Molly whirls around, this time with better balance, and stalks from the room, her floral perfume still clinging to the air even after she’s gone.
My stomach sinks. I hadn’t been worried about this thing with Nolan and I before tonight. But now that Molly knows? I’m dead in the water, unless I can convince her to keep tight-lipped.
She had been wrong about one thing, though: There aren’t any actual rules againstLoveandGemstonecrew members fraternizing…but only because there isn’t exactly a rule book.
It’s more like an unwritten rule of the industry, that giving anyone senior to you a reason to think you’re distracted is not ideal if you want to maintain a good reputation. I’d have to figure out a solution to this little problem sooner rather than later, especially given how angry Molly looked when she spat the words at me.
“I’m really sorry about that,” I apologize, turning back to Nolan. His warm eyes find mine, and he’s got one brow arched, his mouth twisted in an amused smirk.
“What?”
“That was…something.”
“That was Molly,” I explain with a deep sigh. “She’s a long story.”
“Okay. But tell me another day—it’s getting late.”
A slight twinge of disappointment gnaws at me, knowing that the heated tension that had been there before is probably gone for now.
“I gotta say, though…you’re cute when you’re frustrated, you know that?” Nolan adds, as he unclips the lav mic on his jacket and pulls the wire out from his shirt. He hands it to mecasually, as if he didn’t just call my attempt at appearing assertive and stern…cute.
“Are you surecuteis the term you’re looking for?” I grumble.
“What term would you use?”
“Maybe fearsome, or unnerving?”
“Nah.”
“Aggressive? Mean?”
He cocks his head thoughtfully. “Maybe a little mean? Mostly just rude. But in, like, acuteway.”
The wicked smile Nolan gives me as we bicker playfully makes my skin prickle, and I can’t help but wonder how things might have unfolded if Molly hadn’t shown up.
It occurs to me that we’re both thinking the same thing, because he’s suddenly inching closer until his legs firmly cage mine. The cool steel of the prep counter nudging into my lower back is a stark contrast to the warmth of his body pressing against mine. My pulse is thrumming loud in my ears again, and as I tilt my chin up to look at him, I know now—for sure—that he’s going to kiss me.
I know it from the way his gaze darkens and dips to my mouth. How his hands skate along my skin to rest gently on my hips.
He pulls me in closer until we’re perfectly flush, and my mind goes still and quiet. Nolan leans his head in close, the warmth of his breath fanning across my cheek as he whispers next to my ear, “Can I kiss you now?”
His words reverberate in my chest, lighting up every nerve like fireflies dancing in twilight, and I shiver.
Suddenly, because I have quite possibly the worst luck in the world, the muffled sound of plates crashing in the hallway alerts us to what I can only assume is yet another deliberate interruption from Molly. Our bodies startle apart.
I grasp the counter shakily, and Nolan swears, looking between the door to the hallway and me, clearly acknowledgingwhat he wants now, but also how much worse things could get out there with Molly and her PA left unsupervised.
Scrubbing a hand over his face, he lets out a disgruntled huff.
“I should probably go deal with that, shouldn’t I?” he says. There’s a conflicted look on his face, like he’s torn between what he should do and what he desperately wants to do.
“It’s a little bit like leaving a reactive dog in an enclosed space. She might just keep wrecking things,” I say with a cringe, just as another plate smashes to the ground in the hall.
“Yeah, that’s what I thought,” Nolan heaves a deep sigh, looking genuinely dismayed and more than a little annoyed. He gives me a quick squeeze of my hand and then stalks off, shouting something about how they better not have smashed the good plates.
For someone who I thought was the epitome of sunshine, this is a new side to Nolan.
And to be honest? I don’t hate it.
