6. Chapter Six
Chapter Six
Now
“ W hat the hell are you doing here?!” I yell, although I'm really trying my best not to. I rip the napkin off my lap and throw it down on the table. A few people from the surrounding tables glance our way, probably hoping to witness something they can tell their friends about later.
“Nice to see you again too.” He flashes me a beautiful white smile.
Shit.
The way he’s able to talk so calmly, when I feel as though I’m about to pop like a can of biscuits, is so incredibly frustrating. I close my eyes and curl my hands into fists on the table. With each passing second, my anger increases, and I feel my blood pressure starting to rise.
Why is he here, why is he here, why the fuck is he here ?
I clench my jaw, and my heart continues to beat faster and faster.
I open my eyes, hoping he’ll be gone, but of course I’m not that lucky. There he is. Noah Riley, all grown up and staring at me with those same piercing brown eyes that he had all those years ago. I want a minute to take him in. This adult version of the boy I used to know.
If I thought he was attractive when he was younger, that was nothing compared to what I’m staring at now. The past fourteen years have clearly been good to him. His broad shoulders strain against the crisp lines of his beautifully tailored suit. His once shaggy skater-boy hair is now expertly cut and styled to perfection.
Slowly tracing the line down his face, I feel my breath catch as I take in his offensively sharp jaw covered with short, neat facial hair that is practically begging to be touched.
Nope. Nope. Nope. I shake the uncouth thoughts from my poor, confused mind. I shoot him a glare, daring him to speak. But much to my dismay, he doesn’t say a single word. He just continues staring at me, waiting for me to break. Fine then.
“Noah, really. What are you doing here? In Hawaii? At this specific restaurant? Right now?”
The corner of his mouth twitches. “I was just going to ask you the same thing.” His smile grows, but I don’t take the bait. “You look great by the way.”
He stares at me intently, the cocky smile still on his face. He raises his eyebrows waiting for me to talk, but when I don’t budge, he continues instead. “I work for a law firm in New York, and we recently acquired the owner of this resort as a client. The partners at my firm put me in charge of his account. I’m here because I’m supposed to be meeting him and a colleague here,” he says smugly, looking around. “However, I don’t see him here yet. I’m a bit late because my flight just got in, but I was sure they would beat me here.”
What the actual hell?! My mind is racing, and my heart feels like it’s going to beat out of my chest. “Ha ha. Very funny, Noah. First, I want you to tell me exactly how and why you know all this information about me, and then I would like you to tell me the real reason why you’re here.”
He pauses from looking around and stares at me, his brows scrunched together. Utter confusion is written all over his face.
“Noah, you can stop with the pretend, ‘I don’t know what you’re talking about’ crap and tell me what’s going on.”
“Jane,” he says, one eyebrow raised. “I’m not pretending anything. I honestly don’t know what you’re talking about.”
I raise my hands to my face and knead my temples with my fingers. Ugh. Why does every interaction with this man have to be so frustrating?
“Okay, then.” I take a deep breath, attempting to gather my composure. “I’ll start.” I speak slowly, “I, Jane Robins, am a top attorney for a law firm in Denver called Schwartz & Adler. I, Jane Robins, was put in charge of a new client named Howard Dumont who owns this resort. I, Jane Robins, was asked, by Mr. Dumont himself, to fly here to Hawaii to go over some introductory information and client documents.”
Noah’s eyes grow wide. He looks genuinely perplexed. “You work for Schwartz & Adler?”
I nod my head.
“ I work for Schwartz & Adler,” he says slowly.
A burst of laughter erupts out of me. It’s too loud and too stark for this nice of a restaurant, but at this point, it’s completely out of my control.
Of course, he would work for the same firm that I work for. Of course, he would be put on the freaking top-tier client that I just got and have been working my entire career for. Of course, he would be the one sitting across from me at this beautiful, romantic restaurant in the middle of fucking paradise after I just learned I wouldn’t have to worry about anything for ten whole days. Of course. Of course. Of course. This is how it is with him. Every. Single. Time.
The already awkward tension between us grows larger as my nervous laugh subsides, and the two of us are left sitting in a charged silence. My mind is going a million miles a minute, and I see the gears turning behind his eyes as well.
We both sit, still as statues, neither one of us knowing what to do next. Where do we even start? Where do we go from here? Who should ask questions first? What are the questions we even need to ask?
I look up from the table and gaze into his eyes. He swallows hard but doesn’t speak, so I continue. “Okay. So, if what you’re saying is true, then we both work for Schwartz & Adler. I guess that’s not too crazy, because honestly, I’ve never even talked to anyone from our New York office, let alone met them in person. So, I guess it is possible you could work there.” I stare at him, hoping he’ll give me something, anything to help me figure this out, but his face remains neutral. “That leads me to the part I can’t quite wrap my head around…how did you know about Mr. Dumont? Last month, Schwartz announced to our entire office that I would be taking the Dumont account. He never once mentioned that someone from the New York office would be working on it with me.”
His eyebrows raise, and he just shrugs his shoulders. “I really have no idea what is going on here. I was sitting in my office yesterday afternoon when Adler informed me that both he and Schwartz needed me to fly to Hawaii ASAP to meet with my new client, Mr. Dumont, and go over strategies for the upcoming year. Truthfully, I didn’t get much more than that. He did mention that someone from the Denver office would also be on the account, but he never said who. He definitely didn’t tell me it would be you.”
Ouch. Why did that sting?
“By the way, where is he?” he says, checking his watch. His very expensive watch.
I look at Noah, completely baffled by this entire situation.
Why did the partners ask someone, just yesterday, to join the account? Do they not think I can do this? Do they think I’m incapable of handling everything? Why didn’t Joe mention any of this to me? I shake the thoughts out of my head and try to concentrate on what I should do next.
Sitting up straighter, I cross my legs. “Mr. Dumont’s not coming. He got called away to Thailand last minute and doesn’t know when he’ll be back.”
Noah’s brows pinch together. “Well, okay, then. What does that mean for us?”
Us? Ick. I do not enjoy being an us with Noah Riley. History has taken care of that for me. “I don’t know what it means for you , but I just got off the phone with Mr. Dumont, and he said that I get to stay here for the next ten days and have the paid vacation of a lifetime. So, that’s exactly what I’m going to do. I don’t really care what you decide to do.”
Liar.
I am a bold-faced liar. As a matter of fact, I care entirely too much about what he does. Even just knowing he’s here on the same island as me, feels like it changes everything.
“Okay, then, I guess I’ll call Adler to see what he wants me to do.” He folds his arms across his chest.
“Good idea,” I say, folding my arms across my chest too.
A moment of tense silence passes between us, before Noah speaks again. His voice is quieter, like he’s trying to work something out in his mind. “So…if they say that I should stay…does that mean we have to…do we work together? Do you, like, want to get together and talk?”
“NO!” The word rips itself loudly from my mouth and all other commotion in the restaurant goes quiet. This isn’t going well.
The silence stretches for another uncomfortable minute, but the hushed conversations around us slowly begin to come alive again. Albeit they are now all about the crazy yelling blonde girl and tall, dark, and handsome man arguing in the corner, but hey, at least now there’s some noise.
“Noah, if you’re going to be staying, then there are going to be some pretty hard lines that we DO NOT cross.” I draw both a metaphorical and literal line with my finger on the table.
The corner of his mouth lifts into a smirk. “Please go on…”
I narrow my eyes at him and throw my hands up in surrender. “You know what, let's just stay as far away from each other as we possibly can and pretend like this whole thing never happened. You do your thing, and I’ll very happily do mine. When we’re back on the mainland, we’ll tell Joe and Paul that you should be taken off the Dumont account. Then, we never, ever have to see or talk to one another ever again. Sound good?”
“Woah, woah, woah. Rewind just a bit. Why am I the one that needs to be taken off the account? The partners told me to come. They clearly know that my experience is needed to handle Mr. Dumont. Why don’t you ask to be taken off, since you’re the one that obviously can’t handle working with someone else.” He sits in his chair with a smug smile on his face.
God, he’s such an asshole. I don’t know how he does it, but he knows exactly what to say to push all my buttons and get me all worked up. He’s insufferable.
The way he makes me feel all my emotions to the highest degree is something that no other person has ever done before, or since. No matter what, the minute this man enters my orbit, every little thing I’ve ever felt in my entire life hits me like a brick, and I feel it all at the same time.
The last time we saw each other, all those years ago, broke me. I’m not sure I could do that again. I don’t even want to do that again. I thought I was done with this, with him. But yet, here we are. My chest starts to constrict. I can feel my heart beating deep inside my temples.
“Noah, I’m not doing this with you right now. I’m not going to be seeing, talking to, or even thinking about you for the next ten days. After the ten days are up, I’ll go to Joe myself and tell him there’s absolutely no way we can work together. Then, it’ll be up to him and Paul to work out. Okay?” I say through gritted teeth.
He nods.
“Good. That settles it then. While we’re here, just mind your own business, and I’ll mind mine.”
The second these words leave my mouth, our attractive young waiter, timidly, approaches our table. He gently sets down my beautiful brownie and much needed non-virgin mojito, then asks quietly if we want to hear the specials.
“No, thank you, just the check please,” I say with a half-hearted smile, at the same time as Noah says, “Yes, that sounds great.”
Our poor waiter does a little dance of indecision. He takes a step like he’s about to leave our table, and then takes that exact same step back.
Putting him out of his misery, I quickly grab a fifty-dollar bill out of my wallet and put it under my drink glass. “I’ll just leave this here then. Thank you.” I slide my chair out from the table, as the waiter begins to explain the specials to Noah.
“Aren’t you going to finish your drink before you go?” Noah asks, voice oozing smugness.
God, please stop me from punching this man in the face.
Closing my eyes, pursing my lips, and shaking my head, I try harder than I’ve ever tried in my entire life to find that inner “zen” my therapist has tried to drill into my head. Deep breath in, and a long, slow breath out.
I open my eyes and carefully stare into his. There is mischief dancing behind those deep brown eyes, and I hope he can see that I’m not going to play.
We hold this tense stare while our waiter pointlessly continues listing the specials no one is going to be eating.
My eyes narrow as I curve my mouth into a sly smile. I stand, grab my drink, and pound it down in one gulp. “Keep the change.”
The satisfaction I felt when walking away from Noah doesn’t last nearly as long as I would have liked.
While walking back to my room, an entire ocean’s worth of emotions crash through me and threaten to spill over. It’s been years since I’ve laid eyes on that man, and my brain can’t comprehend everything that just happened.
I feel like I’m on a rollercoaster ride. Going from mad, to happy, to nervous, to irate, to annoyed, to excited, to sad, so on and so forth, until I can’t make sense of anything anymore.
I know the speed at which I downed my drink isn’t helping matters either. The heat of the alcohol sitting in my empty stomach burns, and I realize I didn’t even get to eat my brownie.
Now I’m even more upset.
Getting back to my suite, I fling my heels off at the door. I walk farther into the room and smile happily at the gorgeous bed staring back at me.
Plopping my butt down onto the fluffy comforter, I try again to process the insane plot twist that my life just took. Ten days in Hawaii?! No work to do? Noah Fucking Riley?! What. A. Shitshow.
I do my best to push it all out of my mind and decide to leave it for Tomorrow Jane to unravel.
I struggle to pull my tight-fitting dress over my head. It takes longer than it should because I’m sitting and absolutely refuse to get up, so when I do finally wriggle myself free, I feel a wave of triumph.
Shoes off. Check.
Dress off. Check.
Makeup off. Not check. Damn.
From my place atop the bed, I look around the room for the makeup bag I flung haphazardly after I was done getting ready for the super fancy dinner I was supposed to attend with my new, super-rich client. Spoiler alert, that didn’t happen.
I spot it on the floor next to the full-length mirror just to the left of me. The rum in my system is making my head feel swimmy, and I don’t want to get up from my cozy spot in bed, so I slide down and reach as far as I possibly can without having to leave my warm little nest. Got it ! Triumphant again !
Taking out the makeup wipes, I try to focus on the positive things that could happen while I’m here.
Gently wiping my eyes, I imagine all the yummy tropical drinks I’ll get to have, the numerous exotic fish I might get to see, and all the impossibly hot men I’ll hopefully get to meet. I bite back the smile blooming on my face. See, three positive things. I’m so good at this. These thoughts will definitely help me forget all the Noah mess that happened tonight.
I finish removing my makeup, switch off the lamp next to me, then squish down deeper into the glorious bed.
As my head hits the soft pillow, a small chuckle escapes me. I’m so glad I’m not in a movie right now or this situation would be so much worse.
Noah and I would have to share this room, but there would only be one bed, and we would end up fighting about who would sleep on the bed and who would take the couch…who knows what would happen?
My laughter is replaced with a small sense of dread. That would be the worst.
As long as Noah and I stay far away from each other, absolutely nothing can go wrong.