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  Then I scoop her up and bring her below deck, to my bedroom, before she promptly starts puking into the toilet.

  There’s nothing I can do but hold her hair back and listen.

  “You promised,” she mutters. “And now I’m puking because of you,” she accuses, before puking some more.

  “Tinsley, I’m not quite sure that I made you drink quite that much,” I say.

  In fact, I did my absolute best to stay far away from her.

  I kept an eye on her and Alex, but lost sight of her, figuring she was safe with him.

  I need to let this woman go.

  Instead?

  Here I am, holding her hair.

  Doing her favors.

  None of this is good for me.

  It will only serve to drag her back into my life.

  When her hazel eyes find mine, her arms clutching the toilet, she finally seems to realize what she’s saying.

  I’m certain she won’t remember.

  “You know I never stopped loving you. It’s not fair that you don’t-” She begins.

  But then, she’s puking again.

  What else can I do?

  I can’t leave her here, like this.

  So, I take care of her, listening to her moan about how I don’t love her.

  I keep my mouth shut until I get a few glasses of water into her, and she can keep them down.

  She crawls into my bed without being prompted.

  I don’t want to leave her, in case she needs more help during the night.

  Too tired to do anything else, I glance at the clock.

  Now it’s past four in the morning.

  Two hours to her flight?

  I should wake her up.

  I tell myself to wake her up, wake her up and make her leave.

  But instead, I pull off my shirt and pants.

  I climb in the bed beside her, making sure to give her enough space.

  I just need to close my eyes.

  Just for a few moments.

  Waking dreams are my favorite because those dreams appear to be so real until the bubble of luxurious illusion is burst.

  This time Tinsley’s lips are on my chest, her hand on my throbbing cock as I encircle her tiny waist with my hands, pulling this woman closer to me.

  She is the only thing that I desire now.

  All I want to do is ask her to run away with me, come to the Bahamas.

  We can do whatever we want in this dream world.

  Tinsley’s delicate hand begins to stroke my member with a familiar, firm grip and I groan against her lips, unbuttoning my shirt on her body.

  “That shirt looks better on you than it did on me,” I mumble, groaning again as she swirls her thumb around the head of my cock.

  It’s impossible to resist moving my hand between her legs, and she spreads them willingly for me.

  This can’t be a dream!

  Tinsley’s wetness feels too real against my fingers, she gasps as my fingers penetrate her, and suddenly I know this is real!

  “Noah!” Her gasp is accompanied by her nails raking across my shoulders.

  Pressing my thumb against her slick clit, I aim only to please her, make her beg for more and her grip on my shaft stiffens.

  Tinsley bites her lip, and I curl my fingers inside her, watching her expression change from determination to gratification, as I push her closer and closer to orgasm.

  She kisses me firmly.

  Her earlier hesitant kisses are gone.

  Wildly passionate and unyielding, Tinsley demands my full attention, moving her hips now, so that I must allow her to sink down on my cock.

  This is something about which I don’t protest, wanting nothing more than to be inside her.

  “Oh!” Tinsley shouts, and groans, as she takes more of me into her pussy.

  This is accompanied by a pleasured moan, and she rotates her hips slightly, and more moans spill from her full lips.

  Her hot hands against my chest make me groan, but I need to take control.

  My need to show her what she’s been missing is too great.

  “Tinsley,” I groan into her ear.

  The whisper comes out as I pull her body down against mine, rolling her over against the bed, stuffing her full of what I know she’s been craving: me.

  I find her hands and pin her down on the bed.

  This makes her blush, as she calls out my name, her toes curling as I pull out, then thrust into her at full tilt.

  There’s no need to hold back, as her hips bear down upon mine, matching every thrust with equal intensity.

  Our sweaty bodies crave each other, excited from being together again.

  “I missed you!” I swear to her.

  My hands entangled in her hair, kissing under her neck, across her chest, biting into her skin, causing her to moan my name loud enough to make anyone outside wonder what exactly we are up to.

  “Oh god, Noah!” Tinsley digs her nails hard into my back, drawing them across my flesh.

  Every single sensation is heightened.

  This sort of arousal is new, even to me, and I know why.

  When you’re in love with a woman, and that love never goes away, having her back in your arms, watching her react to your single touch is beyond thrilling.

  “You’re amazing,” I murmur.

  I continue to watch her body arch, as she trembles and moans, closer and closer to orgasm.

  I hold onto my sanity long enough to keep a firm grip on her hips, making her whole body shake with every thrust until her legs are shaking and she can no longer handle any more of me.

  Tinsley’s eyes roll back, her mouth gasping for breath. “Noah!”

  The sight of her cumming because of me is too much, and I quickly find my release.

  Mine.

  All mine.

  I pump her full of everything I have, filling her with my seed.

  We are both left panting and wondering what the hell we just did, as I collapse beside her.

  “Oh my god, you’re still amazing,” Tinsley whispers, looking at me with wonder.

  She’s more mature now, she’s evolved into a confident woman, with a fiery smile.

  “I was hoping you wouldn’t be,” she says.

  “Convince me to leave,” she demands.

  “Leave,” I tell her blithely.

  “That’s not convincing at all Noah,” she kisses me.

  She turns onto her back, legs swinging in the hair, still wearing my shirt.

  But her ass is visible, sexy in the morning light.

  Tinsley tugs on her lower lip with her teeth.

  “You need to tell me to go,” she says.

  “Well, you make it difficult to tell you to leave,” I comment, trailing a finger down her inner thigh. “Because waking a man up with sex, generally indicates you don’t want to leave,” I say.

  This makes her groan.

  “I needed something from you. Anything. I was hoping it would be terrible I would be able to leave,” she replies.

  My mind goes to some dark places right then.

  I’m the only man she’s ever slept with.

  We still have a chance.

  “So, you meant what you said when you were puking in the toilet last night?” I ask.

  Recognition washes over Tinsley’s face as she recalls the night before.

  I watched her all night, puking into the toilet, taking care of her.

  She was such a mess, there was no way I could have left her.

  There’s no way I would leave her now.

  “You don’t think I ever stopped-” I begin to tell her.

  “Shut up,” Tinsley clamps a hand over my mouth. “If you say it, I won’t be able to leave,” she says, her eyes wide.

  A long moment passes, where she watches me, looks into my eyes as though she’s searching for an answer before she finally moves her hand.

  “You know I still love you, Tinsley Whittaker,” I say, kissing her hard.

  The
words are easy to say.

  “I still consider you mine.” I whisper.

  She gasps into my mouth as we kiss, and entangle our bodies.

  After that, I can’t let her go.

  Not this time.

  “You once told me someday. Is that now?” she asks.

  I broke her heart six years ago, something I’d always known, by telling her that we couldn’t be together.

  “If you want it to be,” I brush a piece of hair away from her face. “This is up to you now,” I pull my briefs back on.

  I sit up beside her on the bed.

  “You’re the one who has to leave now. I’m offering you now what I should’ve six years ago,” I say, simply.

  “You what?” her disbelief is surprising.

  “I should’ve never let you go,” I tell her.

  The answer is simple.

  “It was the right thing to do, but I still regret it every single day,” I confess.

  Tinsley moves to sit beside me on the bed, taking my hand.

  “Do you mean that?” she asks, her eyes bright.

  When I look into her eyes, I understand that she is considering running away with me.

  “Of course,” I kiss her on the forehead. “I wouldn’t lie to you. Don’t we deserve, after all this time, to see where we could go? As a couple? Without interference?” I ask.

  “Is that what you want?” she says, her voice quivering.

  Her hazel eyes widen at me.

  Admiring her disbelief, I almost laugh.

  “Tinsley, why wouldn’t I? Not a part of me has stopped loving you,” I chuckle.

  My confession is out there, and she says nothing for a few moments.

  “I’ll tell you what, I’m going to take a shower. Why don’t you think about it, and when I come out, you can let me know what you want to do?” I ask.

  “Okay,” Tinsley nods, tucking a piece of brown hair behind her face.

  It occurs to me that she could want to go back to Manhattan.

  If I have put myself out there, and she denies me, then at least I’ve tried.

  I can rest assured knowing that I at least gave getting her back a shot, instead of hiding with my tail between my legs.

  The Stone Family never has harbored cowards, and I have always lived up to that reputation.

  The sad thought that she might go back depresses me.

  But she is her own person; I’m sure she will want to fix things with her job, and end things with Connor before this silly engagement goes through.

  She has the real world to attend to.

  She doesn’t need to follow me around on vacation.

  It’s almost scary, walking out to the woman who might tell me no.

  No one has ever told me no before.

  Not in my life.

  It’s always easy to find a way around the people who tell me, no, but I can’t find a way to the love of my life.

  When the door of the shower opens, and Tinsley slips in behind me, I almost don’t notice, but her arms slip around my neck.

  I turn around to see her standing in the spray of the rain shower behind me.

  “Yes,” Tinsley is nodding. “Yes,”

  “Yes?” I repeat the word.

  We deserve this chance.

  “I’d let you hurt me over, and over again if it meant that all that was left at the end was the two of us, together,” she whispers.

  Her confession is more than enough for our lips to smash together again.

  It’s a forcefully passionate kiss that seals the idea of us running away together.

  Our lips crush together under the spray of hot water, reigniting my need to take her.

  And I decide to make her say yes, over and over again.

  Tinsley sees the fire in my eyes, and turns around, bending over slightly against the wall of the shower, beads of water sliding down her body as she wiggles her ass at me.

  With a new found promise of seeing what we can accomplish together, nothing can stop us now.

  I grab her hips, sliding my erect member between her folds again, as deep as I can.

  We fit together so seamlessly, as I pull her body towards mine, lifting one of her legs as I continue to penetrate her.

  Tinsley braces herself against the shower.

  “Oh god!” she screams.

  “Say it!” I command in a voice laced with rough desire.

  “Yes!” Tinsley whines, the hot water continuing to pour over us as I give her what she desires most, me.

  Every single thrust, hard and fast makes her scream the word yes until her body shakes in my hands and I grip her harder.

  My pace quickens until we both tense up at the same time, being pushed far over the edge, finding our release together as Tinsley screams my name and I sink my teeth into her shoulder, growling as my cock twitches inside her, expelling everything I’ve got left.

  When I heard rumors of an engagement between Tinsley and Connor I was concerned.

  Those concerns are far from my mind now.

  She obviously wants nothing to do with the man, as the first thing she stated was that, if she was going to the Bahamas, she needed a fabulous new wardrobe.

  Those were her words when I handed over my credit card.

  I have no qualms about her spending my money.

  That’s when my public relations manager calls, and I groan before picking up the phone.

  “Alanna,” I answer.

  “Noah,” she answers crisply.

  The spicy redhead who’s taken over public relations for Noah Leviathan Stone Portfolio Management took the job after her divorce.

  I suspect that she was previously a high priced professional girlfriend, but she has yet to confirm.

  “What’s the situation?” I inquire.

  “The situation is I need you back in Manhattan. Soon,” she purrs into the phone.

  “How soon?” I ask, thinking of Tinsley.

  “I’m hedging for tomorrow,” she sounds exasperated. “But judging by the sound of your voice,” she says as I picture her red hair bouncing as she speaks to me, “I won’t get you for a couple of weeks,”

  “At least,” I agree with her.

  “Ugh,” she sighs. “Fine. I give you two weeks before I send Lucius back to Miami looking for you,” she says.

  “I won’t be in Miami,” I let the words roll off my tongue easily, and then instantly regret saying them. “I’ll be in the Bahamas. I’m going away for a little bit,” I announce.

  Alanna mocks a gasp.

  “A vacation? For real? At the worst possible time as well. Rats. I guess I’ll have to handle this one on my own, like always,” she says.

  She’s fishing for me to ask what exactly is going on.

  I’m not biting.

  If I bite then the temptation to stop by the office, not just a simple inconvenience, will be too great.

  I refuse to put work before Tinsley again.

  “I’m not going to ask. You’re capable,” I tell her.

  “Goddamn it, Noah!” Alanna follows with a string of invectives. “You son-of-a-bitch! You chose the worst possible times to go on vacation! I will, however, try to lure you onwards with a little bit of gossip,” she says.

  “Oh?” I feign interest to entertain her.

  “I hear Corban is going to propose to Catherine,” she announces.

  I’m shocked, but Alanna isn’t getting anything from me.

  “Too bad. I’ll be sad to see another drinking partner go,” I say, with honest misgivings for the boy.

  “Oh, you horrid man. I’m lucky I never slept with you!” Alanna says.

  “You wish,” I tell her.

  “Give everyone else at the office a kiss for me; I know you already have,” I tease.

  “Oh Noah, you think so highly of me,” Alanna’s dry voice comes before she promptly hangs up the phone.

  I roar with laughter.

  The surest way to get my public relations manager off the phone is to tease
her about her sexual conquests.

  As though I don’t know who she has, and hasn’t slept with.

  Though I’m tempted to call her back, several times, before Tinsley returns, I don’t.

  She distracts me with multiple bags, some of which she insists are for me.

  Those bags include some items from Prada, which she convinces me are the latest trend.

  I try to deny that I would wear anything she’s picked for me, secretly loving our new level of intimacy.

  No woman has ever dared to buy me a shirt before.

  Alanna’s phone call, however, sticks out in the back of my mind, and I wonder if it has anything to do with Tinsley and Whittaker Energy.

  18

  Tinsley

  September 20, 2015

  Noah’s initial idea was to hire a full crew to take his new yacht to the Bahamas, but, because I am with him, he decides a minimal crew is best, so we can have our privacy.

  This makes me deliriously happy!

  Uninterrupted stretches of time between Noah and I, this cannot get any better!

  It must be a dream!

  I busy myself in the kitchen before Noah gets out of bed.

  I hum happily as I make breakfast.

  Eggs, bacon, coffee, fruit salad and hash are waiting when Noah wakes up.

  My mother always knew how to cook, but never felt the need.

  However, I spent enough summers in Italy to learn the skill and enjoy it.

  Sunday morning breakfasts are my parent’s favorite, because I cook it for them.

  “I love that you cook,” Noah eyes me as I stand by the dining table, in a brand new white mono-kini, which he looks up and down a few times, before taking a seat.

  “You always did,” I smirk at him.

  “Good morning, love,” he says.

  His whisper makes my heart skip a beat before he takes the seat beside me, still looking impressed with what I’ve laid out.

  He’s seen me cook more elegant things than this.

  “Isn’t that the way to a man’s heart?” I slide into my seat.

  There’s the small problem of the possibly pending proposal back home.

  It makes no sense to me, but I would like to be honest with him.

  He deserves to know what he’s walking into when, and if we return.

  But I’m not keen on ruining anything just yet.

  “You already have mine,” he says.