Devil's Plaything

Cat and Mouse

Mira froze, not expecting him to have so quickly realized that her friends were up to something. Noah watched her with unveiled irritation.

"I came alone," she said unconvincingly before she had time to think of a better response.

He smiled, but there was no humor in his eyes. He took a leisurely step towards her, and she stiffened. "I was told that you showed up with three other people," he spoke conversationally, but somehow it made him more intimidating.

She set her jaw, forcing herself to repress her nerves. If she showed a strong emotional defense, he could only do so much to get her to break. "Fine. I'm here on a double date."

He was caught off guard by that statement. "You're on a date with Sam?" he asked skeptically.

So, he didn't know yet. He hadn't seen her with Chad. "No," she said simply. Smugness made her stand up straighter. For once, she knew something he didn't. And it felt good.

He took another step forward, and her sense of superiority dwindled. "You're on a date with Charlotte, then?" There was a flare of dry humor in the statement which made Mira impossibly aware of how attractive she found his voice.

She gave him an unappreciative look. "I'm on a date with Chad," she retorted.

She expected that he might be caught by surprise again, but instead he seemed like he found something very funny. "Chad?" he confirmed, eyebrows lifting.

"Yes. Chad." She crossed her arms over her chest before she realized that the gesture probably made her seem too defensive. She lowered her arms instantly but crossed them again when Noah looked more amused by her correction. "He's honest, unlike some other men I know. And he's very open-minded." She was proud of her answer, mostly because it seemed to be true enough that she could say it with some conviction.

Still, Noah seemed unbothered. "How long have you known Chad?"

She tried to look just as aloof but probably failed miserably. "An hour. But he has certainly made a better first impression than you did."

Noah took another step. He was just over a foot away from her now, and he loomed a foot over her as well. "Did he kiss you, too?" He asked, his voice deepening. Mira could feel a blush creep up on her cheeks as his eyes moved down to her lips, and she remembered the feeling of their first and only kiss. Her silence proved more effective than her words when Noah's amusement stalled. "Did he touch you?" He asked, his flirtation turning into insistence. Even insecurity looked attractive on him, she realized with disdain.

She lifted her chin stubbornly. "Not yet," she said. He was the one who stiffened now. It gave Mira an inexplicable rush. "But I can't wait until he does," she added for extra measure.

Noah closed the distance between them. Mira's fight or flight instinct kicked in, and she tried to move past him. He caught her easily and caged her between his arms, pressing her back against the bathroom counter behind her. He was so close that she could see his pupils dilate as he searched her face with impatience as if he would find answers to his unasked questions there.

"Why are you trying to piss me off?" He demanded. He stood closer to her than she was used to, and she minded less in her tipsy state than her completely sober self might have. She picked up the scent of sweet liquor on his lips and realized that he had been drinking, too.

Her plan was working. His drinking and her goading him seemed to have made him completely forget about finding out where Charlie and Marci had gone. But she had to step up her game to keep the façade going. And, if she was being truthful with herself, she liked having a degree of control over his emotions, and she wasn't ready to let that sense of power go quite yet.