Page 50 of A Lifetime of Afters
Seeing Daire, he stopped and held out a hand. “Great to see you again, Daire. Max tells me you might move up here?”
I smiled widely, bouncing in my seat a little as I waited for him to turn to me.
“Yes, I’m seriously thinking about it,” Daire answered. “Hoping to settle down.” Glancing at me, he added, “Hoping Noelle might be interested in weighing in.”
Startled, I looked up at Daire for a moment before swinging back to Hawk to check his reaction.
Other than a brief tightening of his mouth, he didn’t react at all.
I smiled up at him happily. “Hawk, you look wonderful,” I purred.
A coldly polite smile on his face, Hawk finally looked at me. Rather, he looked through me. “You look lovely, Noelle. It’s nice to see you again.”
My face froze around a smile I hoped looked at least somewhat natural. The acrid taste of shame filled my mouth. My breath came quicker as my heart worked to keep up with the surge of adrenalin.
Too caught up in the storm of my emotions, I did not see him walk away.
Daire’s voice broke into my thoughts. “Whoa, he’s pretty cool to you. You guys aren’t close anymore?” Daire studied me quietly.
Only a few short hours ago, we were as close as two people could get. “Oh, you know how these things are…” I trailed off.
I did not in fact know how these things were.
The evening progressed, dinner ended, and people began circulating. Hawk diligently avoided my gaze, and I slipped further and further into confusion.
Daire could not have done worse than having me as a table companion. It must have been a novel experience for him. I didn't imagine he suffered much rejection.
Had I so gravely misjudged the situation?
Did I want a future with him so badly I’d made more out of us than what we were?
Was Hunter really the problem? Or was there something else going on?
The longer he ignored me, the greater my resolve grew. Max had his limits, and as I was discovering, so did I.
Chapter Twenty - Set Up
Daire leaned closer, his ice blue eyes intent on my face. “Is he your entanglement?”
“Who?” I asked, my eyes wide.
His eyes crinkled at the corners. “You’re a terrible liar.”
I pressed my lips together and attempted to pull up my most imperious look, saw the challenge alight in his eyes, and gave up the ghost. “Yes. But he wants to keep us under wraps.”
At that, Daire’s face turned serious. “I don’t think I have to tell you this but I’m going to. If I had your hand in mine, your eyes following me around, fuck, if I had you in my life, in my bed, I would not be keeping it a secret.” His eyes searched mine, knowing he was voicing the very thing I desired. Shaking his head, he took my hand in his. “You deserve better.”
My first inclination was to defend Hawk, but I would not be that woman. “I know,” I whispered.
He gave me a gentle squeeze. “I like you, Noelle. If it comes to it, look me up. I won’t say no.”
Before I could answer, he pushed back from the table and excused himself. I watched him walk over to Max and pull up an empty chair.
Stricken by that shameful exposure, I looked down at my lap, my fingers twirling the ends of my hair. Needing reassurance, I looked to Hawk only to find his sharp, stormy eyes already trained on my face, the light snuffed out.
A minute later he rose from the table and headed for the lobby.
My need for reassurance ratcheted up and I followed him out. When I didn’t find him in the lobby, I went through the employees only door to the long hall that housed the offices. I found him in his office at the end of the hall.
