Noah followed a darker streak on the wood top of his desk with his eyes, its origin obscured by one monitor. Was there a reason they were specifically targeting Reign andsending Noah after him, or was Noah reading too much into it? Was he too paranoid about a simple coincidence? And what about Reign being a demon? Did the Church somehow know about that, after all?
Noah reached for his phone, which he’d abandoned by the stack of folders on the right. He didn’t want to spy on Reign’s country. In fact, he’d be happy to rat out all the Church’s secrets to the Federation, if he knew any.In exchange for asylum, of course.He could be the perfect double agent, what with Teresa’s fondness for him. He could pretend he was helping the Empire while actually undermining it by teaming up with the Asian superpower.
Excitement bubbled inside him at the scenarios playing out in his mind, his imagination already running wild. He could barter with this. Asylum was tricky to get, especially where a subject of the Holy Empire was concerned, but if he was to be trusted with such a task by the Church, then he could prove to the Asian government that he was worth the trouble.
Noah unlocked his burner phone and texted Reign, seeing no point in waiting with this information.
Noah:I need to talk to you about something.
Reign:Come over after your dinner with Teresa. We can talk after I do you.
The reply threw Noah’s heartbeat askew. A rush of electrifying tingling followed, not easing off as it reached the tips of Noah’s fingers and toes. His cock swelled in anticipation and he was suddenly overly aware of the slight soreness in his hips.
Noah:Ok. See you tonight.
“I’ll have the oysters,” Teresa told the young waiter serving their table, her voice commanding and her gaze hard. “What about you, dear?” she followed up with in a mellower tone, her brown eyes shifting over to Noah.
Everything on the menu sounded delicious and Noah was having a hard time picking. He’d narrowed his options down to the mustard chicken with mashed potatoes, and the grilled Seabass with baked sweet peppers, zucchini and rice, but even so, he still couldn’t decide. Which wasn’t actually true; hecoulddecide, but the issue was he wanted both without having the space in his stomach to accommodate for two main courses after the bao bun and half a bowl of edamame he’d inhaled.
Clicking his tongue, he looked up at Teresa. “I’m thinking of a number. One or two?”
She giggled in amusement, seeming to notice his dilemma. “Two.”
One it was.
“I’d like the mustard chicken, please,” he said with a smile to the waiter.
“Certainly.” The man dipped his head, his brown curls bobbing. “Would you like anything else?”
Teresa tipped her chin toward Noah’s untouched glass of white wine. “Dear, would you like something else to drink? You’ve barely taken a sip.”
Yes, because Noah didn’t drink alcohol. He hated the taste, yet she seemed to always forget it for some reason. “I’m fine with just water.”
“Then I’ll have another glass of red wine and…” She paused, pouting her lips as she studied Noah. “A glass of grapefruit juice with ice for my companion.”
After reciting back their order, the waiter disappeared, leaving Noah to wonder why she’d bothered to askhim and hadn’t just ordered the juice to begin with. He knew better than to ask, though.
“So, other than the hike and the festival, what else did you do on your trip?” Teresa prodded, taking advantage of the ensuing silence.
Sex. Lots of it. “We went to the hot springs.” Noah cast his gaze around the interior of the venue, the light purple and gray tones of its décor reflected into everything from the silky drapes cresting the huge windows to the rugs beneath each table. “It was kind of strange. There were these stools in front of the faucets, and you had to wash yourself with soap first before actually going into the stone bath. Part of it was outside, and it snowed, too.” He paused, smiling. “I was also very surprised how many people there were despite how late we went.”
“Ah. You went to a public bath. I’ve only ever used the private ones,” she shared, her features tensing up a little. “Perhaps you should do the same, dear, from next time. You should be more careful.”
Or he could do whatever the hell he wanted. Not that he could say that out loud, it would do more harm than it was worth, but he would most definitely keep abiding by that M.O.
The waiter brought their food and Noah used the pause in conversation to change the topic. “How was your first day?” he asked, trying to sound genuinely interested.
“Meetings mostly, like in the morning.” She slurped an oyster, making Noah cringe inwardly. Seafood was definitelynothis thing. He could handle some fish, but the other stuff was just…No. “How was yours, dear?”
“Not too bad. I got started on the program. Making it do what I want will take me some time, but I should be ableto get the monitoring and detection functionality tweaked fairly easily.”
“That sounds great.” She slurped another two oysters, which had Noah focusing on his plate instead of her face. “I’m sure by the time I’m back from my first trip, you will have things figured out and working.”
Speaking of. “When is that again?”
“I’ll work out the schedules next week, but I suspect I’ll have to shift things around a little, so I probably won’t be back until May.”
Fantastic. The less he had to see of her, the better.
