Luke was immediately blown away by the sheer natural beauty of Mauritius Island below, as their seaplane coasted in over turquoise water. Mountains rose up against a pale sky and the forest beneath appeared thick and mystical.
He turned to Noah. "What are they growing down there?"
"Sugar cane. It's a major part of the economy - apart from tourism."
"I take it you haven't come to harvest cane?"
Noah hadn't told him much of anything over the course of their long flight. He'd buried himself in work, while Luke watched movies from the extensive inflight film library all the while trying to avoid thinking about the mess he'd left behind in Los Angeles.
Right now, Luke noticed Noah's expression cooling both in regard to him and the sea view. However, the director's arm stretched around the back of Luke's chair, reassured Luke that he was still a welcome addition to Noah's trip.
But Noah wasn't a man who shared private or work details of his life with anyone.
Apparently being in his bed for one night didn't give Luke the right to ask any questions.
"My meetings have nothing to do with us," Noah commented as if that was all that needed to be said.
The resentment Luke had been trying to suppress since Noah had high-handedly made a pretty major decision for him reared up. What made it even worse was that Luke knew he'd brought this all on himself by hiding from his problems for months.
Except it wasn't only about that. It was to do with the intimacy, having this knowledge of Noah now; and realizing that for Noah it wasn't the same thing.
Suddenly angry with himself for being so ridiculously needy, he jerked around. "Damn you, Noah Mayer! I don't need to be rescued. . . by you or anyone!"
Noah had removed his jacket somewhere over the African Coast; .and he had looked more relaxed over the last hour, with his shirt sleeves rolled up. Gone was the corporate type preoccupied with making phone calls and pouring over a pile of documents.
Now he sat forward, tension in every line of his body. "Is that what you think this is?"
"What else is it?" Annoyingly, Luke's body began quivering. He usually never lost his confidence when confronting people. But with Noah...
"How about me ensuring this isn't a one-night stand, which I assumed was upsetting you. Something, I might add, I never meant to do in the first place."
"Good luck with that." Luke stuck his nose in the air. "Because once we land, I have no intention of sharing your bed."
Luke knew he was being ridiculous, acting like a spoiled child. But everything about the situation made him feel diminished somehow . It was like Noah was holding all the cards in a game Luke could never hope to win.
Noah regarded Luke as if he was speaking another language. "I'm beginning to think this isn't about me, Luke. It's all about you. I'm also starting to realize that the men you've been with before now have treated you badly. And now you automatically expect the same of me..."
Feeling cornered, Luke froze.
"That's none of your business," he said shortly. "I haven't asked you about your past exploits, of which I hear there have been many."
"Maybe," an unruffled Noah responded.
Luke snorted. He didn't want to think about Noah's dating record.
Luke's tally was pretty tame, although Noah didn't have to know that. His handful of boyfriends consisted of a visual artist, a poet, a writer and a classical musician... the last ending in an expensive disaster over a year ago. Luke's roll in past relationships had always been centered around material support and emotional strength. He was, in effect, what he had always been in his relationship with Damian - the grown-up.
In the end, every last one of his relationships had floundered on the rocks because deep down what Luke craved was a man who could match him in strength of purpose... But oddly, this kind of man - a man like Noah - also was a type Luke had always avoided like the plague.
In Luke's case, he could always call the shots - hold the purse strings. He could keep himself safe from heartache by being independent - and strong.
Which was making all this with Noah so very scary. This man beside him, looking at him as if Luke were a puzzle he was determined to solve, was everything Luke's instinct told him to run from. Dominant, wealthy, definitely calling the shots, and right now, Noah held the purse strings, too.
None of that would really matter, except Noah filled Luke's thoughts and took over his body and made him feel in a way he had never experienced.
Luke was vulnerable when it came to Noah. He had been from the moment he'd set eyes on the director. Why else had he slid into Noah's car and abandoned his usual inhibitions in Noah's bed?
For the first time, Luke was allowing his heart to feel optimistic about a connection with another person.
Not that Noah would understand all that. Luke doubted Noah had ever been vulnerable about anything.
"I have some rules," Luke said, smoothing a hand through his hair. "I expect you to follow them"
"This ought to be good," Noah smirked.
"Don't patronize me, Noah. I want separate rooms."
Noah regarded Luke as if he'd suddenly grown two heads.
Luke cleared his throat. "I feel..." he paused to better organize his thoughts. "I don't feel like your equal when I'm around you."
Luke didn't want to be one of Noah's shiny new toys - like that Dodge he'd wanted to score at the auction.
"I'm not some toy for your amusement, Noah!"
Noah frowned. "A toy? In what way have I ever treated you like that?"
"'You don't need luggage. You don't need clothes. You won't be getting out of bed,"' Luke imitated sourly.
Noah's expression of pure male bafflement would have made Luke laugh any other time. Right now Luke just wanted to hit him.
"It was a joke, Luke, I swear!"
Luke looked away, staring blindly through the plane's porthole, at the same view that only minutes ago had held him spellbound.
"Well...just don't do that anymore," he muttered.
"Sorry?"
Luke jerked his head around. "I don't like being treated like some kind of arm candy. Like I'm a thing for you to play with and control. A trophy on a shelf? Remember that?"
Noah remained silent. He was examining Luke's face as though trying to decipher some difficult equation. "Have you finished?" he finally asked.
"No," Luke lectured on. "Not in a million years did I expect to be here in Mauritius with you today."
"Luke, I told you... I was flying out to Mauritius already. So I don't see how you could have known. I mean... I know you didn't plan this or anything..."
"No, I'm not that sort of person."
"What sort of person?"
"One who freeloads."
Noah threw back his head and laughed, the sound rich and warm.
"I'm glad you find this all so funny," Luke said stiffly. "I on the other hand find nothing about this situation funny."
Fed up, Luke folded his arms and averted his face. Still in Noah's old clothes, he felt creased and wilted and at a total disadvantage.
While Noah found it funny and had everything under control - as usual!
"Luke," he spoke patiently, the amusement still in his voice. "I'm sorry for not telling you I was going away."
"Apology accepted," Luke said stiffly, wondering if they could start everything all over again, with him being sexy and playing hard to get. Even after he'd spent the night with Noah; and stepped on that very seaplane without much protest. He didn't want Noah to see this side of him - frustrated and sulky because things weren't going his way.
"For the record, Luke, I know you're not a freeloader."
Luke made a dismissive gesture with one hand, keeping his eyes averted.
"I mean..." Noah kept pressing his case. "I admit that I did consider it at first. I have to in my position. But when I found out your grandmother was Lucinda Welsh, of Worldwide Enterprises, I realized that you could have been bailed out financially at any time."
Luke looked over at Noah. "You had me investigated?"
Noah had the grace to look sheepish in response. "I am sorry about that. But I have to do it with every new acquaintance. I have to be careful, Luke. Don't you see? Everything I am... Everything I've built and fought for over the years depends on me being guarded. Can you understand that?"
Luke shrugged it off. "I guess."
"I just have to ask," Noah began before pausing, as though he were nervous to pursue the thought. "Does the way you're being now have anything to do with your father?"
Luke raised grim eyes to Noah. "I don't talk about him. Ever!
Noah continued to regard Luke for a moment before inclining his head. "I understand if that's what you want."
It wasn't. Luke wanted to cry and bang his fists and complain about Damian and the mess he'd left Luke drowning in. But none of that was Noah's business or concern and Luke wasn't laying more of his troubles at Noah's feet. He'd dealt with everything on his own so far. He could carry on doing so.
Except he wasn't dealing with it. Instead, he was winging his way over the coast of Africa with a man, who both delighted and terrified him in equal measure. All because somehow, Noah could see through the facade to the man underneath, the mess that was Luke Snyder.
Those defensive measures against the impossible weight of debt and the expectations he had laid upon himself to keep his family legacy intact were stretched nearly to the breaking point. The stress of it all was causing Luke to lash out. He also knew one of the reasons those defense mechanisms was no longer working had something to do with the man sitting beside him. Noah had opened up vulnerabilities in Luke he was having trouble confronting.
In that moment, Luke understood why he'd cried in Noah's arms.
Luke had read the puzzlement and frustration in Noah several times as Noah had witnessed some of Luke's biggest problems, and it was getting harder to hide them from Noah.
Luke suspected it was one of the big reasons he'd not had a relationship since Damian's arrest - why he'd put distance between himself and his friends. He didn't want people to see him falling and losing control.
He should have been putting distance between himself and Noah - especially when Noah was being so mysterious about exactly what they were doing there. The problem was, he couldn't separate his mind from his body. His emotions were involved, as his night with Noah proved. If he slept with Noah again, he was going to open up more of himself and there would be consequences.
"So these mysterious meetings," Luke attempted to change the subject. "Are they going to take up all of your time?".
"Not entirely," Noah smiled at Luke, as if he understand Luke was finding it all difficult. "I can, however, promise you won't be bored, Luke."
"No?" Luke snipped, knowing exactly what Noah was implying. "I'm sure the island offers many attractions to tourists."
Unexpectedly, Noah tugged gently on the rogue curl Luke could never keep out of his eye, sliding it carefully behind his ear. "Still fighting, ha, Luke?"
Luke looked away, out of the window at the land coming ever closer.
No, I'm not fighting you Noah - and that's the problem.