Enchanted (The Accidental Billionaires #4)(11)

Look up, Noah. For God’s sake, look up.

It was like he thought that if he stopped working, he was going to jeopardize the well-being of his siblings.

What I couldn’t figure out was exactly why he felt that way.

Things had changed since the time he’d needed to work like a fiend to put food on the table.

But for some reason, Noah hadn’t rolled with those adjustments.

Time and a huge change in circumstances had just . . . passed him by. He hadn’t paid attention to any of it.

Honestly, even if all of the siblings hadn’t inherited an obscene amount of money, it would still be time for Noah to let go. His brothers and sisters were all educated or working, and all of them except Owen were married. But his youngest brother was now a doctor; he could certainly take care of himself.

“You’re young,” Noah answered stoically. “You’re not thinking about your own security yet.”

I crossed my arms over my chest and glared at him. “I’m not a ten-year-old kid anymore, Noah. I’m twenty-seven. Owen’s age. I’m only eight years younger than you are. Of course I’ve thought about my security. But I have enough money to survive my entire life without working if I need to do that. I don’t. I have a good career.”

“Doing what, exactly?” he asked cynically.

“I have one of the biggest travel blogs in existence about travel cuisine, and I’m a freelance journalist. It pays well. It’s enough that I haven’t had to touch my inheritance in years. It’s just growing.”

“So you finished your degree?” He suddenly sounded interested in how my life had turned out.

I took a deep breath. “I didn’t, actually. I had to take a break from school. After that, I traveled. I kind of fell into the whole blogger-and-journalist thing naturally.”

I didn’t want to talk about exactly why I’d dropped out of college, and obviously Owen hadn’t broken his promise not to tell anyone, either.

Noah crossed his arms over his broad chest. “So this is a working vacation for you, too?”

I smiled because he sounded so accusatory about me working when he wasn’t supposed to be doing it on vacation. “The travel part of it isn’t really work for me. And this is an unexpected trip. I love food, and I love traveling. It’s more of a passion. I got really lucky that way.”

“And you like that? Just flitting around the world and blogging about it?” His question was more than a little condescending.

Immediately, I went on the defensive. “First of all, I don’t flit. Generally, my trips are pretty well planned. Second, I don’t think it’s a crime to love what I’m doing.” Okay. Maybe a little too defensive. But I hated it when people made light of my career choice. I took my responsibilities about giving travelers good information very seriously.

To his credit, he looked immediately remorseful. “I didn’t really mean it that way, Andrina. I’m sorry. It’s not my place to criticize what you do for a living. As long as it makes you happy.”

“Andie,” I said in a stiff tone, not quite ready to accept his apology. “Only my parents call me Andrina, and I’ve always hated it.”

“Andie,” he said promptly. “Now can I have my computer back?”

I rolled my eyes. So much for that brief moment of remorse after he’d pretty much implied that I was a flake.

Pushing my personal injury aside, I tried to think of a way to help Noah. He had much bigger problems than I did at the moment.

I put my hand on the cool metal edge of the laptop that was sticking out between my body and the seat. “Not quite yet,” I mused. “We need to come to some kind of agreement first.”

Noah shot me a pained look, but I could sense that I was about to get the first of what I hoped would be plenty of concessions on this trip. “So your plan is to basically blackmail me?” he rasped angrily.

“I’d rather think of it as an agreement between travel companions.”

He glared at me. “You stole my computer, and you’re threatening to tell Owen everything that happens on this trip. Blackmail.”

“I’m just using what leverage I have,” I said coolly. “If you won’t look after yourself, then somebody should.” If achieving my goals took some unsavory tactics, so be it.

He was quiet for a moment before he answered. “That’s sure as hell not your job. It’s not anybody’s. I’ve looked after myself and my family for as long as I can remember.”

Yep. That was exactly the problem. “You’ve done well with everybody else except yourself,” I conceded.

“Give me the terms. I’ll negotiate a little.”

The tension I hadn’t realized I’d been holding in every muscle of my body slowly released. He didn’t sound happy, but I could live with that for now.





CHAPTER 4

NOAH



“How’s Mexico?” Owen asked enthusiastically after I picked up my cell phone later that evening in my hotel suite.

I was actually glad he’d called. If he hadn’t, I would have called him.

The little shit had gotten me into this mess; he could just get me out of it, too.

There was no damn way I was going to come out of this vacation sane if he didn’t do something.