Noah (Knight's Edge Series Book 2)
Noah
Knight’s Edge Series
Liz Gavin
Illustrated by
HFH Book Services
Edited by
Kover to Kover
Elessar Books LLC
Contents
Noah (Knight’s Edge Book 2)
Synopsis
Acknowledgments
1. Ana
2. Noah
3. Ana
4. Noah
5. Ana
6. Noah
7. Ana
8. Noah
Epilogue
Sneak Peek 1
Synopsis
Tristan (Knight’s Edge Book #1)
Sneak Peek 2
Synopsis
Wiccan Fire (Carmel Coven Book #1)
Elessar Books Llc
About the Author
Also by Liz Gavin
Noah © copyright 2017 Liz Gavin
All rights reserved under the International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.
This is a work of fiction. Names, places, characters and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, organizations, events or locales is entirely coincidental.
Warning: the unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. Criminal copyright infringement, including infringement without monetary gain, is investigated by the FBI and is punishable by up to 5 years in prison and a fine of $250,000.
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Noah (Knight’s Edge Book 2)
Synopsis
Party boy meets his match and sparks fly.
Noah Cartwright owns a successful bistro in a southern Brazilian beach as he struggles to put together his rock band. He was burnt by betrayal years ago, but hasn't given up on finding Miss Right.
Ana Oliveira hides dark secrets from her past as she attends tables and studies to get her teaching credentials. She knows Mr. Right is a fantasy. She stopped believing in fairy tales a long time ago.
They've got little in common, except for a sizzling hot chemistry, which could jeopardize their future plans. Yet they gravitate towards each other and the resulting collision changes both forever.
Knight's Edge is a series of standalone romances without cliffhangers and with guaranteed Happily Ever Afters. If you love hot rockers and their sassy ladies, you must read this series.
One-click this book today to get Noah’s story and learn how the Knight’s Edge began and made it to the top.
Acknowledgments
One of the favorite parts of my writing process is the interaction with the volunteer Alpha readers. Those brave souls who receive a first (and often very rough) draft, read it, and send feedback about their reactions to the text. These people always function as a compass indicating if I am on track or have wandered.
Every once in a while, their feedback move me to tears. When readers tell me they connected to the story because they had struggled in ways similar to the characters and the narrative felt realistic, I’m humbled and honored. That was the case with this book and it made me so proud of Noah and Ana’s story.
Thank you Amanda, Angie, Bri, Sam and Tiffany. You’re the best groupies a fictional rock band could ask for.
Hugs, L.
1
Ana
Present Day
Ana Oliveira woke up to a throbbing headache. Used to crippling migraines, she feared getting up abruptly would trigger the habitual nausea, so she took a deep breath and relaxed her tense muscles, opening her senses to her surroundings. A refreshing whiff of salty air filled the room and the distant rumbling sound of crashing waves against rocks soothed her. Those were familiar to her, after living by the ocean for the last four years. Her lips curved up as she smoothed the soft bed linen under her palms. As she stretched on the mattress that hugged her body, she reached up and tucked her hands under the pillow. Extra soft, probably stuffed with goose feathers.
Her stomach dropped. She didn’t own silk sheets or a memory foam mattress and her old pillow would feel much harder under her head than the softness of a feathery nest she was currently experiencing. The subtle shuffling sound of another body moving against the silk sheets, dipping the mattress towards its center, stole the air from her lungs. Her heart forgot to beat for a couple of seconds. Afraid to open her eyes, but knowing she wouldn’t be able to avoid doing so for long, Ana crinkled her nose and squinted her eyes before allowing them to open. Just a little. When she recognized the room, her jaw dropped, making her mouth open into a perfect round shape. How the hell had she ended up in Noah Cartwright’s room? In his bed? With his boyish face buried between her thighs? Panic couldn’t begin to describe her feelings.
“Finally! I’ve been waiting rather patiently for you to regain consciousness,” he offered her as if she had a clue as to what he meant. Apparently ignoring her confused state, Noah kept gliding his long fingers down her thighs, then lifted her knees before encircling her soft flesh and squeezing it.
As if hypnotized, she lay there and watched. Blaming it on the marching band playing inside her skull, Ana didn’t resist his wandering hands. She chose not to acknowledge the effects his trademark smile, complete with perfect white teeth and endearing dimples, had over her. The surge of hot liquid flowing down her body had nothing to do with that grin. She hoped.
She also said nothing to stop his scorching hot lips from tracing a wet trail from her elevated knees, down towards the top of her thighs. As if detached from her body, she observed his dirty-blonde head move dangerously close to her most private part. That was when she realized she was wearing her date lingerie. The silk black set of panties and bra she reserved for special occasions. What the hell did she do last night? She didn’t go out with Noah Cartwright, that was a given. Or was it?
When she tried to focus, her head threatened to explode like an atomic bomb, so she decided to take it slow. Baby steps should be the norm today. She would get answers, if she asked him the questions colliding in her mind. She just needed to stop him and talk. The fact that her body seemed to hum under his fingers didn’t help that part of her plan, though. As tempting as his intentions were, she needed to stop him.
Before she could utter a word, his sultry voice filled her ears. “I wouldn’t take advantage of you while you were sleeping, no matter how tight you held me to your chest. You’ve no idea how tempting you were, gorgeous. I behaved, though. Now it’s time for our delayed fun to begin.”
The promise of pleasure in his voice and the intense heat in his sparkling eyes tempted Ana to allow herself a taste of what Noah offered her. As long as she kept it brief, she would be safe. That was her story and she intended to stick with it. She read somewhere that orgasms helped combat migraines. That was a treatment she would gladly adopt.
As Noah’s tongue circled her belly button, she bunched the sheets in her fingers and hissed. She felt his smile against her soft skin, his stubbled chin tickling her senses, as his teeth grabbed the thin strap of her panties. When they sank into it and Noah pulled his head as if to tear the fragile elastic band, she shook her head. He stopped, but rubbed the tip of his nose against the tiny piece of cloth that covered her entrance. Just once. It was enough to make the fabric wet from her body’s reaction to his touch. She was in trouble.
“We can’t do this, Noah. It isn’t right,” she moaned against the fist she stuffed in her mouth. Her teeth left deep marks on her
skin. Maybe the pain would remind her why it was wrong. “You’re my boss, for crying out loud.”
“That’s your best argument?” His soft chuckles got muffled by her round thighs as he ignored her words and kissed his way down one leg before turning to the other and tracing the inside of her thigh, dragging his wet lips towards her entrance. Ana’s belly fluttered with anticipation, but she needed to stop him and tell the truth before they went too far. He had the right to know.
She bolted upright and grabbed his thick hair to stop Noah’s mouth from getting to his obvious target. Out of breath and disheveled, he was temptation incarnated. She felt the strong pull of physical attraction tugging at her midriff. She could easily drown in his emerald eyes. Mentally slapping herself, she shook her head and looked away, searching for another spot on which to focus. Her gaze fell to his chest. Naked. Not a good move. Then again, she got to see six-packed males on the beach on a regular basis. She could deal with those. For some reason, Noah’s ripped muscles did funny things to her girly parts. She forced her eyes to slip further down and she gasped when she found out Noah’s lower body was just as devoid of clothes as his torso. Damn! Mother Nature had been generous to him in that department as well.
“See anything you like?”
The smirk on his face didn’t infuriate her because the man had reasons to be proud. Still, she pretended. Maybe fake fury would get her out of a mess she didn’t even remember getting herself into.
Sighing loudly, hoping he’d take it as her trying to regain control, Ana locked her stare with his amused eyes. “That’s beyond the point. I work for you. What were you thinking dragging me to bed when I was too drunk to know any better?”
“First off, you weren’t drunk at all when we started the night,” he sounded hurt. “I didn’t drag you anywhere you didn’t want to go.”
If she concentrated, she could see flashes of the previous night. “I remember a bar, you, lots of people and lots of loud music,” she described the images that popped up in her mind. When he lifted an eyebrow clearly expecting more, she added, “And too much drinking.”
“That’s all?”
“Pretty much.”
Noah grazed her inner thigh as he lifted his eyes to meet hers and asked in his best bedroom voice, “You forgot us fooling around?”
Her mind drew a blank on that part, but her body seemed to recognize the truth in his words because her skin felt on fire and her breathing faltered. She framed his face to stop his movements. “For the most part. I don’t remember anything specific.”
“Let me revive your memory.”
The flesh is weak, as they say, and Ana allowed herself to indulge in the sensations for a little while. She couldn’t help herself. Despite her flirtatious attitude, the truth was it had been a long time since she had a man in her arms. Her toys got the job done, but nothing beat the real thing.
Despite the amazing sensations he offered her, guilt rammed her conscience until she surrendered to reason. Covering his hands with hers, she flattened herself on the mattress, distancing her body from his soft, expert lips. Life was so not fair. “We’ve got to stop this.”
His amused expression told her loud and clear he didn’t take her protests seriously. She knew him. He wasn’t disrespectful of women. He had an immense advantage over her in that moment, though. He remembered the previous night. She did not. That made all the difference. What the hell had she done? Why was he so cocky?
“Why should we stop, gorgeous? Because I’m your boss?”
“That too.”
“I’m more than that, wouldn’t you agree?” His dazzling smile was almost her downfall.
His dimples put a serious dent in her resistance, but she steeled herself and insisted, “You’re a good friend, I’ll give you that.” She was not sure where he was going with that comment. A frown settled on his face, marring the perfection of his features, but Ana ignored it as she added, “This is still wrong. We’re just going to hurt each other. Come on, it’s us. That’s what we do, remember? We break people’s hearts.”
She knew that wasn’t true about herself, but that’s how other people saw her. As for her boss, she had witnessed him doing exactly that countless times.
“Fuck, Ana! We went over this shit last night. That’s a stinking pile of bullshit others say about us, that’s simply not true.”
She shook her head, offered him an apologetic sad smile and cupped his cheek. Leaning down, she pecked his lips and rested her forehead against his. “I wish I could remember our conversation. I don’t, though. The way I see it, you’re still my boss and a good friend. I don’t want to jeopardize either. So, let’s leave it at that, shall we?”
As she motioned to get off the bed, Noah’s warm hands seized her tiny waist. “You’ve got to be kidding me. You actually don’t remember what happened?”
The urgency in his voice gave her pause. He was serious. And he sounded seriously pissed too, maybe even a little hurt. What the heck had she done? As a prickling feeling crawled up her stomach and gripped her by the throat, she fought to get the words out. Not a surprise when her voice amounted to little more than a whisper. “What do you mean? What happened?”
“We got married.”
She felt suffocated. The walls and ceiling seemed to close in on her, so she tried to fight the panic attack the only way she knew how. These attacks were not new to her. All she had to do was shut the world out, go to her safe place. She drew her knees up and rocked back and forth, humming softly. She just needed a moment to gather her scattered emotions to be able to articulate intelligible phrases and sentences again.
When she reopened her eyes, she found Noah sitting a good couple of feet away from the bed, on the thick caramel rug. He had pulled his shorts up, but didn’t bother to button them, which offered her a tempting view. This time her body didn’t react to it, though. Her overwhelmed mind couldn’t process it. Too much going on, too many hurtful memories. None of them involved the man sitting in front of her, not patiently, waiting for Ana to get a grip on herself.
Noah looked hurt, probably misunderstanding her reactions. How could she tell him she wasn’t shutting him out, only the whole wide world? She believed the band-aid ripping technique worked best for all painful situations, so she blurted out, “That’s just not possible. I can’t marry you.” When his eyes turned into small slits and his nostrils flared, she added, “I just can’t.”
It was official. She sucked at explaining herself. How could she ever be a good teacher?
“Well, you should’ve thought about it before saying your vows.” The words erupted from his tight lips as if he had lost a battle with his own will. “What’s wrong with me, anyway? How come the idea of marrying me makes you physically ill?”
“Oh, God, no. Don’t say that. I didn’t mean it like that at all. It’s not you, I can’t marry anybody. I am married.”
“What the fuck are you talking about?”
2
Noah
15 years earlier
Pulling up to the first available spot, Noah hopped out of the burgundy convertible Maserati without bothering to open the door. Too eager to reunite with his lifelong friend. After the shitstorm that had hit Tristan Knight’s life back in California, Noah didn’t have the heart to deny some sort of emotional asylum to his best friend. Big T had no idea how shitty Noah’s own love life was, but that was not the time to talk about it. Tristan needed sympathetic ears and a shoulder. That’s what Noah was going to offer him.
As he walked from the parking lot to the small yet modern terminal, Noah inhaled the fragrant morning air and let the air leave his lungs with a smile, feeling invigorated. He had grown accustomed to the warm tropical weather of Florianópolis, a lovely city set on a beautiful island in the southern coast of Brazil. It was not like that at all when he first arrived one year before, traveling on a student visa. Officially, he had come for his MBA degree. In fact, he chased after a college girlfriend who decided to return to her ho
metown after graduating from UCLA, despite his multiple pleas.
Don’t go there, dude. Focus on Tristan. There’s plenty of misery there, you don’t need to add your own.
As if his thoughts had conjured up his friend, Noah bumped into Tristan’s wide chest as he crossed the sliding glass door and got inside the terminal. When he stepped back to get out of his friend’s personal space, Tristan’s arms encircled him and pulled him back. Blaming the recent memories, Noah hugged his friend tightly and swallowed hard to keep from tearing up. Just a bit, but still.
What the fuck is wrong with me?
“Missed you, man,” Tristan whispered or so it sounded like because his voice was muffled by Noah’s shirt.
“Likewise,” Noah replied and tried to pull back, but was held for a moment longer.
When he finally stared into Big T’s dark blue gaze, he noticed the black circles under his eyes. More than that, sadness had stolen their natural sparkle and hurt had saddened Tristan’s expression. Izzie Anderson’s betrayal had broken so much more in Tristan than his heart. He looked much older than his twenty-five years of age. Silent communication born from years of close friendship passed between the two men. Noah shook his head and opened his mouth, then closed it. Words failed him. At twenty, he possessed no wisdom or insight to offer his friend. He felt like an epic failure.
“I know, believe me. There’s nothing you can say that I haven’t already heard from my mom or thought on my own,” Tristan assured Noah as they headed out of the building towards the parking structure. “Fuck, it’s hotter than I expected. I mean, we grew up in freaking SoCal, I thought I’d be fine. This is brutal!”