Page 23 of My Kind of Trouble
When he looked around, he discovered that without even realising, the two of them had become completely secluded in the furthest corner of the dancefloor.
‘But what if I like getting myself into trouble? I’ve been good for so long,’ she quipped, stepping even closer to him so their chests were almost touching.
Oh no.
The only person in trouble right now was him, and he needed to remember that. He was playing with fire. It took everything in him to step back. Her arm dropped away from him, falling to her side.
He wondered if she said that on purpose, remembering the nickname he’d given her growing up—Trouble. Did the word have their entire history playing out like a vintage film in her head? Or was that only him?
Before either of them could say more, they were interrupted. A girl with dark blonde, curly hair came rushing over to them. He’d seen Noa with her earlier, and she stood in front of them now, one hand on the curve of her hip, looking slightly scary with an amused gleam in her eyes. He got the impression that this girl made up in sass what she lacked in height.
Pulling her gaze from him, she turned to Noa, rocking excitedly on her feet.
‘Hey, we are going to get going to the next bar. You coming?’ she almost sing-songed.
He could’ve sworn that the two women exchanged a look, like they shared some internal conversation that he wasn’t privy to. But before he could read too much into it, the look was gone and Noa’s new friend had a maniacal smile plastered across her face.
Weird.
‘Oh, Lola, I wouldn’t miss it,’ Noa said, glancing back at Alex with a look of pure mischief in her baby blues.
Well, at least he knew her name now.
Noa patted his arm and spoke again, ‘Alex here is going to give it a miss, though. He was just saying how late it was and how he needed to get going to bed.’
‘Oh, that’s a shame. Well, night then. See you at breakfast,’ Lola said, waving at Alex and pulling Noa out of his reach and back into the crowd toward the exit.
Alex just stood there, unmoving, replaying the last ten minutes in his head, and he realised keeping an eye on his best friend’s little sister was going to be harder than he ever imagined. He needed to stick to his plan, but Noa Drake was temptation in its purest form. When it came to her, he was a weak man desperately clinging to his control.
Chapter 14
Noa
The underlying sense of nausea and drumming constantly taking place inside Noa’s head had become somewhat of a trend over the past few weeks in Freymoor. But waking up now, in a stuffy hostel dorm with no air-con or drinkable water, had Noa questioning her life decisions. Maybe partying every night while away was not the way to go if she wanted to get any sightseeing done over the next month. Although, it would be a good way to drown out her dangerously sexy tag-along. Had Alex always been this good looking? She wouldhave noticed, surely.
God, she must still be drunk having thoughts like that, because who was she kidding? She had always noticed. She’d just buried it under the guilt she carried for her brother. Growing up, Ryan had it hard at school, and he’d struggled for years to make friends. It wasn’t that he wasn’t the same charismatic person he is now, kids at school had just been cruel, and Ryan got the brunt of it. Noa had been so happy for him when he met Alex and, over time, having that one person seemed to drown out the noise of all the rest for him. And, one day, the bullies just stopped, likely getting bored once their words didn’t seem to have the same effect as they once had. After that, Ryan’s confidence grew, and his friendship group with it, but Alex had always remained the one constant.
For years, Noa thought that was the reason she felt so drawn to Alex. Because she felt grateful for him. But she knew it was more than that, and the night they’d slept together had been an accumulation of years of dangerously toeing the line between friends and more.
Ryan had made a comment once whilst the three of them watched a movie. The main character had just fallen in love with his best friend’s sister, and Ryan hadn’t held back on his feelings about it.
‘There is definitely some rule somewhere in the best friend code that’s been broken here,’ he’d scoffed.
Alex didn’t say a word.
And that’s all Noa kept thinking about after they’d crossed that line, and why she had to be the one to make sure they didn’t take it any further.
To protect their friendship.
And protect it she had, because now her brother was sending his best friend across the world to babysit her, making it hard for her to forget that night ever happened.
‘Ughhhh,’ she groaned, pulling her small, lumpy pillow over her head. Her throbbing head.
Despite her longing to turn back time now, last night had been fun from what Noa remembered, and she could see herself becoming fast friends with the girls in her dorm. She had to fight off a hoard of questions from a very perceptive Lola after she’d caught her and Alex in, granted, what did look like a compromising position. Noa had assured her that it was all part of their master plan to watch Alex squirm. And it had worked. Alex had likely been sent here to ‘protect’ Noa, or whatever else Ryan thought she needed, and she knew that didn’t include getting up close and flirty with her. So, the prospect would likely be alarming to Alex if she pushed it. She’d taken a gamble, and it had worked.
She’d seen so much swimming in his eyes when she had touched him—confusion, fear, desire. Although, after being in such close proximity with him last night, she wasn’t sure that he had been the only one squirming. Noa internally cringed as she thought back to the two of them alone in that dark corner of the bar, too many rum punches coursing through her veins and the thrill she had gotten from teasing him to see if she could get a rise out of him. She thought she’d succeeded until she saw him visibly shut down, his nonchalant, fuckboy persona locking back into place. It was just as well that at that point. Lola had bulldozed over and interrupted them. Just like she interrupted Noa’s thoughts now, but Noa welcomed it. It meant she couldn’t dwell on their weird encounter or overanalyse it for too long.
‘You look like you could use an energy drink or two,’ Lola pointed out in a tone that did not reflect that of someone who had sunk way too many drinks the night before.
