Chapter 13
Chapter Thirteen
EVIE
Noah had showered, and his earlier stubbled jawline was now smooth. My mouth dried at the sight of him and I had an inexplicable urge to run my hand across his face.
‘You’ve shaved!’ I blurted out, and probably looked as shocked as he did.
‘Am I supposed to be flattered you noticed?’ His blue eyes locked on mine.
‘No,’ I did my best to sound blasé and not give away the fact that I noticed every darned thing about him. ‘I just thought you looked like a footpad when I saw you earlier.’
‘A what?’
‘Footpad – an old English term for a … Regency for mugger.’ Note to self, stop watching so much Bridgerton.
He narrowed his eyes and shook his head as if he didn’t know what to make of me. I could hardly blame him.
We both took a pace forward, almost falling into step together. He made an ushering gesture to allow me to go first. There was no getting away from the fact that we were both headed in the same direction to the lifts, so it was only polite to initiate conversation.
‘Got a busy day?’ I asked, still all pleasant smiles.
His mouth twitched. ‘Not especially.’
For some reason his answer quelled me. Was I feeling sorry for him?
We stood in silence as the lift took its painstaking time to reach our floor.
‘This is the part where you could ask if I’ve got a busy day,’ I suggested.
‘I’m sure you have, judging by your recent posts.’
My eyes shot to his, just as a dull flush flared above the collar of his casual shirt as he realised what he’d said.
‘Aw, that’s sweet. You’ve been following me.’ I looked him up and down.
‘You look like you’re going to a banking convention.’
‘What can I say? I’m going to a meeting.’
The lift door pinged, announcing its arrival. Noah waited a beat before letting me step in first.
‘Ground floor, I assume,’ I said cheerily.
‘First floor,’ he said, only a tad patronisingly, reminding me that I was using British terminology.
‘You say tomayto, I say tomato,’ I quipped.
He stared at me, as if I was a bug he just couldn’t identify, before looking away, but not before I caught the slight smile on his lips. Surreptitiously, I studied him until he turned around and tilted his head enquiringly.
‘Yes?’
‘Nothing,’ I said, realising that I’d been given away by the mirrors in the lift.
I stared down at the floor for the remainder of the descent and we travelled down in silence. When we reached the ground floor, I said, ‘Have a nice day,’ and walked away, following the now familiar route, aware that Noah was following me.
I gave Carol at the front desk a nod, noticing that Noah diverted to speak to her.
I cast one last glance his way, taking in the tall, slim frame and handsome profile.
With a small sigh – regret, confusion, I wasn’t sure which – I walked away down the corridor, through a side door, and down the narrow flight of stairs that guests never see.
There was a sharp contrast between the polished wood floor, luxurious rugs, cream-painted gilded walls above stairs and the practical lino tiles and plain white matt-paint finish down here.
After nearly a week here, my feet knew their way down to the little suite of offices and the conference room, where I was due to meet Alicia.
She was in the conference room, along with her assistant and the open laptop screen showed an image of a woman I didn’t know who’d clearly phoned in to join the meeting.
‘Morning, Alicia,’ I said.
‘Hey, Evie. How’s it going? Thanks for joining us this morning. Can I introduce you to Lara Jennings?’ She waved a hand toward the screen.
‘Hi, Lara,’ I said and lifted a hand in greeting.
‘Morning, Evie. Nice to meet you.’ I was slightly disconcerted by the way she used my name, which suggested she was way more prepared for this meeting than I was.
‘Oh, you’re English,’ I replied, wondering who she was and why she was here – as it were.
‘I certainly am.’ She gives me a business-like smile, with the eyes and teeth of a shark.
‘Grab a coffee, Evie,’ Alicia said, indicating the thermos flasks on the sideboard. I was just pouring my coffee into a cup when she added, ‘We’re just waiting for—’
Right on cue, there was a knock at the door. I turned round … and carried on pouring coffee into my cup, my saucer and onto the floor.
Noah.
‘Er,’ Alicia’s assistant interrupted, and I looked down at the coffee overflowing onto the floor.
‘Sorry.’ I hastily put down the jug and stood there like an idiot with coffee dripping over my hand.
What the hell was Noah doing here? I grabbed a handful of napkins, dumped the coffee cup and started cleaning my hands, while Alicia’s assistant dabbed at the brown puddle on the carpet tiles.
I didn’t dare look at Noah, instead I bobbed down and helped mop up coffee.
‘Morning, you must be Noah Sanderson. I’m Alicia de Vries, The Plaza’s social-media manager. Come on in.’
‘Are you all right down there, Evie?’ Again, he was wearing that superior smile which drew attention to his damn mouth.
Why oh why does he always catch me behaving like some street urchin?
I nodded, standing up with a handful of coffee-soaked napkins in my hand.
‘Hey, Noah,’ called the woman on the screen. He sent an uncertain wary glance my way before he turned and addressed her. ‘Lara.’
‘Glad you could make it.’ The smile she gave Noah was sickly sweet. ‘Play nice.’
What was going on? And why was he here?
Alicia, clearly aware of the undercurrent of tension, clapped her hands together as if she were rounding children up at kindergarten.
‘Right, we’re all here. Why don’t you take a seat here, Noah? And you here, Evie.’ Thankfully, Alicia’s assistant relieved me of my soggy burden, handed me a clean napkin and sorted me out with a fresh cup of coffee.
Noah and I faced each other across the table, with the laptop to my right and his left and Alicia opposite.
My teeth were firmly gritted, a frisson of anxiety nagging at me.
‘Lara,’ Noah narrowed his eyes at the woman and got straight to the point.
‘What is going on?’ I could see a tic in his jawline, the tiny pulse giving away his tension.
I couldn’t decide whether it was reassuring that he had no idea what was going on, or alarming.
I had absolutely no idea why he was here, either.
There was that sharky smile again. It might have been mid-afternoon in London when most people’s makeup had worn off, but Lara still wore killer glossy lipstick.
‘I told you I’d sort your mess out for you,’ she said, folding her arms, and even though I didn’t know her, I could tell she was preparing for an offensive. Suiting up like Joan of Arc going into battle.
‘Hear us out. I’ve found a solution to all your problems. I’ve been talking to Alicia, and we’ve come up with a brilliant plan.’
‘Sorry,’ I interrupted, still trying to get my head around what was going on. ‘How do you and Lara know each other?’
‘She’s my agent,’ said Noah with a terse frown.
‘And?’ I looked at Alicia.
‘Evie, sorry, I know you two met in the dining room – the TikTok went through the roof, but I guess you didn’t stop to introduce yourselves. Evie, this is Noah Sanderson, he’s an international soccer star and plays for one of your English soccer—’
I held up one hand. ‘I know who he is.’ I shot Noah a surly look.
‘Ah, well, that’s great. And that video – the two of you … the chemistry. Honestly, the engagement. People online loved it. So, it makes perfect sense.’
‘What makes perfect sense?’ I asked.
‘For you two to combine forces.’
There was one of those dumbstruck pauses in which you could practically hear our brains scrambling for a response.
‘Combine forces?’ Both Noah and I said it at the same time, and it would have been comical if it weren’t so horrifying.
‘Yes,’ said Alicia, bright and enthusiastic, bringing in a counteroffensive on the other side of the table.
‘We’d like the two of you to do a series of posts together, exploring the magic of the city, showing everyone how gorgeous The Plaza is, and all the lovely things people can do here.
We want the two of you with trees, ice-skating, shopping and exploring.
It’s a perfect development for the @EvieAtThePlaza story and I think it would give the whole campaign a real boost. When Lara contacted me and suggested it, it was like Christmas came all at once, especially as engagement has been dropping off just a teeny little bit over the last couple of posts.
This will give the posts a real uplift and we just know it’s going to completely re-energise the campaign. ’
I pursed my lips, as did Noah.
Lara took over again. ‘As we discussed, Noah, your rep needs a bit of rehabilitation and what better than a little romance.’
I started. Romance? Where had that come from?
Noah lifted an eyebrow in outright James Bond scepticism. The way his back stiffened like an angry cat almost made me giggle, except this was no giggling matter. They had to be kidding. This sort of thing did not happen. In a million romance tropes, yes, but not in real life.
‘Sorry?’ he asked, in a way that was not sorry at all, anything but.
‘Fake dating,’ Lara’s face was encouraging, her voice authoritative. ‘Works a treat and everyone laps it up.’
Alicia interjected. ‘We thought it would be really cute if you joined Evie on some of her holiday adventures. As dates.’ She clasped her hands together. ‘What do you think, Evie?’ She winked at me.
What did I think? With the buzzing in my ears, I thought I was having an out-of-body experience.
I opened my mouth but nothing came out. There was a temporary stranglehold on my vocal cords.
‘Great, then,’ said Lara. ‘I’ll leave you to work out the details of the first date with Alicia.’
I pursed my lips. I couldn’t decide whether I might burst out laughing at Noah’s look of outrage or wail and gnash my teeth with frustration.
Silence descended on the room. I didn’t dare look at Noah. This was … I didn’t know what it was. A disaster? A nightmare? Downright weird? I wanted him to say something.
‘She’s a force of nature,’ said Alicia approvingly. ‘I hear she’s one of the top sports’ agents in the UK.’
‘I’m guessing she told you that,’ said Noah.
‘Er … well.’ Alicia blushed and his face softened.
‘She’s good at what she does.’
Alicia chewed her lip and then turned her attention to me. ‘What do you think, Evie? I wanted you to come out here to enjoy yourself, but we also need a really dreamy social-media campaign, full of Christmas sparkle.’’
I knew she’d worked hard to persuade her boss this campaign was a good idea, and I didn’t want to let her down.
‘Our best engagement came from the video of you and Noah in the dining room. When Lara suggested this, it seemed perfect. What do you say, Evie?’ She looked pleadingly at me.
I really didn’t want to go home, nor did I want to let Alicia down. Surely putting up with Noah was a small sacrifice. I was spending Christmas at the freaking Plaza!
‘I don’t mind,’ I said risking a look at Noah.
He eyed me with resentment.
‘But of course, if Noah doesn’t want to do it, I’m not going to force him,’ I said as magnanimously as I could. ‘I can’t imagine he’s much of an actor. All his talent is in his feet.’
Alicia turned towards him and behind her back, I mouthed, ‘Chicken.’ Childish, I know, but I did enjoy getting under his skin.
‘I’m not happy about it,’ said Noah, folding his arms across his chest. ‘Lara, can I have a private word?’
Lara looked pissed off, but she nodded.
We all vacated the room to stand outside. Noah waited until the door was closed.
‘You have to be fucking kidding me.’ His words came through the partition wall loud and clear. ‘I thought you wanted me to keep my nose clean and stay out of the limelight.’
‘That was the plan originally, but that reel of you two, it got so much positive engagement. People forgot that you’re a pariah.’
‘Hmmph,’ grunted Noah.
‘Noah, the two of you looked great on camera together and she looks cute and relatable.’
‘Yeah, and annoying with it. She always has to have the last word.’
‘It will do you good,’ said Lara. ‘Seriously, Noah, right now you need all the help you can get. The FA are still holding out on the ban. This will look good. Besides it’s just a bit of fun. You can pretend to like her for a photo or two, surely.’
‘I’m not so sure about that. I’m supposed to be focusing on my training.’
‘You also need some positive publicity to show the FA you’re human.’
A minute later, Noah opened the door, and we filed back in.
‘So that’s a yes, is it?’ I asked. ‘You’ve agreed with your agent you can pretend to like me?’
His face flushed as he realised we’d heard every word, before his mouth firmed into a flat line.
‘It’s a professional commitment. I can smile for the cameras.
That’s all I need to do, I presume.’ His expression was implacable.
And unaccountably sexy. He looked mean and moody and all bad-boy. Quite irresistible.