Chapter 11
Chapter Eleven
N oah felt like he was skulking around in a murder-mystery movie. He had a baseball cap pulled down over his eyes and he was dressed in black as he usually was when he was out in public. The sun was shining and the dry heat made him wish he’d worn something cooler. A lush lattice full of climbing plants concealed the front door. Alongside that was a thick hedge that ran up to the riverbank. In front of Maya’s house there was a dock for a boat, which could come and go on the river.
He’d been concerned about how to send Maya flowers to say thank you for saving his best friend’s life, but a courier seemed impersonal. Delivering them himself meant he had an excuse to see her again, but he’d dithered about being spotted by the press or the villagers. They seemed to have a sixth sense about wherever he went, which was becoming more and more oppressive.
After pressing the doorbell, he noted some sort of fancy security panel by the door, which he guessed was telling Maya who her guest was. He frowned and then remembered to smile, as she might be watching him. She’ d given him her exact address over a text after they’d exchanged phone numbers at his party. He’d been thinking about her a lot and really wanted to see her again in person. The door buzzed open and Maya stood before him in cute denim shorts and a cutoff T-shirt, which gave him a glimpse of her toned waist, making the blood fizz in his veins.
Noah gulped and turned the voltage up on his smile. She was looking at him with her head tilted to one side as if assessing him and he felt like a 12-year-old schoolboy. He thrust the bouquet into her hands that he’d ordered from the florist across the water. His assistant had picked them up that morning and Noah was impressed with the quality of the flowers and design. Supporting local businesses whenever he could was important to him, but he couldn’t imagine a nicer arrangement from a big name florist.
‘Can I come in?’ he asked, and she grinned and stepped back, taking the flowers and inhaling the delicate scent of the honeysuckle and sweet peas. She didn’t seem unhappy to see him, so he sighed in relief and followed her inside, looking around with interest. The walls were white and the interior was modern with simple, with elegant light fittings, but it was the art that caught his eye. The walls were lined with four hauntingly beautiful riverside landscapes like the one that he now owned.
She led him into her vast all-white kitchen with parquet wooden floors and floor to ceiling double doors overlooking the river. It flooded the room with light and had a seating area at one end and a cream marble island unit that separated the kitchen from the lounge. It was elegant and full of bespoke art pieces that were strategically placed around the room from what he could see.
There was already a humongous bunch of red roses in a square vase in the centre of the island unit. Next to it, his own colourful bouquet – that he had been thrilled with moments before, suddenly looked paltry. He sighed theatrically. ‘I need to up my game,’ he inclined his head towards the other bouquet. He hadn’t wanted to overwhelm her with his gift, but now he wished he’d gone all in! Maya laughed and offered him a glass of wine after grabbing two glasses from a built in glass cabinet that shone as the light hit it from the windows at the front and side of the house.
She waited for him to settle on one of her bar stools and then grinned a secret smile that did something to his stomach. ‘Robbie sent those,’ she laughed. ‘Thanking me for jumping into the river after him.’ Noah’s mouth dropped open until he snapped it back shut. Bloody Robbie - although to be fair, she had saved his life.
She opened a huge double fronted modern fridge, and her eyes sparkled with mirth. It was full of branded produce and immaculately ordered. ‘He sent me all of this in a hamper, too! I literally won’t have to shop for weeks.’ Noah rolled his eyes, but noted some labels and congratulated his good friend on his immaculate taste.
‘Thank you for your flowers,’ she said, her cheeks going rosy suddenly, as she poured the crisp white wine into two sparkling glasses. ‘We might as well enjoy the wine Robbie sent too,’ she joked, showing him the fancy bottle and brand and he couldn’t help but smile.
‘Thank you for what you did,’ he said simply. ‘Every second counted, and you didn’t hesitate.’
‘It was a bit like watching something in slow motion,’ she said as she handed him a glass of wine.
Noah accepted the glass and smiled into her eyes, but she blushed again and turned to take a few snacks out of the fridge. ‘We need to sort out that date on Bertha and talk about how our plan is going to progress.’ He grinned, his own eyes full of mischief.
‘Plan?’ she squeaked, putting her glass back down before she’d taken a sip.
‘The idea you had at my party. It was genius!’
Maya frowned, and she held a hand to her heart as if she was afraid for it. ‘You can’t be serious? I was clearly joking and I’m pretty sure it was your idea.’
‘Tabitha has ramped up her plotting, and there are fresh stories about me most days. I’d never be at home - or be able to hold down a job, if I was gallivanting all over the place, breaking hearts, like she says I am. I really need your help,’ he pleaded, and she sagged against the counter.
‘There must be someone else you can ask, surely?’
‘I have a close circle of friends and they’d tell each other,’ he grimaced. ‘You said you needed my help too?’
‘I just said we were both single and were getting grief from our families about our stagnant love lives.’
‘Ouch!’ he laughed.
She grinned and fiddled with her hair, making him wish he could sink his hands into it and ruffle her composure. This was a woman he’d dreamt about ravishing, and his eyes kept getting drawn to her lush lips, which were more than a bit distracting. ‘We’d just been dragged out of the Thames and were more than likely in shock,’ she added, not giving an inch.
‘But it could work…’ he urged, taking her hand and then realising what he was doing and dropping it gently again. ‘We could solve a problem for each other, don’t you think?’
‘I’ve stupidly told my family and friends I’ve got a boyfriend to keep them off my back…’ she pulled a face as she admitted this and he almost punched the air in excitement. This was getting better and better. ‘I hate lying to th em and it’s not something I’d usually do, but I blurted it out.’
‘I can help you with that!’ he said earnestly, trying not to sound too keen and scare her off.
‘I love the flowers. They look like my friend Leah’s work,’ she changed the subject rapidly, picking up the pretty handwritten card and showing him the branding on the back. ‘Yep. Great choice!’ She moved to the window and opened it to let some air flow through the room as it was getting hot in there and the sun was beaming through the double doors to the water.
Noah felt warmth spread through his body at her praise, and realisation dawned that this could actually work. He hadn’t known Maya for long, but he definitely wanted to impress her, which worried him slightly, but he brushed that thought away. He was beguiled by her dark hair and eyes and very kissable lips - but she’d given him no inclination about her thoughts on him, other than just being friendly, so he was in unchartered territory. It was hard to sustain relationships longer than the length of a film in his industry because they were all portraying someone else, and emotions got mixed up and accelerated at times. Relationships could be pretty transient and seemed to whiz past at warp speed compared to ‘civilians’ and then, when the movie ended, the fizz of excitement drifted away. Sustaining emotional connections when you lived in different parts of the world became almost impossible.
He lived in a world of decadence, travel and possibilities, but the flip side was isolation, fear of trusting anyone and loneliness. Noah was often too busy to date and not to be big-headed, women seemed to seek him out, which he presumed was because he was wealthy and famous. He’d certainly never had that level of success as an unknown, which made him wary of people’s intentions. It was also the reason he didn’t actually date much, not that you’d believe that if you read the papers. They made out as if he had a different woman every night! Popping to a woman’s house in broad daylight was something he’d never normally do, but this was the only time free in his schedule and he’d acted on it. Plus, he was a man of action and this could actually help them both out of a troubling dilemma.
‘I bought the bouquet from the shop across the water. I’d noticed the beautiful Victorian windows when I was sailing past on my boat one evening.’
‘That’s the one. It’s just across the bridge from here.’
Noah grinned at last and let the last vestiges of tension about whether this was a good idea ease away. He wasn’t usually nervous around women, but Maya unsettled and intrigued him in equal measure. He couldn’t quite work her out. He had the urge to run his fingers across the frown lines on her forehead to ease them, and his breath hitched when she self-consciously rubbed the base of her neck, his eyes following the movement of her hand.
Noah watched the sun dipping over the river and had an idea. ‘Can I make you dinner from all the goodies that Robbie sent so that we can chat more? Are you free tonight, or do you need to throw me out?’
Maya’s eyebrows rose. ‘I’d actually love that,’ she laughed. ‘I’m worse than useless at cooking. My grandmother finds my lack of culinary skills appalling, as she’s an excellent cook.’ Noah smiled and went to open the fridge and peer inside.
‘I can definitely work with this.’ Her eyes shone with what he hoped was excitement, and he felt a pull in his guts. He had a feeling that he was playing with fire, but he was enjoying himself more than he had in ages, so he was ignoring the warning signs that this woman could be dangerous to his heart and mind.
‘My plan was to order a takeaway and watch a movie. I’ve only just finished work,’ she said, standing on tiptoes and peering over his shoulder at the contents of her fridge. He felt her breath on his neck and he had to grit his teeth and remember to keep this friendly and not turn around and sweep her into his arms.
‘We could watch the movie together?’ he hedged, wanting to make this time together last for as long as he could and closing his eyes for a moment as her subtle floral perfume sent his senses into overdrive.
‘Maybe…’ Maya laughed and perched on one of her tall bar stools by the island unit, as he expertly began sorting out what he needed to cook them a meal. They chatted companionably as she pointed to where everything was and he thanked the heavens that he’d had to go to cookery school for a movie and had actually learnt to be fairly decent in the kitchen.
‘If you cook me a delicious meal, I might even let you take another painting home,’ she laughed, and he stopped in shock as her artworks were expensive.
‘If we were dating, I could cook for you any time,’ he slipped into conversation and she almost choked on her wine.
‘You’re too famous to date,’ she sighed.
‘How do you know if you’ve never tried it?’ he stepped back and crossed his arms over his chest, which made his muscles bunch up, but she didn’t even notice. He’d never had to work so hard to get a date before, especially a fake one. ‘If you pretend to be my girlfriend, then Tabitha might leave me alone and you’d be helping a man in need,’ he reasoned. ‘You said the same about your family and friends. Especially if you’ve already told them you have a boyfriend. My job takes me abroad a lot, so that could be why I haven’t met your family yet. It could help us both.’
‘You’re serious about this whole fake relationship thing?’ Her shoulders slumped, and she didn’t seem as ecstatic as he’d hoped. ‘Surely you could find any number of women who’d jump at the chance to be seen out with you?’
‘I don’t trust just anyone. You’ve already helped me twice and we could make it a hat-trick.’ Her eyebrows shot up into her hairline at the compliment. ‘We haven’t known each other long, but I feel that we have a bond after what happened in the river and I’d love to help you out, too. It could be mutually beneficial. We could tell them what happened on the bridge and say I contacted you after that, as that part is true. It’s actually quite romantic,’ he pondered while she started at him incredulously.
‘But I jumped in the river outside your house!’
‘We can say we’d only managed to go on a couple of dates before that and saving Robbie was a coincidence.’
‘My family will ask why I wasn’t invited to the party.’ She shook her head because she clearly felt this would never work, but he was determined to try.
‘We could say I invited you, but you felt it too soon to meet everyone, because I was too busy to see you, so you were going to cool it off, then you ended up saving Robbie and we began spending more time together as my new film is based here.’
‘I was going to dump Noah Benedict?’ she scoffed, and he tried not to let his ego run away with him because she’d shown no inclination that she even fancied him.
‘It has happened,’ he chuckled, and she didn’t seem convinced.
‘I don’t want to be splashed across all the papers,’ she said seriously and he frowned. Most of his dates courted publicity.
‘It could help promote your art,’ he answered, trying to work out what he was dealing with. Most people in his inner circle had to work hard to maintain their fame.
‘Thanks, but I don’t need help with that. I literally can’t paint my canvases fast enough. Penny has agreed to substitute them with ones from an art class that my friend Mason run’s on Bertha , to keep the café walls full, although if Joe’s steamboat keeps growing in popularity, they might have to move venue.’
‘Ahh. That makes sense.’ Noah hung his head and tried to still the thoughts whizzing around his mind. This wasn’t working out the way he’d hoped. He sliced some carrots and seasoned two lean steaks, drizzling some oil into a frying pan. ‘Okay. Let’s do it privately,’ he hedged. ‘We can just tell our close friends and family and present a united front when required.’
‘Mine would want to meet you,’ she shook her head at his innocence it seemed and he paused what he was doing and looked at her.
‘They can’t be that bad?’
She laughed at that. ‘They aren’t bad at all! They’re amazing, but after my last serious boyfriend broke my heart, they’ll grill you until you weep and then welcome you into the bosom of the family so you can’t get out!’ Noah actually liked the sound of that after the frostiness of his own relatives.
‘I’m sorry to hear about your ex. You definitely need a handsome new man in your life to help you get over him,’ he said, a sardonic smile flickering on his lips. He tried not to think about the spark of anger that lit when she’d mentioned her heart breaking and enjoyed the humour in her eyes now. ‘ Your family sound divine. It’s better than mine who make you feel that the temperature drops when you walk into a room and nothing you do is good enough.’
‘That sounds inviting,’ she chuckled, but did briefly touch his arm in sympathy.
‘Sorry. I always seem to over share with you.’ He sighed and turned back to the saucepan as he threw the carrots into a pot of boiling water and pinched the sprigs off of some herbs that she had growing in a little pot by the fridge.
‘I wondered what to use those for,’ she joked. ‘I chose them because they smell nice.’ He grinned back, and she picked one of the rosemary sprigs and inhaled the minty scent rubbing the plant between her fingers and filling the air with the fragrance of camphor and eucalyptus. She came and put her arms around his shoulders and gave him a hug, which surprised him, but he gratefully sank into it. He liked the feel of being in her arms and had to restrain himself from pulling her in tighter and keeping her there. Or kissing his way up her delectable neck.
‘Okay,’ she grinned. ‘You’ve convinced me. I’m a sucker for someone in need. Just keep me out of the press.’ Noah’s heart leapt and before he knew it, he’d laughed and swung her around before kissing her on the lips. When he put her back on her feet again, they were both wide-eyed and breathless, so Maya quickly refreshed their drinks and they didn’t mention one more word about the kiss, even though the earth had shifted for him.
‘I need a partner to attend a family party in a couple of months. I warn you, they are as batty as they come. You up for it?’ she asked, looking up at him.
‘It’s a date!’ he said happily, turning back to the steaks before she changed her mind.
They took their plates to the comfortable rattan table and chair set that was on the ground floor balcony, as the sun had dipped below the horizon and the sky was now inky black and dotted with twinkling stars. Maya didn’t turn the light on out there so people couldn’t see in, in case Noah was spotted, but the river was pretty empty at this time of night and the pubs and bars the townsfolk frequented were further into town or along the river. Noah didn’t know if his senses were heightened because he was sharing a meal with a beautiful woman, or that they seemed to talk about any topic with an ease he hadn’t felt in years, but every morsel of the meal made him salivate for more. When Maya had taken the plates inside and started loading the dishwasher, he’d followed and they’d cleaned up together as if it was the most natural thing in the world.
Then she’d pulled out a tub of caramel ice cream with a smile and they’d sat watching a film with the tub between them and two spoons. He’d lifted his full spoon, but instead of eating it himself, he’d held it up for her, which had made her look at him in surprise, but she rose to the challenge and tasted it, her eyes closing in bliss as the caramel hit her tongue, which made his own mouth go dry. The mood shifted, and he’d desperately wanted to kiss her again, but she’d slipped from the sofa and called over her shoulder to ask if he wanted a coffee. The problem was that after spending an evening in Maya’s company; he craved more. He knew she’d promised to be his fake girlfriend for a while, but when it came to the end of their charade, would he be able to let her go?