[This chapter contains some mature scenes. If you are uncomfortable with it, please skip this chapter.]

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When Noah's hungry mouth touched hers, Jess like a flower on the first kiss of Spring opened her mouth to receive and to give.

Noah didn't seem to close the kitchen tap properly, for Jess could hear a droplet of water hitting the aluminum sink. It puzzled her why she noticed those sounds when she hardly noticed them before. Her heightened senses may have played a role.

For she was burning!

She could feel every small pressure of Noah's lips on hers, his tongue darting in and out of her agape mouth, taunting her to gasp for air — she moaned in total surrender.

Her butt was pressed against the marble counter, and she couldn't help but grin. It seemed like she would always be against the marble counter with Noah.

"No - ahh, the coffee…" she sucked in some air when his hands cupped the mold of her breast that satin fabric of her dress does not offer much barrier.

"Let's just heat it up later," he whispered as his mouth traced the delicate line of her jaw to the base of her neck, down to the protruding collar bone down to …

She grabbed his face on her palm that halted his one-way exploration.

"Noah —"

"Yes?" he asked, staring at her confused eyes.

"I - I —" She forgot what she was about to say when she stared at Noah's blue eyes that were like a magnificent azure of desires.

He gazed at her eyes while he playfully ran his tongue to the shape of her lips. The devil tongue of his teases her and how can she construct a sentence when he is picking on her like that.

"I —"

"What is it that you want minx? Do you want me to stop?"

The bastard! He was asking her if she wanted him to stop when he had his engrossed member pressed below her navel. He would grind them to her in such a provocative manner, her nose flared with how deep the breath she had to take to stop herself from kneeling on the cold kitchen floor.

Maybe, kneeling wasn't a bad idea, after all, she shamelessly grinding her lower body to his!

'Ah fuck hell and damnation!' She screamed inside her head, shoving the rational part of her brain and letting her desires take over.

She crushed her mouth to Noah's, continuing where they left off and more.

A soft chuckle was heard from him as he pulled her closer, "Easy, minx. I'm not going anywhere."

"Hmm," she mumbled, nibbling on his lower lips. "You taste like tiramisu."

"You, on the other hand, taste better than any dessert," he caught her tongue that has been teasing his lips, and won't give him a taste.

When Noah claimed her lips, the kitchen floor shook under Jessica's feet and she forgot all the reasons.

She forgot that she promised herself she wouldn't get too involved with Noah.

She forgot that Noah hasn't remembered her from the first night they spent together.

She forgot… or rather she chose to forget and she let herself feel.

She let those cracked in her heart be filled when Noah's hands journeyed across her skin. When he let go of her lips, she realized she was already on top of the counter. Her dress was hiked up exposing her thighs for Noah's hand went undercover.

His fingers were skimming the garter of her underwear.

"Noah, we are doing it all over again," she said in a small voice. She didn't realize that she was trembling until Noah pulled his hand under her dress and carried her in his arms to the couch in her living room.

"Hush baby, shhh… we are not doing it all over again," he whispered as he kissed her earlobe.

Jess whimpered in Noah's arms. She didn't know that what happened in Noah's hotel room in the past had left a scar in her heart.

Noah cursed himself. He strokes Jess back as gently as he can. He dropped himself on the sofa with her still in his arms.

He had no idea how much Jess hurt that night, until today. After what had happened, Jess acted like nothing happened, but now, he just put her on the counter and the painful memories of that night made her tremble.

This woman in his arms, despite being strong, smart ass, foul-mouthed, opinionated, sassy — on the inside, she hurts easily.

And he was the one that hurt her.

"Baby, I'm so sorry. I didn't know I hurt you that bad." His lips pressed against her temples as he gathered the tendrils of her hair that covered her tears-stricken face to tuck them behind her ears.

"I didn't know either," she sobbed. "When I find myself seated on the counter and you start to remove my underwear…" Having realized what she was saying, she lowered her voice and averted her eyes.

"...when I tried to remove your underwear, you remembered my jerk move when I told you in my hotel room that you aren't bad in bed, like that man said," he gritted his teeth, remembering how Jess mistakenly sent him a voice message when she was drunk, saying, she isn't bad in bed.

Every time he remembered that voicemail, he wanted to murder that man. Whoever he is.

How dare that bastard hurt his woman!

Knowing now how easily Jess could be hurt, he could not imagine how painful it must be for her to be treated that way.

"Hush now, baby. I'm here. We're going to do things differently this time."

He tried to hook his finger under her chin to make her face him, but Jess refused to meet his eyes, buried her face on her shoulder, and cried.

He could do nothing but whisper comforting words in her ear, hoping that it would help her feel better.

He let her cry, and with every sob she took, his heart broke into thousands of pieces.