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His eyes darkened, and sparks of anticipation danced over my skin.

I started to lean in, but I didn’t make it even halfway before he grabbed my arms and extricated himself from my grasp.

“Go to bed, Carina.” His voice was colder than ice.

He walked out. The door slammed shut behind him, and I was left standing there, more confused than ever.

“You felt it,” I said. “Don’t tell me you didn’t.”

A muscle feathered in his jaw. “That has nothing to do with what’s happening now.”

“Doesn’t it? I like my job. I like Evie, and I even like you when you’re not being an ass. But you’ve been acting hot and cold toward me since that trip, and I can’t spend the next month walking on eggshells around you. It’s not productive for our relationship.”

I was met with stony silence.

I could force him to keep talking about it, which also wouldn’t be productive…or I could nip our problem in the bud right here, right now.

Be proactive. Take action.

A plan slowly formed in the murky corners of my mind, and my pulse fluttered like a hummingbird against my veins. The liquid courage I’d been searching for at the bar must’ve finally hit. That was the only explanation for the wild idea racing through my head.

No, not wild—reckless. Incredibly so. And dangerous and stupid and all the bad words that were applicable to this situation. I really should know better after the Danny Lee disaster. I had a terrible track record when it came to discerning men’s interest (or lack thereof).

But I’d vowed to take more charge over my life, and this was my first test. Was I going to wait for Noah to act, or was I going to take matters into my own hands? After two and a half extremely strong drinks, the answer seemed obvious.

“I have a solution,” I said. “One that technically doesn’t violate our contract terms if we go into it with a mutual understanding of its purpose.”

Noah’s brows pulled together into a questioning V.

If my friends were here, they’d scream at me to stop. Hell, sober me would probably scream at me to stop. But alcohol and sheer frustration had a way of drowning out caution, and I met Noah’s gaze head-on as I clarified, “We kiss and get it out of our systems, once and for all.”

CHAPTER 17

NOAH

“I’m not trying to seduce you. It’s not a romantic thing, which is why it doesn’t go against our contract terms,” Carina continued, oblivious to the absolute havoc she’d wreaked with her suggestion. I could barely hear her over the sudden roar in my ears. “Let’s not even call it a kiss. Let’s call it…an experiment.”

“An experiment.”

“Yes. My hypothetical—I mean, hypothesis is that one kiss will cure this weirdness between us. There’s tension because of the unknown. But once it’s known, then it won’t be, uh, unknown.” She spread her arms. “See? Problem solved.”

“No.”

Her face fell. “Why not?”

“Because you’re drunk.”

It was a repeat of the conversation we’d had in Budapest. Except this time, I didn’t have the same strength of willpower I had back then. The past month with Carina had eroded it piece by piece, and I was already inches away from crumbling.

She raised a finger. “I’m tipsy. There’s a difference. I have full use of my mental facilities—I mean, faculties. I think that’s right? The point is, I’m one hundred percent aware of what I’m doing so you wouldn’t be taking advantage of me or whatever. It sounds weird, but I think it’ll work.”

My head pounded. I should’ve stayed home. Every time I visited the Angry Boar, I ran into trouble—and she was standing in front of me right now, looking so damn good that I was tempted to throw caution to the wind and give her what she wanted.

One kiss to get it out of our systems.

It sounded like something out of one of those rom-coms Evie was always begging me to let her watch. In theory, it sort of made sense. In practice, it was bound to backfire.

I was already on edge from watching her flirt with Samson. Hearing him ask her out and seeing her wear his fucking jersey had been my last straw.