Page 25 of The Keeper

Our gazes lingered for a second too long before we both looked away. She stood and grabbed her bag from the couch. “I should head out. I’m going to say bye to Evie first but, um, thank you for letting me finish the documentary and for listening to me blather on about penguins.”

“You’re welcome. It was…” I paused. “Fun.”

That earned me another smile, and I had the unsettling feeling that I would let her blather on about anything she wanted, for as long as she wanted, if she kept looking at me like that.

“Good night, Wilson.”

“Good night, Vu.”

I stayed in the den until I heard her footsteps disappear. Once she was gone, I closed my eyes and took a deep, steadying breath.

Get your shit together.

This was why I hadn’t wanted to hire Carina in the first place. She did all sorts of strange things to my head.

At least her position wasn’t a live-in one. I only had to see her for an hour or so every day until the end of the season.

I could handle that.

Definitely.

CARINA

“‘I don’t mind if you call me by my last name, as long as I get to call you by yours?’ Seriously? So stupid,” I muttered under my breath.

I ignored the woman side-eyeing me on the Tube and replayed my conversation with Noah for the dozenth time. I wanted to die of embarrassment each time.

He probably thought I was some penguin-obsessed freak who knew way too much about dinosaur erotica and couldn’t come up with a witty retort to save her life.

Why had I insisted on calling him by his last name anyway? I hated when people did that.

I groaned and gently banged my head against the wall.

The woman pursed her lips and sped-walked to the opposite end of the train. Must be a tourist. Most Londoners wouldn’t blink an eye. Whatever. I was too busy spiraling to care what some stranger thought of me.

Toward the end of my conversation with Noah, when we’d both gone quiet, I could’ve sworn I felt the same spark I’d felt in Budapest. But I’d been delusional about his intentions last year, and I was being delusional about his feelings toward me now.

Noah had made it crystal clear that he wasn’t interested in anything related to romance. It was literally written in black and white, and I was going to stick to our contract. I had to.

An image of his face flashed through my head.

My stomach swooped, and I grimaced.

At least it wasn’t forever. I only had to see him for an hour or so every day for the next seven weeks.

I could handle that.

Definitely.

CHAPTER 10

NOAH

I couldn’t read dinosaur erotica without thinking of Carina. That was how much our interaction on Monday fucked me up.

One minute, I was reading about the carnal relations between a billionaire brontosaurus and his human bride (against my will, I might add). The next, I was picturing myself and Carina in their place. Except we were both human, obviously.

It was, to put it mildly, disturbing. So much so, I closed the book and didn’t pick it up again until I arrived at the Blackcastle Book Club meeting at Adil’s house that Thursday.