A Guilty Affair (17 page)

Noah was watching her with an unreadable expression. “And that's how you reached the decision to trust him?”

“Nope. That's how I reached the decision not to call for help. I made the decision to trust him because I felt it in here,” she said, pointing to her heart. “I knew he was telling me the truth and was genuinely sorry for what he'd planned to do, which I let him know was the dumbest thing he could've ever done. We sat and talked for a very long time after that and came to a tentative understanding of my reasons for not being ready for marriage, which were too long and complicated to get into right now.”

“I agree,” Noah murmured.

Riley stuffed the box of Hot Tamales back inside her purse, then, unable to resist, asked, “What did you tell him when he came to you about what he'd done that night?”

Noah's expression hardened as he stared straight ahead. “It's not important.”

“It is to me.”

“It shouldn't be.”

She softened her voice. “Come on, Noah. Humor me.”

When he answered, his voice was low and chillingly succinct. “I told him if he ever
thought
about cheating on you again, he wouldn't have to worry about you killing him. I'd kill him myself.”

For several moments Riley could only stare at Noah, an unnamed emotion clogging her throat. Finally she whispered, “Thank you, Noah.”

He said absolutely nothing.

At that moment, Joseph Stanton's car pulled out onto the street and headed east, away from where they were parked.

“That's him!” Riley blurted, sitting forward in her seat. “Let's go! Hurry, or we're going to lose him!”

But Noah seemed in no hurry as he started the ignition and slowly eased into the flow of traffic with that smooth, one-handed style of his. He maneuvered through the congested downtown streets with the skilled ease of a professional, and in just a few minutes brought them to within three car lengths of the beige Chrysler.

When he slanted her a lazy glance, Riley sat back with a sheepish grin. “Guess I shouldn't have doubted you. You were a cop—of course you know how to tail someone.”

And he was really good. As the Chrysler sped down the busy interstate, frequently changing lanes, Noah managed to keep pace while maintaining a safe, discreet distance. He even took a phone call and switched the Coltrane CD for another, all without ever missing a beat.

Riley sent him an admiring look. “You could probably do this in your sleep.”

He shrugged. “Stanton's easy. I've followed other subjects who presented more of a challenge.”

“How so?”

“By being super aggressive drivers. Or, if they already suspected they were under surveillance, they repeatedly checked their rearview mirrors and were very aware of their surroundings. In those cases, I'm usually accompanied by Kenneth or Daniela in another vehicle.”

They soon exited and headed down a long stretch of highway where the trees grew lush and full. Because there were less cars on the road, Noah had to hang back a little more to avoid the risk of detection.

“He's going home,” he murmured.

“It appears so,” Riley agreed.

Stanton hung a right at the next light and turned down a quiet residential street lined by gated entrances. The Chrysler pulled up to the first gate that guarded a community of large stone-and-stucco houses surrounded by impeccably manicured green lawns. Noah drove past without turning down the street.

Two minutes later, his cell phone rang. He spoke briefly to the caller before disconnecting.

“Mrs. Stanton?” Riley inquired.

Noah nodded. “She had a doctor's appointment this afternoon, so she was already home from work. She said her husband just pulled into the driveway.”

Riley glanced out the window at the passing scenery. It came as no surprise to her that Delilah Stanton, with her designer pumps, Hermès handbag and six-figure VP salary, lived in one of the wealthiest sections of town.

“Do you think Joseph Stanton is really cheating on her,” Riley wondered aloud, “or do you think she's just looking for an out?”

“Well, if she's just looking for an out, shelling out money for a private investigator probably isn't the best way to do it. I can't create infidelity that doesn't exist. If she honestly doesn't believe her husband is cheating on her, she'd be a damned fool to pay us to prove otherwise.”

“So you think her suspicions could be legitimate?”

“I wouldn't have taken the case if I didn't.” Noah looked amused. “Don't let your personal feelings about Delilah Stanton cloud your ability to be objective.”

Remembering the way the woman had sunk her red talons into Noah, Riley scowled. “I'll try to remember that.”

Noah chuckled softly. “Let's head back to the office.”

W
hen
they returned to Roarke Investigations, the building was empty. Janie and Kenneth had already left for the day.

“I'm just going to tie up some loose ends before I go,” Riley said.

“Me, too,” Noah murmured, and they headed to their separate offices.

An hour later, Riley appeared in his doorway to let him know she was leaving. Noah, kneeling before two cardboard boxes crammed with old files, muttered distractedly, “Have a nice evening.”

Riley hesitated. “Do you need help finding something?”

“No, I'm fine. You go on ahead.”

She paused for another moment, then with a small sigh of resignation, she set down her attaché case by the door and walked over to him. Unbuttoning and rolling up the sleeves of her paisley silk blouse, she dropped to a crouch beside him and reached for the other box. “What're we looking for?”

“An old case file. Folder should be labeled Mulroney. He was one of our first clients when we launched the agency four years ago.”

Riley's pretty little eyebrows furrowed together. “You don't have your archives stored on the computer?”

He shot her a look. “We didn't have Janie then. Cut us some slack.”

“All right, all right,” she said, grinning as she held up her hands in surrender.

As they worked together in companionable silence for several minutes, Noah's concentration was divided between the task at hand and the light, exotic scent of the woman beside him. He'd been trying since that morning to push thoughts of her out of his mind, but it was a lost cause. Even while she'd been out of the office for most of the day, he'd daydreamed about her, torturing himself with vividly erotic memories of their lovemaking. He couldn't stop himself from wanting her any more than he could've stopped himself from going into her office that afternoon and compelling her to accompany him on the surveillance assignment. Contrary to what he'd told Riley, Kenneth had nothing to do with the directive. It had been strictly Noah's doing. He'd asked her along for purely selfish reasons—because he wanted to be alone with her. And if that made him a pathetic fool…well, what else was new?

“Found it,” Riley sang triumphantly, pulling a folder out of the box.

Noah didn't know whether to be relieved or disappointed by how quickly she'd located the file he was looking for. He'd wanted more time with her.

He
needed
more time.

As she handed him the faded manila folder bound by a thick rubber band, their fingers brushed. Heat shot through his veins, and their eyes met as an undercurrent of awareness passed between them.

“Thanks,” Noah murmured, setting aside the folder. “I owe you one.”

“No problem.” After another moment, Riley rose to her feet. Noah followed more slowly.

Nervously she moistened her lips, and he envied the hell out of her tongue. “Thanks for letting me tag along this afternoon,” she said with a breathless little catch to her voice. “Now I can say I've been on my very first surveillance assignment.”

“Nothing like those firsts,” he said, low and husky. “I always remember mine.”

The look in her sultry dark eyes told him she'd caught his veiled meaning. Beneath the silk blouse she wore, her chest rose and fell more rapidly as she struggled to regulate her breathing. It gave him a dark thrill of pleasure to know he could affect her even half as much as she affected him.

When her gaze drifted to his mouth, it took every ounce of self-control he possessed not to haul her into his arms and lower her quickly to the floor.

“Noah…” She closed her eyes for a moment and drew a deep, calming breath. “What happened between us last night was a mistake.”

He'd been waiting all day for her to say that. And he still wasn't prepared for the dagger her words sent through his heart. “A mistake,” he repeated slowly, as if testing the word on his tongue.

Riley looked him square in the eye. “Yes, a mistake. We both know it was. Neither of us meant to hurt Trevor that way.”

Anger flared in his chest. “Trevor's gone.”

She flinched, enough to make him regret his harsh tone—if he were feeling a little less reckless. A little less desperate.

Riley edged toward the door. “I—I should go,” she mumbled. “I'm having dinner with my grandmother and she'll worry if I'm late.”

“You can run as far as you want,” Noah said in a soft, silky voice that belied the savage beating of his heart, “but you'll never outrun the truth. And the truth is that you want me, Riley. I tasted it in your kiss, saw it in the way you looked at me when I entered your body for the first time.” Hearing her breath catch in her throat, he shook his head slowly. “What happened last night wasn't about mistakes, or guilt, or the past. It was about us. About you and me, about this unexpected, incredible, amazing connection we have. And if you stand there and tell me you don't feel it, Riley, I'll have to call you a liar.”

The expression on her beautiful face was one of such naked terror Noah would have chuckled if there'd been anything remotely amusing about the situation.

He took a step toward her. “Riley.”

She shook her head quickly. “I—I can't do this, Noah. I have to go.”

He caught her wrist to halt her retreat. When she turned around, he cupped the back of her head and pulled her against him. As his mouth descended upon hers, she stiffened in protest, her arms lifting to shove him away. He was on fire for her, need and desire whipping through his body like flames, but he'd never forced himself on any woman, and he wasn't about to start now with the woman he loved.

But as Riley's hands flattened against his chest, a wonderful little thing happened. Instead of pushing him away, her fingers curled around a fistful of his shirt and drew him closer. Noah groaned his relief and satisfaction into her mouth, then proceeded to devour her. There was no other word to describe the way he seized her lips and tongue in a kiss of such fierce, searing possession that she moaned into his mouth.

The sound snapped what little self-control he'd had left.

Reaching down, he cupped her sweet, curvy bottom in both hands and backed her against the door, too impatient for the floor. Tearing his mouth away from hers, he knelt in front of her and unsnapped the button of her slacks. She quickly stepped out of her heels and kicked them aside, then stood trembling as he slid the pants off her body. She gasped as he reached for her panties and practically ripped the scrap of black lace in half in his haste to tug it over her hips and down her legs.

He nudged her thighs apart, parted the soft, springy curls there, and pressed his mouth to her hot, moist center. She moaned deep in her throat, her hips arching off the door, her hands scrambling for purchase and settling on his shoulders. Cradling the back of her legs, he tilted her pelvis closer, stroking and tasting her honeyed flesh with his tongue while she made helpless little mewling sounds. In and out, back and forth, his tongue flicked over the smooth, wet folds, feasting on her sweetness. When her thighs began to quiver uncontrollably beneath his hands, he plunged deep inside her one last time, making her sob his name as her body convulsed in the grip of an orgasm that nearly buckled her knees.

He banded his arms around her waist and held her steady for a moment, his heart slamming against his rib cage, his penis throbbing painfully inside his pants.

He couldn't wait any longer. He had to have her.

He reared back from her and stood, taking out a condom from his pocket and tossing the wallet aside. With impatient fingers, he unzipped the fly of his jeans and reached inside his boxers. He quickly sheathed himself, then lifted Riley into his arms again, groaning as she wrapped her luscious legs around his waist and curved her arms around his neck.

She cried out sharply as he drove into her with one long, demanding stroke. Her back arched and he thrust into her a second time, burying himself deeper in her tight, exquisite heat. Fighting to control the orgasm already threatening to erupt, he moved slowly within her, his gaze locked fiercely onto hers.

“This isn't a mistake, Riley,” he whispered. “Does this feel like a mistake?”

She whimpered and shook her head. He increased the sensual tempo, grasping her buttocks as he stroked deep inside her. “What about now?” he murmured, bending his head to nuzzle her arched throat. “Does it feel like a mistake now?”

“No,”
she breathed, closing her eyes and licking her lips.

He'd intended to go slow, to prolong their lovemaking for as long as he could. But when she began rocking against him, her hips undulating erotically, his restraint broke.

Seizing her lips in a plundering kiss, he thrust into her, forcing her harder and faster to the peak, driving her to it as her inner muscles began to clench around him.

“Noah…I'm coming!”
Her fingernails bit into his shoulders and her back arched as another climax tore through her.

He exploded inside her with a force that wrenched a hoarse groan from him. And still he kept thrusting, grasping her thighs and holding her tightly against him as he continued pumping furiously into her. His second orgasm erupted in a jolt of sensation that shook his entire body.

His loud cry joined hers as they clung tightly to each other. Riley burrowed her face against his neck and he held her in place for several moments, his chest heaving against hers as he whispered her name over and over again.

He wanted to stay like that forever, buried deep inside her. Heaven couldn't get any better than this.

And then heaven spoke. “Take me home, Noah,” she whispered.

Drawing back, he searched her flushed face to see if he'd heard right. “You want me to drive you home?”

She shook her head. “Take me home with you. I want to spend the night with you.”

He stared at her. His throat worked, but no sound came forth. How many times had he dreamed about Riley uttering those very words to him?

Mistaking his silence for reluctance, she looped her arms around his neck and leaned close, kissing him. Softly at first, then with increasing hunger. “Please, Noah? Please?”

“You don't even have to ask,” he growled. He crushed his mouth to hers, and as shirts went flying, they slid to the floor.

Hours later, they lay spent in each other's arms, listening to the lazy drone of nocturnal insects outside Noah's open bedroom window. A soft, balmy breeze stirred the sheer curtains and wafted inside the room to wash over their damp, heated flesh.

“My grandmother knows about us,” Riley said, snuggled against the solid warmth of Noah's body with her head tucked beneath his chin, their legs tangled together beneath the covers. For the first time in much too long, she felt completely relaxed, body and mind.

“Yeah?” There was a hint of amusement in the deep timbre of his voice. “What tipped her off? The fact that you didn't come home last night, or the fact that you called to tell her you wouldn't be home tonight, either?”

“It's not funny,” Riley protested, trying to pinch him somewhere on his chest. Her efforts were futile; the man didn't have an ounce of body fat. She settled for poking him in the ribs instead.

He laughed, capturing her hand and bringing it to his soft, warm lips. “Why does it bother you that your grandmother knows about us? Are you worried that she won't approve?”

“Not at all. In fact—” She broke off abruptly and bit her lip.

Noah waited a beat. “In fact what?”

“Nothing. It's not important.”

“Riley.”

She hesitated. “I was going to say that she'd probably start planning our wedding.” A wry smile curved her mouth. “I don't know what kind of spell you cast over my grandmother, Noah Roarke, but she positively worships you and the ground you walk on.”

He chuckled, a low, husky rumble against her ear. “Implying that someone has to be under the influence of a spell in order to like me.”

“You know that's not what I meant.”

“I know.” He nibbled on her fingertips, sending shivers of warmth down her spine. “It's the same way with my mother. She thinks the world of you.”

Riley smiled. “The feeling's mutual.” She paused thoughtfully. “Ironic, isn't it?”

“What?”

“My grandmother and your mother—two of the most important people in our lives—thinking so highly of us, when you and I spent the last five years as virtual strangers.”

“Hmm,” he responded noncommittally.

After another moment, she said, “Noah?”

“Yeah?”

“What was your first impression of me?”

He stopped toying with her fingers and splayed them across his chest. She could feel the strong, steady beat of his heart beneath her hand. “My first impression was formed before I even laid eyes on you,” he reminded her.