17. Noah

CHAPTER 17

NOAH

N oah looked up as Ryan entered his office without warning.

"Can I help you?" he asked.

"I thought you'd want to see this." Ryan held up a magazine in his hand.

"That's not Nova ," Noah said. "Their issue doesn't come out until tomorrow."

Ryan looked grim. "No, it's not. It's Flavor ."

Noah scoffed. "What do I want with some cheesy tabloid?"

Ryan tossed the magazine onto his desk. Noah recognized the person on the cover immediately.

It was Sophie.

She was in the baby aisle of a store; in one hand she was holding an infant onesie and her other hand rested on her stomach. Her face looked sad, most likely taken out of context by whatever sleazeball captured the photo.

Noah picked the magazine up, rage filling him as he read the headlines. "‘Birch's baby momma shops alone.' Those bastards! How the hell did they even find out she was pregnant? The whole point of announcing it this early was to avoid this kind of scandal."

Ryan shrugged. "You think Nova leaked it?"

Noah shook his head. "No, ruining my image would only tarnish both of our brands."

He flipped open the magazine to page seventeen and began to read.

Employee Slash Mistress Traps Billionaire

Noah Birch, Olympus City's most eligible bachelor, is reportedly off the market. His new girlfriend, Sophie Cain, is sporting a suspiciously large diamond on her left hand. Unfortunately, we can confirm the rumors of their engagement. Not only that, Sophie was spotted, hand over stomach, in the baby aisle this past week. A possible explanation for Noah's sudden change of heart… or relationship status.

How did Sophie manage to get Noah to move so quickly?

… Love bomb or baby bomb?

"What the hell does that even mean?" Noah brows furrowing in confusion. "It's not like we were trying to hide the engagement. The only reason Nova didn't want to run the story so quickly is because they decided a shoot would be better."

Ryan appeared at a loss.

Noah ran his hand through his hair in frustration. "Jesus, they made Sophie out to be some sleazy social climber."

His cellphone began to ring and Richard's name popped up on the screen. Noah sighed. "I have to take this. See if you can find out who leaked these photos."

Ryan nodded and the door closed behind him just as Noah answered the phone. "Hello?"

"I suspect you've seen the story by now?"

"Only just," Noah answered. "Look, I don't know who leaked this photo but the Nova shoot was coming out tomorrow."

"You best hope it still does. The whole point of this was to display you as a family man."

"I know—"

"You put in eighty hours this week and it reflects poorly on you."

Noah was caught off guard. "You expect me not to work?"

"All I'm saying is that you should be taking care of your pregnant fiancée. Make it look like you're prioritizing her and the baby. Take some time off, play the family man. Do whatever you have to do to fix this or you can kiss that promotion goodbye."

"You got it, Dad. I'll talk to you later, okay?"

Richard didn't bother with goodbyes; he simply hung up the phone.

Noah curled his hand angrily around his cellphone. Play the family man? It couldn't be that hard. His own father was the master, after all, and Richard didn't have a paternal bone in his body.

He thought about what his father had said. Make it look like you're prioritizing her and the baby. Richard didn't give a damn about Sophie or his future grandchild. But he had been right; this would reflect badly on him.

What could Noah do to fix this? Just taking time off work wasn't enough of a statement. No, he would have to be seen out and about with Sophie, spending time with her and showing his involvement. He had to do something that would prove his commitment to his family. Find a way to paint her in a better light and not as his social-climbing mistress.

Plus, taking some time off would only allow him to keep his promise to Sophie about being there for her.

He felt horrible, praying she hadn't seen the tabloid yet, before he could explain. She wasn't used to this level of publicity, let alone the negative kind. He wished there was something he could do to force Flavor to retract the piece. But there was no point; the damage had already been done.

Noah thought about his hand on her stomach that day at the photoshoot. It had really hit him then, that there was a child growing inside her. Their child .

A feeling of protectiveness came over him.

How was he going to be able to protect Sophie from these things? Keep her and the baby safe?

He had an idea.

A few hours later, Noah met Sophie for cake tasting.

Surprisingly, he was in a great mood. He couldn't remember the last time he had taken time off from work. He still had to make arrangements for his absence but was already looking forward to it. Having a small vacation would only make his promotion more fulfilling when he returned full-time.

By the look on her face when he arrived, he knew she hadn't seen the article yet. Suddenly, he wasn't sure if he was happy to be the one to break the news.

He had been running a few minutes behind. Sophie was already seated with the woman who ran the bakery when he walked in, an array of cakes laid out before them.

"Sorry I'm late," he said while taking his seat.

"No worries, we haven't started yet," Sophie assured him.

The bakery owner went over all the different types of cakes, pointing to the names attached to the toothpicks in each slice. Then she proceeded to show them some photos of previous wedding cakes she had made in the past.

Sophie agreed that they would need to order more than one cake due to the size of the guest list. They decided to keep the main cake small, just for their family and friends, and have a larger one for the rest of the guests.

Sophie stated that she wanted the fondant to be a baby blue with white roses and lace decorations. Noah had no objections. He was happy to see that she was getting more involved with the planning.

The baker left them to taste-test on their own, assuring them they were welcome to take the slices home, but Sophie refused, saying they needed to start crossing more things off the list.

Sophie offered Noah a fork and they dug in, commenting on each one and rating them out of ten. Sophie kept a pen and paper beside her to mark down all their favorites.

"Did you know that red velvet is just chocolate cake dyed red?" he pointed out.

"That can't be true," Sophie laughed.

"I swear it is." He held his hands up in defense.

"What makes you the cake expert?" She raised a dark brow at him.

Noah smirked. "I might not be an expert in baking but I am pretty good at pi—"

Sophie clamped a hand over his mouth. "Do not finish that sentence."

Noah froze. He didn't know why he had said that. That was so stupid!

But then Sophie laughed, her hand coming off his mouth to hold her stomach. "Piping? Seriously?"

Noah laughed. "It's all in the wrists." He winked.

"You're completely foul. You know that, right?" But she was still laughing.

Noah played at a frown. "I do," he admitted jokingly.

He liked hearing her laugh. There had been a comfortable nature to their relationship ever since the photoshoot. He wanted to make her happy for a few more moments before he had to drop the news.

Sophie's face fell. She seemed to notice his change in energy. "What is it?"

Noah clicked his tongue, trying to delay it for as long as he could. "I need to show you something."

Her face grew serious as Noah pulled out his phone to bring up the photo and article.

As she read it, her expression grew more distraught. She met his eyes. "Noah, I'm so sorry. I didn't think this would affect you."

"Sophie, I'm the one who should be sorry. For subjecting you to this level of public criticism."

She gasped, her eyes growing watery. "Your father. Did he see this?"

Noah nodded grimly.

"Oh God, Noah. I'm so sorry." Sophie rested her head in her hands.

He grabbed onto her wrists and pulled them free. "It's not your fault. It's mine. I promised that I would be there for you more and I haven't been. But I'm going to start, okay?"

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"I want you to move in with me," he said quickly.

Disbelief coated her face. "What?"

Noah repeated himself.

"Yes, I heard you the first time, I just don't really understand."

"I mean this is bound to happen eventually, right? Why not now?"

Sophie looked unsure of what to say.

"Look, I'm going to take some time off from work. I want to be here for you, just like I promised. I have extra bedrooms; we can turn my study into a nursery."

"Noah…"

"Why aren't you saying yes?"

"This is a really big step. Are you sure we are ready for it?"

He chuckled. "I feel like this is the tamest step we've taken in all of this."

Sophie smiled. "You're probably right about that. I'm just not sure your bachelor pad would be the best place to raise a child."

"Then let me show you. Come over tonight. Let me make you dinner and give you a tour."

"You're going to make me dinner?" She smirked.

He furrowed his brows at her teasingly. "I can cook, you know. I made you breakfast, remember?" He laughed. "Please?"

Sophie exhaled loudly. "Fine."

Noah smiled. "Great, I'll send Ryan to pick you up around seven." He looked back at the cake on the table in front of them. "I don't know about you but I like the red velvet. It feels sentimental in a way. Reminds me of us."

Us? Noah hadn't meant it like that.

"Why, because it's pretending to be something it's not?" She questioned jokingly.

"No," Noah said quickly. "Because we had it that night at Polly's. When you told me you were pregnant."

Sophie blushed. "Oh. Right. I'm sorry."

"Don't worry about it."

Sophie stood, "I'm going to go tell her which one we want. Might just give her a few more notes on the vision. So I'll see you tonight, all right?"

"Yeah, okay. I'll see you tonight." By the time Noah stood, she had already disappeared to go find the baker.

Noah stopped to pick up some things for dinner and texted his maid to do an emergency clean of his apartment. He wanted everything to be perfect when Sophie came over.

It was only three in the afternoon, so that meant he had a little over four hours until Sophie arrived. That was enough time to shower, cook, and have his place cleaned.

On the drive home, his mind settled on Sophie's comment. Pretending to be something they weren't? It was hardly a lie, so he couldn't be mad at her. They were pretending to be something they weren't, so why did it bother him so much?