even to my own ears. “I can’t do this. Not here.”
I was precariously close to losing sight of where I was, and with Jake only feet away, I could feel my two worlds beginning to collide.
“Then where?” Noah fingered the hair curling out from under my cap. “I want to kiss you. Taste you again. Last night wasn’t enough, Laurel.”
Okay, he needed to stop talking to me like that or I was going to overheat in the middle of Chamberlin’s baseball field.
“Come with me,” I said. Oh God, am I really about to do this? As I led him away from the field and past the amenities block to the football stadium, the answer was obvious—yes, yes, I was.
I looked around to make sure no one was near, and then directed him in under the bleachers. When I came to a stop, Noah looked at our surroundings and chuckled.
The low, sexy sound vibrated through me, sending a shiver up my spine. When his eyes landed back on me, it was all I could do to not reach between my thighs and ease the throbbing pressure that appeared anytime he was near.
“Well, it’s been a long time since I was under here…”
As his gaze roved over me, I stood tall and let him look. “Me too.”
“Oh yeah?” Noah licked at his lower lip, raised his eyes, and began to stalk my way.
I took in a breath and backed up a step. “Mhmm. The last time was with you—”
“The day of our SATs.”
I nodded as my back hit the cool metal of the stands. Noah stopped mere inches from me, and I swallowed. He hadn’t even touched me yet and I could already feel myself getting wet. This was crazy. No one had ever affected me like this—no one except Noah.
He reached out and took off my hat, and when he put it on his head backward, I was thrust back into the past and that afternoon here under the bleachers.
“We were a lot younger then.” He moved in closer and ran the back of his fingers down my cheek. “A lot more…inexperienced.”
My legs trembled as his fingers continued down my neck to the V of my shirt. When I didn’t stop him, he smirked. Arrogant. Over the years Noah’s cocky schoolboy confidence had turned to arrogance, and God help me, it was so damn hot that I almost melted at his feet.
I tilted my head up, and when he took hold of my chin to hold me steady, I softly sighed.
“I had the hottest dreams about you last night. You were naked and straddling me, your hair all down around my face…”
He slid his thumb along my lower lip, and I sucked it between my lips. Noah cursed, let go of me, and put his hands on the rails by my head, then thrust his hips forward and rubbed his erection against me.
“Ah…” I grabbed at his waist.
“Yeah, there it is. That has to be the sexiest fucking sound I’ve ever heard. I replayed it over and over in my head last night, imagining you downstairs finishing what I started.”
Noah brought a hand down to my chest and grazed his fingertips over my nipple.
“Tell me, did you finish?”
I closed my eyes and thought about the satisfying orgasm I’d given myself thinking about this man. But I wasn’t about to give him that—hell no. Noah had left me aching last night, teasing me on purpose. But I wasn’t some sweet, naïve girl anymore, and two could definitely play at this torturous little game.
I smiled against his lips then brought my hands to his chest and pushed him away. “Wouldn’t you like to know?”
Just when I thought he’d take my lips in a crushing kiss, a playful smirk crossed Noah’s mouth instead. “Have dinner with me.”
This time it wasn’t a request, more an order, and the demand did nothing to help quench the fire I was trying to extinguish. “I don’t—”
“Have dinner with me. We’ll go somewhere private, just you and me. I want to talk to you, get to know you again.”
With my body now back under some kind of control, I pushed off the rails and took a step toward him. “I don’t want to become the subject of town gossip, Noah.”
“I understand. I promise. No one has to know. You can even meet me at Willa’s. She can keep a secret, right?”
She could, and it had been months since I’d been on a date—and even longer since I’d felt the kind of attraction I did to Noah.
I could already feel myself caving when I saw him hold out my baseball cap.
“Come on, Bonnie, where’s that adventurous streak of yours?”
My fate was sealed. I’d never been able to resist a charming Noah, and it seemed that hadn’t changed.
Plus, maybe I’d be able to exact some revenge for his teasing the night before. That seemed like a win-win to me, and also a good way to justify the fact that I really wanted to go.
“One dinner.”
His slow smile made me think of a wolf in sheep’s clothing, and suddenly I wasn’t so sure about this decision.
“One dinner.”
Really, what harm could that do?
19
Laurel
THE GAME WAS well underway by the time I made my way back to the stands, and I made sure to sit far, far away from Noah, who was sitting with his brother on the opposite side of the field.
Betty’s Braves—the home team—were pitching first. So it was no surprise to see Jake standing at the pitcher’s mound waiting for his next victim, as he liked to call them. Walton’s Warriors had a man on second base but had yet to score a run, which was hardly surprising, and the fact that I even remotely knew what I was talking about still shocked me to this very day.
I’d never been one for sports, even back in high school when I used to go and cheer on Noah. I’d spent most of the game with my nose in a book, but he hadn’t cared as long I was there.
The memory made me smile. I stared out at Jake now and remembered thinking it must’ve been some kind of cosmic joke the day he’d come home and told me he wanted to play ball. Luckily, I’d had a town full of gossipy do-gooders who’d gone out of their way to teach him the game since he was old enough to hold a bat.
Ever since then he’d become obsessed with the all-American pastime, and I’d had no choice but to learn the ways of the bat and the ball.