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“That’s not what I’m saying.”
“It’s exactly what you’re saying,” he countered angrily. “For crying out loud, we’ve done this before, and I think we can both control ourselves for an hour or two in front of your grandfather. After lunch, I’ll make an excuse and leave, okay?” When he turned to walk away, she said his name to stop him.
“It’s just…” She groaned. “I don’t know how to act like I’m not interested in you. And my grandfather is just looking for even a hint of us being attracted to each other.”
Moving in close, he rested his hands on her hips. “And that would be a bad thing?”
Her big eyes looked up at him. “I thought to you it was. You’re the one who’s all freaked out about my father and what he’s going to do to you if he found out about us.”
Oh, right.
Something must have tipped her off because she pulled back, and her expression fell. “We’re going to have to talk about this eventually, but not here. I suggest we go inside and have lunch and then…you need to go. Maybe I can come over tomorrow or…”
“My brother’s coming to town tomorrow and I’ve got some stuff to do before he arrives.”
“Oh? Which brother?”
“Jax.”
She nodded and he could tell she was hurt that he hadn’t mentioned it to her sooner.
“You’re more than welcome to hang out with us tomorrow night. I wasn’t sure if you’d want to, considering we don’t know what it is we’re doing. It just seems like…”
“Lily? Noah? Is everything okay in there? Do you need help?” William called out.
Lily raced from the room and went into the kitchen with Noah hot on her heels. “We’ve got it! You just sit tight and we’ll be right there!” She grabbed a platter of sandwiches from the refrigerator and handed it to Noah before grabbing two bowls of salad, shutting the door with her hip. Together they walked back into the dining room and put the food down. “Did I miss anything?”
“Noah and I were going to open a bottle of champagne, but if you’d like something else to drink…?”
“Champagne?” she asked in confusion. “What are you celebrating?”
“I just offered Noah a promotion!” William replied happily. “I’m proud to announce that he has accepted the promotion to be part of our executive accounts management team.” He paused and smiled at Noah. “He’s been working hard for a long time, and I believe this was his ultimate goal when he came to work for us. Isn’t that right, Noah?”
He nodded and did his best not to look directly at Lily. “It is!”
“Oh, well…congratulations,” she said as she took her seat to William’s right.
Over the next few minutes, they popped the cork, toasted, drank champagne, and made their lunch plates. And while Noah did his best to project a happy and relaxed exterior, inside there was a battle raging, and the woman sitting directly across from him was the cause of it.
Again.
Always.
“I told Noah about my health crisis,” William said after a few minutes, “and I’m pretty sure he knows all about yours, Lily. It occurred to me after I left you this morning that you never answered me about whether you came to any decisions about the surgery.”
“Grandpa!” she hissed before glancing nervously at Noah.
Noah fought the urge to roll his eyes because she was being ridiculous. “Lily,” he said a bit heatedly. “Why don’t you just…”
“Excuse me?” she snapped at him, her eyes narrowing to mere slits, and there was no mistaking the warning in her tone.
William looked between the two of them before focusing on his granddaughter. “Lily, what in the world?” he asked with amusement. “Let the boy speak!”
If she hadn’t interrupted him, Noah was basically going to blow their cover. He felt like William was a safe space for them, but by the way she was looking at him, he immediately changed his mind.
So instead, he gently cleared his throat and said, “I was just going to say that you can relax in front of me. I already know how passionate you are about your career, and I think you should have the surgery so you can get back to it.”
It wasn’t even close to what he really wanted to say, but there didn’t seem to be a choice.
