Page 26 of Purchase Power
Chapter 8
Normally, Noah would have helped himself into the guest room, but his hands were too full to finagle with the door handle. He found enough give to loudly knock. By the time Lucy answered, he had everything balanced between his hands again.
She was a vision.
Her hair was freshly combed and spritzed with water, the sheen of blond hair clinging to her chin and brushing against her throat. Her makeup was freshly applied as well. Cat-like eyes, ruby-red lips, and a little rouge. It reminded Noah of the night they met. It reminded him of the woman he took like he owned her.
Even the clothes weren’t that far off the mark. Lucy may not have been decked out in a sultry jacket and a matching lingerie set, but the twenty-minute warning Noah gave her was more than enough for her to throw on a slinky black wrap dress that hevaguelyremembered buying off a stylist for the closet.Most awkward phone call I made so far in 2020.That personal shopper was a woman he contacted precisely for women’s clothing, since Stacey had to wear something besides super casual clothing sometimes.Court dates, for one thing.Noah never knew when one might have to happen. Hell, he had been dreading the potential need to apply for guardianship for years now.
The shopper had assumed he was calling about a nice dress for Stacey. Instead, he had asked for a closet full of intimates, dresses, and shoes for a woman ofverydifferent measurements. When she arrived two days ago with a trunk full of clothes, he rented the whole lot with the intention of gifting Lucy whatever she wanted at the end of her stay.
Apparently, she was taken with the wrap-dress, which hung loosely on her frame and gave him a grand view of her plunging neckline. Her bust wasn’t as… busty… in her current bra, but Noah remembered. Oh, heremembered.
So did his cock, the little bastard.
Lucy caught him staring at her breasts, but said nothing. If anything, it turned on the warm, professional smile Noah anticipated with situations like these. Wasn’t that more reassuring than a nervous young lady who didn’t know what to expect? Maybe some men got off on that, but not him. Noah Gabriel may not be of the other extreme, which asked for the kind of enthusiastic consent that ricocheted off the walls and wrote their own dedication pages in their personal memoirs, but he knew what a woman looked like when she was scared of a potential sexual encounter. No. Way.
Nothing got him soft faster. Not even the knowledge that his parents had once slept together to makehim.
“Good evening,” Noah greeted. He almost forced a smile, but didn’t want to look like a fake-ass loon. Better to present his guest with the silver serving tray. “Hope you’re well.”
Lucy cleared her throat before speaking. “Mr. Gabriel…” She glanced down at the pot and cup in front of her. “Tea?” Her question was incredulous.
“Thought you might like something warm on a day like this.” Noah didn’t wait for her to invite him into a room he owned. He nudged past her, making for the sitting area over by the electric fireplace and TV. This time, the television was off. No Monica. No Chandler. Definitely no Joey. “I know it’s a bit late to have caffeine, but…”
“I don’t mind.” Lucy closed the door. She was smart to lock it. “Not like I have to get up early in the morning.” She hovered near the coffee table as Noah sat down and poured a cup of tea. Only then did he realize he was missing a cup. “Unless you need me to.”
Noah had been distracted by the fact he had not thought this visit through very well.Much like most of my life this past week.“What’s that?” he asked.
Lucy’s icy demeanor slightly melted as she closed her eyes and let out a soft snort. “Unless you need me up early… for… something.”
Noah was back up, rifling through the cupboard by the minifridge. He found a coffee mug. Close enough. Lucy could have the teacup, and he’d be content with a mug. “That should rarely be necessary. I usually have phone calls started around seven in the morning. Even on the weekend, I have to start my days checking on my company’s financials.” He offered her the cup full of hot tea as soon as he sat back down in a plush red chair. “They can wildly fluctuate from day to day. I’m sure you can imagine the very unsexy heart attack that gives a man.”
Although Lucy sat down on the couch near the chair, she was in no hurry to take the teacup. Instead, she poured the rest of the tea into the mug and sat back before finally accepting the cup. No sugar. No cream. Interesting. “Good to know. Thank you for the tea.”
They were silent as Noah stirred in his cream and sugar to his parameters. Not until he sat back up, rim to his lips did he realize how awkward this must have been for Lucy, who held her teacup in her lap and kept one eye on him.
“You look lovely,” he said. “I hope the clothes in the closet are to your style. The woman who supplied them assured me they were all in fashion this year, but I can’t say I know much about that.”
“You mean you’renotat the forefront of all things high fashion?” Lucy took another sip of her tea. “I’m shocked, Mr. Gabriel.”
“Yes, well… never had much of a reason to care. When you’re a man, the only thing you concern yourself with is a suit that fits well and a haircut that doesn’t send the investors screaming from the room.”
“No manbuns for you?”
Noah stared at her as if she spoke another language. “Excuse me?”
“You don’t know what a manbun is?”
“No… I suppose I don’t want to know.”
“It wouldn’t look good on you, anyway. It rarely looks good on anyone.” Lucy groaned into her teacup. “Last two guys I dated in New York were hipsters with manbuns… they smelled like weed.”
That’s a level of information I was not expecting.Noah placed his mug on a coaster near the corner of the coffee table, but did not lean back in his chair. “Now, hipster… there’s a word I know.”
“Wait. You don’t know manbun, but you know hipster?”
“Are they related?”
