Perfectly Inappropriate Page 5

  She accepted the flowers, took a big sniff of a daisy, and smiled. “Flowers are a sure way to make me smile. Thank you.”

  He nodded, shoving his hands into his pockets.

  She swallowed against the sudden urge to move closer to him. Noah had this magnetizing thing she’d never seen in anyone before. Maybe that was why he was such a good senator and the public loved him.

  Instead of following what her body wanted, she went in the opposite direction and entered the galley kitchen with white cabinets.

  “Is this your apartment?” asked Noah, as Olivia grabbed the vase out from beneath the kitchen sink.

  “No, it’s Paige’s, the woman you met with me in the restaurant.” She turned on the faucet and started filling up the vase. Yawning, she placed the back of her hand over her mouth. “I’ve been living here with her since my engagement ended.”

  “I see.”

  The curiosity in his voice had her turning off the faucet and glancing over her shoulder. Noah stood next to the window staring at one of the dozens of framed black-and-white photographs on the bookshelf. Olivia smiled, grabbing the scissors out of the drawer. Paige had always been Olivia’s number one cheerleader over the years. She had even supported Olivia’s dream to become a street photographer wholeheartedly, until Olivia realized how hard that dream was to bring to life.

  Noah studied each picture intently before moving on to the next one. “These photographs are incredible,” he finally said, glancing over his shoulder with intrigue glistening in his eyes. “Did Paige take these?”

  “Nope, I did. Paige just likes to display them all.” Olivia looked away to open the bouquet and began cutting the stems. Talking about photography was harder than talking about Cameron.

  She heard Noah’s footsteps move toward her, then his finger tucked under her chin, lifting her face up to his tender stare. “You’ve got a terrible habit of hiding. Why do you always look away when talking about yourself?”

  “Because I don’t like talking about myself,” she said straightforwardly.

  He gave a gentle smile while removing his hand from her face to cross his arms. “Good thing we aren’t talking about you exactly and are discussing the photographs. You took them?”

  Feeling like if she looked away, she’d be declaring weakness, she met his gaze straight on. “Yup, some are recent, some not.”

  “Is photography your career?”

  “I wish,” she explained. “It’s more like a hobby.”

  His head cocked, eyebrows drawn. “Why just a hobby? You’re clearly talented.”

  “Well, thank you,” she said with warm cheeks. “But as it is, making a career as a street photographer is incredibly hard. Like most creative careers, it’s a long hard struggle before you make it.”

  “Did you try to make it?”

  She shrugged. “It’s a really tough business to get into, so no, I never gave it a real shot. When it came down to my career path, I made the smart choice and got into graphic design instead. Technology is where the money is.” Or at least that’s what Cameron had always said.

  “Hmm,” Noah said.

  She gave a soft laugh. “Is that a good hmm or a bad hmm?”

  “Sometimes a hmm is just a hmm.” He moved to the photographs on the wall now, examining each one slowly. “These look different than most black-and-white pictures I’ve seen.”

  “That’s because they’re shot with film, not a digital camera.”

  He glanced over his shoulder. “Why shoot with film; isn’t that a bit dated?”

  “To some.” She shrugged again. “But not to me. Shooting with film and then processing the film makes the photographs seem more tangible…more real.” She added another flower to the vase. “Plus, it trains your mind and eye to shoot once because you can’t take a hundred shots in a minute. You need to think quickly and act even faster to get that perfect shot.” When he smiled at that then looked to the photograph again, she added, “But in all honesty, film gives the photographs a vintage effect that I appreciate. It blends light and color in a way that digital cameras just can’t do.”

  “Interesting,” he said.

  She finished cutting the final flowers, and when she reached the last daisy, he said, “It’s a shame that you never pursued this avenue further. I’ve been to a few photography art shows for charity events and your work could be among them.” He cocked his head, studying one intently. “You capture emotion in a way I’ve never seen before.”

  Curious about what picture he was referencing, she carried the vase over to the kitchen table, leaving it in the center, then joined him. Spying the picture that caught his eye, warmth immediately seeped through her, understanding what captivated him.

  The day she took that shot in Manhattan had been blistering hot, busy as usual, until one couple stood out among the sea of people. They were probably in their early seventies. The man was wearing an older suit. The woman wore a flower-patterned sundress with a cute hat and white gloves. At the time, they had looked so out of place, and yet completely perfect too. It was like old New York City had met modern New York City. While their clothing had caught Olivia’s eye at first, when the man turned to help his wife step onto the curb, Olivia’s camera had caught something different.

  Something so much more important.

  “This photograph is why I love street photography,” she explained, crossing her arms over her pajamas again. “It’s the split-second moments that I capture that maybe no one else sees. That’s what I love. I like finding those special moments that all those people on the streets of New York City missed that day.”

  Noah glanced over his shoulder, and his voice thickened. “That’s really beautiful, Olivia.”

  “What’s beautiful is these moments.” She grabbed the frame and stroked her finger over the photo. “In that second of time, this couple didn’t even know they were surrounded by a typical busy day in Times Square. Nothing else mattered to them but each other. Two people who maybe had been in love a long time, or maybe only a short time, but right in that moment it was only them and the love between them. That’s the beautiful stuff to life, isn’t it?”

  His back straightened then. Hands stuffed in his pockets, he regarded her intently.

  She laughed nervously. “What?”

  “I meet thousands of people in any given week,” he finally said after a loaded moment. “For the most part, people are the same. Their reactions are the same. Most times, their thoughts are very similar.” He moved closer, the distance all but vanishing between them, and electricity charged the air. “You, Olivia Watts, are not the same.”

  Her scalp prickled under all that he implied. She quickly glanced away, knowing she did exactly what he said she did—hid whenever someone looked too deep. But she didn’t want anyone looking inside.

  It was messy in there. Broken, even.

  Like he’d done before, he gently tucked a finger under her chin. The silence felt weighted and time passed painfully slowly until she met the strength in his eyes. Strength that was so easy to fall into. But she’d trusted before, and her judgment had clearly been off.

  This time, he didn’t comment on her hiding. Instead, he closed his mouth over hers and her mind silenced at the power of the kiss. An embrace that wasn’t about heat. No, this kiss felt packed full of emotion and she felt the intensity of that power right down to her bones.

  When he broke away, he stroked her hair then tucked it behind her ear. “Go get ready.” Leaving her there, he moved to the couch, grabbed the People magazine off the coffee table, and crossed an ankle over his knee. “I got us a reservation for breakfast in a half hour.”

  She shook her head, forcing her mind to catch up. “Whatever happened to my meeting you at your penthouse tonight?”

  He stared down at the magazine in his hands. “I changed my mind.”

>   “But we’ll be with people…you know…in public.”

  His eyes slowly rose to hers, and he arched an eyebrow.

  Right, she’d learned quickly enough that Noah didn’t like to repeat himself. Truth was, neither did she.

  * * *

  —

  Just over an hour later, Noah’s stomach no longer rumbled, now full of eggs Benedict and hot coffee. Olivia’s yogurt parfait glass bowl, along with his dishes, had been cleared off their white linen–covered table. He’d been to Bloom House, an elegantly understated American restaurant, for breakfast many times. Set next to the table were shelves lined with vintage wine, and the entire restaurant was designed to cater to wine lovers, even though they served a stellar breakfast too. Though the only thing in the restaurant that Noah had been paying attention to was the woman across from him. Olivia wore a soft pink skirt and a white blouse, which matched perfectly with the cherry blossoms in the vase behind her. He couldn’t take his eyes off her.

  He’d learned this morning that it took a full cup of coffee for Olivia’s mind to wake up completely. She was the odd combination of realness and cute sassiness. A combo he didn’t know he liked until he’d met her. Those photographs she had taken remained heavy on his mind. There had to be more to that story, and that’s exactly why he’d surprised her this morning. He wanted to find out all there was to know about Olivia Watts, and what appeared to make her so different than every other person he’d met.

  A few hours a day with her was simply not enough time. She intrigued him immensely. Enough, in fact, that he had broken a cardinal rule: Do not go out in public with a submissive.

  And yet…there he was. In public. With her. All because it felt natural to do so.

  Some men questioned their instincts. Noah was not among them. His instincts had paved the way of his life.

  Even so, he couldn’t help but notice her glancing around all through breakfast like something was going to jump out and bite her. “Is there a reason you look ready to bolt?” he asked after taking a sip of his coffee and placing the mug back onto the saucer.

  She leaned forward and whispered, “Aren’t you afraid that someone is going to take a picture of us?”

  He chuckled. “And what exactly would they do with the photograph? Bore the media to death with the fact that I went for breakfast with someone?”

  She shrugged, still glancing around. “You like your privacy, so I just thought—”

  “I am private when it comes to my sex life,” he gently explained, bringing her attention back to him. “The media has no interest in who I date.” To completely reassure her, he added, “I’m not a celebrity, Olivia. No one really cares what I do unless it involves a scandal. Then everything changes.”

  Her eyes searched his. She finally gave a resigned sigh, leaning back in her seat. “Okay.”

  He wanted her to relax. To be at ease. Like she’d made him feel at ease all through breakfast. He’d discovered he enjoyed listening to her. “I’ve been asking questions about you all morning,” he said, wanting her to know him as well. “Why don’t you take a turn?”

  She reached for her coffee then took a sip before asking, “Tell me about your parents.”

  Of all the things to ask him, he thought it telling she asked about family. “My father was the governor of New York for two terms.”

  She placed her mug down. “Oh really? That’s exciting.”

  The honest surprise in her eyes made him curious. “You didn’t know about my father?”

  Olivia gave a cute shrug, her cheeks turning pink. “I hate to admit this because you’re a senator and all, but I’m not into politics. I know the things I know because Paige is crazy about all that stuff.”

  It’d been so long since he’d met someone who didn’t know of him or at least his father. He liked that about her. She wasn’t in his world. “Well, I know nothing about graphic design, so how about we call it even?”

  “That’s fair.” She laughed.

  He returned the smile, enjoying the sweet sound of her laughter. “My father retired after his second term. Now he, and my mother, spend their summers in the Hamptons, and the winters in St. Barts.”

  “Sounds fancy.”

  “Believe me, it is,” Noah agreed with a nod. “The Grant family comes from old money. My father is rich because of my great-grandfather’s business sense. He knew how to invest, what to invest in, and that instinct paid off.”

  She sipped her coffee again before asking, “Did politics start with your father then?”

  Noah nodded, right as the waiter sidled up to their table. “Will there be anything else?” he asked.

  Noah glanced at Olivia. She shook her head, so Noah turned back to the waiter and said, “No, thank you.”

  The waiter handed Noah the bill and he paid with his credit card using the debit machine. When he handed the device back to the waiter, the man smiled. “Enjoy the rest of your morning.”

  Once he’d hurried away to deal with the table across the restaurant, Olivia barely skipped a beat, and continued their conversation. “Are you close to your parents?” she asked.

  “I’m very close to my mother, Audra.”

  “And your father?”

  “He’s a Grant. He works. That’s what we do.”

  “Sounds exhausting.”

  “On the contrary,” Noah said. “It’s thrilling.”

  “Winning an election is thrilling, you mean?”

  He nodded and grinned. “I do love to win, yes.”

  She sipped her coffee again then set it back on the saucer. “I suppose you’d have to be very career-minded to snag a senator spot.”

  “The two go very much hand in hand.” He smiled at an elderly woman across the restaurant who was waving at him before turning his attention back to Olivia. “Truthfully, politics is all I knew growing up. In our house, we lived and breathed the political game. Parties, events, it was all to further my father’s career. And it was all I knew.”

  “The parties must have been amazing. The biggest parties I went to as a kid were my birthday parties.”

  He gave her a smile, thinking she had probably been a cute kid. “We had those too, only on a larger scale, I suspect. It was a good way for my father to schmooze with the people he needed to get on his side.”

  She hesitated and cocked her head. “So the kids there weren’t your friends?”

  He paused, considering how to phrase his life compared to hers. “I would imagine my friends are different than what you have with Paige. Friendship is there, yes, but it’s there because of who I am, and who they are to me. They are relationships that exist because we need each other.”

  At that, she frowned. “You don’t have any childhood friends?”

  “My childhood friends, high school friends, college friends, they are all people who intertwine with politics in some way.” He hesitated to gauge her reaction then chuckled softly. “You look like you’ve eaten a lemon. It’s not nearly as bad as you think. I’m surrounded by good people. Yes, not all, but most are kind-hearted people. I guess the only way to explain it is that business is very much intertwined in my personal life.”

  She paused, sudden awareness filling her eyes like she finally realized something. “Which I guess makes sense for why you signed up for the app. I couldn’t figure that one out, because you’re”—she gave him a good once-over—“you. But I guess now I understand why your interests would be difficult in your life.”

  “Precisely,” he agreed with a nod. “I like rules. I need privacy.” He leaned forward, brushing his fingers across her arm. She shivered, and his cock twitched. “I like meeting women who need me in the way I need them.”

  She gave him a knowing smile. “In a manner that you control, you mean.”

  He dipped his chin. “Not an unusual trait for a dominant.”
>
  “I suppose not.”

  She took the final sip of her coffee and he wiped his mouth with his napkin, then left it on the table in front of him. He didn’t have a plan for what to do next, but he suspected she’d want to go home and gather her things before they did anything more. He’d rushed to see her this morning without thinking everything through. “Come on, let’s get out of here.”

  As she rose, a masculine voice called her name.

  Noah glanced up just in time to see Olivia go unnaturally still. “Cameron. Hi.”

  “Hey,” the man said.

  It didn’t take much to realize who Cameron was. The ex-fiancé.

  Olivia still had yet to move, barely even breathing, it seemed. Noah studied the man who’d broken Olivia’s heart. He saw the appeal that Cameron would have to a woman. Without a doubt, he’d been the good-looking jock in high school that every girl wanted.

  Noah knew he should stay back and let them talk. Regardless of what his mind screamed at him, he found himself moving in next to her, sliding his hand possessively over her back.

  Olivia jumped at Noah’s movement, glancing at him with wide eyes. All of which he totally understood. But once, Cameron had made her feel alone. Noah felt drawn to ensure she didn’t feel that way now.

  He offered his free hand to Cameron. “Noah Grant.”

  “Ah, ya, I know who you are.” He returned the handshake, harder than necessary. “Cameron Kline.”

  Noah grinned at the challenge and held on to Cameron’s hand until he let go. Yeah, they were basically taking out their dicks and measuring. All of which was fine by Noah. He was confident he’d win that too. To make a point, he put his back to Cameron, being as dismissive as Cameron had been to her. “Shall we go enjoy our day?”

  Olivia nodded and smiled, albeit tightly.

  Turning to Cameron again, he took Olivia’s hand and said, “Cameron,” with a condescending tone he hoped got under the bastard’s skin.

  “See ya,” Olivia said, her voice shaky.