Tame: Carter Kids #3 by Chloe Walsh Page A

forget it." Seeing Noah's amused expression, I reached up and pinched his nipple. "You're have a dirty mind."
    "Learned from the best," Noah shot back with a smirk as he rubbed his pectoral. His focus was entirely on me and I felt everyone around us disappear.
    "You're a little kinky, aren't you, Thorn?" he added. "Pinching nipples? If you want me to return the favor, you only have to ask."
    "I'll remind you that I was wholesome and pure before you corrupted me with that…" I paused, racking my brain for a response. "Snake between your legs."
    It was pathetic, but it was the best I could come up with. Noah confounded me. I couldn't think clearly when his face was mere inches from mine.
    "I wish you had mentioned this ball thing earlier," I groaned. "I have nothing to wear."
    Noah shrugged sheepishly. "I was kind of planning on blowing it off. But you heard Tommy. I'm contractually bound to attend ." Noah pulled a face at his friend. "I fucking hate tuxedos."
    Noah in a tux?
    My eyes lit up in delight. "We are definitely going."
    "It's going to be boring as hell," he warned me. "Full of inedible food and people who talk like they've swallowed dictionaries."
    "And yet none of those people are the number one contender for the heavyweight title." Reaching over, I mussed his hair. "You are Noah Messina . You don't need to swallow any damn dictionary." Grinning, I added, "You can let your guns do the talking for you."
    "Funny."
    "Seriously though, I have nothing suitable for a ball."
    "I had a dress sent up to your room for Teagan as well," Tommy announced, shocking the hell out of me.  "I gathered Noah would be taking you as his date."
    "You did?" My brows shot up in surprise. "Wow. Thanks, Tommy."
    "It white," he added in a petulant tone, like the color white would upset me. Shrugging, he added, "should fit you," before turning to speak to Quincy.
    "Well, now I can't wait for tonight," Noah whispered into my ear, drawing me back to him.
    "Oh yeah?"
    "Yeah. It will be a preview," Noah teased, trailing his fingers over my shoulder bone. "Dancing with you in a white dress."
    I threw my head back and laughed.
    "What? You want to marry me now, is that it?"
    I had expected Noah to get embarrassed.
    I taunted him for that sole purpose.
    I hadn't anticipated his response.
    "I will marry you."
    My heart stopped.
    My jaw fell open.
    Shaking my head, I looked up at his face and managed to squeeze out, "Noah Messina, are you proposing to me?" 
    "Teagan Connolly," Noah shot back with a knowing smirk. "When I do propose to you," he rubbed my bottom lip with his thumb and sighed in contentment, "you won't have to ask me to confirm it."
     
     
     

****
     

Noah
     
     
    Sitting around a round breakfast table with the five men I spent twenty-four-seven with, I felt a huge amount of shame creep through me.
    I had partially guessed that Tommy and Teagan's first official meeting would be an uncomfortable event, but I hadn't banked on Quincy and Beau being such pricks.
    They weren't just ignoring Thorn.
    They were flat out freezing her out.
    Lewis, my heavy, wasn't talking to her either, but I knew from personal experience that it wasn't an attack on Teagan.
    The guy barely spoke to me and I was paying him a fucking fortune to stand around and look ugly.
    Thorn was putting on a brave face, pretending she didn't notice, and throwing herself into an animated conversation with Lucky.
    "So, Tygan," Beau suddenly piped up from across the table. "What do you plan to do all day when us guys are working? A tour bus full of men isn't exactly the right place for a woman."
    I opened my mouth to tell Beau to watch his fucking tongue, but Teagan was already answering his question.
    "Well, Boo ," she replied, purposefully mispronouncing his name the way he did hers, and I mentally high five'd her.
    My girl had some serious steel in her spine.
    "Once Noah cuts me one of those pretty gold cards, I plan to spend most of my time shopping." Batting her eyelids