Page 23 of Marrying a Spy

“Wow. That’s—wow. How much?”

Sophia smiled as she rolled her eyes. Of course, that was what Kari would ask. “It’s substantial.”

“Well then, when’s the wedding?”

Relief filled Sophia’s chest. She was grateful that she wouldn’t have to go through this alone. In fact, with Kari on board, Noah didn’t need to be as involved with the planning. It was great. She’d leave him to do whatever spy stuff he needed to do while she and Kari went out.

“Sunday.”

Kari coughed. “We have a lot to do.”

After ten minutes of planning with Kari, Sophia felt ten times better. She’d already gotten the awkward engagement shoot over with. So there was no more touching needed from now until the actual wedding.

Realization hit her. She was going to marry Noah. Her stomach twisted at the thought. They’d been this close once. Now that it was actually going to happen, she wasn’t sure how she felt about it. Trying to calm her nerves, she pushed her fingers through her hair. She could do this. After all, feelings weren’t involved this time. At least, she was going to try her hardest to keep it that way.

Noah was probably wondering where she’d gone. She headed back around the building and found him outside, leaning against his car. His head was bent down and he was studying his phone. Sophia took a deep breath as she made her way over to him. The crunching of the gravel under her feet must have given her away because Noah looked up.

His expression was filled with concern as his gaze ran over her.

The memory of his arms around her came flooding back. She wrapped her arms around her chest, trying to still her reaction.

“Hey,” she said, stopping a few feet away. She needed to keep her distance to keep her sanity. Noah had a way of filling her senses and confusing every part of her brain.

He hesitated as he searched her gaze. She wondered what he was looking for. “You okay?” he finally asked.

She pursed her lips and nodded. “This is just a lot,” she whispered.

His brow furrowed. He let out his breath and glanced up toward the sky. “Yeah, I know. I’m sorry. If there was any other way, I wouldn’t be here, trust me.”

Sophia tried not to wince at that. Catching her father was the only reason he was here. He couldn’t fathom any other reason to come back. Ouch.

She didn’t want him to know how much that bothered her, so she just chuckled. “I get it.” She lied.

Truth was, she didn’t understand any of this. She didn’t understand her father or his involvement with some big-time criminal. And she sure as heck didn’t understand Noah. If you don’t have feelings for someone, you don’t kiss them the way Noah had kissed her moments ago.

Her skin tingled again at the memory of his lips against her own.

Noah studied her for a moment before he pushed off the car. “Jordan said the prints should be ready in an hour. I was thinking we could do cakes between now and then?”

“Cakes?” Sophia was really hoping that they were done for the day. She needed some space from him. Maybe going into work would be a good idea.

Noah nodded. “Yeah. I hear they serve those at weddings.”

Sophia rolled her eyes but couldn’t stop the genuine smile that played on her lips. As she studied Noah, she realized that he didn’t know. “You remember who owns the bakery, don’t you?”

Noah quirked an eyebrow, and then understanding passed over his face. “Rebecca?” he asked, his voice barely a whisper.

Sophia nodded. Rebecca was Noah’s pseudo stepmother. She’d dated Noah’s dad from when Noah was eight up until the year before his dad had passed away.

He dropped his gaze and toed the ground with his shoe. “She’s still here?”

“Yeah.”

He turned his attention to the sky. “I figured she would have left after Dad died.”

Sophia shook her head. This was a small town. Most people got stuck here. Or couldn’t fathom leaving—which was the boat Sophia was in. “It was hard. She shut down for a while. Started back up a year or two ago.”

He cleared his throat as he turned his attention back to Sophia.

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