I stepped away again, leaning against the opposite wall and holding my hand out to prevent him from moving towards me again. "You can't keep doing this to me."
"Touching you?"
"Yes. You say you want me and then tell me it's wrong. It's giving me whiplash.” I let out a shuddering breath. "I don't know why you're doing this to me."
A loud buzzer went off in the car and I quickly reached over to push the start button. The elevator resumed its upward ride to my floor.
Noah stepped back leaning against the opposite wall facing me.
"I'm all tied up inside, Andi. It's no secret that I want you. But you and I both know that nothing can come of it."
I don't know why that hurt, but it did. "Then you need to stop."
He shrugged. "I've tried. You are like a fucking drug." He looked down as if defeated.
I turned to look towards the elevator doors, hoping that my floor was arriving at any moment.
"I don't want to hurt you. Really, I don't. I'm not trying to be a horn dog with you. I’m not trying to take advantage of you."
I kept my face forward toward the door. "Then you need to stop this."
The car stopped and the doors opened, and I hurried out hoping that Noah would let me go. But while he didn't say anything at first, he did follow me out and to my hotel door. When I reached it, I didn't open it.
I kept my back to him, as I said, "I'm not letting you in Noah."
"I know.”
For a moment we both just stood there. Finally, I gained the courage to turn and look at him. I saw sincerity in his expression that he felt bad about the predicament he put me in.
"I told you that Marcus didn't say anything that gave me any ideas about the hack,” I said.
He nodded, stepping back slightly, as if recognizing we were moving into the professional part of our relationship.
"But I did find it interesting that he doesn't seem very concerned about the hack."
Noah's expression morphed into curiosity. "What do you mean?"
I leaned against the door. "Well, he’s got a lot riding on his partnership with us. So, if this hack is going to devalue the company or make it so that competitors can come in and take our spot, you’d think he'd be concerned about that, wouldn’t you? I mean, part of his success in this venture is that we are successful, right?"
He thought about that and I was pleased when Noah seemed to be taking on his business persona. Maybe tonight, he would think about that, instead of me.
"The question is why would Marcus want to sabotage us? Just as you said, his success is tied closely to ours. What's in it for him?" Noah asked.
I shook my head. "I don't know. When I asked him why someone might do this to us, the two reasons he gave were greed and revenge."
Noah frowned. "Revenge?"
I shrugged. “He said he was giving me examples. It sounded like he was talking in hypotheticals."
I could see that Noah's brain was already turning with possibility. He looked at me again, and I saw his regret return.
I waved my hand to keep him from saying anything more. "Have a good evening, Noah." I didn't wait for him to respond as I turned and used my key card to let me into the room. He was still standing there when I shut the door.
Once my door latched in the place, I leaned against it and blew out a breath wondering what the heck I was thinking letting him touch me like that in the elevator. As a matter of fact, what was he thinking? Why did I give in to him? Especially after he said it was a mistake again.
I stepped inside the room and collapsed on the bed wondering how in the heck I got into this position. It was only then I noticed all the bags sitting on the table in my room. The bags that Marcus had arranged to be sent back after our shopping trip.
All of a sudden, I felt uncomfortable with myself. How was it possible I had spent all afternoon with one man, and then another man had fingered me to orgasm in the elevator? Granted, I had stopped Marcus's advance when he tried to kiss me. The truth was as much as I enjoyed my afternoon, I just didn't feel a connection with Marcus. And in fact, there was a part of me that was suspicious of him for the reasons I’d mentioned to Noah. For someone whose business was closely tied with us, he didn't seem at all concerned about what was happening.