Emery #2
In my distraction, I must have missed their whispering, and, suddenly, both of their gazes were on me.
My cheeks heated when I realized that I had been staring.
Timothy looked annoyed that I was just standing there, and Noah looked…
well, I couldn’t really read his dark gaze.
Where Carson had always worn his heart on his sleeve, Noah was the exact opposite.
I never knew what that man was thinking, and it frustrated me.
I considered myself a good judge of character, but what if that person refused to reveal their true self?
What was I supposed to do? What if I’d made a huge mistake by letting Noah into my life to not only be my bodyguard, but to have a relationship with my son?
With me? What if…he didn’t stick around?
I realized that I was spiraling and if I didn’t stop now, I was going to do something I’d regret in an effort to protect myself.
This was Carson’s oldest friend. If he was here to scam me, he would have already done it and left.
He wouldn’t have agreed to fake a marriage with me, and he certainly wouldn’t take time out of his day to listen to the ramblings of a child that wasn’t his.
I was going to have to trust Noah even if that scared me.
I had no other option.
“Ready?” I asked as I forced a smile and stepped up to join them. I was hoping to just blow right past the whole I was just staring at you weirdly thing and move on with our day.
Thankfully, Timothy was just as enthusiastic as I was to leave. He vigorously nodded as he made a beeline for the door. I focused my attention on him, thus avoiding Noah’s stare as I passed by. We lingered in the hallway, waiting for Noah to lock the door and join us.
When we got to the parking garage, Timothy skipped ahead of me to the car while Noah took up the rear. My son’s constant chatter was the perfect distraction as Noah drove us to school. He pulled up alongside the sidewalk so we could climb out.
Once Timothy was checked in and was making his way down the hall, wiping my kiss off his cheek as he went, I pushed through the school doors and headed back to the car. Noah and I rode in silence. But when I felt Noah’s gaze on me from the rearview mirror, I did the idiotic thing and met it.
He instantly switched his attention back to the road, but then, seconds later, it was focused on me again. He obviously had something to say but lacked the courage to actually speak the words.
“Everything okay?” I asked.
He returned his attention to the road until he came to a stop at a red light. Then he turned his gaze on me once more. “Are you nervous about today?”
I sighed as I turned my attention to the world outside the car.
“I wasn’t until you reminded me.” Which was true.
When Timothy was around, he consumed all of my brain power.
Now that he wasn’t here, I needed to focus on being Emery Torres, CEO of Torres Investments.
That Emery was about to tell the board that she was getting married.
When he didn’t respond right away, I glanced up to see that he’d drawn his eyebrows together and there was a look of pain in his gaze. Like he regretted what he’d just asked. I offered him a forgiving smile.
“I’m nervous but ready to get this over with.” I held his gaze for a moment. “If you’re still okay with the plan.”
He nodded.
“You’re not getting cold feet?” I asked as I wiggled my eyebrows.
I wanted to keep things light because I was worried that if I said anything deep, he’d suddenly realize he wasn’t comfortable with our arrangement and would call it off. This was a long commitment, and I needed him to be one hundred percent sure about his decision.
Once I told the board, there was no going back. With my luck, there would be some secret stick of dynamite in the stipulation that if at any time the board felt I was abusing the requirement, they could blow everything up.
“No,” he said, and then his gaze met mine once more. “Are you?”
I ignored the acid that rose up in my throat as I closed my eyes and shook my head. “No,” I whispered. “And it wouldn’t really matter if I was.”
I opened my eyes to see Noah’s wide stare. His eyebrows were raised, and his expression had fallen. I inwardly scolded myself. Why had I said that out loud?
“I really don’t have cold feet,” I said as I raised my hands and leaned forward.
I needed him to believe my words. “I don’t.
I’m…” My voice drifted off as fear clung to my chest. I wasn’t sure I wanted to finish that statement, but then I brushed it off.
Noah deserved to know. “I’m glad it’s you.
” My cheeks warmed as my gaze turned shy.
Saying those words out loud made me very aware of how vulnerable I was.
Noah’s gaze turned dark, but the light turned green and the cars started to move before he could respond.
We rode the rest of the way in silence until I suggested that Noah just park in the parking garage and we’d walk in together.
We were heading straight to Charles’s office anyway.
There really was no reason to wait to inform the board of our upcoming marriage.
I lingered by the hood of the car, waiting for Noah to join me. He slammed the driver’s door and raised the key fob, the car beeping as the headlights flashed. He slowed as he approached me, and I turned so we could fall into step with each other.
We walked side by side through the parking garage.
I could feel the warmth of his arm as it swayed next to mine.
I wasn’t sure if it was the temperature or just the fact that he was close, but the sensation soothed me.
It had been so long since I’d stood this close to a man.
If it had been Carson, I would have reached out and threaded my fingers through his.
My chest seized at that thought. Should I grab Noah’s hand? I loved Carson, and I’d held his hand. Would it make my relationship with Noah more believable if I did the same?
I wasn’t sure how I felt about touching Noah even if it didn’t really mean what it had with Carson.
The last thing I wanted was for the board to doubt that this marriage was real and for all of our effort to be null and void.
I needed them to believe in this facade.
I couldn’t end up right back where I’d started with my bad attempts at flirting with strange men.
It would be a pity for all of this to fall apart simply because I didn’t hold Noah’s hand as we walked into the building to declare that we were in love and getting married.
I gathered my courage and slowly began to extend my fingers. My middle finger made contact first. It brushed the outside of Noah’s hand for a brief moment. I waited for him to react, but he didn’t acknowledge what had just happened. Didn’t he feel that?