Noah’s alarm cut through the silence of the dark bedroom, abruptly waking Olivia. As she took a moment to adjust to the unfamiliar setting, to remember that she wasn’t in her own bed, she heard him grunt, the mattress shifting as he rolled over to silence his phone.
She had been awake for quite a while during the night, her mind working overtime, finally drifting off maybe an hour or two before dawn, and her eyes stung with tiredness when she tried to ease them open.
Wishing she didn’t have to go to work, knowing it would be a struggle to get through the day, she closed them again, wanting just a little longer. Noah must have felt the same, because he lay quietly beside her for a few minutes, listening to the pattering rain outside, before giving what sounded like a reluctant groan. The mattress dipped slightly between them as he turned towards her, the warmth of his hard body against her as he eased his arm around her, pulling her close.
Pushing her hair back he trailed kisses down the side of her neck and Olivia let out a murmur of satisfaction. ‘Let’s just stay here.’
‘Mmm, that would be nice.’ He playfully nipped her earlobe, before yanking back the duvet. ‘Unfortunately we can’t, because I promised you I would have you up and out of the house so you’re not late for work.’
Olivia groaned. ‘Forget what I said last night.’
‘Come on. Up.’ He gave her a nudge. ‘Go have a shower and I’ll make you a coffee.’
She found him in the kitchen when she wandered in ten minutes later, his back to her and phone pressed to his ear. She took a moment as she leant against the door jamb to study him: tawny brown hair sleep tousled, wearing just a pair of sweatpants that hung low on narrowed hips.
‘I already told you no, the job’s over.’ He seemed a little agitated, muscles working in those bare broad shoulders as he raised his free hand to shove it in his hair. ‘By all means hire someone else. You’re wasting your time, though.’
A client, she guessed, and a persistent one, judging from the raised voice coming down the phone. The words were muffled, so she couldn’t make them out, but she could tell the caller wasn’t happy.
Olivia picked up the cup of coffee he had poured for her, took a sip as she watched him, everything stirring inside. He had accepted her scars, no question or hesitation, and it had bolstered her confidence. Now she had overcome that hurdle, she was keen to make up for lost time. Had he been game, she would have played hooky from work and called in sick. Perhaps a good job then that he hadn’t been. Roger was already annoyed that she had been out of the office. Best not to upset him further.
Besides, Noah seemed busy. He had mentioned he had an early start and seemed keen to get moving.
The doorbell made her jump and Noah spun around, looking taken aback that she was standing there in the kitchen. He was frowning at Olivia, didn’t seem overly pleased that she was there. ‘I have to go,’ he snapped at whoever was on the phone.
‘It’s okay, I can get it.’
It would be his work partner, Dan. Noah had mentioned that Dan was picking him up. Olivia hadn’t met him yet, and she was keen to get to know the people in Noah’s life.
‘No! Wait!’ He took a step towards her, looked a little flustered.
The bell rang again. Dan was impatient.
‘It’s fine. I’ve got it.’ She was gone before he could say anything else, the sound of him angrily trying to end the call fading as she headed down the hall towards the front door.
Noah had said little about Dan, blatantly ignoring Olivia’s previous attempts to meet him, which was ridiculous really because why would he be anxious about his girlfriend meeting his work partner? Olivia was easy-going enough and Dan sounded like an okay bloke.
She pulled open the front door, expecting to find a thirty-something nerdy guy, maybe with glasses and a puppy-dog smile, because Noah had told her Dan was the computer brains of the business and that was what IT geeks looked like, right?
She got the thirty-something bit right, the ‘hi’ greeting freezing on her lips, as she came face to face with Dan. Yes, definitely thirty-something, but there was nothing nerdy at all. This Dan had long glossy hair and breasts, and what might have started off as a friendly smile was rearranging itself into an amused smirk.
Maybe Olivia was wrong. This wasn’t Dan. It was someone else who just happened to be stopping by at ridiculous o clock in the morning.
‘You’re Olivia. Or Liv as Noah calls you.’
‘And you’re Dan?’ Olivia phrased it as a question, though she already knew the answer. She waited expectantly.
‘Daniella. He shortens names. Bad habit of his. It’s good to finally meet you.’
Noah would have disagreed with that, obviously did, as he came charging into the hallway. ‘Dan, you’re early. We said seven thirty.’
‘You know me, I like to get an early start.’
Dan… Daniella, sauntered into the house, ignoring the annoyance that was rolling off Noah. Olivia wasn’t quite sure what it was he had to be annoyed about. She hadn’t been the one deceiving people. No, that was all on Noah, which had Olivia wondering why exactly he had lied to her.
Okay, to be fair to him, he had never actually referred to Dan as ‘he’, but Olivia had on more than one occasion, so why the hell had he not corrected her? Had he seriously believed she would never find out?
She wasn’t the jealous type, would not have had a problem with him working with a woman – an attractive woman – she noted, as Daniella stripped off her damp jacket to reveal a toned, svelte figure. The deceit of the situation had her wondering if perhaps she should be.
Damn it. She had just bloody slept with him, trusted him enough to show him her scars. He had some serious explaining to do.
But explaining would have to wait. Right now, she needed to go home and get changed, so she wasn’t late for work. ‘It’s nice to finally meet you too, Daniella.’ Olivia found a smile, though it felt a little bit forced. ‘If you’ll excuse me, I need to go get my things together.’
She glowered at Noah as she passed him to go upstairs, heard his brief snappy exchange with Daniella, then footsteps on the stairs as he hurried after her. Olivia was hunting through her bag for her car keys when he entered the room, kept her back to him as he closed the door.
‘Are you pissed off at me for something?’
Seriously, he was going to play innocent here? She whirled around, fire heating her cheeks and her hissed tone. ‘She has breasts, Noah! Dan has fucking breasts.’
Although he looked a little taken aback at her outburst, green eyes widening, he held his ground. ‘Okay, and?’
‘And? Seriously? So, did you not think it would have been a good idea to tell me that Dan is a woman?’
‘I never said she was a man.’
‘No, but you let me carry on thinking that she was. You never attempted to correct me.’
‘You’re overreacting!’
That was it, the torch paper was lit. ‘I am not bloody overreacting. Damn it, Noah. I trusted you to be honest with me. Why the hell didn’t you tell me?’
‘What difference does it make who I work with?’
‘It doesn’t make any difference, but don’t lie to me about it.’
‘I never lied to you.’ His tone was calm, but his eyes were heated.
‘Okay, you didn’t lie, but you deceived me. Same thing.’ Olivia grabbed her bag off the bed. She couldn’t do this right now and just needed to get out of the house. The car keys were in her bag somewhere. She would find them when she got outside.
Noah caught hold of her arm as she brushed past him. ‘Liv, damn it. Wait!’
She shook him off, hurried down the stairs and to the front door, grateful that Daniella had made herself scarce. Quickly pulling on her coat and boots, she yanked open the front door and dashed through the rain to her car. Hunkering down in the coat, she rummaged through her bag again for her car keys. Where the hell are they?
The rain was pounding hard, soaking her through, the sound masking Noah’s approach. ‘Looking for these?’
Olivia swung around. He had put on a T-shirt and slipped his feet into trainers and stood before her, hair plastered down to his forehead and neck, as he held out her keys.
As she went to snatch them, he took a step back, held them out of her reach.
‘Don’t be a dick, Noah. Give me my keys.’
‘I’m gonna come over tonight and we can talk about this, okay?’
‘There’s nothing to talk about. Now give me my damn keys!’
‘Look, I’m sorry, okay. I should have told you. We can talk tonight.’
When Olivia ignored him, made another swipe for the keys, he held them higher. ‘Tonight, Liv. Say it?’
She scowled at him, soaked to the skin and thoroughly peed off.
‘Say it.’
‘Maybe,’ she muttered grudgingly.
‘No maybe. Definitely.’
When she tried again for the keys, he caught hold of her with his free hand, yanked her against him and kissed her hard on the mouth. Lust sparked through her, her body betraying her as she melted against him, but she managed to stubbornly hold on to her anger, pouting at him as he released her.
He studied her for a second, green eyes still heated, though the corner of his mouth twisted into a half-smile. ‘I’ll see you tonight.’ He pressed the car keys into her hand, then leaving her in the rain, he turned and went back into the house.
Molly had just stepped out of the shower when she heard the front door close. She didn’t bother to call down, instead peering out of the front window just to be certain it was Olivia’s car. She was still a little annoyed that Olivia hadn’t bothered to tell her she planned to stay out all night. Molly had received a message saying she had gone out, assumed it was with Noah, though Olivia hadn’t elaborated, but it hadn’t mentioned that she wasn’t coming home.
Consequently, Molly had faced an unsettling evening alone, then a worrying night panicking in case Olivia had been in an accident or something had happened to her. Even her late-night message asking if Olivia was okay was ignored. She had finally received a reply an hour ago, full of apologies for scaring her. Too little too late. Learning that Olivia had stayed at Noah’s was just the icing on the cake. There was something about that man that Molly didn’t trust. She couldn’t shake this nagging suspicion that he was up to something and it bothered her that Olivia was falling for him.
She had just finished dressing and was straightening her hair when there was a knock at her bedroom door.
‘Yes?’ Her tone was a little sharp, but she couldn’t help it. She didn’t bother to turn round, continuing to style her hair, watching Olivia in the reflection of her dresser mirror as she peered round the door, a contrite smile on her face. Her hair was damp and frizzing from where she had been out in the rain.
‘Hey, I just wanted to say sorry about last night. I should have messaged you again to let you know I was staying out all night.’
‘I was worried, Livvy. I thought something had happened to you.’
‘I know. I’m sorry.’
‘You had sex with him, didn’t you?’ Molly hadn’t meant to blurt that out, knew it was none of her business. Despite her reservations, Olivia was thirty-one and perfectly capable of making up her own mind who she slept with. Noah Keen set all of Molly’s alarm bells off though. She couldn’t explain why. Just call it a hunch. She had learnt over the years that her hunches were rarely wrong.
Still, she had to be careful. She didn’t want to sound like a lecturing mum. ‘Sorry, I shouldn’t have asked that,’ she added by way of apology. ‘I know it’s none of my business.’
The last thing she wanted to do was drive Olivia away.
Olivia stepped into the room, sitting on the edge of Molly’s bed. ‘I really am sorry I worried you. I got caught up in the heat of the moment and forgot. But that’s no excuse, I should have messaged you to say I wasn’t coming home.’
Her wide grey eyes were full of apology and something else. Worry?
‘It’s okay.’ Molly was aware her tone was still a little stiff and she made a conscious effort to soften it. ‘I’m being an idiot. You can stay out all night if you want. It’s none of my business. I think I am still a little bit jumpy after Friday, then when I got your message saying you had found the door open and thought someone was in the house, I kept hearing noises outside. I guess I was paranoid. That’s why I was worrying where you were. I kept hoping you would come home. I think I spooked myself.’ She forced a smile. ‘I’m just an idiot.’
Olivia had paled. ‘You heard noises outside?’
‘It was probably just the cat. You know I’ve been a bit jumpy.’
‘Mol, I was so certain someone was in the house before I went out, but there was no one on the camera.’
‘What? Are you serious?’
Molly set down the straighteners, twisting round to face Olivia. She held her breath, barely daring to release it as Olivia explained how she had gone through the footage with Noah.
‘So how did the back door get open?’ she whispered, her eyes widening.
‘I honestly don’t know.’
‘It wasn’t me. I remember closing and locking it before I left for the gym.’
‘Okay.’
Molly could tell from her expression that she was still doubtful, and it annoyed her that Olivia didn’t trust her.
‘You don’t believe me. I remember locking it. I swear.’
Olivia shook her head. ‘I’m sorry. I do believe you. I… I don’t know what to think. I really freaked out and then looked like a complete idiot in front of Noah when there was no one on the camera. Someone was messing with the Echo too, changing the music.’
‘What? Are you serious?’
‘Noah said that could have just been a technical blip.’
‘That doesn’t sound like a technical blip. It’s never done that before.’
‘There was no one on the camera, Mol. But intruder or no intruder, I shouldn’t have left you alone, knowing what had happened. I’m so sorry.’
Molly caught her hands, squeezed tightly. ‘Stop apologising. It’s okay. You’re paranoid, I’m paranoid. It’s probably nothing. I guess that’s part of the peril of living in a big old house. Creaking floorboards and cats that like to make you jump probably aren’t the best combination, eh?’ She was silent for a moment. ‘So you really like Noah then?’
Something passed over Olivia’s face. Was that doubt? She took her time answering the question too, but then the slight frown softened into a smile. ‘I do.’ She was silent for a moment. ‘Why don’t you trust him?’
‘I don’t know. Gut instinct, I suppose. Something feels off.’
‘So it really is just gut instinct? There’s not anything else?’ When Molly didn’t reply, she pushed for an answer. ‘There’s no other reason?’
While part of her was curious to know why Olivia was asking, Molly knew she didn’t actually have an answer to give her, which, she realised, made her look a little bit petty and stupid. This was Olivia and she mattered. Molly couldn’t afford to lose her friendship. Somehow she was going to have to find a way to get over the whole Noah thing.
Instead of answering the question, she hesitantly offered a truce. ‘Look, I know he is important to you, so I will make more of an effort, okay?’
‘Thank you.’
Olivia smiled. It looked a little tight. Was she upset about something? Molly was about to ask, but then Olivia got up from the bed.
‘I need to finish getting ready or I’ll be late for work. Have a safe trip.’
My work trip. Olivia had remembered.
‘Thanks, I’ll see you at the weekend.’ Molly watched her reflection in the mirror as she left the room, musing about their conversation as she finished straightening her hair. Something seemed to be a little off with Olivia, but there was no time to find out what as she needed to make a move or she would be late. Perhaps she could figure out what was going on when she got back later in the week.
As for Noah, unfortunately there was no getting around it. It seemed he was here to stay, whether she liked it or not. She promised herself that she would make an effort to get along with him for Olivia’s sake. She would give him a chance, try to get to know him a little better. But she wouldn’t drop her guard completely.
Her gut instinct was rarely wrong and she intended to keep a close eye on him. If she discovered that he was up to anything devious, then she wouldn’t have any hesitation in trying to get him out of Olivia’s life.
