Page 17 of Falling for Fury

He chuckles under his breath, and I shove him playfully on the shoulder. “Oh, shut up. This never happened.” I gesture between the two of us.

“Mmhmm,” he says unconvincingly, giving me a devious side eye. “So… Greek sex-god?”

I turn my face to him, absolutely mortified that he ever had to hear that, and I am eternally grateful that it is dark and he cannot see the pink staining my cheeks as we continue to walk in the direction of my apartment.

“No! I am not explaining that one.”

“Oh please, no explanation necessary.” He gestures to his face and body. I roll my eyes and scoff at him.

“So, you guys were celebrating tonight?”

“Yeah, Caleb closed a huge deal for us today.” My shoulders relax as he takes the subject change with ease.

“Matt’s engineering firm?”

“No, a different company. Details aren’t public knowledge or really anyone’s knowledge yet—AIM is just contracted as part of the project. Until they land their patent on a new product, our lips are sealed, but getting their entire company’s business is huge for us.”

Pride seeps from him, that soft smile showing flashes of his teeth, causing a dimple to form slightly in his cheek. This look on him is of my favorites.

You can’t have a favorite look for someone you don’t even know, Addison.

I clear my throat and shake my head to stop staring at Noah’s gorgeous side profile and avoid making eye contact as we continue to walk. “That’s amazing, you must be proud of yourself.”

“Caleb did most the legwork.” Add modest to his list of traits, and at this point, his perfection is just getting out of hand.

“Well, this is me here,” I say awkwardly as we make it to the steps of my apartment building. “Hey. Do you think, uhh, could we start over? Clean slate, no raging-trauma dumping or angry cries?” My face, I hope, is cool amusement. I have a feeling it is more embarrassed pink. A fresh start would be nice. Noah isn’t a bad person; I might have jumped the gun a bit with my anger. He might be a typical jock who thinks they broke the mold when he was made, but surprisingly, being around him is… nice. It has been twelve months since I had a boyfriend. Since meeting Noah, I have spent most of my time either yelling at or crying on him. There is no way he is even remotely interested in me. I think friends would be nice, though, refreshing.

“A fresh start.” He nods, and a wide smile spreads across his face, almost a bashful smile. Is he blushing? “That sounds perfect.” His voice is quiet, but his smile doesn’t fade. He steps closer, and his eyes are like a simmering chocolate sauce. “I was hoping I would get to see you again, Addison.” He closes the remaining space again by placing both his hands on my neck in a loose grip, his thumbs smoothing over my cheeks as his eyes search my face. His expression softens into a grin that, from a distance, looks like his usual arrogance, but from this close, I can see the vulnerability in his eyes.

“Okay,” I whisper. His smile grows and his eyes dart to my lips. Is he going to kiss me right now?! What happened to a fresh start? I feel like we are skipping steps here.

“Okay,” he mimics, then drops his hands and takes a step back. My body grieves the loss of his warmth. “You have my number.” He winks at me and turns to walk back down the street. He calls from behind him, not turning to look at me. “See you soon, Addison.”

Noah

After Monday night’s run in with Addison at the bar, I was sure she would call me. Text me even. I thought there was something at the end. An understanding. I know for sure there was an electricity between us. When she hugged me, it was like every nerve ending was open to the freezing air. I could feel every part of her body molding to fit mine, like I was made specifically for her small frame to nestle in to. Her strawberry-musk scent wrapped itself around me until my pants tightened, and I was sporting a semi from a fucking hug. I wanted—no—needed a chance to get time alone with her, without all the animosity. A fresh start. Ending my hiatus sure has an appeal to it, but there was… something different. I can’t put my finger on it.

Tuesday at work was brighter; Caleb, Ava and I buzzing from landing EcoX. I had to secure a small team of very specific staff to include on confidentiality agreements. They were anxious enough about talking to an outside company about their work in general. Even though they mentioned nothing about their recent design, they were still quite anxious about anything being slipped before they had a chance to get their ducks in a row. Ava will be a lead designer along with me, with Caleb being the go-between. His winning charm and ability to sell literally anything will keep all parties happy as this new relationship grows.

My mood is flying high; I feel somewhat lighter for reasons I can’t work out, and trying to pinpoint the why is making focusing harder, distractions becoming astronomical as I try to knuckle down on the mountain of work I am trying to get done.

For other unknown reasons, I avoid JJ’s, something telling me I’ll just be even more distracted in the space that is usually where I’d go to focus. So, I remain sitting in my office, overlooking the city from my window, when a knock at my door startles me.

“You good man?” Caleb says as he lets himself in and drapes his tall frame into one of the chairs opposite my desk. The office was designed to be a sleek and modern space. Not a real ‘CEO’ office, because it felt like it was putting me at too much of a distance to my staff. So my door is usually always open, and Caleb uses this as an always-open invitation to just come in and sit down.

“Ahh yeah… fine, why?” I focus back on my computer and try to remember the million and one things I need to do today. List, I need a list, or just a pen, so I can stop forgetting shit. I shuffle through my desk looking for post-its. I’m certain I threw a stack of them on here the other day.

Caleb catches my moment of scatterbrain and raises an eyebrow. “Christ, I haven’t seen you this distracted in years. Don’t lie to me. What is up with you? And if you say fine again, I’ll throw you out the window. We just landed the deal of a lifetime. Don’t tell me you’re fine.”

“Just… distracted. I’ll be fine. Probably hit the gym at lunch to blow off some steam.”

“This have anything to do with the girls at Puck’s last night?” he says with a mischievous tone and his grin grows.

I roll my eyes at him. “Please, I am not frazzled by some woman.” Lie.

“Mmhmm. Sure, buddy. The Latina with the dark curls was hot as fuck. I don’t blame you.”

“Who?”

---