22. Encapsulated
Encapsulated
Noah stomped his boots on the mat and hung up his coat to dry in Mrs. Ferguson's utility room—or mudroom, as Claire had called it.
His coat, scarf, and boots joined the collection of the other guests, who had made themselves at home.
He scrubbed his hand briskly over his hair to shake off any loose water.
The storm had spent its fury overnight, but continued to scatter light rain across the land as if to ensure they didn't forget its passing.
He'd neglected to pack a proper beanie to cover his head, and the water had run down his neck to seep into his shirt.
After a quick breakfast, he'd gone to the airport with Archie and Devon, leaving Claire to analyze the update on the Norway issue they'd received this morning.
Apparently, the internet had blipped with the power and their email had just caught up.
He hadn't read the details, but it sounded like they'd already identified the key problem.
Noah grabbed a towel from the bench and rubbed his hair down.
He wanted to hear what the team had discovered, and he had news to share with Claire.
While repair of their plane wasn't happening soon, the airline planned to send a replacement jet to get them back to their origin point.
He wasn't sure how the other passengers would feel, but this worked out great for them.
With their teammates already working on a solution, he and Claire no longer needed to travel to Norway.
Earlier, he'd texted a brief update to Simon about returning to England with a promise to call later with more details.
Simon had suggested a conference call when he returned to the hotel, since he had something to discuss with Claire.
Before he found the tiny ginger and set up the call, Noah wanted to change into dry clothes.
His shirt was damp and his socks soaked through from stepping in puddles.
He stripped off the offending socks and headed upstairs to their suite. The room was dark except for the fire and the ambient light coming from the windows of the exterior rooms. Claire must be working downstairs.
Noah stepped into the open door of the bathroom and stopped short.
His suite mate was not downstairs. Her long red curls hung over the side of the bathtub, with her alabaster arms draped daintily along the sides of the tub, and her eyes closed peacefully in sleep.
A discarded e-reader and a single candle occupied the shelf beside the tub.
The smell of eucalyptus permeated the air, presumably from the candle.
The remnants of what must have been a bubble bath did little to hide her shape from him.
His body responded immediately and he swallowed.
He slowly stepped backward, intending to sneak out before she realized he'd interrupted her, when the board beneath his foot creaked and her eyes snapped open. Shit. He froze.
"Noah!" She covered her chest, the water sloshing at her sudden movement.
They stared at each other until he decided something needed to be said.
True to form, instead of blundering through an apology, Noah reached for the flirtatious charm he was known for.
He nonchalantly leaned against the wall and folded his arms across his chest. "Having a lie in, are you?
I thought you planned to work while I was gone. "
She sputtered, and he grinned. She moved to sit up, then thought better of it. "I'm naked here! Do you mind?"
He kept his gaze strictly on her face. A pretty shade of red covered her from chest to forehead and he figured better to stop while he was ahead.
He turned his back to her, then grabbed the towel hanging on the wall next to him and held it out behind him.
"I've got an update on our situation, and Simon wants a conference call.
He's got news on his end as well. He's waiting for us now. "
Water splashed behind him and a tug slipped the towel from his fingers. "I wasn't lying in?—"
"Having a lie in," he interrupted. "It means sleeping in late."
"Whatever," she huffed. "I finished my review early, and I thought you'd be gone for a few hours, which was perfect for trying out this fantastic tub."
"You know, if you'd closed the bathroom door, we could have avoided this whole embarrassing situation." An elbow in his back and a muffled apology sent him stumbling closer to the door.
"Again, you weren't supposed to be back so soon. And leaving the door open let in the heat from the fireplace." An exasperated sigh, then, "If you'd kindly step all the way out, I will finish getting dressed and meet you in the sitting room for Simon's call."
Noah laughed. "Yes, ma'am." He stepped just outside the door frame. "Also, Claire?"
"What?" The impatience in her voice inspired an image of fire in her eyes as she stared daggers into his back.
"You are smoking hot." He threw that over his shoulder as he walked away. Sputtering erupted from the bathroom behind him before the door slammed shut.
Once they were both freshly dressed and comfortable, they sat together on the settee, waiting for Simon to join the video call. Claire was furious with Noah for walking in on her. At the same time, she was embarrassed and angry at herself for not shutting the door. What a ridiculous situation!
Despite her embarrassment, she shivered in pleasure, remembering his parting words. He thought she was hot. That memory, combined with the steamy kisses they'd shared earlier, had her face burning, and she fanned herself, trying to cool down her cheeks. He better not say one word!
Her laptop beeped and Simon's face appeared on the screen.
"Well, hello. You two have had quite the adventure," he said by way of greeting.
Noah smirked beside her and she reminded herself to focus on work before answering. "Yes, not exactly how I imagined my first trip across the pond to go." An emergency landing, my coworker seeing me naked… good times, she thought.
Simon's brow furrowed. "Everything okay? I've taken your regular updates to mean y'all were rolling with the punches, but you need to let me know if there's an issue."
Claire waved him off. "No, it's fine. We've been in excellent hands and the Fergusons have been wonderful. It got a little touch and go when the power went out, but they were well-prepared with a generator and a well-stocked kitchen."
Simon nodded. "Noah? Same?"
"Yes. I believe Claire is learning the Scottish accent. It's been a crash course."
Claire's shoulders loosened. She wasn't sure what she'd been expecting, but Noah, the colleague, was easier to handle than Noah, the bedmate. Talking about work let her shove her feelings to the background.
"Good. Noah, your text said you'll be flying back to England?"
Claire looked at Noah. They had dialed in to Simon so quickly, she wasn't in the loop yet. Noah told them what he'd learned about the replacement jet flying in early tomorrow morning. Tonight would be their last night in Leesburgh.
"That works out perfectly because the England accounting group wants to pick Claire's brains on the reporting software they use. With you guys flying back tomorrow, we can just extend Claire's stay in England through the end of the week. Does that work for you, Claire?"
Her mind blanked. "Um… sure. My calendar was cleared for the Norway trip already, so being in a different location shouldn't cause an issue."
"Great. In-person conversations are always better. Things just go much smoother when you're face-to-face. Especially when dealing across disciplines. Body language is much easier to pick up on when you're in the room rather than talking across a video screen."
Simon looked down at something offscreen, then raised the topic of the Norway solution. Earlier, while setting up for the call, she and Noah had read through the update email, but hadn't had time to absorb the details. Now they dove into it, with Noah asking pointed questions.
"So it's a legal thing unique to Norway?"
"Yes, apparently, you aren't allowed to do credit invoices. It causes some kind of tax trigger." Simon checked his notes. "The details are in the report."
"Right. So how do we address it when the rest of the world handles it differently?"
"We have a plan. Delbert and Rick are creating a unique program specifically for the Norway office.
They'll use a different menu item when booking sales transactions.
And we're writing a trigger into our automations that will follow their unique process based on the entity number.
Norway transactions go this way, everyone else goes that way.
You two can help with testing next week. "
They talked for another twenty minutes about the new requirements and other project work before Simon confirmed he would reach out to Jake to book Claire's hotel and flight home.
They said their goodbyes, and she shifted away from Noah.
Her mind drifted back to that oh-so-soft kiss they'd shared this morning.
She watched him from the corner of her eye as he ran a hand along his jawline and stared vacantly at the wall.
She wondered if he was also remembering that kiss and how it exploded into something hotter. Before she could ask, he spoke.
"The solution they came up with was clever, but accounting heavy. I think Grace must have had a firm hand in it."
Claire blinked and scrambled to catch up.
"Grace from the GFS team? I forgot she went with them.
She struck me as someone who knew what she was talking about.
" Okay, we're ignoring the naked part and getting back to business.
She shoved thoughts of hot kisses and exploring hands to the back of her mind and switched her focus back to work.
Giving her hands something to do, she opened her calendar and reviewed her schedule for the week while they talked.