Noble Love (The Nobles of Sweet Rapids #1) (9 page)

S
he marched through the house and yanked her front door open at the incessant pounding. When she saw him standing there, she sighed.

"What are you doing he–"

The rest of her words were cut off, when he cupped the back of her neck and crushed his lips to hers. She placed her hands against his chest, determined to push him away, but instead, found herself melting into his body. She tried to resist him, but she couldn't fight it.

His tongue dipped into her mouth, tangling with hers as his hands went to cup her ass, gripping it tightly. Soon he lifted her into his arms and she hooked her legs around his waist, shamelessly grinding against his erection. He carried her to the bedroom, and tossed her onto the bed, seemingly not giving a damn about gentility at the moment.

He shoved her skirt up, yanked her panties down and dropped to his knees as he pushed her legs open wide. Her back flew off of the bed at the first swipe of his tongue against her clit. He pressed her back down as he ferociously devoured her, licking, slurping and sucking on her until her mind dove into sweet oblivion.

She tried to shove his head away, the pleasure too much for her to handle, but he gripped her wrists and pinned them against her belly.

His tongue curled inside of her and the scream she'd been holding back ripped from her lungs. He continued kissing her slowly as she came back down to earth.

Finally, he sat back on his haunches and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand.

"I knew these lips would taste as good as the ones on your face."

Dana sat up on her elbows and looked down at Aiden, who was watching her with a salacious grin on his face.

Tessa was never going to let her live this down when she found out, Dana thought. At least she had the weekend to figure out how to break the news.

"You're still an arrogant ass."

His low, sexy chuckle made her pussy, that was still on full display in front of him, tingle with renewed arousal.

"And you're still a spoiled brat," he said, looking her in the eyes.

Her lips tilted up. "Now that we've gotten that out of the way, let's see how
you
taste," she said, before she lunging at him on the floor.

Tessa's phone rang and she sighed, tempted not to answer. She swiped it anyway and took the call.

"Isaiah–"

"Did it ever occur to you that leaving here would be just as hard for me?" he asked, not letting her get a word in.

"I–"

"Spending time with you here has been wonderful. And I'm not ready for that to end, Tess. Not even today, when you're obviously having a bad day. Even when you're infuriating, you still fascinate me."

He was right. Her argument with her mother that afternoon had put her in an extremely foul mood, and the thoughts his mother, unintentionally, planted in her head had been festering for days. It had all bubbled over at the same time.

"I want to be in this...whatever this is that's happening between us...
with
you. So, please, don't shut me out, Tess."

She wanted to be with him too, Tessa realized, no matter how long. If and when they parted ways, she'd deal with it then.

"I'm sorry," she whispered. "I shouldn't have taken my frustrations out on you."

"No, you shouldn't have. But if you come open the door, I can properly forgive you."

She rushed to the door, pulled it open and Isaiah pulled her against him, kissing her deeply.

"I'm sorry," she said again, against his lips.

"Apology accepted."

She pulled back slightly and looked up at him. "Did you ever leave?"

He shook his head, a hint of a smile on his lips. "I've told you before, you're not getting rid of me that easily," he said, tugging her chin between his thumb and finger. "Now that we've gotten our first fight out of the way, go pack your bag so we can head to South Lake Tahoe."



"Welcome to my home, Tess."

Isaiah sat their bags down after they entered his home and watched as Tessa looked around in awe.

"This is your place?" she said.

"Yeah."

"Why would you
ever
want to leave a place like this?"

She moved to the patio door, surrounded by floor to ceiling windows, that led out to the patio. The house sat right on Lake Tahoe.

Isaiah shut the front door. "We're not about to start arguing about me leaving again, are we?" he asked with a grin on his face.

She turned and looked at him, rolling her eyes. "
No.
"

"Good," he said, moving further in the house toward her. "Because we haven't properly made up for the last fight yet."

"We haven't?" she asked, smiling as well.

He pulled her into his arms. "I've heard that make up sex is some of the best."

"Is that right?" She draped her arms around his shoulders.

He hoisted her up into his arm and headed for the stairs. "Why don't we just go and find out?"

Isaiah had always loved to look at the view of the mountains over Lake Tahoe from his bedroom through the long horizontal window that stretch nearly the entire length of the wall. But the view was even more beautiful with the two round mocha globes up in the air, between his hands, as he pounded in and out of Tessa from behind.

Her back rounded and then arched, the sexy curve of her spine dipping low, as she tossed her head back, her hair whipping through the air. Her moans filled the room as he reached forward and slid his hand into the large mass of curls, twisting it around his fist.

His body shuddered as her walls clamped around him. It felt as if she was pulling something from him. Quite possibly his heart.

She screamed his name and a few pumps later he was coming right behind her.

He collapsed onto his side, so he wouldn't put all of his weight on her.

"I guess they were right about make up sex," he heard Tessa say a few minutes later.

He chuckled and pulled her closer, kissing her shoulder. "Are you hungry? I know you've had a hell of a day."

"I'm starved," she said. He could hear the smile in her voice.

"That Mediterranean place delivers out here," Isaiah said. "Or I can cook you something."

Tessa rolled in his arms to face him. "You cook?" she asked, slightly surprised.

He laughed again and squeezed her bottom, pulling her closer to him. "I'll have you know I make some bad ass risotto. How about I make dinner and you make dessert?"

"That sounds great." She hopped from the bed, taking his hand. "Come on, let's shower and get down to the kitchen."

After Isaiah cooked dinner and Tessa made dessert, he finally gave her a tour of the rest of his house. After showing her the main floor and second floor, he guided her down to the basement where Tessa discovered his in-home studio.

"Wow," she said, looking around.

"It's one of the first upgrades I did when I bought the place," Isaiah said.

He watched as she walked around checking the place out. He followed her into the recording booth. She stopped in front of the wall of violins being held up by mounted instrument hangers.

"That one's my favorites," he said about the one she stopped in front of.

She glanced at him over her shoulder. "May I?"

When he nodded, she gingerly removed it from the wall and cradled it between her hands.

"It's beautiful," she said, gingerly running her fingers across the polished wood of the body. She looked up at him, eyes filled with curiosity. "What kind of music do you enjoy playing most?"

"Growing up, when our parents discovered that music was one of our talents," he said. "They had us play a lot of classical music."

"You don't do that anymore?"

"I do, but what I really enjoy is putting my own spin on R&B and Jazz."

"Is that why you played on Laurel's album?"

Isaiah laughed. "I played on Laurel's album because she's relentless."

"Do your siblings still play?"

"Probably not as much as me, but I know they still play occasionally. That's one of Ian's guitars over there," he said pointing to the acoustic guitar in the corner. "He keeps another with him in Vegas."

Tessa was quiet for another moment before she looked up at Isaiah.

"Will you play for me?"

"
A
re you ready?" Tessa asked Isaiah, watching as he tuned his violin. When she'd asked if he would play for her, she wasn't sure how he'd respond. But he'd simply nodded, cracking a small smile.

He booted up his soundboard system, and after pushing a few buttons and sliding a few bars up and down, he showed her the play button.

Isaiah looked up and nodded and she hit the button. A quick, sensual drum beat dropped as Isaiah lifted the violin to his shoulder, placed his chin on the rest and brought the bow to the strings.

Tessa recognized the song, "Call My Name", instantly. She watched, enraptured, as Isaiah's fingers flew across the neck of the violin, while he used his bow to sensuously stroke the strings on the body. It reminded her of the way he used his hands on her when they made love. It was erotic and exhilarating.

Watching Isaiah play was a thing of wonder. He lost himself in his music, his eyes squeezed tightly, his biceps bunching when he moved certain ways. There was an air of vulnerability that showed on his face that he didn't usually show regularly.

As the background music began to fade, he ended his private performance for her. When he opened his eyes, he walked over to her.

"You play beautifully," she sniffled.

He smiled, and thumbed away a tear. "Thank you. I'm glad these aren't tears of suffering."

She laughed and wiped her face. "It was just...
that
song...by
that
artist." She shook her head. "I still get emotional."

"Yeah, it's hard to wrap your head around the fact that he's no longer here."

"Music died a little bit more the day he left this earth."

Isaiah nodded. "Truer words have never been spoken."

He leaned down and kissed her lips gently. When he pulled away, he asked, "You wanna hear something else?"

"Sure!"

He pushed a few more buttons, and picked another arrangement on his laptop that was synced to the soundboard. He went back into the recording booth and began playing. She didn't recognize this more upbeat, yet soulful track.

It was smooth and sexy, she thought, as she watched Isaiah sway from side to side.

"What song was that?" she asked, once he was done.

"I haven't titled it yet."

Her mouth fell open. "You composed it yourself."

He shrugged. "It's just something I do in my spare time."

"It sounded amazing. Do you have anymore?"

"A ton..."

Tessa spent half the night down in the basement being serenaded by Isaiah and his violin, before he took her back upstairs and made her body his instrument for the rest of the night.



Tessa pushed her wild hair out of her face and cracked one eye open. When she saw Isaiah above her, she groaned and pulled the cover over her face.

"What the hell are you doing, Isaiah?" she grumbled.

"What does it look like?" he teased.

She snapped the blanket back down and tried to glare at him, fighting hard not to smile.

"When I agreed to be in your documentary, to talk about your products at Noble Naturals, I didn't expect it to be so intimate."

"Don't worry, I just took a picture," he murmured, with his phone in his hands. "Good morning."

"Good morning," she said, finally smiling. "You know, some people would find what you're doing incredibly creepy."

"I'm sorry," he said. "But you're extremely beautiful in your sleep. I wanted to capture the moment. You look like an angel."

"You don't think I'm an angel when I'm awake?"

"After the things you did last night..."

She gasped, grabbed a pillow from behind her head and chucked it at him. He ducked out of the way, laughing. He put his phone down on the nightstand before moving over to her to pull her into his arms.

He began to kiss her, and their kissing lead to a morning round of lovemaking. Once they were done, they relaxed in the tub for a while. Like in his bedroom, there was another long, horizontal window in the bathroom. This one was right over the tub, so they had a picturesque view of the lake and mountains as they soaked.

"What was that dessert you made last night?" he asked, as he massaged one of her feet. Isaiah was sitting at one end of the tub while Tessa was at the other end, facing him.

She sighed as she answered, "A key lime tart."

"It was amazing," he said. "Is it one of the new recipes you and your sister have been trying to get in the bakery?"

Tessa nodded quietly.

"What does your father have to say about all of this?" Isaiah asked. "I mean everyone knows that it was
his
parents’ bakery."

"Daddy thinks our ideas are great. But he wants to keep Mama happy."

"I see," Isaiah said. "Doesn't want to cause tension."

"Happy wife, happy life, I guess. Ugh," she growled, splashing the water in the tub around. "I just wish she'd give us a chance."

"What if you could convince your parents to give the new desserts a trial run?"

"A trial run?" she thought.

"Sure," Isaiah said, shrugging his shoulders. "Can your mother really complain that much, if you're simply passing out samples of new desserts? It's not like you'd even be profiting from it."

Tessa's countenance fell again. "You don't know Janet Everett. I don't know how that would work, if she refuses to even taste them."

"Maybe you go over her head."

"What?" she laughed. Shaking her head, she said, "Isaiah, I couldn't do that. My mother would lose her mind."

"'A little rebellion, now and then, is a good thing...'," Isaiah quoted. "And I bet if you could find a way to really get your father on your side, it would soften the blow for her."

"Isaiah," Tessa said. "I know you said to try harder, but what you're suggesting...I just don't know."

"Just consider it," he said, in a soothing tone. He picked up her other foot and began to massage it. "Tell me about some of your other recipes."

She began rattling off all of the recipes she and Dana had been testing.

"When we were at the concert, Laurel mentioned that maybe one day you'd open a bakery in L.A. That's part of this dream, isn't it? Expanding and opening another bakery."

"Yeah," she said. "Dana and I think it would be amazing to add some variety to the menu and expand. We think it would bring in a whole new crop of consumers."

"Add some variety...expand." Isaiah repeated quietly, those words ringing in his ears. Suddenly his eyes popped open wide. "That's it!"

"What's it?" she asked, confused.

He lunged toward her, grabbing her face, with his soapy hands as he kissed her lips with a loud smack.

"Tess, you're a genius!"

"You want to fill me in on
how
exactly?" she said, giggling as he continued showering her face with kisses.

"You've given me the perfect idea on how to up the ante with Noble Naturals."



Isaiah breezed into the boardroom of Noble Naturals and found his parents at the head of the long conference table, with expectant looks on their faces.

Isaiah had called them and asked them to pull together a meeting with some members of each department.

He greeted everyone at the table, very familiar with each person before his father said, "All right, son. You told me you had some ideas for the end of the documentary and how we're going to present the future of the company and where we are going with it."

"Yes, sir," he said, nodding.

"Let's hear them," Isaac said. "What are you plans and why do we all need to be here?"

"Because it's going to affect the entire company. And we all need to be on board for this, because it's going to be a lot of work. But it'll blow Chic and Sleek out of the water."

Isaiah sat up, ran his hand down the front of his suit jacket, then straightened his tie.

"Ladies and gentlemen. It's time to go back to the drawing board."