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Noah stood up and offered her his hand. "Sophie, may I have this dance?"
She was taken aback, and she stammered, "Um, sure. I mean, yes, of course." She put her hand in his and he squeezed it lightly, smiling down at her.
"Noah, I thought we weren't showing off publicly," she whispered.
"We're not. We are dancing, that is all." He looked down at her and smiled. "Relax, smile and dance. Oh, and try to enjoy yourself while we're at it."
He gathered her in his arms, embracing her tightly. Before she realized it, they were moving around the dance floor in a fluid and elegant, yet completely sensual way.
Only Noah could make a waltz look sexy.
She felt like she was dancing the tango, the way their bodies moved together, in complete synchronicity, resonating their desire and yearning towards each other. The rest of the world fading away, leaving them in a sensual bubble of their own making, a bubble she never wanted to leave.
Her head rested on his shoulder while they danced, his fingers brushing the small of her back in a comforting caress, while holding her in a strong grip close to his body.
She felt protected and safe. She felt like she belonged. Like she could relax her guard and nothing bad would happen to her because of it.
For the first time in her life she dismissed the outside world. Behind her closed eyes nothing else existed, nothing but Noah and her.
His clean masculine scent surrounded her in a room full of pungent perfumes. She took a deep breath and burrowed closer into his arms.
They sat back down at the table after the slow dances ended and the quicker music began. Noah pulled out the chair for her and helped her get seated, she said thank you and caught a glimpse of Andrea's frown before she covered it up with a smile.
"So, big bro. No date tonight? Did Baywatch run out of inflatable Barbies?" Andrea asked with all seriousness.
Both Sophie and Adrian were taking a drink when Andrea spoke and they almost spurted their champagne all over the table. They were coughing trying to catch their breath.
Sophie couldn't believe she just said that. She looked at her best friend, conveying with her eyes "What, are you crazy!?" but for once the silent communication they were known for didn't work. Andrea was avoiding meeting her eyes.
"Andrea!" Her aunt exclaimed.
"What? Oh, please." She waved her hand as if it didn't matter.
"As if none of you had noticed his dates are usually fake, like literally fake. You know, pop there goes the boob…oops, I meant the balloon." She smiled innocently. Trying to convey her sincerity.
She failed miserably.
Her aunt's face was flaming red. It would be comical on any other given occasion, but the tension around the table could be cut with a butter knife. Everyone was waiting for Noah's reaction. He wasn't known for his tolerance or a sense of humor for that matter.
Sophie dared a glance in his direction, but she couldn't decipher his expression. It was either shocked or pissed off with a hint of incredulous surprise.
She felt his hand squeeze her thigh in reassurance.
He looked at Andrea with a slight smirk and shook his head.
"What crawled up your skirt little sis? No, on second thought, don't answer that. I don't wanna know." He squeezed Sophie's thigh one more time and stood up, readjusting his tie and buttoning his suit.
"I am going to go say hello to some people and when I come back, this, will have moved on to other topics." And his word was final. Everyone around the table knew it better be.
"What the Hell was that, Andrea?" Sophie hissed when Noah left and was out of earshot.
"What?" She shrugged her shoulder as if unaware of the hornet's nest she stirred moments before. Hell, shook and kicked of a tree was more like it.
"You know what! That was totally disrespectful. And in public no less." Sophie shook her head.
"We may joke around, but not like this." She whispered.
"Whatever." Andrea said dismissively, then narrowed her eyes at Sophie.
"Why don't you tell me what was THAT on the dance floor. Hmm?!" She accused.
Sophie swallowed, looked her in the eyes and lied.
"That was called dancing. I believe it was a waltz. You might have heard of it." She responded sarcastically.
"I'm talking about the way you were almost humping each other in the middle of a very crowded dance floor. So, double eww." Andrea attacked.
"Oh my God, seriously? We were not… humping, for crying out loud. You're lucky I love you and your brand of cray-cray. Otherwise." Sophie shook her head in mock exasperation.
She felt guilty for lying to her best friend, but she knew Andrea would never understand and would definitely play the best friend card in order for Sophie to stop seeing Noah. If she would even forgive her, that is.
"What brought this on?" Sophie asked.
"I don't know. I guess all the pressure I've been under is getting to me, and seeing you and Noah all chummy on the dance floor just sealed the deal and brought my bitchy side out. Sorry Soph, I didn't mean to imply." She said, squeezing Sophie's hand.
"That's ok." She clasped her hand back.
"Wait, what pressure? Has something happened that I don't know about?" She questioned, wrecking her brain for signs Andrea was acting differently in their latest interactions.
"Oh, you know, just planning this whole party, making sure everything was perfect and keeping up with school and Adrian. It's just a lot for one person to handle. And you know our last assignment in class, brutal doesn't begin to cover it." She sighed.
First. Huh?
And second. Huh?
The assignment in class they shared, and they put it mostly on hold for the party, or at least Andrea did, Sophie almost finished her part already, because she knew she would end up doing half of Andrea's too.
And as for the planning of the party, she and Noah did most of the heavy lifting, so to speak.
They went to all the appointments, arranged the catering, the cake, the flowers, the venue, Noah had his wine guy make special labels for the bottles to commemorate this occasion; each guest would also get a bottle to take home as a gift.
Andrea did arrange the music and other entertainment and the sitting chart, although Sophie helped with that, as with the décor.
The lighting and other technical stuff were handled by another of Noah's guys.
So again, huh?!
"Oh, you poor baby. How in the world have you managed all of this all on your own. You must have some super-duper powers." She said, lightly tapping Andrea's hand in commiseration.
Andrea looked at Sophie and heat flushed her cheeks.
"Ok, so I didn't do it all on my own. I had help." She looked at Sophie again.
"Lots of help." She smiled.
"Have I said thank you?"
"Nope." Sophie squeezed her lips shut to stop herself from laughing.
"Thank you."
Andrea leaned in and hugged Sophie tightly. They embraced each other for long moments. And all was right in the world.
Sophie shook her head at her best friend. Andrea was super smart and incredibly kind but she could be a little ditzy, and self-absorbed on occasion. She tended to forget that there were other people in her universe.
Adrian interrupted their "love fest" and asked Andrea to dance. Sophie smiled at him in thanks and he gave her a slight nod in return.
She took another sip of her champagne and felt little tingles of awareness crawl up her neck. Her conversation with Andrea forgotten and a whole new other sensation began manifesting in her awakening body, overpowering her perplexed mind.
She looked around and noticed Noah watching her from across the ballroom. He was standing at the bar holding a glass of scotch, she assumed. The liquid seemed brown with cubes of ice inside, but she couldn't really see from so far away.
A very attractive man with blond surfer hair and a body to match, visible even through the expensive suit he was wearing, was standing next to him and was explaining something rather vigorously by the waving of his hands, even though one hand held a glass and barely missed spilling the liquid every time he flapped it around.
Sophie laughed, a little snort escaping her lips when he nearly spilled the contents of his glass on Noah's suit on the next go around.
She laughed even harder when Noah grabbed the glass and put it on the bar top. The surfer guy looked rather perplexed for a moment there, but then started laughing wholeheartedly.
Which made Noah crack a smile as well. The man smacked Noah's shoulder in a friendly gesture a couple times, and Noah didn't hit him back for touching him without permission or snapped at him for what the Hell he was doing.
No, he smiled and shook his head, as if he was used to the surfer guy's behavior. She hasn't seen Noah interact with his friends in years, not since his college days.
Nowadays she just assumed, wrongly apparently, he didn't have any close friends do to the fact he kept mostly to himself, screwed women and worked, not in that particular order mind you.
Noah turned back to Sophie and gestured her to come over.
She stood, straitened her dress to remove the cresses and walked towards him across the ballroom. She was stopped a couple of times by several gossipmongers who wanted to know how she was doing and what her parents were up to.
Sophie expertly dodged those questions with a few nondescript answers she developed along the years and moved forward, towards Noah and his friend.
"Hey." He said while his hand went around her waist. She was surprised, but smiled at the surfer guy who was watching them carefully.
"Hey yourself." She responded.
"Are you okay? I saw you were delayed a bit." The question follow up remained unsaid.
What did they want? What did they say to you? You seemed upset?
He knew her too well, even when she tried to hide her feelings. But they were not alone, so he would not ask more.
For now.
"Mhm. Fine. They just wanted to gossip." She shrugged it off as if it was of no importance, but he knew better and his eyes shone the knowledge about the unspoken words.
"Sophie, this is a good friend of mine, Alaric. Alaric, this is Sophie. I've known her since she was running around in diapers with my sister." He introduced them.
"Jeez, thanks for that explicit picture. You couldn't just say we've been friends for a long time?" She asked in mock reprimand.
Both he and Alaric laughed at her words and she smiled.
"Well, regardless of your diaper status, it's nice to meet you Sophie." He said with a hint of mischief in his eyes.
He offered her his hand, but before she had a chance to lift it he took it in his and kissed the back of it with a little bow of his head.
Sophie laughed and shook her head in exasperation.
"I don't know which one of you is worse. You." She turned to Noah.
"For starting with the diapers. Or you." Gesturing towards Alaric.
"For making it seem I still wear them."
Noah pulled a little bit on her waist, making them step back and effectively extricated her hand from Alaric's.
Alaric's eyes observed everything meticulously and those dark brown eyes missed nothing. She had the feeling every gesture he made, every action and word were carefully thought of before they were made. He was measuring Noah's reactions towards her.
Hmm.
Not so much carefree surfer guy she thought he was, but a calculating businessman of Noah's caliber.
Apparently there was a reason they were friends, they were very much alike, if her gut feeling was correct.
And for Noah to be so comfortable around him they had to be close, because the reserved public façade he normally wore around people who were merely acquaintances or those he did business with was missing.
Whoever this guy was, he was allowed to see the 'real' Noah. The Noah he was with family and close friends only.
He was also studying them. Her in particular, but also Noah's reaction to her. It was obvious she wasn't just a friend and for Noah to reveal their little secret to Alaric said a lot.
Not that either of them said anything, but Noah's arm remained firmly around her waist and his hand rested on her hip, his fingers lightly brushing the top of her ass in a soothing motion.
It did not go unnoticed.
Alaric's mouth quirked slightly as if he was fighting back a smile. He looked at Noah and something unspoken passed between them.
Something that made Noah's hand tighten around her and when she looked at him it made her blush profusely. So she stared at his chest instead. She needed to get a hold of herself or everyone at the party would know what was going on.
And she definitely didn't want that to happen. Especially if it got back to Andrea. She knew she was risking a lifelong friendship, but when she was with Noah she simply didn't allow herself to care.
They created a bubble of sort around them, where no one could penetrate and no one had an opinion on what they were doing and no one disapproved of them. They could talk about anything and anyone. It was just Sophie and Noah. It was carefree and fun and most of all without judgment.
Call her crazy, but Sophie wanted to remain in their little bubble for just a little while longer.