Confiscating Charlie (2 page)

Unfortunately, his old self was homeless. Noah hadn
’
t bothered to keep an apartment in the States since he
’
d been traveling so much. His real estate agent was looking for one in Manhattan, with little success. The market was too crowded.

But despite that he was second guessing staying at the summer house. He hadn
’
t seen the staff here in years. And their curiosity seemed to be getting the better of them
—
they were all watching him a little too closely.

He knew better than to suspect the staff would spy on him for his father. Henry wasn
’
t popular enough with them for that, so Noah could put up with their interest. They were simply surprised to see him. The novelty would wear off in a couple of days and they
’
d stop peeking at him from behind the curtains.

And as long as his father stayed away in Asia on business then he was spared another lecture on picking a direction in life and following through on it. The only reason Henry hadn
’
t written him out of his will was due to the Harvard Business Degree Noah had earned before taking up his racing career.

Noah
’
s racing sponsors had been unhappy to hear he wasn
’
t coming back, but he hadn
’
t been under contract, so they had no choice but to deal with it.

At the moment they were offering him an absurd sum of money to come back. He was one of the most popular young faces on the circuit, and he definitely had the most female fans. But he had no intention of racing again. There was nothing new there for him. Once his sponsors accepted that, they
’
d soon find a replacement. Noah had only been with them for a few years, burning up the track and cementing a winning reputation in his first year.

Before that, he
’
d been a semi-pro surfer for a few months, and prior to that, a beach bum. At twenty-two, he
’
d worn a lot of hats. But never a suit.

He might have to rethink the suit. Since he
’
d left the hospital, Noah had been seriously considering his cousin
’
s offer. He didn
’
t want to work for any of the family businesses. And although managing one of Calen
’
s clubs sounded like fun in theory, he suspected he would soon grow bored. But Damov Industries had its fingers in a lot of pies, some of which included manufacturing.

Alex had emailed him some early drafts of a next-generation hybrid engine Sergei
’
s company was developing that looked interesting. Noah wasn
’
t an engineer, but he did know engines. The idea of helping bring that one off the drawing board had a lot of appeal. But borrowing on Alex
’
s friendship with Sergei to actually get the job didn
’
t sit well with him.

“
Going to get another beer!
”
Sammy shouted from across the pool.

Noah repressed a sigh. Sammy didn
’
t need another one, but as long he didn
’
t throw up in the pool, or cut his fucking hand open on a broken bottle, there was no need to get on his case. The last thing he wanted was to have to start policing his dumb-ass friends.

His bottle was light. Swigging the last bit, he raised his head and called out to Sammy through the open kitchen door to bring him a refill. When Sammy didn
’
t reply, he tried again. A few minutes passed. Swearing, he stood up and headed to the kitchen.

The sight that met his eyes stopped him in his tracks.

Sammy was leaning against the cabinet, effectively trapping a young girl in a schoolgirl uniform against the counter. Belatedly, he recognized the Dalton Academy crest, his alma mater, embroidered on her shirt pocket. The plaid skirt was also in their colors.

The girl had dark hair and full rosy lips under a pair of huge glasses. But the thick frames weren
’
t enough to obscure her fine features or the glow in her skin. And while her face was lovely, it may have paled in comparison to her body.

She was tall and lithe with long legs, and full breasts. The skirt wasn
’
t all that short, but it was apparently short enough to give Sammy ideas. The stranger must have had some insight into what those were because she looked terrified.

Shit
. This must be Darla
’
s little sister. What the hell was her name?

Suddenly, Sammy swooped in to steal a kiss. The girl grimaced and put her arms up, trying to push him away. The poor thing was trying to get her head as far away from the drunken idiot as possible. The little whimper that escaped as she did it prodded his conscience sharply.

“
Okay, shithead. That
’
s enough,
”
Noah said, stepping up to haul Sammy away with a rough hand on his shoulder.

The jerk gave him a drunken smirk as he swayed on his feet.
“
I was just saying hello.
”

Exasperated, Noah shook his head.
“
Can
’
t you tell you
’
re scaring her, you stupid fuck?
”

He glanced at the girl and swore under his breath. Her big brown eyes had filled with tears. She was blinking rapidly, trying not to let them fall. When her eyes made contact with his, she looked away. He tugged on Sammy
’
s arm, pulling him farther away. As soon as she had enough room to avoid touching them, she bolted out the door.

Sammy, the idiot, tried to follow her but Noah grabbed him by the shirt collar and shoved him out the back door.

Noah glanced back in the direction the girl had taken, but decided against going after her. For now. He would apologize later, after she had a chance to collect herself. In the meantime, he would get rid of his guests.

It had taken a lot longer to get rid of his jackass friends than he
’
d intended. Dusk had fallen when he finally made it up the stairs to look for Charlie.

Charlie Sutton. The housekeeper had told him what her name was. It was a nice name, he reflected as he made a right at the top of the stairs.

He didn
’
t know where her room was, but he knew his father. Henry would have put a teenage girl as far from the master bedroom as possible.

Even though he knew his father wasn
’
t likely to be nominated for any parenting awards, it was still a little hard to believe that he and his new stepmother had left Charlie completely unsupervised when they went off to Asia. Especially considering that the business trip was slated to last more than a month. He could only guess what his new stepmother thought about it.

Well Charlie is over eighteen
. And it wasn't like they could pull her out of school every time his father went on a business trip.

Noah knew exactly when he found the right room. It had a sparkly pink C embedded in the white paint. The bedroom was smaller than the others, but if memory served, this room had one major benefit. The double doors led to one of the large balcony terraces overlooking the ocean.

He knocked. When nothing happened, he pressed his ear to the C. There was a faint sound of running water. He cracked the door a few inches.

“
Hello?
”
he called out.

There was no answer. He opened the door wider and walked into the room.

Wow
.

Inside, his eyes were assaulted by the bright pink shade of the walls. It looked like someone had sprayed Pepto-Bismol over them. It was awful. To make matters worse, the room was dominated by an overly large princess bed that crowded the space.

Oddly enough, the posts were naked, as if someone had stripped them of the flowing curtains they were supposed to bear. He could still see a forgotten ribbon tied to one of them. A simple cotton comforter was stretched over the mattress and a white desk had been squeezed against the wall next to the balcony doors. It was covered in piles of thick textbooks next to a bookshelf so crowded, the supporting slats of wood bowed under the weight.

Despite the personality suggested by the color of the room, they weren
’
t any movie star posters or any makeup or perfume on the dresser. Just more books. Aware he was snooping, he stepped father into the room. The water was still running. He walked to the open door of the bathroom.

Charlie was at the sink brushing her teeth.
Vigorously
.

Shit. He sincerely hoped she hadn
’
t been brushing all this time.
“
Charlie?
”
he called out.

She spun around, toothbrush in hand. She had taken off her glasses and changed out of her school uniform into a plain cotton nightgown. The dress was an ankle length shift that flowed around her loosely, showing no hint of the lovely shape underneath. It was like something from another century, but somehow it looked right on her.

Charlie
’
s eyes were wide as they took him in. Her cheeks reddened, and he felt like an intruder.

“
I
’
m sorry to barge in here like this, but I wanted to apologize for Sammy. He
’
s an asshole sometimes, but when he drinks, he acquires a case of terminal stupidity, too.
”

Charlie continued to stare at him, frozen with her toothbrush in hand.

Her mahogany colored hair gleamed under the light, contrasting with the creamy ivory of her skin.
She really is stunning
. He honestly couldn
’
t blame Sammy for stealing a kiss.

When she remained still, Noah thought he was probably intimidating her. He tried to make himself smaller by crouching a little.
“
Hi, by the way. I
’
m Noah.
”

Charlie blinked.
“
I know.
”
She twisted and turned off the water tap behind her before turning back to him.
“
I
’
m sorry. You surprised me.
”

Glad that had done the trick, he pointed to the toothbrush and tried not to wince.
“
I hope that
’
s not because of what happened earlier.
”

Charlie
’
s face fell, and he felt like crap. She waved the toothbrush.

“
I shouldn
’
t be making this big a deal about it.
”

He walked up and put his hands on her shoulders.
“
You don
’
t have to feel bad about feeling bad. He shouldn
’
t have touched you. Hell, he shouldn
’
t have breathed on you with that nasty beer breath.
”

One corner of Charlie
’
s mouth twisted, but it wasn
’
t a smile. To his dismay, she started blinking rapidly again.

“
Oh no, don
’
t do that,
”
he said helplessly, patting her awkwardly on the back.

Charlie covered her face with one hand and shook her head slightly.
“
I
’
m being ridiculous.
”

“
No, you
’
re not,
”
he insisted.

“
I am
. But
—”

Noah frowned.
“
What is it?
”

She sighed.
“
It was my first kiss,
”
she said in a small voice.

Fucking hell. How was that even possible?

“
Really?
”
he asked with a disbelieving scowl.

Charlie looked at him and then quickly away. Making an effort to smooth his features he apologized.

“
Sorry. It
’
s just hard to believe. You
’
re so...
”

He didn
’
t finish, but Charlie blushed anyway. A little warm himself, he removed his hands from her shoulders and took a step back so he wouldn
’
t crowd her.