RetroCog (a Power Up! story) Read Online Free Page B

guess.” She sounded hesitant, her eyes searching as she studied him with a curiosity he could all but feel.
     
    Frank gave her a gentle nudge in Noah’s direction. “I’ll watch over everything here, Lara. Shelly has the evening coffee all taken care of. Why don’t you go grab some dinner. You’ve barely caught a break all day.” Frank ran an assessing gaze over Noah. “Take your time. I’ll bet a man as big as Noah has a huge appetite.”
     
    The red on her cheeks was gratifying. This might be easier than he’d thought. Noah would find the information he needed to get the damn painting, then hightail it home. And maybe take a taste of Lara while he was at it. A gentle, normal , sexual taste. A small test, to prove to himself he could be happy with easy, consensual sex.
     
    “I am a bit hungry.” She considered Noah. “Or I can give you directions, if you’d rather. Not everyone likes company, and you’ve been traveling today. You must be tired.”
     
    To his surprise, the exhaustion he might have expected after being up for twenty-four hours didn’t register. “I’m good.”
     
    She shrugged and drew his attention to her breasts. Nice, just as round and attractive as her fine ass. Noah had more ideas about exploring her body than he did about retrieving the painting, so he forced himself to focus on her face once more. Since she’d been rummaging behind the counter for her jacket, she hadn’t noticed his study.
     
    Frank smiled. “Have fun, you two.”
     
    Then he wiggled his eyebrows and leered at Noah without a seeming shred of remorse.
     
    Lara shrugged on her thin coat. “Ignore him, and he’ll go away. Or so I keep telling myself. It’s been six months, and he’s still here.”
     
    Noah guided her to the front door, his hand on the small of her back. Even covered by a shapeless nylon jacket to ward off the wind, she looked feminine. Not petite, not someone he’d break if he bent her over and gave her a firm smack on the ass, but a woman built to suit a man’s needs. He could too easily imagine her dressed in garters and stockings and nothing else. Her panties absent, just those pearl-white cheeks shining back at him as he pushed himself inside her. Then he’d reach around to grab her tits and pinch her nipples hard. She’d cry out for more. With Lara, the rougher the better…
     
    “Noah?”
     
    He inwardly cringed, hoping he hadn’t said or done anything to draw attention to his raging erection. Fuck, why is this happening now ? He’d spent years avoiding this side of himself. So why now? Why here? He could only thank his long coat for disguising his arousal. What the hell was it about this woman that he had constant sex on the brain? He wanted to blame it on the old brothel. But with the exception of Lara’s vanishing earrings, the ghosts of the past now remained absent.
     
    Quickly joining her outside, he did his best to ignore the sway of her hips. “Sorry. My mind wandered.”
     
    To his relief, she said nothing about his distraction. “You like spicy food?”
     
    “Sure.”
     
    “Great. Then you’ll like this place.”
     
    They walked in companionable silence to a cheerful café down the street. Painted in bright colors against an adobe backdrop and brick floor, the small restaurant had plenty of customers when they entered, as well as a smell that made him salivate. Mexican food—his favorite. His stomach chose that minute to growl.
     
    Lara smiled. “Guess you’re hungry.”
     
    As they took off their jackets and sat, she studied him, and he wondered what she saw. He was about to ask her…something…when the waitress arrived with chips, salsa, and water. She handed them menus and left.
     
    “The enchiladas are my favorite.” Lara closed her menu and poured herself some salsa into a small bowl. As she munched on chips, she started in with the questions. “So you’re from Oregon?”
     
    He’d been prepared. “I live there now. Pretty area. My