Page 126 of The Broker

It was hard to think with him so close and staring at me, but I stumbled through my sign off, ended the video, and whirled around to face him.

My hands balled into fists at my sides. “What the hell are you doing here?”

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to barge in on your video.” He lifted his hands in surrender. “Your mom let me in. She thought you were done filming.”

It physically hurt seeing him again, and I tore my gaze away, studying the grout lines of the tile floor. What the fuck was he doing here? When he’d said I was wasting my time with him, I’d decided the least painful option was to make a clean break.

It felt extra cruel that he was here in my home, in my safe space.

“What do you want?” I tried to sound strong, but my voice was as raw as my emotions.

“We need to talk.”

Out of the corner of my eye, I watched him take a step closer, and my dumb heart fluttered. “About?”

“Business.” This word killed any excitement or hope I might have had. He took another tentative step. “Are you aware your ‘business partner’ has been trying to get in touch with you for days?”

He had enough common sense to look contrite when I lifted my chin and leveled a hard gaze at him. “Maybe I’ve been busy and didn’t want towasteany more of your precious time.”

He winced and glanced away, and his focus snagged on the beautiful flower arrangement he’d sent. How ironic. I’d worriedhe might notice them in the background of my video, never expecting in a hundred years he’d see them in person.

“I’m so sorry I said that. You need to know, I didn’t mean—”

I spun away from him, unplugged my microphone, and turned off my ring light. “What business do we have to talk about?”

He hesitated, as if he wasn’t sure he wanted to drop it but decided to push on. “The brokerage fees you gave me? I invested them, and one of the stocks did well enough I thought you needed to know.”

I was working on collapsing my tripod, but my movements slowed. “You came over here to brag?”

“What? No.”

He strode forward, closing nearly all the space between us, and hyperawareness lit up my traitorous body. It longed for him, and—God. I hated the sensation. I couldn’t have him, and this was torturous.

“I told you I didn’t need those fees,” he said, “so I took it and invested it for you. If it made anything, my intent was always to give you that money.” He massaged the back of his neck, unknowingly showing off the appealing muscles of his arm. “Even after I took my cut back, it’s made a nice profit.”

He peered at me with excitement in his eyes, like he was hoping I’d ask how much.

But I wasn’t going to bite. “It’s your money,” I said flatly. “You earned it.”

He gave a humorless laugh. “Yeah, that’s exactly what your dad said when I told him.”

Holy shit. He’d talked to my dad?

Noah rested his hands on his hips, and his tone was direct. “If you want to see it that way—fine. I would like to be an investor in your business, then.”

“What?” My distrust spiked. “Why?”

His dark eyes peered at me with all the confidence of the Wall Street broker he’d been. “Because I want to see how far we can take this thing together.”

Together.

The word sucked all the air from the room.

“This offer,” he continued, “isn’t contingent on anything, either. I have some things to say, and something to ask you, and if your answer is ‘no,’ I still want to invest.” The faintest smile hinted at the corner of his lips. “I mean, we’ve both demonstrated how good we are at keeping our personal and professional lives separate, haven’t we?”

A familiar sensation traveled across my skin like an electric charge. It was the same one I had whenever I unwrapped a present when I was nearly certain I knew what was inside.

Anxiousness tightened my vocal cords. “What’s the question?”

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