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“What?” Noah snapped, anger still ripe in his voice.
I flinched, reluctant for a second dose of Noah’s particular brand of charm, but my violin was in there. I hardly touched it anymore, but even the thought of being without it made me queasy.
“It’s me. Charlotte. I left my violin in your living room.”
“Yourwhat?” And before I could answer, “Why the fuck did you bring a violin?”
“Lucien asked me to.”
“He must be getting senile.”
I bristled instantly, surprised how fast Lucien had become important to me. “I’m going to pretend I didn’t hear that.”
“Can’t it wait?”
I scrunched up my face.Is this guy for real?“I’ll be two seconds, in and out.”
Another pause. The door buzzed open.
I went in and jogged up the staircase, intending to get my violin and get out—maybe steal a peek at my soon-to-be living quarters. I also expected Noah would be upstairs, not wanting anything more to do with me. Instead, I found him in the living room, sitting on the last three stairs that led up to the third floor, his hands dangling off his knees. His gaze was cast downward and didn’t move when I came up.
“Um, hi,” I said.
I figured I could stare all I wanted while I waited for a reply, and stare I did.
My God. He’s like a work of art. A rude, surly, bad-tempered work of art.
Eventually, I realized Noah couldn’t be bothered to reply. I spotted my instrument on the floor by the couch and blue nylon rain jacket on the arm. I scowled. Noah had barked at me to get out and I’d scurried away like a scolded puppy, forgetting everything.
I’m not going to let him get to me again, I declared and then nearly jumped out of my skin when Noah spoke.
“Quite the plan you all concocted.”
“I didn’t know anything about—”
“Don’t embarrass yourself with excuses,” he snarled. “And I thank you and Lucien for the nice fat dose of condescension. For wasting my time with an interview, the outcome of which was a foregone conclusion.”
“Funny, I could say the same about you.”
He blinked and his eyes sought me, widening with surprise. “And just how the hell do you figure that?”
“You weren’t really interviewing me. You didn’t even ask me any questions, or about my qualifications, or references. Hell, I have my doubts that you even know myname. You just rattled off your list of duties, end of story.”
“Your point?”
I shrugged into my jacket and crossed my arms. “My point is, I don’t think it mattered at all who sat in front of you. It was the same ‘interview’ you’ve done half a dozen times, probably intending that the person quit a few weeks later.”
He smirked. “So far I’m six for six.”
“You’re six for seven. You may not care what kind of trouble you put Lucien through each time he has to go and find another assistant, but I do. I care about him and so it’s for him I’m going to do the best job I can.”
“Right,” he snorted. “And the salary and free rent have nothing to do with it.”
“No, you’re right. They had quite a lot to do with it. I was sort of…running on empty until this opportunity came around.” I firmed my voice. “I have a lot at stake here, so you can snipe and snarl at me all you want, but I’m not going anywhere. Fair warning.”
There was a silence, and I thought I’d probably crossed the line. Or that he’d laugh at me. He could wait a week and fire me, telling Lucien that I just didn’t work out. Feeling foolish, I waited until he spoke, waited for the derision and sneering.
Instead, Noah cocked his head, his brow furrowed. “Are you always this honest?”
