Chapter 14
Chapter Fourteen
M aya sipped her coffee, which had grown cold and grimaced. There were several news articles about Robbie across the celebrity section of the papers with images of him declaring his love for the woman who saved his life, apparently!
Newspapers constantly photographed Robbie with different women, and his ex, Amethyst, was very vocal about how she felt about that. They were invariably publicly feuding or desperately in love with one another. Maya daren’t pick up her phone to check the amount of texts that her family and friends would have sent, and she wondered how this would make Noah feel because they had just begun telling everyone they were dating. This was more than embarrassing and complicated everything. She picked up her phone and called Noah.
‘Hi!’ she said breezily, even though she didn’t feel fresh or that happy.
‘Hi,’ he responded, slight amusement in his tone, so she heaved a sigh of relief.
‘You’ve seen the newspapers?’
‘Yep! It scuppers our plans, but we were thinking of waiting until my party to announce it more publicly. Unless you and Robbie…’
‘No!’ she shook her head vehemently, even though she was alone. ‘Definitely not.’ She heard him chuckle, and she smiled in response, some of the tension leaving her.
‘Can we meet up for a quiet dinner somewhere private tonight?’ he asked and a shiver of excitement ran down her spine.
‘I’d love that.’
‘I’ll pick you up at eight.’
She got up and threw the dregs of her coffee in the sink. Her hands were shaking slightly, and she turned the tap to cold and splashed her face with water.
When she opened the door to Noah that evening, all of her worries floated away. Noah was dressed in dark jeans, a white-collared t-shirt and a casual jacket. Maya fidgeted for a moment and then reminded herself that this was fake and they were just friends. Maya leaned in to kiss him on the cheek in greeting but he seemed to have other ideas and wound his hands into her hair, their lips touching, sending flames of fire down her spine, making her groan as he pulled her closer to deepen the kiss. When they parted both were panting slightly and then he slipped his hand in hers and grinned. ‘Well hello!’
‘You look beautiful, by the way,’ he added, taking in her light summer dress that crossed over her chest and was fixed at her waist and had little ties at the elbows. It had green ferns and pale pink flowers all over it. The design felt flirty and cute. Noah wasn’t her actual boyfriend, just a film star who needed a fake girlfriend to ward off a manic ex, but she definitely didn’t mind kissing him! She guessed that was a perk of the role and if she got in a lot of practice, maybe she’d be ready for a real relationship afterwards?
Noah guided her to his car, which was sleek and black and she greeted the chauffeur with a big smile and a nod of thanks as he opened the car door for her. When they arrived at a little bistro that had fairy lights strung across the courtyard outside and tall potted palms either side of the entrance, they were taken inside to a sheltered table at the rear of the restaurant, so she finally gave a sigh of relief and decided she might as well enjoy herself, as the setting was warm and inviting. There were low vases overflowing with flowers on every table and plants trailing lazily from colourful pots on racks that ran along the walls. Each table had embroidered tablecloths with scattered flowers all over them which Maya would hate to see damaged by splashes of food, but as she drew closer she was relieved to see each table top had a glass covering and she sat down and studied the hand-sewn flowers which were works of art!
‘How was your day?’ he asked, taking her hand across the table. She looked down at their hands and didn’t know what to feel, but she was definitely feeling something, which was worrying her slightly. His welcome kiss had been a revelation and now her hands itched to slide up his arms and pull him closer, the way he had at the door. He as acting as if they were a normal couple and she shuddered at her own stupidity because he was an award winning actor! He was probably just prepping her for the role, like he’d mentioned in her kitchen. They needed to be able to kiss naturally for people to believe them. It didn’t have to mean anything…
‘Just lots of press interest in Robbie, but the phone calls stopped after a couple of hours.’ She retrieved her hand and slid it into her lap. She looked at the menu, but suddenly wasn’t that hungry. The restaurant was intimate, the perfect place for a dinner with your lover. Maya daren’t look at Noah in case he saw the tiny shift in how she felt about him, which would be mortifying!
‘Sorry about that. He just doesn’t think about the chaos he causes sometimes.’
Neither do you, she thought, but turned and ordered a gin and elderflower tonic from the serving staff who greeted them with a smile and plate of tempura flowers! Maya immediately picked up the delicacy and examined the zucchini blossoms. Next to it were acacia flowers on an elegant white latticed plate that gave it the appearance of fragile lace.
‘I thought you’d like it here. You’re always drawing flowers and this place uses them in the food.’
‘It’s stunning!’ She wouldn’t quite meet his eye, but the fact he’d thought about her preferences warmed her heart a little and softened her mood.
Noah was looking at her over the floral masterpiece at the centre of the table and she offered him a tentative smile. ‘Have I upset you in some way?’ he asked.
‘Not at all!’ she overcompensated. ‘I just think we need to really talk about our pact if I’m definitely going to introduce you to my family soon. Tell me more about Tabitha.’
‘Are you sure you’re ready?’ he chuckled, the atmosphere lightening as Maya returned his smile. ‘We met at a film festival abroad where we were appearing in different films. I’d heard that she wanted to meet me through a mutual friend, but I was there to work, so she began appearing at venues I was at. I didn’t think much of it at first because we are both in the same industry, but then, I guess…’
‘You were flattered?’ Maya teased and he rolled his eyes and grinned.
‘My ego isn’t that big,’ he chuckled when she clearly didn’t believe him. ‘I guess I got used to seeing her around and eventually we said hello. That was my biggest mistake,’ he sighed.
‘What happened?’ Maya was enthralled.
Noah looked off into the distance for a minute then his focus came back to her. ‘She made friends with my friends. Then she got herself invited to intimate dinners and barbecues. It was hard to miss her and she was attentive and funny. I’m pretty sure now that she’d researched me.’
When Maya frowned he clarified. ‘You know. My favourite bands, movies, places to travel etc. You can pretty much Google anything about me these days.’ Maya’s mouth formed an o and he shrugged.
‘I guess I was flattered,’ he finally admitted, giving her a sheepish look and she patted his hand in sympathy that stunning women found him interesting enough to find out more about him… she rolled her own eyes and he took the hit and sat back in his chair, playing with the stem of his wine glass, which fixated her attention for a moment because she could imagine his fingers touching her own skin. ‘It was fun for a short while, but I soon realised that I was useful to her for my contacts and ability to open doors to casting directors. I helped her at first – hence her job on my latest film – but that was never enough.’
‘What happened,’ asked Maya, picking up her own wine and taking a sip.
‘She wanted lead roles. I couldn’t provide those quickly enough, so we separated. We’d only be casually dating anyway and I was helping her as a friend.’
‘Wow! That’s tough,’ Maya sympathised and he sent her a sad smile that did something funny to her hormones. She wanted to scoop him into her arms and soothe his problems away with kisses. Lots of kisses.
‘Thanks,’ continued Noah, oblivious. ‘Her own artistic talent was the only thing that could ever secure her a job. I tried to distance myself, even though I believed in her and it got nasty.’
‘Hence the fake dates?’
‘Hence spending time with you to ease both of our problems,’ he added firmly and his eyes sparkled with mischief finally and the mood lightened. ‘I enjoy your company,’ he admitted, his eyes gazing with intent into hers until she looked away.
They paused while a huge ceramic platter arrived full of fragrant rice, white fish, fresh tomatoes and blue cornflowers that had a spicy, clove-like taste. ‘This is incredible,’ said Maya as she tried her first forkful and almost went cross-eyed in bliss.
After their plates had been cleared, Noah took her hand again and this time she didn’t pull away. It seemed he liked PDAs, even when no one could see them! ‘Would you like dessert?’ he asked and her stomach fizzed with possibilities that were mostly inappropriate. ‘Maybe we could share one?’
Maya nodded her consent and they decided on an ice cream sundae with whipped cream, fresh mango, poached peaches and lots of indulgent chocolate fudge sauce, which they took their time dipping their long spoons into and licking their lips in anticipation of the next bite. Noah filled his spoon with chocolate and cream and offered it to her and she had to lean forward and accept before the sauce slid off and onto the table. He watched her lick her lips and his eyes darkened, capturing hers for a moment, but then the waiter drew near and asked if they needed anything else and the spell was broken.
‘The food here is amazing. I can’t wait to tell my grandad about it,’ Maya said hastily, dabbing her mouth on the napkin to hide her blushes.
‘You’re going to tell them then?’ he asked.
‘They know we’re dating,’ she admitted. Maya’s heart fluttered at his words and she hated the fact that she actually wished that this was true.
‘That’s great news! So what about your past?’ he asked, signalling for a couple of lattes as he knew she had a penchant for those.
‘I guess I need to tell you about my ex?’
‘The guy that broke your heart?’
‘That’s him.’
‘Do you want to talk about what happened?’
‘He’s my ex for a reason,’ she decided. ‘I’d rather leave him in the past if that’s ok?’
‘Of course,’ he reassured.
Her heart had finally mended, but now here she was, sitting in front of Noah, and she was afraid that cracks had appeared in the carefully constructed wall around her heart. Surely this guy could only bring more trouble?