Before she could say anything further, he shifted back to her. "You don't know how hard it is for me to say no to you, Red." He lifted a lock of hair and let it slide through his fingers. "But I think we should get some distance from it." He sighed.
"It?"
"This attraction between us."
"You want distance?"
"It's better for us. We're coworkers." He looked away.
Claire frowned, her eyebrows coming together. The man was frustrating. That song about running hot and cold started playing in her head. She shook her head, then lifted her chin. Whatever. She got the message. He had personal demons, and she was happy to let him fight them, but that didn't mean they had to lose the ground they'd gained. They'd become friends, and she was determined to at least keep that intact.
"I understand." Claire shut down her inner dialogue, sat up straighter, and flicked her hair over her shoulder. In her head, she pictured herself doing her best I Am Woman pose, with her chin up and her hands on her hips. "So, when are you back in Houston? Because you do owe me a steak dinner. Right?"
Noah's eyebrows shot upward in surprise. "Yes, I believe I do. I'll be back after the first of the year."
"Okay." She gathered her purse from the floor where it had fallen during their… kerfuffle? Brief spell of madness? Before she could overthink it, she pressed her lips against his in a hard kiss goodbye and opened the car door. "Goodbye, Noah."
She shut the door before he could respond and walked away. He just thought this was the end but she wasn't done yet.
Noah slumped in his seat as he watched Claire walk away.
"Damn it!" He thumped the steering wheel of his car. The urge to fling open his door and run after her was almost unbearable. Memories surged—her soft, luscious hair slipping through his fingers, her body so compliant, the way she moaned as his hands explored her curves and valleys.
"Argh, Claire. You're killing me." He scrubbed his face, desperate to rid himself of the images playing in his mind. She was flying back to Houston tomorrow. He wouldn't see her for three weeks, and he hated that they'd ended their evening this way.
Telling her no was the right thing. He knew it. So why did it feel so wrong?
Chapter 27
Holiday Break
"You did not!" Lucinda squealed with laughter.
"Yep. I invited that man up to my room." Claire grinned and fluffed the covers. They were tucked into bed watching a late-night talk show on her wall-mounted TV. She'd read somewhere that TVs didn't belong in the bedroom. Something about better sleep or keeping your relationship interesting. Since neither was a problem for her and her cozy bedroom was the best place for movie night, she'd thumbed her nose at the experts.
With Christmas falling on a weekend this year, they had a four-day holiday to celebrate. Her dad had picked up Lucinda from the airport earlier and taken them both to dinner before dropping them off with a promise to return for breakfast in the morning.
She and Luce had spent the first hour catching up on California friends and sharing the latest updates from their respective workplaces. After crawling in bed to watch TV, Lucinda hit her up for the lowdown on the trip where she'd been stranded with the "hunky, grumpy ops dude."
"Getting bold in your old age, are you?" Luce asked, tossing popcorn into her mouth.
"You do realize you're the only person I'd ever allow to eat in my bed, right? It's bad for you to eat this late at night." Claire grinned when Luce flipped her off, then shrugged at the question. "I was living in the moment."
Her phone buzzed. She glanced at the screen before flipping it over. It was Noah checking to see if her friend had arrived safely.
Lucinda narrowed her eyes. "What is that look on your face?"
"What look?" Claire tried to school her features into something resembling innocence.
Before she could react, Lucinda reached over and grabbed her phone. "OMG! Are you guys texting now?"
Her face flushed. "Well… yes. And more. We've been video chatting too."
Despite Noah's insistence that they get some distance, he'd checked in after her flight home. Then again the next day. And the next. They'd talked every day this week. The calls usually started with work, but never stayed there for long.
"And?" Lucinda asked, her grin spreading into a full-on smirk.
"And I've learned more about his family and what it was like to grow up in a house full of boys. How tough it was to move around so much because of his dad's job." More importantly, Noah had shared more about his relationship with Julie at the tender age of twenty-two and how he'd felt abandoned by his peers when everything went south. She'd reciprocated by opening up about her college boyfriends, both of whom she'd parted with amicably.
