Page 23 of Hard Count
“Of course you should.”
Noah paused before adding, quietly, “I leave for Seattle tomorrow. I’m at the Four Seasons.”
He had nothing to add. He didn’t need to.
Piper stopped. “You’re assuming a lot.”
“I’m remembering a bathroom.” Noah smirked.
Piper held his gaze longer than he meant to. “We can’t be doing this.”
Noah smiled. “Sure we can.”
“Irish goodbye?” Piper said as he walked toward the elevators.
“I’ll stay behind in case anyone thinks it’s odd we are leaving at the same time,” Noah replied.
***
The hallway beside the elevator bank was quiet as the music faded behind Piper. His reflection stared back from the mirror. The elevator opened and he stepped inside.
The bathroom replayed in his mind. The door locking and the realization that he hadn’t pulled away.
He hated chaos. He hated the part of him that kept walking toward it.
The elevator reached the lobby. His screen lit again.Room 1179.
Piper stared at the message. Then he walked toward the valet.
He headed for the Four Seasons. The consequences of this decision raced through his head, but escaped him at that very moment, because all he wanted was Noah Reyes.
Joan, this is another bad fucking idea.
Chapter Ten: Los Angeles
Piper was waiting in the lobby when he saw Noah walk in through the entry doors, glancing over at Piper briefly as he grabbed his phone.
Wait a couple minutes and then head to my room. He texted as he walked.
Piper felt the buzz in his hands, okay, he quickly answered.
***
Noah’s hotel suite was a mess. He had changed clothes three times and hated all of them. Carmen had begged Saint Laurent to send him a suit in an hour window, which they did since she was a frequent shopper of theirs.
A jacket was strewn over the arm of the couch. One shirt across the back of a chair. Another had missed entirely and landed near the coffee table beside a room service tray with two untouched chocolate-covered strawberries and half-eaten French fries.
The suite itself was large enough to be absurd. Floor to ceiling windows looking out over Beverly Hills.
Piper stood outside the doorway and knocked softly once.
He knew he had decided somewhere between the elevator and the door. Not a clean decision, nothing about the week had been clean, but a real one. He understood what he was choosing. He chose it anyway. He had been careful his entire adult life. Not out of fear, exactly, but out of the knowledge that everything cost something and the cost was negotiable if you were precise enough about what you were protecting.
He had been precise throughout his whole career. He was not feeling particularly fucking precise right now.
Noah opened a second later as if he was loitering by the door waiting for Piper. He did not say a word, just gently grabbedPiper’s shoulder and ushered him in, using his foot to close the door behind them. “Sorry about the mess.”
“You always apologize for things you’re not actually sorry about.”
