Page 30 of Cruising for Christmas
A throat clearing had them pulling back from one another. Norah stepped in front of Ian and hid him from the older woman, who stared disapprovingly at them with an eyebrow raised.
“This is incredibly inappropriate to come across on a family ship,” she said.
Ian cleared his throat, and Norah could hear the smile in his voice. He wrapped an arm around her waist, and the prominence of his erection still pressed into her back.
“I’m sorry, ma’am. You are right. We need to get to dinner, anyway. Right, honey?”
Norah nodded as a blush spread across her face. “Of course. Let’s go.”
They hurried out of there, and Norah did her best to hide Ian’s erection as he adjusted himself.
“Did we just get in trouble?” Norah whispered.
Ian laughed. “I believe we did.”
14
Ian twirled the noodles onto his fork, glancing at Norah as he did so. She was also twirling noodles onto her fork, looking up at him frequently before she would take a bite. He bit back a smile as she did it for the fifth time in the last few minutes.
“It’s okay to slurp the noodles, Norah. I won’t judge.”
She coughed on the bite in her mouth and swallowed hard before reaching for her water glass and taking several long drinks.
“It’s impossible to eat noodles in a sexy way,” she said.
“Does that mean you’re trying to?”
A blush crept up her neck. “Well, no, but it doesn’t hurt to be aware of how messy of an eater I could be in front of you.”
He twirled a large glob of noodles onto his fork and noisily slurped them into his mouth. Several couples from nearby tables gave them dirty looks, and Norah snorted. The server took that moment to come by and stared down his nose at Ian in disgust as he handed him an extra cloth napkin.
“How is everything tasting so far?”
“It’s wonderful!” Norah said.
Ian quickly chewed and swallowed his bite before patting his lips with the napkin. “Wonderful, thanks.”
The server gave them a curt nod before walking away. Norah giggled.
“I think he was unimpressed,” Ian said.
“I think so too.”
Ian picked up his wineglass and took a sip of the red blend the server recommended. So far, the restaurant had lived up to the hype. The food and drink had all been excellent.
“So, tell me about yourself.”
Norah froze. “Um. That’s always difficult to respond to. I never know what to say.”
He chuckled. “What’s your favorite color?”
“Turquoise. Yours?”
“Black.”
“Black?”
“Black.”
