"I take it he"s a talent with that," I noted.
She glanced at Noc and bit her lip.
"No offense taken, Circe," Noc muttered to her unuttered words, sounding amused.
"This is, um, awkward," she glanced to me and back at Noc. "You are, of course, a very good kisser."
I took no offense either to her saying without saying that she thought Dax was a better kisser and I felt it safe to say, should a woman have comment on this about my man, it would be me who would.
"Of course," I agreed. "And I could a.s.sure you that Dax could kiss me and I would say that same thing. But I wouldn"t be looking like you after he"d done it."
"I"m glad you understand," she said, obviously relieved.
"Did he ask you out?" Noc queried.
"Tomorrow night," she told him, moving to Noc"s armchair and sitting on it, but only on its edge, like she needed to be at the ready to burst from it given any good reason.
"Not letting any gra.s.s grow," Noc said under his breath.
But I found this concerning.
"This gives us very little time to go shopping for an outfit," I declared then asked, "Where"s he taking you?"
"Well, he"s cooking for me at his house," she answered.
I stiffened.
Noc made a noise like he was choking...
On laughter.
A kiss on another man"s porch.
Dinner at his home the next night.
Circe would be bedded by this time on the morrow, I was certain of it.
Therefore, plans needed to be laid as soon as possible.
"It"s imperative you take off work tomorrow, and first thing when the doors at the mall are opened, we"re entering them."
Circe looked confused.
"I have a lot of clothes, Franka."
She probably did.
However, at the mall we"d be seeing to that.
But our primary mission would be undergarments.
I was thinking pink. Pale pink. With a good deal of delicate lace.
"Humor me," I ordered.
She studied me and moved her study to Noc.
He must have communicated something to her silently for her face relaxed, and when she looked again to me, she was smiling.
"All right, I"ll take the day off."
"Excellent. And now for a digestif." I twisted to Noc. "You"ve been cooking and hosting for hours. I"ll go get them," I offered.
"I don"t f.u.c.kin" think so," he replied.
I stared at him, surprised not only at his words but at the ferocity with which he"d uttered them.
He rose but bent deep, putting his face in mine.
"I take care of my girl," he declared, straightened and looked to Circe with a far less fierce expression. "All of them," he finished and sauntered away.
Well, he definitely did that.
I watched him go and continued to watch him, doing this knowing I wore a supremely smug look on my face and not caring a whit.
I did this until I felt Circe"s regard.
The instant I caught her gaze, I asked, "Happy?"
Something settled on her face and it took her a moment to reply. When she did, it was so quietly, I nearly didn"t hear.
"So this is what it feels like."
I leaned her way, fully her way, dropping to the cushions of the couch to rest my weight in my forearms.
When I did, she shifted further to the edge of the seat and leaned toward me, perched precariously there as we a.s.sumed the pose of girlfriends in this world and any other.
"You see," I whispered, "it"s so beautiful, when it"s yours, it"s difficult to believe it"s real."
"Yes, Franka, I see," she whispered back.
"He was lovely to you when we left you to yourselves outside?" I asked.
"He was..." she shook her head, "He"s so large, it seems impossible to believe, but he"s so gentle, it"s startling."
Oh yes.
I was very right.
Just like in the other, Dax Lahn of this world was absolutely perfect for his Circe.
"Please tell me he used his tongue with the kiss," I begged.
A flush hit her cheeks but her eyes lit. "He did." She leaned forward, nearly toppling off the edge before she gave up and I had to sit up as she situated herself close to me on the couch.
We immediately bent our heads together.
"He tastes...I don"t know, does it seem odd when I say he tastes like, well, like...man?"
How delicious.
"It most a.s.suredly does not," I replied.
"It"s the best thing I"ve ever tasted," she breathed.
My eyes slid to the kitchen when I shared, "I know precisely what you mean."
She let out a giggle before she strangled it.
I took her hand, my body shaking.
I couldn"t hold it back. Laughter burst forth.
And to my utter delight...
Circe"s followed.
Chapter Twenty-Three.
Excuses Franka Early the next morning, a G.o.ds-awful racket sounded, jerking me from my slumber as dread set in that that sound could only herald the end of our world.
I shot bolt upright in bed.
As abruptly as it started, the sound stopped, and I turned fearful eyes to Noc to see him stretched toward his nightstand, touching the clock there that I"d learned was illuminated by a magic known as "electricity."
"By the G.o.ds, darling, what on earth was that?" I asked.
He rolled back to me, looked at my face and grinned a heavy-eyed grin before he curled up and wrapped his arms around me, pulling me down and rolling me to my back with his weight on me.
"It"s an alarm, Frannie," he answered.
"I could tell that. Why was it sounding?"
"To wake me up. I gotta get ready for work and before I go in to do that, I gotta drop you at Valentine"s."
This alarm contraption was clearly another amenity of this world and a needed one considering Noc did not have servants to wake him at the appropriate time.
Which gave rise to questions about how the servants in my past had woken at the appropriate time in order to do the same for me.
"Babe."
I moved my focus from my thoughts to him.
His lids were still heavy with sleep but the look in his eyes was not sleepy in the slightest.
"f.u.c.kin" you first," he declared, his head descending. "Start the day right."
Oh yes. That would indeed start the day right. I knew this as a fact since Noc was a man and men on the whole tended to wish to start any day as such. It was just that Noc was the kind of man who did not wish something to happen, he made it happen.
He did so every morning and it absolutely started each day right.
This he set about doing right then and I would learn that prior to his going to his place of employment he would need to see to both our pleasures in limited time.
Noc had skill with this and it wasn"t the first time he"d demonstrated that to me.
However, it was the first time he"d situated my legs up his chest, my ankles to his shoulders, his hands in the bed for power and control, his eyes devouring me, his body positioned so my eyes could do the same.
This they did.
Deliciously.
"Fingers to your t.i.t and c.l.i.t, baby, wanna watch you help me take you there," he growled his order, pulling out half way and circling while I positioned my hands as I"d been told.
His gaze dropped to them and he pulled out to the tip before he surged in and stayed.
My.
So lovely.
As lovely as it was, I needed more.
From Noc, I always needed more.
"Please move, darling," I breathed.
"Pull at your nipple," he demanded.
I gave him what he wished at the same time giving myself a bolt of beauty from breast to womb. The latter convulsed and I heard his grunt as it did. I dug my ankles into his shoulders uncontrollably.
I had more difficulty focusing on him when I repeated on a gasp, "Please, darling, move."