As soon as it was on, she slipped her feet into her yellow sandals and went to work on her hair, smooshing in some product, then wrapping it up and around into an elegant chignon. Not that her unruly hair would stay that way for long. She knew curly tendrils would work their way loose almost immediately.
Then she grabbed her little yellow purse. And paused.
She returned to the bathroom and spritzed herself with her favorite perfume, a very slight scent that made her feel super feminine.
She looked in the mirror and sighed. Going back into the bedroom, she petted Xena’s head. “I’ve got to go for awhile, sweetie. You can stay in here or go visit your new friend, the pilot.”
Xena settled back down onto the pillow with a sigh, as if to say she’d prefer to stay right there.
“I don’t blame you,” Emma said. “I’d rather stay here, too.”
So why was excitement building inside her?
Emma walked in beside her brother and Min.
The room had truly been transformed into a restaurant. The round tables had been covered with fancy cloths and fine dishware and goblets.
The crowd was dressed in anything from long dresses and suits to sundresses and slacks to Bermuda shorts and flip-flops.
She spotted Noah at one of four tables lined up at the front on the stage. He was standing in animated conversation with two young men, and they were staring at him with rapt expressions in between comments.
She smiled. The man had enough energy for three men, apparently.
Preston and Min sat at the second head table. The casting director and makeup artists and other presenters were already spread out at the third and fourth tables.
The lucky winners were showing their raffle tickets and taking seats at the four tables.
Emma made her way back to Preston. “You said you needed me to work this event.”
“You are going to work it. You’re going to keep Noah from having to sit with any women he doesn’t want to sit with tonight.”
“Ha. That would be me.” She turned toward Noah’s table. She could do this. Then she had to chuckle at herself. She was going to have dinner with the most sought-after man in the world. It was a tough job, but somebody had to do it. She’d try to change her attitude and have a good time.
When she approached Noah’s table, he spotted her, pulled out her chair, and told the two men, “I’m sorry, but the dinner is beginning.”
“Sure. Thanks.” They scurried off to another table.
Noah sat beside her. “I’m glad you’re sitting with me.”
She shook her head, but smiled and teased, “Couldn’t arrange for a boys-only table, I guess?”
He shook his head ruefully. “Will you never forgive me for that? I was only ten years old.”
“The problem is,” she said, “that you’ve never told me you’re sorry for excluding me.”
He looked deep into her eyes and took her hand. “Emma Archer, I can’t begin to express to you how sorry I am.”
“Begin. Express it.”
He chuckled. “I really am. My ten-year-old self was a jerk.”
She tipped her head and frowned. “Hmmm.”
“Do you realize that you have never told me you’re sorry about the fire ants?”
“I’m not. Not until I get an apology from you.”
“Please forgive me for my boyish behavior. I am including you now. I hope that makes up for it.” His smile was dazzling.
She had no defense against that smile. “Fine. I forgive you.”
“And ...?”
“And I’m sorry about the fire ants.” But a smile crept across her face.
“You are naughty, Miss Emma. Has anyone ever told you that?”
“Several people may have mentioned it.”
The table began to fill up, and Noah said, “I have to be host now.” But he squeezed her hand before he turned to the others.
Each table held ten people. At theirs, an older man in a suit and his wife walked up to the table. They were probably in their sixties. The man held out a chair for his wife two seats away, but Noah insisted, “Oh, no, I must sit by this beautiful woman.”
The woman smiled prettily and her cheeks flushed pink. “Thank you, Mr. Sullivan.”
“No mister. Please call me Noah. Or Max.”
Her husband then held out the chair next to Noah for his wife, and took the one next to her. They turned out to be űber-fans of Noah’s.
The other six who joined them were two young wannabe actresses from California, a father and son from Colorado who wanted to produce a documentary, an outgoing aspiring screenwriter from London, and a much more shy screenwriter from Utah. Emma learned all this because Noah invited each of them to share their stories before their food had even arrived.
He’d also asked Emma to share her story, and she’d told the table, “I’m a photographer for the event, and I do photography as a business. I also do social media marketing and management for people.”
As the dinner progressed, she got to watch Noah as a host. He was witty and funny, warm and caring, insightful and attentive. And he proved to be a fantastic listener.
When had he turned into such a great guy?
How had he gone from Stinky Butt to Max Booker almost while she hadn’t been looking?
Later that night, tired from a full day of being “on,” Noah walked from the swimming pool toward the secluded hot tub. The lights and jets were off.
Xena and Chief were playing among the palm trees. Xena seemed to have accepted the bigger dog as her loyal subject, and Chief played with her by crouching down and even lying on his back to even things up between them. Or maybe he was just exposing his throat to the dominant dog, which was a shame.
“Chief, have some respect for yourself, dude,” he called out. The big dog lifted his head toward Noah — and the little dog took that lapse in concentration as her signal to pounce on his throat viciously. “Pathetic, Chief. Stand up for yourself.”
And then the two of them were racing around again, barking. Playing. Frolicking. Gamboling. With a snort, he left the dogs behind.
After working out in the gym for an hour, he’d come down to the pool and done fifty laps. The others in the group were either still splashing about in the pool or sitting along the beach.
Except for Preston and Min, who’d slipped away earlier. He didn’t blame them. After all, they’d been married less than two weeks.
Other than not having a beautiful, loving wife of his own to slip away with, what an amazing day this had been. He was helping the islanders and helping aspiring movie folk just by doing what he loved doing. And dinner with Emma had been great, though he hadn’t gotten to spend nearly enough time talking with her.
The lights were off in the hot tub area and he left them off. He turned on the jets and slid down into the hot water with a sigh.
He placed his arms along the edge of the hot tub, leaned back and closed his eyes. He could hear the two dogs still racing around, barking here and there.
After a moment, someone said, “Feel free to join me.”
His eyes flew open and he jumped, fisting his hands and preparing to fight before it registered that it was a female voice. He froze in place.
Emma’s voice.
She laughed softly. “Vengeance is mine.”
“That’s not even funny.” His heart thumped. “You’re lucky I didn’t deck you for startling me before I even realized it was you and not an intruder.”
“Oh, I wasn’t worried at all. You move far too slowly. It’s like all those muscles are weighing you down or something.” Her voice was light and teasing.
Was she flirting with him? He kind of liked that idea.
He snorted a laugh and settled back against the jet, letting the blast of water soothe his back muscles. “Hey, I’m asking a few people to help me in my acting workshop tomorrow. Would you be willing to help?”
“I’m no actor.”
“You don’t need to be. I
just need a lovely assistant and I’d much rather have you than, say, Preston.”
“Min’s pretty.”
“I like my face intact. Your brother is crazy jealous. Must be the insane newlywed status.” He raised an arm and flexed the muscles. “So you’ve noticed the guns, huh?”
She laughed. “You are so full of yourself. But then you always were.”
“You did notice.” He kissed his bicep and lowered the arm into the water, smiling.
“They’re hard to miss, Atlas.”
“You did a great job with the photography. I got on the website and was blown away.”
“Thanks.” She sounded pleased.
“So will you help me in the morning?”
“What do I need to do?”
“Just stand there, basically, and react to my lines.”
“By heckling, or what?”
“If you want,” he teased back. Flirted back. Suddenly he wanted to wrap his arms around her and pull her close. To kiss her.
“Okay,” she said. “Just don’t embarrass me.”
“Just don’t bring fire ants with you.”
She laughed at that. “I am sorry about doing that, but every time I think of Preston running out of his bedroom screaming, and realizing you must be doing the same thing, I have to fight not to laugh.”
He shook his head in mock sadness. “Pure evil in such a pretty little package.”
When Xena barked ferociously at Chief, Noah added, “Kind of like your innocent-looking princess devil dog.”
7
Poleaxed
Conference Day 2
Acting & Movie Workshops
Emma could tell the students were caught up in Noah’s workshop on acting. He used humor to make points on what to do, how to do it, and when to use certain techniques. People were feverishly typing on laptops, fewer were writing notes on paper.
She’d learned a few things, herself. Mainly that Noah was amazing with a group of people, no matter the size. He had serious chops as an actor, and he had a great way about him of sharing what he knew.
The workshop ran from eight until noon, when there would be a ninety-minute lunch break, and then Preston would have a four-hour movie-making workshop. All morning, she’d stressed about Noah wanting to call her up to be his assistant, but by 11:30, she breathed a sigh of relief. He seemed to have forgotten his plan, for which she was grateful. She loved being in the background, shooting pictures, making other people the highlight.
Noah had been moving between tables as he spoke, asking people to stand while he demonstrated a different acting technique with each of them.
Noah walked back up to the front of the large room and climbed onto the stage. “I have a special demonstration for you now.” He turned to face the crowd. “And my friend Emma Archer has agreed to help me with this one. Emma, would you come on up here, please?”
Her heart sank. Darn. Ashley appeared and said, “I’ll take care of your camera.”
She glanced at her hugely pregnant friend. “Who’s going to take care of you?”
“Gary has me covered,” Ashley assured her, pushing her gently to get her moving.
With a feeling of dread — and also excitement — she walked up through the tables and climbed the steps onto the stage. Noah held out a hand and she joined him. He said, “Thanks for being a good sport.”
“Thanks for taking it easy on me.”
Noah motioned to the attendees and said, “What kind of scene should I do with my friend?”
“Romantic!” a woman called.
What?
Noah smiled at Emma like a cat studying a mouse. When more people clamored for the same thing, he lifted her hand up and kissed it, and the crowd murmured.
“All right. The group has spoken,” Noah said. “I will now demonstrate a romantic scene. And, because I know my friend is into romances, I think she’ll get a kick out of this one.”
She was still suck on a romantic scene, and her heart picked up its pace.
Noah stepped even closer to her, still holding her hand. “Look at how I move in closer to her.”
Her breath hitched at his nearness. He was only six inches from her now, though she had to look up at him. Then four inches away, and he was leaning down.
“Watch how my gaze is yearning for her, without me needing to say a word.” He turned on the smolder for which he was known worldwide.
Her eyes widened. Wow. She’d seen that smolder on movie screens, but in real life it was devastatingly effective. She sucked in a breath.
“It’s always important to take your time in a romantic scene. It’s not about grabbing and kissing, it’s about the sensual elements. For example, I can run my fingers up one of her arms.”
He touched her wrist and slowly, oh so slowly, trailed his fingers up to her shoulder. Tingles followed, and she shivered.
He winked at her. “Now I’ll place a hand on her waist.”
Fight? Flight? Or freeze?
His hand touched her waist. “And I’ll tug her gently toward me, but just barely. Just enough to let her know I want her.”
What an actor he was! She truly did believe he wanted her! His fingers burned on her waist.
“Watch how I gaze at her lips, wooing and enticing her, letting her know I want to kiss her.”
She found herself licking her lips as he gazed at them.
“And, now, look at how I kiss her ever so gently.”
When he moved in closer and she thought he really was going to kiss her, she turned her head — and the kiss landed on her cheek. She smiled at the group. “See how I redirect his kiss.”
The group gave a collective groan.
“We wanna see a kiss,” a guy called out.
“Boo, we want to see the kiss.”
Other people joined in.
Noah’s lips were still on her cheek. Awkward. “You can move now,” she said.
He pulled back. “See how I cup her face gently in my hands.”
Suddenly his hands were indeed gently cradling her face.
She could have stepped back. He wasn’t holding her against her will or anything, and she could have made a joke, but this time, when he leaned in, she didn’t turn her head. Instead, she let him kiss her.
His lips burned on hers. It was a gentle kiss, sweet and innocent.
The crowd erupted in clapping and whistling and a few calls of, “Yeah!” and “Dude!”
Just when she thought it was going to end, he deepened the kiss and she grabbed his arms to support herself.
After he’d moved away from Waco as a boy, when she’d caught glimpses of Noah playing on the college team, for the Denver Defenders, and the Waco Wranglers, she’d daydreamed about a kiss like this. Now she lost herself in it, the sweetness, the strength, the feel of his hands on her cheeks, the warmth from his body heat.
When he finally pulled back, he smiled at her.
He put his arm around her and turned back to the group, his voice teasing. “See how I support her after my kiss has left her breathless.”
“You have an incredible ego,” she told him.
“And you,” he said softly, “are a great kisser.”
Emma pulled away emotionally after the kiss, though the group had loved it.
Then she bowed to the crowd, who laughed and cheered for her, and rejoined Ashley.
He’d shaken Emma to the core.
During lunch, he’d been seated at a different table. It was driving him nuts because, since their kiss, other men in the group seemed to have noticed Emma. She was getting lots of male attention, and not from him.
Jealousy reared its head.
Frustrated, he tried to converse with the couple next to him.
Emma had left the stage so quickly you’d have thought she didn’t even notice he was trying to romance her.
He froze. Was he trying to romance her?
“Excuse me,” he said to the couple, pulling out his phone as if he’d gotten a call. “I’ll just be
a moment.”
He held the phone to his ear and said, “Hello,” as he walked out of the room. Where could he go to get some privacy for a moment? Maybe the security room.
He made his way there, waving to people as he passed them, motioning to the phone up to his ear to explain why he was walking past them without talking.
Inside the security room, a woman and man glanced up at him from the monitors with a questioning look.
“I just need a moment to myself.”
They nodded and went back to their surveillance.
He made his way to the back of the room and sank into a seat, dropping his phone from his ear.
Was he trying to romance Emma? He’d certainly wanted to kiss her, and that kiss had rocked his world. He wanted more — much more.
Emma was Preston’s sister. It always came back to that.
But why did that matter? They weren’t children any more. Surely Preston wouldn’t mind that he wanted to date Emma.
Surprised, he realized he really did want to date her. To romance her. To woo her.
To kiss her again.
He’d always thought Emma Archer was cute. He’d always loved her feisty side. He’d never realized how much being around her would feel like coming home to him. He hadn’t seen her for years, and suddenly he knew he didn’t want to let her leave him at the end of this week.
He could offer to hire her, but he didn’t think she’d accept that offer. Besides, he didn’t want her as an employee. He wanted her as his date.
No, he needed to stop hiding from the truth.
He wanted Emma Archer as his girlfriend. As his woman. Maybe even, given enough time, as his wife.
That thought poleaxed him. He was insane.
He had to talk to Preston.
8
This I’ve Got to Try
“Oh. My. Gosh.” Ashley stared. “That kiss was amazing. He’s really into you, Emma.”
“He’s an actor. He’s had numerous kissing scenes.”
NOAH: A Childhood Nemesis Sweet Romantic Comedy (Waco Wranglers Reid Brothers Book 2) Page 5
