Steady Beat by Lexxie Couper Read Free Book Online Page A

her crushing grip. “Hey, hon. It’s okay. You need to let—”
    Her stare jerked to his face, her expression terrified, like a rabbit trapped in the lights of an oncoming semitrailer. “I…I can’t…” She yanked her hand from his and stumbled back a step. “I can’t…”
    Without another word, she turned and ran back into the bar.
    Laughter brayed out from the paparazzi. “Who’s the chick, Noah?” one of them called. “She shy?”
    “Heather know you’re here with another woman, Holden?”
    There were more flashes. More shouted questions.
    Noah turned his back on them, struck dumb by Pepper’s abrupt departure. Holy crap, she’d run away? From some photographers? Really?
    “Oh, she left you alone? Silly girl.”
    The husky voice purred in Noah’s left ear. He started, swinging around to find the four women who had been sitting at the table next to his in the bar. All four gazed at him with open hunger. All four preened and pouted with provocative promise. None seemed concerned with the frenzied paparazzi capturing their every movement.
    The woman closest to Noah—a tall, lush brunette wearing skintight black leather pants and a silver boob tube—slid her hand up his arm, over his biceps to his shoulder, pushing her hips forward until her groin rubbed his hip. “We won’t run away,” she murmured, her lips curling into a seductive smile. “Promise.”
    Noah stared down at her. His heart thumped fast. The camera flashes fired around him. His body thrummed.
    His hand, so recently held by Pepper, tingled.
    Tingled.
    He sucked in a slow breath, taking in the brunette’s cloying perfume, the overpowering smell of her cosmetics, even as his mind taunted him with the memory of Pepper’s delicate scent. Flicking his gaze to the bar’s open door, he studied it for a second, his gut a heavy knot, his body aching.
    Wanting…
    He turned back to the brunette, snaked his arm around her hip and yanked her closer to his body. “Let’s go, ladies,” he said, loud enough for the paparazzi to hear. “There’s fucking to be done.”
     
    Why the hell were her hands shaking so much? Oh, that’s right. She’d blown the biggest opportunity of her life a little under an hour ago.
    Pepper bit back a curse, fixed her focus on the key in her fingers and, breath held, slid it into her apartment door’s lock. Finally. After ten failed attempts.
    The subway trip back to her apartment had been a ball of fun. She’d sat on a bench, head down, hugging her elbows, hating herself. Hating.
    Damn it, she’d run away. Not just from Noah Holden, but from…from… life . The walk from the station to her building had been just as enjoyable. With every hurried step, she’d not only replayed the incredible kiss she’d shared with Noah, she’d replayed his stunned shock as she fled into the bar.
    Now here she was, home, and all she wanted to do was lock herself in her room and wish she could become someone else.
    “If wishes were horses, chickpea,” she muttered one of her dad’s favourite sayings. Still, the dull ache in her stomach didn’t go away. Nor did she feel better.
    She twisted the key in the lock, let herself into her apartment and then stumbled to a halt at the vision greeting her.
    “Shit,” she choked out at the sight of her roommate’s mouth sliding up the hitching six-pack of his current object of affection. Averting her eyes, she fought to jerk her key from the lock. “Sorry, Frank.”
    “Fuck,” Frank’s main squeeze burst out.
    “Pepper,” Frank’s honey-smooth voice reverberated across the living area. “Don’t sweat it. We’re not worried. How was work?”
    “Okay,” Pepper mumbled into her chest, shoving her keys back into her tote. “I’ll leave you two alone.”
    She rushed into her bedroom, face on fire, and threw herself at her bed.
    The sound of footfalls on the floor made her groan.
    “Okay, Peps.” Frank dropped onto the bed beside her ankles, giving her butt a soft slap,