Hearts Ablaze (Hearts On Fire Series) (9 page)

CHAPTER 14

NOAH

“Aubrey?” I can’t believe she’s standing in front of me. Kennedy is with her. I smack Gray on the back of the head and he spins around. He looks pretty shocked too.
Oh, God, they must have just seen us sing. Jesus Christ.
Grayson bet me that I wouldn’t have the balls to get up there with him. Definitely regretting that now. If I weren’t drunk, I never would’ve done it. Of course, that’s every man’s excuse, right?

Now that I’m over my shock, I get a good look at Aubrey. Holy shit, my girlfriend is so damn hot. She has on these tiny shorts and heels that make her legs look a mile long, and that red lipstick again. And she smells so fucking good. I can already feel my dick getting hard.

“Baby, what are you doing here?” I lean down and give her a kiss.

“We wanted to surprise you guys. We were bored and missed you.” She wraps her arms around my neck and leans up on her toes to kiss me. I place my hands on her hips and pull her against me. “That was a hell of a performance too, by the way.”

Laughing, I look over at Gray. “It was that idiot’s fault. He bet me I couldn’t get up there, and I couldn’t back down. Whatever.” I elbow Gray in the arm.

“Well, I thought we sounded fucking phenomenal. Nashville wishes they had half our talent. We should start our own boy band. I got some serious moves. I am the king of the running man. Girls won’t be able to resist.” He starts breaking out his running man, which is horrible. The girls are laughing at him, and I just want to punch him in the head.

“Hey, Noah, let’s go dance.” Aubrey presses against me, grabbing my hand. I pull her onto the dance floor as a slow song starts. We sway to the music, her arms around my neck as she plays with the hair at the bottom, twisting her fingers in the strands. I have my hands around the small of her back.

“I’m really glad you came tonight. I missed you today. What kind of trouble did you ladies get yourselves into?”

She giggles before answering me. “Well, if by trouble you mean buying enough clothes for three people and eating way too much Chinese food, then we got into heaps of trouble.” She has a huge smile on her face, and it feels so good to see her so happy. I know she has a lot going on, but I’m glad she’s letting loose; losing her dad is going to be hard, but I don’t want her to put her life on hold. I’m so scared she’s going to retreat into herself when he dies, kind of like how she was when I met her. We’re so good together, and I don’t want to lose her.

“So, listen. I know you were supposed to have girls’ night tonight, but since you crashed our night out, what do you say you come home with me?” I pull her just a little closer, reaching down to caress her ass before moving back up to her waist.

“Hmm. I don’t know. I guess I’d have to be persuaded.”

“Oh, I can definitely persuade you, baby.” I lean down and place a kiss to her neck, then trail my lips down to her shoulder. I can feel her shiver and goose bumps pop up along her skin.

“C’mon, let’s go home. I need to be alone with you. Now.”

She gives me a wicked grin then walks away, pulling Kennedy to the side. After whispering something to her, they give each other a hug and Aubrey comes bounding over to me.

“Let’s go, handsome.” She winks and walks out of the club ahead of me, swaying her hips back and forth. Groaning, I readjust my pants and head out after her. We walk over to the line of taxis waiting along the street and hop in one. Once we direct the cabbie where to go, I lean over and give her a quick kiss.

“Mm. I really missed you, Noah.” She leans her head on my shoulder.

“I missed you too, Aubrey.”

“We didn’t plan to crash your night, but I just didn’t want to be away from you. I’m an awful friend.” She takes my hand and presses a kiss to my palm.

“What are you talking about?”

“Can we talk about it later?” She’s quietly tracing her finger up and down the length of my arm. Something’s bothering her, but I can’t figure out what. I know we’ve only been together about a month, but we have spent nights apart. When I go to the firehouse for my shifts, she goes back home, so I can’t figure out what’s going on.

Soon enough, we’re pulling into my driveway. I hand the guy a couple twenties and help Aubrey from the cab. We head inside, kicking our shoes off at the front door, and she goes straight into my bedroom, pulling clothes off as she goes. When I make it into the bedroom, she’s under the covers, clearly wearing nothing. Whatever she wanted to talk about is forgotten. I pull my T-shirt over my head and start kicking my pants and boxers off, stumbling a little as I go—I am still drunk, after all. I jump into the bed and position myself on top of her. She starts giggling when I get caught in the blankets.

“Think that’s funny?” I growl, then lean down and take her mouth with mine. She immediately responds, wrapping an arm around my neck. Our tongues touch and she moans into my mouth. Keeping the blankets over us, I prop myself up on one elbow, reaching down with the other hand to find her hot and wet.

“Jesus Christ, baby. You’re drenched.” I slip a finger inside her as I slowly circle her clit with my thumb. Breaking the kiss, she arches her back and throws her head back. I attach myself to her neck, biting and sucking, causing her to cry out. I can feel her gripping my fingers and I know she’s only moments from release, so I push down on her nub harder. Suddenly, she’s coming, screaming out my name as she bucks against my hand. Not wasting a second, I push her legs open wider and position myself between then. Grabbing my painfully hard cock, I give it a few strokes before rubbing the head around her wet folds. Finding her entrance, I slowly slip inside, fighting the urge to explode already.
Jesus, she’s so fucking tight.
She has her legs wrapped around me, pushing against me. Grabbing her around the waist, I sit up so she’s on my lap. She wraps her arms around my shoulders and starts to move up and down.

“Fuck yeah, baby. Ride me. Make that sweet pussy squeeze my cock.” She is so hot and tight; I almost can’t believe how good this feels. Leaning forward, I take one of her hard nipples into my mouth, sucking hard. Crying out, she throws her head back as her pussy starts milking my dick. Grabbing her shoulders, I slam her down onto me once, twice, and then I’m exploding inside her with a roar. As we both come down from our orgasms, I rest my head on her chest, panting harshly. She’s gripping my shoulders, holding on for dear life. I can still feel her thighs twitching from her release.

“Damn, Noah. That was incredible,” she breathes, still trying to catch her breath.

“Damn right it was.” I kiss her, cradling her face between my hands. Leaning her down, we slowly kiss until the heat between us builds until we’re breathing heavy. And when it does, we make love again, and it is no less mind-blowing than it was before.

When we’re finally spent, we lay in bed together. I’ve thrown on a pair of underwear and she’s wearing one of my shirts. Her back is to my front, and she has her head resting on my arm.

“Aubrey, are you ready to talk about earlier? I know something was bothering you when we were taking the taxi home. Are you okay?” I kiss her on the neck and wait for her to tell me.

“It’s nothing.” Her voice sounds small and sad.

“Baby, talk to me. What’s wrong?”

“It’s just that since we started dating, we’re always together. And I’ve felt like such a shitty friend, because I’m hardly home and Kenni and I never hang out anymore. And tonight was so important to her, but I didn’t want to be away from you. I didn’t know how to tell her that without hurting her feelings, so I suggested we crash your night because I wanted to go out. I didn’t really want to go out though. I just wanted to be with you.”

“That doesn’t make you a shitty friend, Aubrey. I’m just trying to understand what the problem is. Why didn’t you want to be away from me?” I brush her hair back from her face, hugging her closer to me.

“I’m already losing my dad, Noah. I can’t bear to think about losing anyone else important to me. Your job is so dangerous, and I know you might not come home one day. And I don’t want to waste any time being without you.”

I can feel her tears leak onto my arm. This girl is gutting me. I roll her so she’s facing me then reach over and wipe her tears away.

“Listen to me, Aubrey. I know my job can be dangerous, but we take it very seriously. We have a protocol we always follow. We never take risks, even if it means we can’t save everyone inside. Nothing is going to happen to me. I’m so sorry that it bothers you this much. I wish you had told me earlier. I don’t like to think that every day I’ve gone to work you were this scared. God, baby.” I reach out and pull her to my chest, her tears dripping onto my chest. I kiss the top of her head, holding onto her until we both drift off to sleep.

***

Waking up the next morning, I feel like there’s a car alarm going off in my head.
Shit. Way too much alcohol last night. And Gray and those damn tequila shots.
Stumbling out of bed, I head into the kitchen in just my boxer briefs. I go straight for the cabinet next to the fridge, grabbing a bottle of ibuprofen. Once I take a few pills, I start a cup of coffee. The second it’s done, I grab the mug and blow on it, needing caffeine stat. I’m leaning against the island sipping it when I hear Aubrey come out of the bedroom.

“Morning.” She yawns and stretches her arms over her head. Heading over to the Keurig, she leans up and kisses me on the cheek. While she waits for her coffee to brew, I move behind her and wrap my arms around her waist. She leans back against me and raises one of her hands to my cheek.

‘Morning, baby. How’d you sleep?”

“I slept good, thanks.” She goes to the fridge and grabs the bottle of creamer she keeps in there. Pouring some into her coffee, she turns to look at me. She seems to be in a much happier mood, but now that I’m not wasted, I want to talk to her about last night.

“Can we talk, Aubrey? Let’s go sit on the couch.”

Following me into the living room, she sits next to me on the couch and places her mug on the coffee table.

“What’s up, Noah?”

“Just wanted to see how you were doing. I gotta tell you, baby, last night really bothered me. I had no idea you felt that way about my job. Why didn’t you ever say anything?”

I reach out and grab a hold of her hands. Taking a deep breath, she looks at me.

“I am okay with your job. Honestly. I think I just got overly emotional last night. I do worry about you, Noah, and I always will. But I think it had more to do with where my head is. I’ve been getting stuff for my mom’s Fourth of July party ready, and I’m starting to realize that this is going to be dad’s last party. I’ve been doing okay, because a part of me has accepted that his time with us is short. But then the part of me that doesn’t want to lose her dad rears her head sometimes. My biggest help has been you, Noah. Having you to lean on has been the best thing for me. And I did feel bad about bailing on Kenni last night, but I know she understands. She’s my best friend, but even she knows that sometimes she’s not who I need. I’m just so sick of being the whiny bitch who keeps ruining stuff.”

“Hey, I want you to listen to me. You are not a bitch, Aubrey. And you are not whiny. Your father is dying, and none of us understand what you’re going through. It’s okay to get upset over little things. Just talk to me. Don’t keep your feelings inside, ‘cause that’s only going to make things harder on you.”

Nodding, she moves to sit on my lap and puts an arm around my shoulder.

“I know. I just feel like I already take up enough of your time. When was the last time you went and visited your parents? Hell, Carmen has been home for a week. Have you even seen her yet? You’re spending all your time with me or my parents. How is that fair?”

I’m not entirely sure how to answer that without hurting her. But I did tell her to be honest with me about things, so I know I can’t lie to her.

“Aubrey, I want to spend time with your dad, because I know he isn’t gonna be around forever. I want to get to know him. Baby, I’m in this relationship for the long haul. You have no idea how crazy I am about you. He’s an awesome guy, and maybe one day when we have little Noahs and Aubreys, I can tell them how amazing their grandpa was.”

I can see the tears shining in her eyes, but she’s smiling. “You want to have babies with me someday?”

“Hell yeah, I do.” I lean over and place my forehead to hers, hoping I didn’t just scare her off. For crying out loud, we haven’t even expressed our love to each other and I’m telling her I want to have babies with her.

“I can really see us going somewhere, Aubrey. We’re good together, don’t you think?” I kiss her and brush the hair off her face.

“I do, Noah. I love being with you. You make me excited about life. And I love that.” Smiling, she leans over and hugs me, burying her face in my shoulder.

“So, what should we do today?” I ask, rubbing a hand up and down her back.

“Well, I need to go down to the store and pick some stuff up for my parents’ party. Then I need to drop it off at their house. You wanna come with me?”

“Yeah, sure. Let me just hop in the shower and then we can run over to your place so you can get clothes.”

“Okay.” She picks up her coffee and heads into the kitchen as I go into the bathroom and quickly shower. After throwing on a pair of cargo shorts, a T-shirt, and flip-flops, I walk into the kitchen. She’s in the clothes she had on last night with her feet bare, shoes in hand, and her hair pulled back off her face.