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Noah chuckled, and she heard a slight rustling in the background. Claire wondered what he was doing while talking to her. "He's a fairly bright fellow. Right now, he's working with the reporting team, but I suspect he'll be moving into management on the sales side at some point. He's good at forecasting. At least that's what I've heard."
Claire heard him sigh. "You okay?" she asked.
"Yeah," he said sheepishly. "I just got home, had a quick shower, and am embarrassed to tell you I'm lying here in bed about to fall asleep. I just needed to call and check on you before I did."
Her heart rate spiked at the thought of him lying in bed, but her mind snagged on one detail. She looked at the clock on the nightstand and blinked. "You're just now getting home? Man, you must be exhausted."
"Mm."
Was he falling asleep? "I watched you working on that machine today. Before we left. From the big window upstairs?"
"You did? Why?"
Her face burned with embarrassment. "I like watching you work on the floor. It's different from working in the office. It amazes me how you fit in everywhere, whether it's among the machines with grease smeared on your face or in the corporate offices in your perfectly creased dress pants and button-down collars. You're kind of fascinating."
"Oh, yeah? What else do you like about me?"
She giggled. "Flirt." Flirt or not, that smooth baritone voice of his did things to her insides. "Tell me what happened and how you guys fixed it."
Noah pulled into a parking spot in the plant car park on Friday morning. The last two mornings, he'd enjoyed eating breakfast with Claire at her hotel, then driving to the office together. Even this morning, with their disappointment over last night's plans falling through, being around her had been comfortable. Easy even. But he needed to talk to her about tonight. He'd been putting it off since talking to his mother earlier in the week and had planned to ask her last night when he called to apologize, but somehow it never came up. And now he was officially out of time. Talk about waiting until the last minute.
"Hey, Claire?"
Her hand rested on the door handle as she raised an eyebrow, waiting for him to continue.
"Um…" He stopped and cleared his throat. "My mother has invited us to dinner tonight. She knows you've been away from home for almost two weeks and this last week has been… well, stressful, to say the least." He trailed off as she waited patiently for him to spit it out. "Anyway, she's invited you to join us for dinner tonight. If you'd like."
"That sounds wonderful." Her gaze drilled into him. "Are you okay with it? You seem a little hesitant." She smiled that soft smile of hers that made him want to give her anything she wanted.
He looked away, staring through the car's front window, and thought about how to word his answer before speaking. "I'll admit, taking a colleague home to meet my parents is a new experience. And I seriously considered not asking you." He slid his gaze over to see her reaction to his confession. When she raised her eyebrows, he plunged ahead. "But, it's been a minute since I've seen them and I'd like to take you with." He rushed to get the last bit out before he lost his courage. He'd gone back and forth over introducing Claire to his parents, but finally decided he probably owed her a nice home-cooked meal to make up for his behavior over the last three months. And since he'd met her father, it seemed fair. At least that was the excuse he was telling himself. He didn't want to examine his feelings any further than that.
"Sounds great. Do we need to leave at the usual time or something different?"
Noah exhaled. Apparently, he was the only one freaking out at the thought of her meeting his parents. "Usual time is fine." He engaged the parking brake and exited the vehicle before he could say anything else that was too much… well, too much.
He waited while Claire signed in at the front desk. The foyer was strangely empty, but the air seemed alive with energy. Noah peered around the corner and saw Ben gathered with several other employees.
"What's up?" Noah asked as he walked over.
"Alex is here with her movie star fiancé. Oh, and she's asked to see you both. She's in the small conference room." He nodded his head down the hall. Well, that explained the buzz in the air. Most of the company was used to seeing the famous Hollywood actor around now and then, but he still drew a crowd when he popped in.
"What's going on?" Claire asked, coming to stand beside him.
"Alex Tanner is here and wants to see us. I'm assuming she wants an update on the project." He put his hand behind her back and guided her toward the meeting room. "This way."
They entered the room and Claire stopped short. "Holy mackerel! That's Finley McAlister!" she blurted.
The man in question smiled, but continued to peruse the tablet in his hands. Alex stood up from the conference table where she'd been typing on her laptop and walked toward them.
"Just ignore him. He's killing time while waiting on a phone call. We've commandeered this conference room for the day, and while I'm here, I'm checking in on various projects based at this location. Then we're off to Scotland for more updates." She stretched her hand toward Claire. "You must be Claire. I'm Alex. Nice to finally meet you in the flesh."
"Hi," Claire said as she shook the taller woman's hand. "You're very tall." Claire slapped a hand over her mouth and Noah struggled not to laugh.
A snort sounded from their left, drawing their attention again to the dark-haired man in the corner. "Aye, she is."
"You are not supposed to be here. Be invisible, sir, or I'll have to banish you to the common room where you'll be forced to sign autographs." Alex teased as she chastised her famous fiancé.
"My apologies, my lady. I'll zip it, as you like to say."
