Between Marriage And Merger

Extract (#litres_trial_promo)

Extract (#litres_trial_promo)

One (#u3ea596b3-0433-5051-8b11-16de5b69bbd4)

Lily Foster delighted in the idea of a wedding—two people so in love they vow to be together forever. The reality of a wedding, even as an observer, made Lily break out in hives. There she stood in the New York City Clerk’s Office, without the usual trappings of organ music or a minister or the bride in a flowing gown, and the nuptials still put her on edge. Her skin felt clammy. She couldn’t stand still. Her instinct was to run out of the building as fast as her pumps would carry her. But she couldn’t do that. She had to stay put. She’d been generously invited to the impromptu nuptials of her boss’s sister. Lily would’ve done anything for her boss, Noah Locke. To her own detriment, she adored him.

Still, for Lily, watching anyone get married was like unpacking a dusty old steamer trunk of miserable memories of her dream day that never was. When a woman has been left at the altar, no matter the reasons for it, she doesn’t forget it. Ever. And Lily’s world seemed hell-bent on dredging up the memory today.

“By the powers vested in me by the state of New York, I now pronounce you husband and wife.”

Tamping down her jealousy and choking back a sob of sentimentality, Lily watched as the bride and groom—Noah’s sister, Charlotte, and her new hubby, ridiculously handsome Michael, got lost in a passionate kiss. For that instant, she could feel the love between them. It was a life force that hit her from five feet away. Tears silently streamed down Lily’s cheeks. Charlotte, in a knee-length white dress that hugged her five-month baby bump, popped up on one foot, kicking the other into the air. It was like the cover of a fun contemporary romance. That was enough for Lily. She couldn’t watch anymore.

She pulled a tissue from her bag and dared to look at Noah, who was standing up for the groom. Noah wasn’t watching the kiss either. His hands were stuffed in the pants pockets of his slim-fitting gray suit. He was staring at his shoes, probably because they were beautiful and expensive, like everything in his life. Noah was a notorious playboy, so much so that the New York tabloids loved to play with him the way a cat bats about a mouse. Weddings were undoubtedly not Noah’s scene. Lily didn’t even need to ask.

It was no surprise that Noah chose to play the field. He was perfect—tall and trim, athletic but not muscle-bound, with expertly tousled sandy brown hair that was tidy around the ears and back, but a bit long on the top. His moss green eyes were hypnotic, or maybe it was the sum total of Noah that made Lily lose her words or her memory of what she was supposed to be doing. Noah was that guy. The one you can’t stop looking at. The one you can’t help but think about. Thankfully, Lily was beyond that for the most part. She’d spent the last two years training herself to ignore Noah’s beguiling features. She’d had no choice. As her boss, Noah was off-limits. Her job was too important. She was good at it, and even better, Noah and his brother, Sawyer, knew it.

Charlotte turned to Lily and Noah. Her newlywed smile took up nearly all the real estate between her diamond stud earrings. “Thanks for being our witnesses. Michael and I really appreciate it. I don’t know what to say. We just got a wild hair and decided today was the day.”

Michael leaned down and kissed the top of Charlotte’s head. These two were so adorable together it made Lily’s cheeks hurt. It also bruised her heart a little bit. She’d had an impossibly romantic love like that once. Or so she’d thought, but it had slipped right through her fingers, groom and all.

“Happy to do it. Congratulations.” Noah stepped in and kissed his sister on the cheek, then shook Michael’s hand.

Charlotte’s phone rang and she squealed, grabbing Michael’s arm and rushing out into the hall. Probably some famous well-wishers. The Locke family was known for their extensive connections.

“Want to grab a drink? It’s nearly five o’clock. No point in going back to the office.” Noah extended the invitation to Lily as if it were no big deal, as if she were just one of the guys, a role she suspected she would always have in his mind. He and Lily had done a few social things together, and they were always fun, but they filled Lily with pointless notions like hope and left her with sexy dreams, the kind where she’d wake up at 4:00 a.m. drenched in sweat and gasping for air. The sort of dream where you couldn’t bring yourself to open your eyes or get out of bed. You wanted to languish in it forever.

“It’s sweet of you to ask, but I think I’m going to head home, get out of these shoes and maybe do some reading.”

“Friday night. Headed to that bookstore you like? What’s it called?”

Lily’s favorite spot in the city was a bookstore specializing in romance novels. “Petticoats and Proposals. You know all my tricks, don’t you?”

“I try. I pay attention. It’s a long-lost art, you know.”

Their gazes connected and Lily’s heart took up residence in her throat, pounding like crazy. Boom boom. Boom boom. It was as if Noah’s eyes were magnetized, pulling on her, not allowing her to look anywhere else. She wanted to put the world on Pause and simply stare into them for a few hours. In between kisses of course. If she was going to slip into a fantasy world, she might as well make it exactly what she wanted it to be.

“It’s because I can’t stop talking about it.”

“I’m sure that’s not the reason.” Noah cleared his throat and looked away for a moment. “Thanks for coming today. Charlotte couldn’t deal with the wedding and the baby on the way. I’m actually happy for her. I wouldn’t want to deal with all of those plans either. It seems like such an ordeal and then it’s all over.”

“Yeah. Me neither.” Noah didn’t know the half of it. And no amount of paying attention was going to get Lily to talk about it. Some things were better left buried.

“Okay, then. See you Monday.”

“Yep. Have a good weekend.” Lily smiled and walked away. Exactly like it didn’t hurt at all to distance herself from Noah Locke.

* * *

Working with Lily, Mondays were always the hardest. Noah had endured a few days away from her, and his ability to keep himself together had worn off. Today seemed like an especially difficult start to the week. He couldn’t even look at her.

“You’re in early for a Monday,” she said, with her usual happy singsong. She was standing in his office doorway, undoubtedly stunning.

“Some emergency meeting about the Hannafort Hotels deal. Charlotte’s coming in for it, too. Not sure if she told you, but we’ve cut her in since she made the initial introduction.” Noah still hadn’t raised his sights, but he could see in his periphery that Lily was wearing her blue sweater. The blue sweater. The one that not only showed off every beguiling curve she possessed, but the one that really brought out her mesmerizing sapphire eyes.

“Oh. Okay. Let me drop my things, check email and I’ll be right in.”

“Sounds good.” As if the sweater weren’t bad enough, he couldn’t avoid her heavenly scent. The faintest trace of it floated in the air when she left the room—sweet and sunny, just like her. His iron will was going to have to work doubly hard today.

“Unless there’s something you need right now,” she added.

He could hear her drumming her fingers on the door casing. For a moment, he imagined those delicate hands unbuttoning his shirt, touching the bare skin of his chest. He had to stop that train of thought right there or he’d lose it. “I’m good. Take your time.”

With that, Lily disappeared from view. Noah sat back in his chair and a heavy exhale rushed from his lungs. This is becoming impossible.

Even after two years, Noah’s love/hate relationship when it came to working with Lily wasn’t getting any easier. He loved seeing her face every day, the way she lit up the office and managed to diffuse tense situations, but he hated how she could turn him into a blithering idiot. He hated being in enclosed spaces with her, like the elevator, where it took superhuman strength to keep from telling her how badly he wanted to kiss her. He hated having this all bottled up inside him. It wasn’t how he operated with women.

But if ever a woman was off-limits, Lily was. She was a dream employee, clever and capable, a quick learner who was also organized and meticulous. She was too valuable to Locke and Locke, the company Noah owned and operated with his brother, Sawyer. As Sawyer had said many times, Lily might be uncommonly lovely and smart and kind, but Noah needed to keep his tongue in his mouth and his eyes in his head. To compensate, he’d been letting his eyes and his mouth wander elsewhere. It helped, but only a little.

“Okay. I’m back.” Lily waltzed into his office and started straightening papers on his desk. She knew exactly how he liked things, and he’d never even had to tell her. She’d simply picked up on his preferences.

“Good weekend?” he asked, making small talk and sneaking a single glance. Her golden blond hair in a low twist brought attention to her lithe and graceful neck. He loved the naughty librarian aspect of it. He wanted her to peer at him over reading glasses and tell him to be quiet.

“The usual.”

“Friday night at the romance bookstore?”

“I can sit there for hours and get lost in love stories.”

He found it adorable that Lily was a bookworm. He, too, loved to read, but preferred nonfiction—history and biographies. He was not an incurable romantic like Lily, which was probably a big part of his attraction to her. He longed to shed at least some of his pessimism about love. Case in point, Lily had teared up at Charlotte’s wedding, even when the civil ceremony had none of the sappy buildup of a traditional wedding. Noah was happy for his sister, but he did not get choked up. The very notion of a wedding unnerved him.

Charlotte’s voice rang out from the hall beyond Noah’s office walls.

“Sounds like my sister is here.” Back to work. Noah stepped out from behind his desk and only allowed himself the smallest of glimpses of Lily in her black skirt. Studying the sway of her hips was a luxury he couldn’t afford.

“Morning.” Noah greeted his sister in the reception area, aka Lily’s domain. Charlotte came by the office now and then, especially since involving her in the Hannafort Hotels deal, but she usually only came at lunchtime. It wasn’t normal for her to be here first thing. She was always too busy running around doing real estate agent things, and lately, mother-to-be things.

“Did Sawyer talk to you about the video?” Charlotte’s voice had a frantic edge to it as she swished her long blond hair to the side and unbuttoned her wool coat.

“Sawyer’s on a call with Mr. Hannafort,” Lily chimed in, buzzing around the office, running the photocopier, answering phones. “He left a note on my desk and said he was not to be disturbed. I’m not sure when he’ll be done.”

Sawyer’s door opened and out he marched. His suit coat was off and his shirtsleeves were already rolled up like he’d been working for hours. This was not a good sign. It was hardly ten minutes after nine. “Charlotte, did you tell Noah about the news story?”

“I haven’t had a chance,” Charlotte said.

“She just got here.” Noah felt as out of the loop as could be. “Does somebody want to tell me what’s going on?”

“Hannafort saw it. He’s not happy,” Sawyer said.