That one hit a little too close to home. Noah had to end this, now. “We went to a wedding. Charlotte used to work on weddings with Lyle’s wife. Stop reading so much into it.”
“You and your brother can be as coy as you like. I just want you to know that I’m watching.”
Noah sat up in his chair and plopped his elbow down onto the desk. “Is there something else you wanted? I have some work I need to get to.”
“No. Merely calling to make sure everything is okay. I worry about you and your siblings.”
No, you don’t. “Everything’s great.”
“Okay, then. I’d like to meet my future daughter-in-law at some point if that’s possible. That’s a courtesy your brother wasn’t willing to extend to me. I had to meet Kendall on my own.”
Another lie. Dad had met Kendall weeks before she and Sawyer were engaged, and only because he’d tried to buy off Kendall to spy on Sawyer or at the very least sabotage the reopening of the Grand Legacy. “We’ll see. I’ll let you know.”
“Have a good day, son.”
A low grumble fought to leave Noah’s lips. “You, too.” As soon as he hung up, he tossed his phone aside onto a stack of paperwork. He didn’t want to look at it again anytime soon.
Just then, Lily marched into Noah’s office and tossed a copy of one of the most infamous New York tabloids on his desk. “Page five.” She jabbed her finger into the headline then dropped down into the chair and crossed her legs. Even when she was obviously mad, she was ridiculously hot. Last night had been torture. He’d been so close to taking her home.
“I’ve already seen it. I told you we should’ve kissed each other goodbye.”
Lily dropped her chin and shot him a pointed glance. “Don’t make this my fault. We wouldn’t have had that argument in the first place if it hadn’t been for your former lady friend stopping by for a visit.”
Noah took one more look at the paper. He and Lily were both attractive people, but it was amazing the unflattering angles the paparazzi were able to capture. He hated the tabloids. That much was official. It didn’t even matter anymore that they were what had brought Lily closer to him. Now they were driving her further away.
“I hate this, Noah.” Lily sat back in her chair, staring out the window, her head wagging slowly back and forth. “It’s too much. This is way more than we ever talked about.”
“What do you want me to say? It’s not like I can control this.”
“My neighbor saw this. The little old lady who lives down the hall from me. She was so upset and I had to convince her that we were still together, when the reality is that it’s all fake.”
Don’t remind me. This was getting to Noah, too. Being around Lily while she tried so hard to keep him at arm’s length was much worse than the misery he’d been experiencing before.
Sawyer poked his head into Noah’s office. “Did you guys see the story in the paper? Kendall showed it to me. Not good.” He stepped inside and leaned against the doorframe.
Noah didn’t get headaches often, but today was already an exception. “It gets worse. Dad saw it. And he knows we went to the wedding. He suspects something is going on with Hannafort. It’s only a matter of time until he finds out. My worry is that it’s going to happen before everything is signed and he finds some way to interfere. For all we know, Dad was behind the tabloid video in the first place.”
Sawyer sucked in a deep breath, adopting his trademark look of concern. “It could happen, especially considering everything he did to mess with the Grand Legacy.”
“I also think Dad suspects there’s something off about my engagement to Lily. He could out us, easily.”
Lily’s gaze flew back and forth between Noah and Sawyer. “Do you think he could put the deal in true jeopardy? I haven’t done all of this extra work for that to all go south.”
Noah couldn’t for the life of him figure out what Lily wanted from him anymore, but he was starting to get a better idea. Between sticking up for the woman in the bar and now treating their fake engagement as nothing but work, it was clear that everything that had happened between them in Florida had meant very little to her. Noah was getting a taste of his own medicine and he didn’t like it at all.
“We have to do something,” Sawyer said. “Any suggestions?”
“I have one,” Noah said. “How about we not give the tabloids any more free material?”
Lily shot him a look so fast it could’ve sliced his head off. “That’s not fair. We can’t exactly control that.”