Page 10 of Negotiating Tactics

They revealed nothing except the truth that he’d definitely noticed me checking him out.

In fact, it would have been impossible for him to miss it.

Knowing when a battle was lost, I chose to move on.

“You remember my name,” I said.

He scoffed like the surprise in my voice didn’t deserve acknowledgement.

But I was definitely surprised.

At the wedding, we’d made eye contact for the briefest of moments until he’d frowned and looked away.

And when I’d met him at my apartment, he’d been too busy hurling accusations at Birdie for us to have much meaningful conversation.

I didn’t think of myself as especially memorable, especially for someone like him.

“Maybe you knocked it loose with your friend over there, Babe Ruth,” he said, nodding toward the umbrella.

“Ha-ha,” I responded, rolling my eyes at him.

I crossed my arms but then remembered I was wearing a too-tight tank top and no bra.

The girls got enough attention as it was, and I saw no reason to give them more, so I let my hands fall to my sides, though I doubted that helped.

“Why are you here?” he asked again, his voice low, gruff.

“My place flooded, so there’s an entire fucking river in my apartment right now. Birdie and Dominic were nice enough to let me stay here,” I said.

He looked at his wrist, and I saw the thick watchband and a forearm that almost had me salivating, so I quickly looked back at his face.

He was wearing a scowl, but I could see the gears spinning in his head.

“I don’t feel like finding someplace else right now, so I guess I’ll have to deal,” he said his scowl deepening.

I rolled my eyes. “I guess you will. I’m going back to bed.”

I turned but then froze, realizing he was behind me. I should have kept going, but I couldn’t resist looking back.

My gaze collided with his, though I couldn’t read anything in his eyes.

Again feeling exposed, I looked down the length of his strong arm. He was holding a duffel bag, not too dissimilar from mine, though his probably cost a hundred times more.

“You travel light,” I remarked.

He said nothing, and I felt like an idiot for even speaking.

Told myself it didn’t matter.

Noah Wilder wasn’t worth the trouble, and from what Birdie had told me, he’d be gone soon enough.

I had a lot of my plate and needed to be fresh in the morning, so I would get back to sleep.

Determined to do just that, I started to walk, pretending that my whole ass wasn’t on full display.

As I moved, it struck me that I wasn’t scared.

Annoyed, yes.

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