When I entered the hotel, I avoided the elevators and instead went to the front desk. I still didn’t know Andi’s room, so I asked the clerk to call her to make sure that she was back. If she was telling me the truth about her outing with Chen, maybe she'd have some information that we could use to figure out who was sabotaging Strong Incorporated.
The woman at the desk called up to Andi's room. It was clear the phone was ringing but no one was answering.
Finally, she hung up. "She doesn't seem to be in. I can leave her a message if you like."
She was still out with Marcus? It didn't seem possible that I could be more irritated, but right now I seething with it. She’d been out with him nearly the entire day.
I shook my head. "No thank you." Instead, I went over to the bar where I would be able to have a line of sight to the front door. It might've stalkerish me, but I wanted to know when she arrived back.
I took a seat in order to drink and started my waiting vigil. I knew I had absolutely no right to dictate who she saw. I realized that over the years that I’d known her, I wasn’t aware of her dating or having a boyfriend. It certainly wasn't the kind of gossip my grandmother would tell me about, and Andi's and my relationship didn't involve talking about our personal lives. Marcus was the first and only person I knew about her going on a date with. And I hated it.
All of the reasons I had given about being with her personally would be a bad idea seemed to fade. She knew the type of man I was and still had sex with me on the table, so perhaps I didn't need to worry about entanglements with her. In fact, the way she'd quickly gone from me to Marcus suggested she didn't want to settle down any more than I did. And she must not be worried about my grandmother’s opinion of things. Maybe she was like me and just wanting to have a little fun.
Still, the idea of a fling didn't sit well with me. And there was still the fact that she worked for my grandmother, and that could create some tension with her at work or with me and my grandmother.
But as Andi and Marcus walked in through the front doors, the only thing I could think about was how much I wanted her. And how much I wanted her to want me too.
I watched them as they made their way across the lobby. I had this sinking feeling she was about to invite him up to her room. That was my breaking point. It might've been a caveman thing to think, but she was mine, dammit.
She stopped in the middle of the lobby and turned to him. I couldn't see what they were saying, but eventually he leaned in towards her as if to kiss her. Inside I seethed and was already out of my chair having tossed a couple of bills on the bar to pay for my drink. She turned her head, so his lips caught her cheek. Still, he had deigned to put his lips on her, and I could not tolerate that.
Marcus gave her a short nod and then exited the hotel. I rushed to catch up with Andi at the elevators. The doors opened and she stepped in. I nearly sprinted the last few feet to slide in before the doors closed.
Her eyes widened as I dashed into the elevator. "Noah?"
"I trust you had a nice date with Marcus," I said, unable to keep my anger and frustration out of my tone.
She frowned at me. "It's not your business."
I glared at her. "So, you weren't out trying to figure out what he might know about the hack? You were just out having a good time while the rest of us were working to protect the company." I hated that I sounded so harsh because what I really wanted was to take her into my arms and kiss the ever-loving breath out of her
She leaned against the wall and crossed her arms over her chest. "As it so happens, I did try to find out what he knew, and he doesn't seem to know anything. So there."
"And it took you all day to figure that out?"
"What is your problem, Noah?"
My problem? My problem was that I wanted her, and she had been out with another man. I reached over and pressed the stop button. A bell rang for a few seconds and then stopped.
"What are you doing?" She straightened and looked at me like she thought I'd gone crazy. I think maybe I had, because everything rational in my mind was gone. Right now, there was only her and me. I had to convince her that Chen was not the man for her. I was.
"You know what it did to me to know that you spent the day with him after what happened between us?" I said. I moved closer to her, but not so close that she felt threatened by me. Not that she would ever feel threatened by me.
In fact, she took a step closer to me lifting that defiant chin of hers. "I can't imagine that it did anything to you knowing that since you told me what happened between us was wrong and a mistake."
I stepped a little closer to her. Close enough that I could look into those dark eyes. I could drown in their dark depths. "Well, I lied."
She continued to stare defiantly at me. "So, you're saying it wasn't wrong or a mistake?"
I shook my head not sure what I was trying to say.
"No, I'm pretty sure it's still a mistake. But I don't give a shit anymore. I'm crazy with want for you, Andi." I took a risk reaching my hand out, drawing my finger down the side of her cheek and her neck, enjoying the way her breath hitched, and the pulse in her neck began to quicken.
"Noah," she said in a breathless voice.
"Do you want him? Is Marcus the man that you're thinking about? Dreaming about? Fantasizing about when you touch yourself until you come?"
She shook her head. And it made me so fucking happy.