Page 40 of Off Her Game
Tori struggled not the laugh at Max’s earnestness. “You’re very lucky to have such a great fill-in.”
“I am,” Max said, dead serious. “There’s no one else like Uncle Noah.”
“We’re so proud of what your dad is doing over there,” Noah said. “I heard he’s coming home next month.” The soft smile he gave Max did crazy things to her chest.
Excitement blazed on Max’s face. “That’s what Dad told us last weekend when we Skyped. We’re going to do my birthday again since he missed it.” He gazed sadly at his mom.
“It’s good to see you,” Noah said to the lady. He squeezed her arm before leaving. He said to Tori, “I’ve got make a call to Tokyo, if you’d like to come with me for a few minutes.” His smile made her stomach flip-flop.
Did he really have a call or was this him giving in to temptation?
Please, let it be the latter.
He had to get her out of this crowd. If he didn’t, someone would notice he couldn’t stop staring at her ass. God only knows what she’d been talking about with Chris. Bringing her here was about outing their relationship. Tom thought it’d be easier to perpetuate the farce if him dating became water cooler gossip.
Just as he had his finger reaching out to push the elevator button someone shouted, “Hold up, Noah.”
Damn. He dropped his hand. With a slow turn he faced his childhood friend, now company marketing manager, Chris. He plastered on an impassive look.
Chris eyed him. He swiped a hand over his blond crew cut. “We think it’d have a huge impact if you joined Jake at GameCon next weekend in Colorado to talk about the new tech we’re launching.”
“No. I can’t…” He might as well wear the Chicken Boy suit if he attended. He cleared his throat. “I don’t do media stuff. Our agreement is I stay out of it. That’s not about to change now.”
“Think about it. Please. You’re reputation as the genius behind the scenes means your opinion means a lot more than Jake and his marketing spiel. Jake is good, but the press is desperate to know you.” Chris didn’t move even though he seemed done.
“Anything else?” Noah asked.
“Uh, you got anything you need to tell me about your life? Anythingnew?” His gaze darted to Tori, filled with curiosity, but then dismissed her as a possible candidate forthe girlNoah now dated.
“No.” Noah folded his arms over his chest.
“We’ve been buds a long time, man. Michael mentioned this morning that you might be getting in the game again.”
“Even if I was, it’s none of your business.” Chris might’ve known him since he was barely out of diapers, but he didn’t need to know everything.
“Oh, come on, Noah. This dry spell of yours has been…” He sucked air through his teeth. “Well, I’ll be happy to see you less stressed.”
“You think sex will fix my stress?”
“It might help.” Chris shrugged her way apologetically.
Tori’s lips twitched upward. A snort laugh broke from her. With an abrupt turn she faced the wall. Her shoulders shook with silent laughter.
“See. Even Jason’s sister thinks you’re, uh…grumpy.” Chris patted her back.
“I never said that.” She wiped tears from her eyes as she turned back to face them.
“Do I seem like I’m in a better mood today?” Noah asked Chris.
“As a matter of fact…” Chris grinned. “You’re back in the game. This is great. Congrats, man. When can I meet her?”
“Chris, I’d like you to meet Tori. My date.”
“But you’re Jason’s sister.” Chris’s face flushed scarlet. “I’m sorry about… Oh, hell.”
“No worries.” She lowered her voice to whisper to him, “Can’t keep my hands off him. I mean, he’s sex on a stick. I could lick him all day. Believe me, I’m working on making him far less stressed.”
Chris’s face flushed even deeper red.
