“I want you two to like each other—give him a shot, okay?” Kit knew this “boy” wouldn’t be going anywhere. He made her heart sing.
“Just for you.” Becca poked her cake fork at Kit. “Are you two coming to my birthday dinner? Crap, I think I forgot to e-mail you. It’s tomorrow night.”
“I feel wounded! Forgotten already.” Kit slapped a hand over her heart. “What time? Where?”
“Nothing fancy. My place. We’ll do takeout, and since I forgot to order a cake, we’ll eat random cakes I pick up from the grocery store. Seven p.m. to probably around ten thirty as a whole bunch of us have to be on set by eight the next day.”
“I’ll be there.” Kit crossed her fingers that Becca and Noah would hit it off. “And I’m going to make sure you have a proper birthday cake—chocolate-frosted vanilla, right?”
Becca’s smile was so sweet it belied the tough attitude she so often put on. “Thanks, Kit. I should’ve known I could count on you.”
Noah gave Kit a dubious look when she told him her hope that he and Becca would find common ground. “Becca is never going to like me, Kit. It’s in the girl code or something.”
“Just be nice to her,” Kit said, picking up her phone to call a caterer friend who owed her a favor—and who happened to have a baker on staff.
“Yes, ma’am.”
He was actually nice to Becca, to the point that the makeup artist seemed to be thawing a little. Kit actually saw the two of them in conversation not long after Becca cut the dual-layer cake Kit’s caterer friend had managed on short notice, and Becca had a genuine smile on her face. Relieved she wouldn’t have to run interference between her man and one of her closest friends, Kit had a great time at the party.
Returning home with Noah around eleven that night, she stretched in the hallway. “That was a good night.”
The only awkward moment had come when Terrence turned up.
“Oh, shit,” Becca had mouthed from across the room. Later, when she’d had Kit alone, she’d been so apologetic. “I totally forgot you two had a thing before you got together with Noah. Do you want me to ask him to leave?”
Kit had assured her friend that it was fine, but the situation had been strained. Terrence had barely spoken to her, and it made her sad that he was still so angry with her—though she did think he was taking things a bit hard when they’d only been on three actual dates. They’d been friends for years before that; surely he understood that she hadn’t meant to hurt him?
His behavior seemed unusually possessive, but Kit couldn’t bring herself to believe Terrence was her stalker. Still, she’d be extra careful around him, especially since Jade was still excited about Kit doing the project with the two of them. Kit had expected Terrence to veto it, but according to Jade, he wanted Kit for the role.
Not that she’d know it from his personal treatment of her.
“Hey.” Noah rubbed the lines between her eyebrows. “Why the frown?”
Kit shook her head, not wanting to bring up Terrence. She’d sensed the animosity between Noah and the writer, figured they must’ve run into each other when she wasn’t around. “I’m glad you and Becca are getting along.”
Taking her hand, he tugged her to her bedroom and leaned in the doorway while she slipped off her heels. “Yeah, dodged that bullet. Phew.” He pretended to wipe his brow. “Any guy worth his salt knows you’re toast if you get on the wrong side of the girlfriends.”
Kit laughed. “How did you do it?”
“Told her I was crazy about you.” Smiling lips, dead serious eyes.
Her heart squeezed so hard she could barely breathe. “I have to change,” she said, the words coming out husky.
Stepping inside the room, he braced his back on the wall by the door. “Can I watch?”
Kit’s breath froze in her throat at the unexpected question, the heat in Noah’s gaze searing. “I… Okay.” Gripping her nerves in a tight fist, she walked over to him and, turning to give him her back, swept her hair over one shoulder. “Unzip me. Please.”
A rough breath, his lips brushing her nape before he began to tug down the zipper slow and easy. He touched her nowhere else, but by the time he’d finished, she had goose bumps all over her body. Keeping her back to him, she returned to her original position beside the bed and slid off the long sleeves of the midthigh-length black dress.
A single push at the hips and the soft fabric fell to pool at her feet.