Page 10 of Pages of Amber
A smile traveled into the corner of his lips. Oh god, maybe he could hear how hard she was thinking. Her heart was suddenly missing a few beats too many. Noah looked at her like he could see right through her.
“My purse, Noah.”She held out her hand, trying to distract him from looking at her. Her face warmed and Amber sucked in her cheeks. This was not the time to be blushing.
Her tactic worked though. Noah’s eyes finally left hers and Amber tried to remember how to breathe. She quickly forgot again when his hand enveloped her wrist. The heat of his skin on hers was diabolical. Her eyes widened, fixed to the spot where he held her. With a yank, Amber stumbled right into Noah. A single step closer and she would be pressed up against his side.
“What are you doing?”she stuttered.“Let me go and give me back my purse.”
The corner of his lips tipped up. Amber watched like it was in slow motion.“Patience, m’lady. I’m trying to be a gentleman like you asked.”
Noah? A gentleman? This was the exact opposite of what a gentleman should do. He was holding her wrist captive. Noah lowered his hand holding her purse and with a softness she would’ve never attributed to him, he slid her hand into the purse strap until it rested in the crook of her elbow. Noah didn’t step away immediately. No. His gaze fell on her again, coasting over her nose and lips. Amber wondered if he could see her blush as fiercely as she could feel it.
“I let you win this one,”he rasped.“Till next time, m’lady.”
The bristle that rose in her chest shook her out of the daze. This definitely didn’t feel like victory. It felt like she had somehow played right into his hand. He’d turned the tables and where she once was a towering statue of ice, now she was merely a blubbering puddle at his feet.
Her jaw tightened. He had called her that nickname again, his acid tongue rolling over the title like he thought she didn’t deserve it. Amber was convinced he called her that as some kind of mockery or maybe it was because he knew she didn’t like it when she didn’t know what it meant. Noah was gone before she could threaten him for the nickname, his words hovering in the air with a quiet promise. Most probably a promise of retribution. Amber could barely focus on that. She ran her hand over her wrist, a tingly feeling covering the spot he had held.
“There you are. Why didn’t you pick up?”
Amber blinked. Beverly materialized before her, hands on hips and narrowed eyes that demanded explanation. She cleared her throat in an effort to start up her vocabulary. Beverly had called her? Amber glanced at her purse, realizing she had slipped her phone in right before bumping into Noah.
“I was already at the door. I didn’t see a need to,”she fibbed.“Are we going or what?”
“I should be asking you that.”Beverly rolled her eyes so hard Amber wondered if it hurt.“Come on, Lexi’s already in the car.”Beverly grasped at her, marching at a fast pace to the front doors. Amber didn’t dare ask if she could stop at her locker to drop off her note. Guess she was taking it home with her.
“Your car or hers?”
“Give me some credit, Amber. I want us to make it there alive.”
“Well then, I hate to break it to you, Bev but if you pull my arm off, we might have a different issue on our hands.”Feeling had already gone out of her arm.
“Not a word from you, Amber. We’re late. I had to call in so we don’t miss our reservation.”
“It’s a reservation?”
Beverly huffed,“I didn’t say that.”
Amber laughed and increased her pace to match her friend’s. They pushed into the open courtyard and marched to the parking lot in silence. Most of the cars had cleared out, leaving the spacious lot empty. She could see Beverly’s venetian red Subaru and Lexi’s blonde head peeking out the open window.
“Finally,”Lexi called out.“Let’s go, ladies. We’re ten minutes behind surprise schedule.”
“I take partial responsibility,”Amber defended. Her lip curled as she said,“The rest goes to Mr-I-bump-into-people-in-empty-hallways.”
“Is this about Noah again?”Lexi groaned.
“You bumped into him? After talking about him with Mr. Loughrey?”Her friend’s grin widened with every word. Amber was not a fan of that look.“It’s like fate.”
“Some kind of sick fate, sure. Except I don’t care for any of it.”Yeah, she didn’t care for the fact that he smelled like honey or had arresting dark eyes or that the spot he had touched her was still tingling. Of course she didn’t care.
“You can’t control fate. You’ve got to tell me everything.”
“Oh joy. Now we’ll be even later than ten minutes.”Lexi rolled her eyes.
Amber laughed, pulling open the back door. She’d dropped her purse onto the seat when a familiar honk caught her attention. She turned, meeting the older man’s gaze as he stepped away from the metallic grey car he had parked a few feet from Beverly’s. Amber alternated between a frown and smile as he approached.
“Hi, Nigel. What are you doing here?”
“Didn’t mean to startle you ladies.”He tipped his head in greeting and she tried to quell the unease at seeing him. Beverly and Lexi waved at him, both sporting twin looks of confusion.
