Page 95 of More Than Just Friends

‘Ah, cool,’ I said. ‘Do you have any more of these please? I’d love to take some to…’ I paused.

Shit. I hadn’t thought this through.

I was about to say that I wanted to take some to my room to give to Noah. But if I did, maybe snoopy Sammie would think it was suspicious.

No. It was fine. I knew they were Noah’s favourites, so I wanted to bring some to him. It’d put a big smile on his face, so it’d be worth it.

‘I’d love to take some to my room later,’ I added. There. Short and sweet.

‘You haven’t even touched the starters yet and you’re already asking for a doggy bag!’ Sammie laughed.

‘No problem.’ The Cuisine Champion nodded. ‘I will box some up for you. Come and see me when you have finished and you can take them away. Enjoy.’

She left the table and we all got stuck into the extensive selection of food, piling everything onto our plates.

‘So,’ Stella said, once she’d finished chewing one of the fritters, ‘how’s the Love Hotel’s experiment going with you? Sammie was a bit tight-lipped about it when I asked her earlier, then she had to dash off.’

Sammie and I looked at each other. I wasn’t sure whether I was allowed to say anything. And I also wondered whether it was a good idea to tell Stella. The mood right now was all super positive with lots of stories about love and how brilliant the hotel was at bringing couples together, so introducing a tale about a match misfire wasn’t exactly a good conversation topic at a pre-wedding lunch.

‘The Gordon family curse has struck again,’ Sammie jumped in. ‘Her match was a muppet, but the good news is, Ali’s bestie, Noah, also took part in the experiment and because his match didn’t work out either, now they’re spending time together…’ Sammie cocked a suggestive eyebrow and my stomach tightened.

I hoped she wouldn’t start banging on about us hooking up. Especially because little did she know, true to her prediction, we had.

‘I remember Noah!’ Stella said. ‘You two have been friends forever, right?’

‘Yeah.’ I shuffled in my seat nervously.

‘And he’s the one Sammie is convinced is your Mr Right?’

‘Yep!’ Sammie jumped in, before her head swivelled to the right. Her eyes popped, then a wide grin spread across her face. ‘Speak of the devil. Noah!’ She waved. ‘Come and say hi!’

My head spun around and as I saw Noah on the other side of the terrace, I swallowed hard.

The man looked like a god. I instantly wanted to run over, wrap my arms around his body and kiss him. It’d only been a couple of hours since our lips were locked, but it felt like months.

Crazy.

We’d gone our whole lives without kissing and now I missed his lips more than a person drowning needed oxygen.

When I saw that he was wearing the T-shirt I’d bought for him in Mykonos, my stomach fluttered with a mixture of happiness (because he must like it to be wearing it in public) and raw desire as memories of our night there together popped into my mind.

At the time of buying it, the slogan ‘Mykonos Made Me Do It’ seemed like a bit of innocent fun. But since then, it’d taken on a whole new meaning.

And damn, it looked good on him.

Talk about the perfect fit. It clung to his firm chest and accentuated his muscular arms, without looking too tight or try-hard.

As he strode over to the table, I caught myself swooning. Then I quickly remembered that I was supposed to be playing it cool in public. If I wanted to keep this under wraps, I couldn’t start giving Noah heart eyes. Otherwise, super spy Sammie would guess in a heartbeat.

Even before Noah reached us, his rich woody scent surrounded me and I was reminded of how amazing he smelt – especially close up, when I had my head resting on his chest or nuzzling in his neck.

Those thoughts would’ve been the most sensible place to stop. But instead, my mind was instantly filled with filthy flashbacks. Especially when he greeted me.

‘Ali.’ He smiled and a full technicolour vision of his head between my legs growling about how good my pussy tasted flooded my brain. Promptly followed by the memory of how feral he’d sounded when he came and called out my name.

‘H-hi,’ I stuttered, telling my mind to stop showing me highlights from my Noah porn reel.

‘Sammie.’ He smiled. ‘Ladies. I’m Noah. Ali’s friend.’