Chapter 11

“Thank you, Derek.” Lucy accepted the glass of wine he brought back to the table with a smile.

“Lunch shouldn’t be too long.” He sat down opposite her with his own white wine and Lucy thought idly that Noah probably would’ve ordered himself a beer. It was his usual choice of alcoholic beverage once the weddings were over at the castle and he was free to be himself. Despite his privileged upbringing, he would probably be equally at home in a pub with sticky floors and bar snacks as he was in the large stately home.

Not that Derek had brought her to either for their lunch date. It was a pleasant bistro in the city centre and since it was an unusually sunny day, they’d chosen a table outside which gave them plenty of opportunity for people watching in case conversation didn’t get going.

She took a sip of wine to try and quell the fluttering in her stomach. It was more than first date nerves when she was pinning so much on this man she hardly knew. If things didn’t work out between them, she knew it would be a long shot to find someone else before that magical date. Still, he was here and he was obviously interested in her so it was a start.

“Thanks for calling this morning. I wasn’t sure I would hear from you again.” It had been the sign she needed to get out of Noah’s bedroom, even if taking the call with him lying naked in bed beside her made her seem like a player. Nothing could have been farther from the truth, but Noah was complicating everything for her at the minute. She had asked him to pretend last night, and this morning, had never happened because she couldn’t manage to. At least if she could get him to back off she might have a chance of putting the fantastic sex behind her to concentrate on the possible budding relationship with Derek. The trouble was, he didn’t manage to make her heart pound or her legs quiver the way Noah did. She wasn’t sure anyone else ever could.

“I’m sorry about last night. I should have called you direct, but, uh, well, I guess I was too chicken and left Noah to do my dirty work.”

That made her look up from the wet bar mat she was currently shredding. Derek hadn’t mentioned asking Noah to stand in for him, had he taken that upon himself to save her blushes? Would she have come here today if she’d known Derek had completely flaked on her last night?

“I’m sure it was something more important than a dinner you had to take care of.” She sat back as her chicken salad arrived at the table and took a good look at her companion. He was handsome enough but in a completely different way to Noah. The thick brown hair, blue eyes and perfect white teeth probably made many a woman swoon at his feet, but Lucy’s taste apparently ran a little…darker, and less obvious these days.

Derek broke eye contact and took a drink of his wine. “I, uh, had some last minute work come in I had to see to.”

She did have some doubts about what constituted an architectural emergency but didn’t want to put a dampener on their lunch when he was making the effort today. “No problem. Noah took good care of me.”

He raised his eyebrows at that and Lucy would be lying if she said the possibility of him being jealous didn’t please her. “Oh, that was good of him.”

“Yes, he didn’t leave my side all night.” She stabbed a piece of chicken and popped it into her mouth. Noah should have told her Derek had simply bailed on her last night and perhaps she wouldn’t have been so eager to come here today.

Derek made a non-committal sound at the information and it was difficult to tell if he was bothered or not. Lucy couldn’t decide if she wanted to make him jealous or just annoy him. There was something about Derek today which wasn’t particularly enamouring her and could not quite put her finger on it. He’d been polite and complimentary about her appearance, he looked good too. She had no reason to be put off him and his non-appearance wasn’t reason to change her mind about him when he had apologised and tried to make up for it. In the end she had to conclude that the problem lay in him simply not being Noah.

She had stuffed up her plans by getting into bed with him last night when she couldn’t imagine doing that with anyone else now. A foolish errand when he was the last man who would ever agree to her wedding plans. Lucy wondered if he had been the marrying type would it have been the answer to her prayers having a husband whose company she enjoyed and couldn’t get enough of in the bedroom. As it was, last night only served to highlight the lack of chemistry between her and Derek.

There was more eating than conversation over the course of the lunch and she was caught between calling it a day now or arranging another meet up in the hope she would have Noah out of her system by then and stop comparing the two men.

“Well, look who we have here.” A familiar voice sounded beside them, followed by a slap on the back which nearly had Derek choking on his salmon parcel.

“Noah? What are you doing here?” She didn’t remember mentioning where they were having their lunch date, but this seemed too coincidental to be believed.

“I just stopped in for some lunch. What’s good here?” He pulled up a chair, uninvited, and began to study the menu while Derek looked on bemused by his sudden arrival.

“The salmon’s nice, “ he muttered, clearly too polite to tell Noah he was being rude and annoying. Even when their human gooseberry helped himself to some of the said lunch choice.

“What do you want, Noah?” It didn’t matter to her that given the choice she would have rather been having lunch with him instead of her actual date, he was out of order gate-crashing their meal. If he embarrassed her by telling Derek her plans beyond today she would never forgive him. Noah might not agree with her idea but that did not give him the right to barge in and ruin things. How could she carry on with her date when he was here reminding her that she’d only left his bed a few hours ago when he was wearing considerably less clothing.

“I told you, lunch.” He reached for a piece of chicken off her plate and she slapped the back of his hand.

“I’m sure you can order your own. Preferably somewhere else.” She tried glaring daggers at him so he would take the hint at leave, but he seemed intent on making everyone uncomfortable. Goodness knew why when he had made it clear he wasn’t interested in anything other than sex and he was aware how important this was to her. Perhaps he was just feeling particularly mischievous today. After all, he was fond of teasing her, especially about her romantic notions.

“But you’ve hardly eaten anything. I’m surprised. I was sure you would have worked up an appetite after this morning.” Noah casually tossed the grenade into the middle of their lunch, leaving Derek choking on his asparagus tips.

“Noah!” Lucy thought she was going to spontaneously combust with embarrassment. Being outed as the sexually voracious wanton she apparently was, was even more mortifying than telling her date she was lining him up as a potential groom.

“What? You shouldn’t be ashamed to acknowledge the hard effort you put in this morning. Lucy puts a lot of energy in to looking after that figure, Derek, let me tell you. She outdid herself this morning.”

Lucy could see the half smirk playing on Noah’s lips and she was tempted to pour the remnants of her wine over his head. Even if Derek was completely oblivious to the subtext, it wasn’t helping her move on when she had visions of straddling Noah this morning and the calories she must have burned with her exertions. He’d made it impossible for her to carry on with this date in so many different ways.

“I’m really sorry, Derek, but I have to go.” She tossed her napkin on the table and grabbed her bag, not making eye contact with the interloper who was causing all the problems. When she composed herself again, she would let him have it for being so disruptive. For now, she simply needed to put some distance between them. Whatever his reasons, no matter what he had hoped to achieve with this performance, he had purposely gone out of his way to ruin this. For all he knew, she and Derek might have been on the same wavelength and this could have been the start of something beautiful. She couldn’t get past the fact Noah had deliberately tried to hurt her.

Derek stood at the same time she went to leave. “It was nice to see you again, Lucy.”

“Thanks for lunch,” she muttered as she stumbled away from the table, tears blurring her vision.

The sound of a chair being scraped across the ground sounded behind her, but she wasn’t hanging around to give an explanation or to arrange another date. If nothing else this had proved finding a husband was going to be impossible with Noah around. Either she had to give up on her bride fantasy and cancel the date and let this thing with him burn out first, or she was going to have to forget about him altogether. That would mean minimal contact and absolutely no reference to the amazing time they’d spent together. Easier said than done.

She was rushing out the door of the bistro onto the street when a hand grabbed her and pulled her around the side of the building. Derek clearly wanted to know what was going on with her and Noah and she couldn’t blame him. It was not his fault he’d got caught up in the middle of their ill-judged fling. Although, if he had turned up last night none of this might have happened at all.

She was about to apologise again when she realised it wasn’t her date who had grabbed hold of her but the very man she needed to keep her distance from. Before she had a chance to speak, he pushed her up against the wall and kissed her so hard he completely scrambled her brains.

“I’m sorry. I know I’m an idiot, but I couldn’t help myself.” When he finally released her from his grip they were both panting heavily trying to recover from the breathless kiss.

“Noah, what on earth is going on?” She was disorientated and didn’t know what the hell had just happened.

“Do you really think after being with you last night I was just going to let you go off with another man?” He scrubbed his hand over his scalp, ruffling his hair and looking properly rattled about her being with Derek. It didn’t make any sense when he’d known exactly what her plans had been for today and the next few months.

“I’m not just going off with any other man. It’s Derek. The man I was supposed to be with last night.”

“Yeah and he stood you up. Look, I’ve bitten my tongue long enough over this stupid wedding thing.”

“Really?” She raised an eyebrow. “I thought you’d been quite vocal with your opinion.”

“Apparently not enough. You deserve more than marrying the first man who crosses your path. If you still want to get married someday, fine, but take some time to get to know who you’re marrying first.”

“And where do you stand in all of this? I know you’re not putting yourself forward for the position, so what was the point of wrecking my date and kidnapping me?” It all seemed over dramatic just to save her from making a mistake. They could have settled this with a private conversation and without dragging poor Derek into the matter.

With one hand bracing himself against the wall, Noah traced the other down the side of her face. The slight touch was enough to make her tremble, her body recalling everywhere else he had stroked her recently.

“I told you, you need some time out from all of this boring, serious, forever stuff. There’s no rush. You need to enjoy yourself a little. And didn’t we have fun together?” He leaned in so his breath tickled her ear and made the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end.

“What are you saying?” She wanted it spelled out for her this time. Noah needed to tell her exactly what he was offering and what was off the table. Then there could be no room for misunderstanding or need for a repeat of this apparent intervention.

“No strings sex. Anywhere, any time, any way.” Even the words were capable of arousing her to the point she was almost ready to rip his clothes off here and now.

“And if I meet someone? Will you back off?” She couldn’t let go of that thought there was someone out there who wanted a future and a family with her. Regardless if it meant giving up the most exciting thing to happen to her this lifetime.

“Cross my heart.”

“So…friends with benefits?” It was so totally against everything she’d always believed about relationships. Yet, Noah was too much sexy temptation for a woman to resist. If she didn’t agree to this, it would be the end of everything they had, for good. The idea of it flew in the face of all her natural instincts. Well, all but one.

“Friend or colleagues with benefits, sex buddies, whatever you want to call it, it adds up to the same thing. You and me, naked in bed.” He was kissing her neck now, just to seal the deal. How could she say no when her entire body was screaming yes, yes, yes!

“And when is the starting date for this new arrangement?”

“There’s no time like the present.” He caught her bottom lip between both of his and sucked gently, before tasting her with his tongue and kissing her like he was making love to her mouth.

Her limbs were molten, her brain like mush and her hormones in a complete meltdown. This man could convince her to rob a bank when he laid his lips on her. Not that she needed much persuading for this particular venture.

“Where’s your car?” she asked, her voice husky with desire to have him as soon as possible.

“Too far away.” He slid his hand up her leg, under her dress and beneath her panties, the effect on her making her glad they were away from the busy main street. There was no disguising the absolute need for him consuming her body and soul. This little display was enough to get them both in trouble for public indecency without either of them removing a single item of clothing.

“We can’t…we can’t do it here…in broad daylight.” She had to lick her suddenly dry lips. As much as she wanted him, having sex in the middle of the street was a step too far out of her comfort zone.

Noah chuckled and the deep laugh did nothing to cool her ardour. “It’s nice to know you at least thought about it, but I have somewhere much more comfortable in mind.”

“Where?” Right now she didn’t know if she was capable of walking on these jelly legs and she certainly didn’t want the moment to lose any of the spontaneity. This was even more erotic than getting together last night and she’d thought nothing could ever top that. Noah’s idea of a relationship was certainly going to be an eye-opener and she was keen to learn at the hands of the master exactly what pleasures could be found in the art of lovemaking. It could even make her more of a catch as someone else’s future wife. If she could ever find the strength to leave Noah’s bed.

“All illicit affairs seem to take place behind hotel doors, don’t you think? What do you say you and I check in somewhere close by and work out a few of our terms and conditions?” He dipped a wayward finger inside her, taking her by surprise and adding fuel to the already out of control fire raging within her.

“Whatever you say, Lord Ravenhill. After all, you’re the expert in these matters.” And Lucy was looking forward to learning everything he had to teach her.