Chapter 14
Emma
By ten o’clock thenext morning, I asked myself: Why the hell had I thought this was a good idea?
I was in a private conference room in the offices of Executive Ranks. Across from me was the second candidate of the morning: Patricia. On my right was Natalie. And on my left, lounging politely in jeans and a black dress shirt that fit him like a glove, was Noah.
Three guesses as to which one of us Patricia was looking at.
The first candidate of the morning had already come and gone. She’d looked good on paper—amazing, in fact—but when I’d introduced Noah as “an outside consultant helping with the interview process,” she’d become flustered. Every time she looked at him, which was often, her cheeks went red and she lost her train of thought. So we’d had no choice but to conclude the interview and strike her from the list.
Now we were barely on our second cup of coffee, and Patricia—another stellar-on-paper candidate—couldn’t stop staring at Noah. He wasn’t even talking, and it was like he was the only one in the room.
“How do you feel about relocating out of New York for work?” I asked her.
“It’s fine,” Patricia said to Noah, as if he was the one who had spoken. “I can definitely make it work.”
Noah, who was under orders to speak as little as possible, said, “I’m sure you can.” Then he smiled at her, and she lit up like a Christmas tree.
Damn it.
Next to me, Natalie took over from the list of questions she’d compiled last night. “What would you say is your best quality in a work environment?”
“I’m a team player,” Patricia said, to Noah again. “I’m not really interested in getting credit for myself all the time. I want the whole company to be successful.”
“That’s a good quality to have,” Noah said in that hot voice of his, and Patricia smiled at him as if they were on a date.
I stared at the two of them, unable to believe what I was seeing. Last night I’d been naked, blindfolded, tied up, and on my knees with this same man deep in my throat. Now he was looking at my candidate like he was about to finish his wine and call for the check.
“I think that’s all we need for now,” I said, something in my voice making Patricia finally look at me. I felt Natalie tense at my right. On my left, Noah had no response at all. “Thank you for coming. We’ll be in touch.”
Natalie led Patricia from the room, and would then go to reception to wait for our next candidate, due in ten minutes. When the door closed behind her, I let out a breath.
Noah stretched his arms over his head, gifting me with a waft of perfect male scent and the movement of his torso under that shirt. “She’s nice enough, but I wouldn’t hire her if I were you,” he said, as if I weren’t seething with rage right next to him. “She kept staring at me.”
I couldn’t help snarling at him, “She kept staring at you because you were flirting with her.”
“I wasn’t flirting. I was being polite.” Noah lowered his arms and looked at me. “What was I supposed to do with her staring at me like that? I just smiled and said nice things.”
“It was flirting,” I ground out.
I had no idea why I was reacting like this. We’d had a one-night stand, that was all. He was getting on a plane to go across the country in a few hours. We weren’t a thing.
But I’d had orgasms with him last night. Orgasms. With him, of all of the men on this planet. I hadn’t processed that yet, figured out what it all meant. I was reacting instinctively, instead of using my head, and it was making me act like the Boss Bitch.
Noah’s hazel eyes had gone dark as he watched me. The black dress shirt he wore was striking on him; it made him look more serious than I was used to. He didn’t look like the rumpled California Noah who didn’t have a care in the world. But when he opened his mouth, there was that voice.
“Have I told you how fuckable you look in pants?” he said.
My heart sped up. I was wearing dress pants with a silk tank top tucked into them, a blazer over top. When I put the outfit on this morning, I’d told myself I was dressing appropriately for fall. Now I realized I’d chosen pants so that Noah wouldn’t have easy access under my skirt.
I didn’t think I’d invite him into my office, then ride him like I’d fantasized about. But I didn’t quite trust myself.
It had, I realized now, been the right move.
Noah put a hand on the arm of my chair and leaned in, his silky low voice close to my ear. “I wonder,” he said in nearly a whisper. “If I put my hand in those pants right now, would you be wet for me?” His teeth grazed my earlobe. “I think you’d be very fucking wet, Emma. I know exactly what you taste like. I wonder how fast I could make you come.”
I was frozen, my nipples hard under my blazer, my cheeks numb.
He leaned in just a little further and put his mouth to my neck, right below my ear. He sucked softly, not hard enough to make a mark but hard enough to taste me. I felt that touch in every nerve of my body.
Then he pulled away and looked at me. “That was flirting,” he said.
I exhaled shakily. “Okay,” I said. “You were just being polite. I get it.”
He smiled at me, his eyes crinkling in that sexy way they had. “Good,” he said. “Let’s find you the perfect candidate.”
We didn’t findthe perfect candidate that day.
Some handled it better than others, but they all acted differently with Noah in the room. Most of them would be excellent prospects for another client, but not for Catharine Knowles. Catharine would eat all of them for lunch.
Still, we interviewed them all. And then Noah left for JFK Airport, walking out of my life. Just like we’d agreed. Just like… that.
“I wonder if my sister likes her job,” I grumbled that afternoon as Natalie and I went through yet another list of potential candidates. “I know she could work for Catharine. She’s the best recruit I’ve ever had.”
Natalie shook her head in disgust without looking up from her laptop. “Nice try,” she said. “Face it. The only person we know who can do this job properly is you.”
I winced in surprise as I clicked through to yet another candidate’s application. “I’m not available, in case you haven’t noticed. I’m busy running this company.”
“I’m just pointing out the obvious. You sat through four hours with that hot piece of man right next to you, and it didn’t affect you at all.”
I almost laughed. I’d worn pants today just so that I wouldn’t jump him, and he’d almost gotten into them anyway. Still, I couldn’t let Natalie know there was anything unprofessional going on. “He’s a friend,” I clarified. “He’s my brother-in-law’s business partner.”
Natalie clicked something on her laptop. “I know, but if you went to Los Angeles, his fine ass would be right there. And I think he’s into you.”
“He is not into me,” I said, even though it was a blatant lie, because he had definitely been into me last night.
“Huh,” Natalie said in that way that meant, You think you’re right, but you’re wrong. “Maybe you don’t think so, but he’s one of the partners in an eight-figure venture capital company, and he spent his morning doing interviews because you snapped your fingers and asked him to. At least, that’s what I observe.”
I stared at my computer again, but now I was distracted. It had been nice of Noah to do that. In fact, his entire New York trip had been off the record so that he could see me. Despite his easygoing attitude, Noah was actually an important man with a lot better things to do than give me orgasms and help me run my company.
It was alarming—almost like he was attached. But he’d done all that, and then he’d waved goodbye and gone to the airport with barely a backward glance.
As I’d watched Noah’s fine ass—as Natalie put it—walk away, a small voice in my head had wondered, Now what?
Now nothing, that was what. We lived on opposite coasts and had busy lives. Neither of us was interested in a relationship. We’d had fun, and he’d definitely solved a problem that had been dragging me down, but that was that. The next time I was in the mood for sex, I would go back to Tinder and find someone else.
Well, that was a sour thought. After Noah, I wasn’t keen on the not-so-great specimens in the online dating pool. But I’d think about that later, when my afterglow had worn off and I wanted a man again. I’d solve that problem when I had to, and not before.
The story of Noah and me was over.
It had to be.
I went back to work, wondering why I felt like throwing something.