“I didn’t know weather could turn so fast,” I say as the rain, impossibly, grows even more furious.
“It happens out here.” Noah grins. “You should see it in Africa.”
“I bet.” I gently push wet hair off his forehead. “So is this the kind of adventure you have?”
“Sometimes.”
“Probably cooler in Africa.” My tone is more wistful than I intend.
“But not as much fun.” He gives me a soft peck. “You weren’t with me there.”
I laugh, then kiss him back. His eyes twinkle, and I’m falling in love with this side of him. At the same time, a sober voice slides into my mind with a warning.
We could only manage a canyon tour for a weekend, but if it weren’t for my schedule, Noah probably could’ve gone on a bigger adventure. One with more excitement, discoveries and new experiences. How long will he be satisfied with just coming over to the bakery to give me flowers, taking care of my cat and placing his own exciting life on hold?
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Bobbi
“I’m working on my magnum opus.”
I roll Noah’s response around in my head as I knead the dough early in the morning with Victor. It was more or less immediate when I asked him what he did with his free time while I was at the bakery.
“I always wanted to write a novel, and now I have the time,” he said. “You can be the first to read it, before it’s published.”
“Sure, love to.” Will he miss photography? Maybe not, since he hasn’t hung any cheetah shots in his house. But then I don’t have trays of bread and pastries inmyhouse, so—
“Hey, Bobbi? You okay?”
I jerk my head up and see confused concern on Victor’s face. “Yeah. Why?”
“You seem really distracted. Keep muttering under your breath.” He clears his throat. “I asked if you’re gonna need me this weekend—twice.”
My cheeks heat with embarrassment. “Sorry. I was just thinking about some stuff. Um… Yes. I’m going to need some help with that cake Saturday morning.” Victor told me he finally managed to get a date with the UCLA blonde. He hasn’t said when, and I don’t want to take up his weekend unless it’s absolutely necessary, but I can’t handle transporting a ten-tier cake by myself.
Besides, thinking about this Saturday only stirs up the unsettled feeling in my gut. Noah asked me to be his plus-one to a luncheon party, and I told him I couldn’t since I had to work. The cake is going to be unbelievable, with cascading roses, lilies and orchids, along with forget-me-nots molded with modeling chocolate and gum paste. It’s for an I’ve-Been-with-the-Love-of-My-Life-for-Two-Months celebration and iscompletelyover the top, but Rachel Griffin, the former model turned influencer who hired me, thinks it’s critical to celebrate every milestone of her new relationship. I don’t have the heart to tell her the jailbait she’s with is probably more in love with her money than her. She’s old enough to be his mom, but she’s also a client who doesn’t want to listen to anything that doesn’t confirm her own notions about life. And if you’re in business in SoCal, you need to play ball when dealing with the rich and fatuous.
But that also means I might miss out on some of the things going on in Noah’s life. “No worries. I can go alone,” he said with an easy smile.
“Seriously? You okay without a date?”
“I’m not taking some random piece of arm candy just so I can have a ‘date.’” The light way he said it made me feel worse, like I’m not doing my part somehow.
“I’m sorry.”
“Why? Your career is important.”
“But so are your trips to take photos and social obligations. Maybe we should talk about those things and work them out.”
He shrugged. “Pfft. Nothing comes close to you. Now listen. No more frowning.” He stroked the lines between my eyebrows, moving his index finger back and forth like an eraser.
I smiled, then laughed. But we do need to sit down and have a serious conversation about how we’re going to weave our lives together, even though he’s dismissing the idea. He shouldn’t have to wake up one morning five years from now and ask himself, “What the hell have I been doing all this time?”
* * *
Rachel’s party is at Ted Lasker’s multi-million-dollar mansion. He’s letting her host it at his place because she gave him a son—Griffin, whose keen intelligence and academic accomplishments make his father proud—and he’s fond of her.
But beyond that, he obviously just likes to party. The man is legendary for having fathered Noah and his six brothers in four months, and he’s never married any of the mothers. Yuna’s husband Declan was cast in a Ted Lasker film last year, and she said the director has probably produced more children. “There was this Chinese emperor who had thirty-eight sons and forty-two daughters.Eightykids! I mean, this was before effective birth control, but he died when he was like fifty-two with something like twenty wives. Ted is already older than that and now we have Viagra. And I bet you he’s screwed more than twenty women. Men should totally do a paternity test with the woman they want to marry, just to make sure they aren’t fathered by the same guy.”
