‘You get very territorial over your flings, don’t you?’
‘Not usually.’ Noah frowned just a little, then glanced around to make sure no one was listening. Leaning in, he murmured, ‘Look, I reckon I can make it through maybe two of these taster courses before I have to have you again. So, when I leave, wait a couple of minutes and follow me, okay?’
Heat flared through Eloise’s body. Just knowing he wanted her as much as she needed him was an incredible aphrodisiac. Still, the more sensible part of her brain was screaming that this was a stupid idea. It was the rehearsal dinner! They would definitely be missed, and Melissa would be furious if she realised where they’d gone...
She should say no. She had to say no.
‘Okay,’ she whispered, and Noah smiled.
* * *
A storage cupboard wasn’t exactly high on Noah’s list of Most Seductive Spots, but right now he’d take what he could get. Sitting next to Eloise in that dress and not touching her—not even a hand on her back or a kiss on her cheek—had been physically painful.
And okay, fine. It wasn’t the dress that was causing the problem.
It was her.
In lots of ways, it was just as well that in two days’ time there’d be thousands of miles between them. Any less and he’d be tempted to hurry back and have her again, regardless of the rules.
He just hoped five thousand miles would be enough.
Time passed excruciatingly slowly as he waited to hear Eloise’s footsteps in the corridor outside. Surely it had to have been three minutes since he’d left the table? He’d chosen the cupboard for its proximity to the restaurant, and the fact he could see out the crack of the open door to watch for Eloise. Any further away and he’d run the risk of her not finding him. And that was not an option.
But right now he had to think about something else. Imagining Eloise was driving him insane, and if he didn’t slow down that dress she looked so incredible in wouldn’t survive its first encounter with his hands.
Think about the film. The audition. Noah smiled in the darkness. The director had pretty much offered him the role on the spot, he’d been so impressed. Noah had managed to channel all those emotions he’d been repressing into the part, just as he’d planned. And, yes, it had stung—but it wasn’t quite so painful when it was a character feeling those things instead of himself. He could do it, he knew now. He’d do the part justice; he’d win that award—and he could move on and leave all the awful pain and emotion behind him when he did.
Stefan had reiterated Tessa’s point about how important it would be to keep his personal life low-key, so the focus would be on the film not the stars, and Noah had agreed readily. Whatever he had with Eloise would be over soon enough and afterwards...he didn’t think he’d be hurrying into anything else for a while. He could take a break.
He’d dropped Tessa an email to let her know how it went, then hurried straight down to the rehearsal dinner to tell Eloise, to celebrate with her.
And what a celebration he had planned...
Apparently it was impossible to think about anything but her.
Finally, the restaurant door swung open and Eloise stepped out, her cheeks flushed with more than just wine, he was sure. She’d sat so tense beside him at dinner, he was certain she’d been resisting her urges almost as hard as he had.
It was hard to imagine that when he’d first met her he’d thought her reserved and stand-offish. Maybe with others. But with him she was a free spirit, giving everything she got and more.
He waited until Eloise was about to walk past the cupboard, then reached out a hand and dragged her inside. She squeaked with surprise, but then her hands were slipping under his jacket and up his back so he didn’t think she was too traumatised.
‘That was excruciating,’ she murmured against his neck, as he lifted her to rest against a conveniently located pile of boxes.
‘You’re telling me.’ He nudged her knees open with his hips and stepped between them, pressing up against her body. ‘I almost didn’t make it past the first course.’
‘I noticed.’ Her hands moved round to the front and unbuttoned the top few buttons of his shirt, and she leant in to kiss along his collarbone. ‘I thought you were going to drag me out of there ten minutes ago. Or maybe just take me on the table, in front of everyone.’
‘Not very secret, that.’ He slid his hands up her bare thighs.
‘No, not very secret.’
For a moment he held his breath, waiting for her to say something more. To say it didn’t have to be a secret. To say that she wanted the whole world to know about them. That she didn’t care what Melissa or anyone else said about them. That she trusted him not to let them mock her in the press.
But she didn’t. And she shouldn’t. Because that wasn’t the deal they had. It wasn’t even what he wanted really, logically.
This was a fling. That was what she’d asked for, what he’d promised.
So that was what he had to give her.
Even if he was starting to feel as if he wanted more.
As if he wanted everything.
‘I’ve never had sex in a cupboard before,’ she murmured against his ear, and Noah dragged himself back to focus on what he could have. Eloise, here and now, wanting him. ‘You’re providing me with all sorts of new experiences this week.’
‘I’m a full service secret fling,’ Noah said, untying the back of her halter-neck and lowering the zip to reveal her bare breasts. ‘No bra?’
‘Seemed like a waste of time.’ Eloise gasped as he dipped his head to kiss her.
‘Agreed,’ he said when he came up for air. ‘Now, let’s see what else you’re not wearing under this—’
A flash of light cut him off as the cupboard door he was leaning against opened, sending him tumbling into the hallway, pulling Eloise with him. He blinked at another flash and saw Melissa, Sara the journalist and her photographer standing over them.
And suddenly nothing was secret any more.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
ELOISE YANKED HER dress back up, trying to make herself respectable again, even though the sinking feeling inside told her it was already far too late.
Scrambling to his feet, Noah pushed her behind him, giving her the cover she needed to fix her dress. But his shirt was still open, exposing exactly what they’d been doing.
Not that anyone could be in any doubt after that display.
What had she been thinking? She’d known this was a terrible idea from the start. But then Noah would say something to convince her and there she’d be, half naked in a cupboard.
Or outsid
e a cupboard. With her teenage nemesis arching her eyebrows and the world’s media taking photos.
‘Well, really,’ Melissa said too loudly, her words echoing off the walls. ‘Some people just don’t know how to behave at a respectable wedding, do they?’
Eloise wanted to ask her to keep it down before anyone else heard and came out to investigate, but that was probably why Melissa was doing it in the first place, she realised. She hadn’t managed to keep Eloise and Noah apart, so she’d decided to go the other way. If they were intent on stealing the limelight at her wedding, she was going to ruin them.
Abject humiliation. Melissa wouldn’t settle for anything less than making sure Eloise’s whole world knew who she was and what she’d done—the same way she had when they were teenagers and the guy Melissa had a crush on asked Eloise out instead. Soon, the whole school knew every story about Eloise’s mother and believed that she was just the same and the guy never spoke to her again.
The only difference was that this time Melissa had made sure the actual whole world would know, through the power of the media and the Internet.
Never mind the humiliation Eloise’s mother’s antics had brought her over the years, this was a million times worse. And the most awful part was that she’d done it all herself. There was no one to blame except her own suddenly overactive libido...and the secret part of her heart that hoped to be something more than a fling to someone like Noah Cross.
She’d had ideas of her own importance, her own entitlement to the spotlight—and now she’d been burned.
‘Melissa, come on,’ Noah said, laughing lightly as he tried to reach for the photographer’s camera. She stepped back out of his reach and Eloise knew that no one in their right mind would give those photos up. Noah Cross, caught in the act? That had to be worth a fortune.
And nobody would care if her reputation was shredded in the process.
She had to get out of there. She had to get a million miles away from this spotlight, right now.
‘I have to go.’