Page 98 of The Broker

I pressed out a polite smile and put a hand on the back of the booth for stability. “I’m good,” I lied.

With Noah gone, the atmosphere in the cabin was awkward.

The fog of sex had lifted, and Patrick and Shannon were too busy making out to pay attention to anyone else. Eli stared up at me expectantly, like he was waiting for me to make small talk. Instead, I swiped a finger under each of my eyes, because I’d been sweating and was worried my makeup had started to run.

When I didn’t say anything, he leaned toward me like he wanted to share a secret. Anxiety made my heart stumble, especially when his voice was playful and hushed. “He said no, but if you need someone to fuck you,” his smile was lopsided, “just give me a few more minutes and I can do it.”

My mouth dropped open.

In my surprise, I hadn’t heard his approach, so when Noah’s warm arm was abruptly around me, I flinched. I turned to him and caught only a glimpse of the anger in his eyes before his mouth crashed down on mine.

He’d obviously overheard what Eli had said, and he hadn’t liked it one bit.

This kiss started like his others, but it quickly morphed into something else. It was intense and demanding, and since I had a hand pressed to his bare chest, I could feel just how fast his heart was beating.

This kiss was a statement. Not just for Eli, but for me. He was staking his claim, making sure everyone knew I was his and he was mine...

God, I fuckinglovedthe idea.

When our kiss ended, I turned my head in my dreamy state and glanced down at Eli, finding his expression frozen in place.

“No, thanks,” I said from the safety of Noah’s embrace, and I weighed my words with all the meaning. “I’m perfectly happy like this.”

TWENTY-SIX

Charlotte

When Noah asked me if I wanted to do dinner and a movie with him, he didn’t clarify if it was a date. But it had certainly felt that way at the restaurant and now that we were sitting here in the dark theatre, sharing a bucket of popcorn—I couldn’t see it as anything else.

I was so excited about it, I didn’t give a shit about the movie and let him pick which one. He was buying the tickets, anyway. The movie was loud and violent, with beautiful people and minimal plot, so it didn’t require a lot of attention.

Which was good.

It meant I could spend most of the movie being close to him and wondering if he was my boyfriend. If that was true, I knew what my friends would say.Too soon. Just a rebound.Or worst of all,can’t you date someone our age?

It was exactly what my parents would say... if they survived the aneurism it would give them.

We were less than an hour into the movie when Noah pulled his phone out of his pocket and discreetly checked the screen. Someone had sent him a text message, and whatever it said, he wasn’t happy about it. He sent back a short response and leaned over to whisper in my ear.

“I’m sorry, but I have to go. My dad fell, and my mom needs my help.”

I turned to look at him with a face full of concern. “Is he okay?”

“I’m not sure. All she says is she not able to help him get back up.” He glanced at the gun battle raging on the screen, and then back to me. “You can stay and Uber home if you want to finish—”

I shook my head and grabbed my purse off the empty seat beside me. “Let’s go.”

He hesitated for a moment but must have realized we didn’t have time to waste, rose from his seat into a crouch, and hurried down the aisle toward the exit.

Noah was tense on the drive over to his parents’ house, but I couldn’t tell if it was caused by the emergency... or the way I had invited myself along. We didn’t talk, and the longer the silence stretched between us, the worse I felt. I was going to meet his parents, and during a crisis, when I wasn’t likely to leave a good impression. God, I shouldn’t have forced this on him—or his family.

But when I opened my mouth to tell him I was second-guessing my decision and he should drop me off somewhere, he turned into a subdivision. The houses here weren’t as large or sprawling as the ones in his neighborhood, but they were nice and had cute landscaping.

My anxiety spiked when he pulled into one of the driveways, put his car in park, and shut off the engine.

“Do you want me to stay here?” I blurted.

He tilted his head in confusion. “What?”

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