Chapter 23
Chapter Twenty-Three
N oah pulled his boat into the dock under Maya’s house and waited for her to join him. Work was all-consuming lately because the movie he had coming up featured Dame Rosalie and she rightly demanded perfection from everyone, including him. Tabitha had been playing up and kept trying to upstage everyone, laughing out loud and touching his arm, or leg, whenever she thought anyone was looking, which was putting his nerves on edge. He kept bringing Maya into their conversations, but Tabitha acted as if they were best friends now and she’d told him more details about her drinks date with Maya than Maya had. Maya had been pretty dismissive and told him not to worry about anything, but he was sure Maya had never dealt with anyone like Tabitha before and his intuition told him she was up to something, even though he couldn’t work out what it was. He hoped it didn’t involve the film or Dame Rosalie, because that would risk all of their careers.
He might be a household name already, but Rosalie wanting to film with him again had made his year. Working with a legend like her was an absolute joy and a privilege. Rosalie was fierce and funny and he learnt so much from her every time they met. She was hosting a ball in a couple of weeks and Maya had agreed to be by his side, but she had been distant since her drinks with Tabitha. It was nothing he could put his finger on, but he’d thought that they had grown closer lately and dropped the fake relationship part. Maybe he’d been wrong?
He knew she didn’t court publicity for her art, but being photographed on the red carpet for this event, which was about as exclusive a party as he had ever been to and he’d travelled all over the world, could help skyrocket her career because he wanted to help her any way he could. Her unassuming nature and beautiful smile had caught his heart, it seemed. Maya never judged him for his opulent and sometimes downright crazy lifestyle, which added to all the other reasons he wanted to see her as often as he could. He’d like to see her more, but they both had busy schedules right now and he worried that might be a problem in the future too.
When she didn’t come out of her house or respond to his texts, he left his boat under her rented house and went in by the hidden door on the lower floor. A prickle of unease crept up his back, so he quickly pressed the buzzer and looked around, but it was dark and no-one was wandering by the Riverside café at that time of the evening. Recently, he’d been meeting Maya at night for movies, cocktails, occasional dinner at each other’s houses and sleepovers whenever they could tally their diaries. They hadn’t spoken about the status of their relationship recently and that troubled him slightly. He wanted a deeper emotional connection, but he could feel Maya holding back, which confused him and he feared that was because of Blake. She’d assured him she was over the man who broke her heart, but Noah wasn’t sure that was the complete truth. He still seemed to have some kind of power over her, because she always changed the subject when Noah tried to find out more.
He'd already invested a lot into his relationship with Maya, but he needed her to reciprocate. She was distant at times, and he could sense an undercurrent of something that he didn't understand. It was as if she wanted to share things with him, but wouldn't let her guard down, which frustrated the hell out of him. This relationship had begun as fake, but his feelings were raw and real now and he feared she could crush his heart if he wasn't careful.
After officially dating for a while now, they hadn’t had the exclusive talk yet, making his stomach crunch with tension, which was a new feeling for him with someone he was dating. It was driving him crazy, being near her so often now, but his job had made him guarded after being burnt a few times by press hungry women like Tabitha.
Maya opened the door and beckoned him inside, but she hadn’t greeted him with a smile, so he immediately frowned and quickly went to see what was wrong. He was protective of her already, even though she was one of the most independent women he had ever met. She didn’t seem to need much and never asked him for anything, which took some getting used to and actually put him on edge in case he was reading the signals wrong and he should do more. It was nice to feel needed and although he’d always felt claustrophobic in relationships before, he had recently had a lightbulb moment where he’d understood that he wanted some reassurance and enjoyed being able to do nice things for his partner. Now that he was in a genuine relationship with Maya, she was on his mind more and more, which he kind of liked. Noah missed her when she wasn’t in his arms.
He followed her into the lounge and she stopped, turned to face him, and finally smiled at him before she opened the door. He touched her arm to make her look his way. ‘Are you okay?’
‘Blake’s here,’ she grimaced and alarm bells began ringing in his head. Why was that a problem?
‘Your ex, Blake?’
‘Yes,’ she sighed and rubbed her eyes, making him notice how tired she seemed. He could see faint worry lines around her usually sparkling eyes, and her shoulders were slumped.
‘Why is he here?’ he asked, leaning against the wall and kissing her briefly on the lips to prolong the conversation. Noah could feel the tension radiating off of Maya and he didn’t like it.
‘Your guess is as good as mine!’ she shrugged and pushed the door open, but not before fixing a bright smile onto her face. She entered the lounge and sat down opposite Blake, motioning for Noah to do the same after they had shaken hands in greeting.
‘I’m sorry,’ Blake apologised, amiably. ‘I didn’t know you had plans, Maya.’
‘You didn’t ask,’ she responded a bit waspishly, and the room fell uncomfortably silent. ‘Drink?’ she asked Noah, and he nodded, noticing that Blake didn’t have one. When she left the seating area and moved into the kitchen and started opening cupboards in search of wine, the men faced each other.
‘Have you two been dating long?’ asked Blake, a polite smile never leaving his face.
Noah ignored the question. ‘I didn’t realise that you two were still in touch?’ said Noah, keeping his tone purposefully neutral.
‘We aren’t really,’ sighed Blake. ‘When I saw Maya at your party, I’d just read an article about the steamboat and its makeover in a local paper while visiting a client. I guessed Maya might have something to do with it,’ he added pompously. ‘I know how close her grandad is to Joe.' He paused for a moment too long and Noah frowned feeling slightly off kilter at how well Blake clearly knew Maya’s family when they still hadn’t met yet. The whole point of the love pact had been to appease her family, but he’d assumed he’d have met them by now and the fact that he hadn’t however busy they both were, seemed odd to him. Maya was incredibly close to her family, so was she embarrassed by him, or did Blake being back on the scene have more to do with this that he’d originally thought? His hackles rose and Noah grit his teeth, but made himself stay calm. 'I went to see her at Joe's boat because we have unfinished business from when we used to work together. A guy behind the bar told me to find her here.’
‘You mean Roman - unfinished business?’ questioned Noah, his mind racing at what on earth Blake meant. The last thing he needed was to get into anything new when the person was still mixed up with their past, but he feared he was already in too deep and just about keeping his head above water. Surely Maya wouldn’t look twice at this man after what he did to her… the problem was that Noah knew first loves were hard to forget, especially if they left you feeling that you didn’t deserve better. He was lucky that his own first love had been someone he met at university and they’d parted as good friends, but he couldn’t imagine what he’d feel if she’d betrayed and belittled him, or how that would impact his future relationships. She still meant a lot to him as a friend, but lovers… no. He drew in a calming breath and tried not to think about how much Blake might still mean to Maya .
Noah turned to glance at the open-plan kitchen area, but Maya had clearly gone upstairs or outside for something, as she was nowhere to be seen. There were three glasses on the counter, but no wine, so perhaps she’d gone to get a bottle from the huge walk-in storeroom by the boats. He knew she occasionally had deliveries and kept them in there, as she liked clean lines and mess-free cupboards.
‘We used to run a business together. Didn’t she tell you?’ Blake smirked and seemed to enjoy this a bit too much and Noah’s body was suddenly on high alert, his muscles taut and his legs ready to jump up if he needed to. Noah had always gotten along with Blake and Portia whenever they’d met at social events, which wasn’t often, but he was usually a charming guy. Now Noah could sense an undercurrent he didn’t like and hadn’t encountered before. He knew that Blake and Portia were still together, so why was he really there?
‘I knew you used to work together,’ said Noah. ‘But I thought your relationship was over ages ago, for various reasons?’ He looked straight at Blake, who blanched, his smirk sliding from his face.
‘We were also engaged,’ Blake slid into the conversation.
Engaged? This was a revelation and not one that sat well with Noah. Being previously engaged was a pretty big nugget of information not to tell the guy you were currently seeing when you spoke about your past and family and all other kinds of things. That stung and Noah winced, but tried to hide his discomfort by getting up and wandering to the window to look out, forgetting that it was dark outside, so the only thing he could see were the street lights reflecting on the dark river surface. Ouch, his feeling stung - not that he’d let Blake realise and feel victorious, so he smiled and turned back to face him .
Maya chose just that moment to walk back in with a bottle of red Pinot Noir wine, which gave him a flashback to lying naked with her in the bar on the steamboat after they’d enjoyed a glass. She gave Noah an odd look, probably because he was smiling manically, and then she poured three glasses of wine. He immediately went into the character of someone who’d just found out something about the person they were dating, but didn’t care, even though his own thoughts were much more tangled than that. He often did this as a defence mechanism and he knew he was hard to read sometimes because of it. She handed a glass to Noah and then Blake, who sniffed the aroma and then sipped it, as if he expected it to be laced with arsenic, or be a really crap glass of wine. His eyebrows shot up when he tasted it and it seemed he approved as he took another sip and sank back into his chair as if he owned the place. She didn't mention that it was one bottle Robbie had sent her with the hamper.
‘Our engagement was years ago,’ said Maya, making Blake almost choke on his wine, as he clearly hadn’t expected her to have come back in and heard his last comment. ‘Noah knows exactly why our relationship broke down,’ she said sweetly, her eyes flashing, but Blake suddenly couldn’t meet her eye. ‘How is Portia? Did she get the No. 1 Ethereal Lane modelling job? Tabitha told me she was trying to connect with the brand.' When Blake went puce and no one spoke, she sat down on the single couch opposite both men and continued as Blake seemed to have been suddenly struck mute for a moment.
‘You know that Blake and I ran a business together straight out of college,’ she said and Noah nodded, ‘but we had very different ideas about how it should have been run,' she said conversationally to Noah, ignoring Blake. 'I was inexperienced and Blake clearly wanted to run things on his own terms, which included putting his penis in Portia,' she added with a flourish and both men winced, but humour sparked in Noah's face and she recognised it and her own eyes danced with mirth, some of the tension leaving her face.
‘That wasn’t exactly…’ tried Blake, finding his voice, but Maya’s eyes warned him not to lie and he backed down.
'The relationship broke down, so we parted ways.’ Noah grinned and wished he could get up and applaud her or swing her onto his lap, the knot of fear about a reconciliation between these two loosening its grip.
‘You both formed, BM bespoke?’ asked Noah, biting his lip and trying not to laugh at Blake’s expression. He looked like he’d just been sucking lemons. He mentioned Blake’s brand as she'd already told him about the wandering penis part. Blake frowned and darted glances between them, clearly surprised that his truth bomb hadn't exploded the way he'd wanted it to. Most people thought someone named the brand after Blake McBride, as that was his full name, but Noah guessed it had stood for Blake and Maya. He sipped his wine and regarded them both, deciding how he should play this as Blake was clearly out to cause as much trouble as he could for Maya, but Noah couldn't understand why, unless he’d been jealous seeing her with Noah at the garden party and his intention was to split them up? Just like that the stomach pain was back.
Then he thought of Tabitha and how malicious she was when they'd only been dating for a short while. If they'd have been engaged, she'd have probably killed him and dumped his body in the river by now, or sold another million made-up stories about him in the least. He usually had pretty amicable relationships with ex-partners, so Tabitha's behaviour was something he didn't understand. He'd tried being friendly, thoughtful and caring of her feelings, but she'd stamped all over him and still wouldn't leave him alone, so he turned back to Blake and was about to be very clear on his relationship status with Maya.
‘That’s right,’ stated Maya, before Noah could speak, clearly tired of all the lies. Blake stood up suddenly and was shifting from foot to foot as he went around the back of the couch and pretended to admire some of the art on her walls. He clearly had more to say to Maya, but he suddenly clammed up when faced with a now, not so amenable, Noah.
‘I ran the studio and client lists,’ Maya said simply. ‘Blake popped by tonight to see how I was getting on, but as I explained to him…’ she paused and looked Blake straight in the eye while he adjusted the collar of his pristine pale blue shirt, ‘I’ve no hard feelings about him and Portia now and I’m happy for his success, but don’t need any part in it. I signed away my shares and don’t regret it.’ She nodded towards some paperwork that Blake had brought with him and left on the table. ‘I’ve moved on,’ she said clearly as she moved to stand next to Noah and slipped her hand into his, which he squeezed to let her know he stood with her on that.
She put her wineglass down and looked between both men. ‘I was shocked to see you at my door, Blake and Noah’s been patient enough. It’s been interesting… but Noah and I had better head out now.’
Blake placed his glass down on the nearest table, leaving a drop of wine on the surface and Noah watched Maya cringe, which made his heart melt a little. She was such a neat freak, and he loved that about her... He felt winded for a moment, and his body froze. Love? He quickly brushed that thought away. He’d always cleaned obsessively to have a methodical mind for his work. It also stopped him from overthinking every comment that his family made about his job. Unfortunately, the habit was a hard one to break. Maybe they could help each other ease up a bit? Suddenly a picture of Maya naked and in his bed came to mind, and he smiled to himself about lots of ways they could distract each other. He gulped and turned to face Blake again, making a point not to show his growing displeasure at the way Blake spoke to Maya on his face. Blake wanted to score points, so Noah was determined to come out on top. This man wasn't a threat to him... was he? He hoped Maya didn't still have feelings for Blake, but for now he'd have to trust his gut and believe she didn't want him there.
Blake took Noah’s outstretched hand, as he stood up and shook it cordially, a smile firmly stuck back on his face. Maya didn’t give him much of a chance to say anything else as she grabbed the glasses and quickly rinsed them in the sink, leaving them to drip dry on the integral granite draining board. Noah was bemused by what he had walked into and firmly closed the door on Blake as he left so that Maya didn’t have to.
‘Good riddance,’ she said as she slumped against the wall and he pulled her into the safety of his arms. ‘Shortly after we split up, I tried dating a couple of vaguely mutual acquaintances,’ she explained, ‘but Blake always appeared at inopportune times when I wasn’t there and scared them away, even though I’d made it crystal clear there was no hope of a reconciliation. In the end, a family member informed him I’d moved abroad.’ She snuggled further into his arms and he rested his chin on the top of her head as she spoke. ‘Then he sent ridiculously expensive gifts to my grandparent’s house and pleaded for a second chance. In the end, our parting was even more bitter because I had to sign the company over to him to get him to break our partnership clause. I literally walked away with nothing for years of hard work and he let me, to punish me for leaving.’
‘After that, he acted like I didn’t exist and paraded Portia everywhere. There was no way we could reconcile and work alongside each other after that. My heart was shattered and my confidence was in shreds, but I’m not that woman anymore and I don’t have time to waste on the past.’ Noah felt his heart melt a little more for this brave and incredible woman. He held her away from him and gently kissed her on the lips.
He led her into the kitchen and sat her down on one of the bar stools and then began milling about and drying the glasses before placing them back in the glass cupboard. She smiled at that and then looked out at the shadowy night sky through the double doors to the river.
'I'm sorry Noah,' she sighed, leaning against the island unit before coming round to stand next to him. 'I should have told you about Blake and I being engaged - but talking about it gives it power.' She rubbed her temples and began rifling through the kitchen drawers for no reason, then stopped and puffed out her cheeks, which made her look cute. 'It meant a lot to me at the time,' she continued, 'but I was clearly delusional to think that man loved me and he crushed any ounce of feeling I ever had for him years ago. I've no interest in seeing him or having him anywhere near my home. That's why he didn't know where I lived. He actually still believed that I was abroad until Robbie pulled his love boat stunt.'
Noah eased her into his arms. She resisted a bit at first because she was so agitated, but then she gave in and laid her head against his chest, her own arms wrapping around him. They stayed that way for a few moments, although he'd have happily done so for hours. He loved the feeling of her in his arms and the rate that she was in his thoughts now worried him slightly.
'Do you want to talk about it now?' he asked.
'Only if you do,' she responded, a bit defensively.
'Not really. The past is the past, and it seems to me like Blake has already taken up enough of your time.
'Is Tabitha really in your past?' she asked as she paused and looked up at him. 'She invited me out for that drink we had, to tell me you were dating me to make her jealous,’ she sighed and Noah’s head jerked back in shock. ‘It’s why I didn’t go into details when we spoke about it,’ Maya added as Noah felt anger shoot up his spine. ‘She tried to convince me to sell her my ring so that I could afford for her to take me shopping to buy clothes to fit into your world.'
Noah spluttered and then shook his head in disgust. He captured her head in his hands and touched his lips to hers, then circled his arms around her waist and rested his forehead on hers for a moment before pulling back and looking deeply into her eyes. 'I've made it very clear to Tabitha that after our very few dates, that we weren't compatible. What else can I do? I’d hoped our dating would make her leave us alone.'
Maya's eyes twinkled suddenly. 'Us?'
Noah grinned cheekily and stole another searing kiss. 'Yes, us. We're in this together now. I'm sorry about that,' he hung his head, although he didn't feel that sorry. Without the whole Tabitha mess, he might not have met the girl of his dreams. He enjoyed having someone to talk to and to share things with. Maya was a skilled listener, even though she herself seemed to hold back. He didn't know what else he could do to persuade her she could trust him, but hopefully that would come with time. 'Shall we go out on the river like we'd planned?'
Noah wanted to run his hands under her jumper and pull her into bed, but he needed to earn her trust and tonight was going to be about him persuading her to open up to him more. He could barely string a sentence together or think of anything but running his hands along her body when she was close, and the sensual scent of vanilla and patchouli that she wore on a date once drove his senses wild. He'd asked her what it was while he was kissing his way up her body and she'd giggled and told him. After finding a store that sold it, he’d sent her a beautifully wrapped bottle, with a note to say that the scent reminded him of her.
‘You’re wearing my favourite perfume again,’ he said, kissing his way up her arm and then forcing himself to stop or carry on forever.
‘I love the idea of driving you wild,’ she teased, as her cheeks flushed a little.
Perhaps Blake arriving at her door would show her she needed to trust Noah and be more open with him for him to fully let her in, too, he hoped, but then all further coherent thought fled when she reached up and pulled him in for more kisses and he growled with lust when she slipped her hand in to the back of his jeans and touched his warm skin. 'We could just stay in,' she grinned as he caught her hand and then ran his own along her leg, making her shiver in excitement. 'I was going to show you where my grandparents live by the river, but we could do that another time,' she waggled her eyebrows suggestively at him and he laughed.
'So it's a choice between ravishing you in bed or visiting your grandparents?' he asked incredulously. She grinned, and he tried to calm his libido, but he wanted to slip her clothes off of her body and kiss every inch of her skin whenever he was alone with her. She seemed to feel the same way by the way her hand had found its way to his derriere again. He grinned and playfully nudged her hand away.
'Maybe we can go out in the boat and see their house from the river and then you could stay over here for the night?' Noah's eyebrows rose at this as she hadn't invited him to stay before. He grabbed the boat keys and a fluffy blanket off of the back of a chair and practically dragged her out of the kitchen and to the boat. Maya was giggling so much that he ended up swinging her into his arms and placed her into the boat so they could go sightseeing and take a quick photo to send to her family to prove they were having proper dates now, then get back within the hour.