"Me? In love with Tiefenbacher?" she scoffed with sarcasm as she emptied her glass. The idea of her being in love with Noah is laughable. "I'd admit the guy is sexy as hell. I would love to have a taste of him any time of the day but in love? Huh!"

"Well you can't blame me for thinking that you are in love with your virginity thief because you can't get over the bastard," he smirked at her. He watched her start to drink her wine faster the moment he opened the idea of her being in love with Noah.

"There were things that happened that night. That's all," she said in a barely audible tone.

"I wonder, but I won't ask." he turned his attention to the fiery sunset on the horizon.

"Also, the bastard is everywhere. I tried avoiding him but he was very persistent." she clicked her tongue when she recalled the incident in the laboratory the other night.

She hid from him by going to the laboratory later than usual. But now that he knows what time she goes to the laboratory, there is no way for her to hide from him. Still, she would rather have another laboratory encounter with him at night than work at the same hours with her classmates.

Besides, working with Noah in the laboratory at night wasn't so bad. She smirked at the image of Noah doing everything she would ask him to do. A Ph.D. in Microbiology, he said. She wondered if the girls who were all aiming for his ass knew about him having a Ph.D.

Noah is like a sly chameleon. He blended well in his surroundings. One of the reasons why she didn't ask the friend of a friend who reported to her about him snooping around her personal information.

It is unclear to her what kind of person Noah is. The fact that he was interested and had the manpower to discover her family that she meticulously hid, revealed to her that Noah was not who he claimed to be.

He has a secret. She is itching to know what but her hands are tied now that he knows her secret. A tight smile curled up at the corner of her lips. Tiefenbacher is becoming a problem that she never saw coming.

"You are working at night. You won't meet him at the laboratory." Luke said nonchalantly.

"He caught me at the lab last night."

"Oh! You were alone with Noah last night?" he leered at her, "Do tell me what happened?"

"Nothing much." she shrugged her slender shoulder at him. A naughty idea came to her when she glanced at Luke. "I just asked him to take my clothes off."

Luke choked down on his drink, "Ohh, me likey. Please tell me more!" he turned sideways to face her. "Is that the reason why he was asking you for dinner?"

"Hah! I wish! But he said he just wanted to take me out for dinner as an apology for forgetting that we had already met."

"How boring!" he pouted. "What's the use of his handsome face if he is lame as my exes."

"Don't lump him with your asshole exes." she furrowed her eyebrows on Luke.

"Listen to yourself, Little Jessie! And tell me if my suspicion has no valid reason." he sneered with sarcasm.

"I'm not!" she denied vehemently. Her eyes were widened trying to make her point. "Fine! I will accept his dinner invitation. So, you could stop putting in your head that I have feelings for that bastard!"

"Yes, go! And let him know that you are not terrible in bed. That bastard virginity thief!" he said, goading Jess to do something she was denying herself due to pride. He grinned inwardly thinking that Jess was so easy to play around when you picked on her pride.

He prayed to every higher being in the whole universe for her not to fall into some manipulative bastard that would find out her weakness.

He was pushing her to Noah, simply because she wanted her to push him out of her system. Jess asides from being petty when it involves her pride also, easy to get turned off whenever she sees something she doesn't like about a guy.

He realized later in their friendship that the reason Jess remained a virgin until the bastard Noah relieved her of her virginity was that Jess had a standard of men higher than Mt. Everest. He wondered who was her yardstick when it comes to choosing men.

"Hello, Tiefenbacher."

Luke grabbed Jess's phone when he heard her say Noah's name. He was afraid that Jess would repeat the 'I am not terrible in bed' voicemail to Noah.

"Give it back!" she yelled at him, grabbing her phone back from his hand.

However, he is more than five inches taller than her, and with his arm stretched above his head, there is no way for Jess to get back her phone.

"I was just kidding Jess, don't call Noah. You don't want to make the same mistake!" he told her, moving away from her.

"Give it back!" she said, jumping to grab her phone from Luke's hand. However, to no avail. He was way taller than her. "You're pissing me off, Luke!"

"You'll thank me tomorrow. Now get down from the table before you hurt yourself."

Jess, in an attempt to reach her phone from Luke's hand, gets on the table. But he stepped inside the apartment, leaving her sitting on top of the table, ready to throw a major tantrum.

Noah on the other side of the line was clenching the phone on his ears listening to what was happening with Jess. His face is cold as a marble statue. 'This Luke Ravenport is getting under my skin. What the hell was he doing at Jess's apartment?'

"Antonio!" he walked out of his office to find his secretary who was in the kitchen murmuring on the phone with a stupid grin on his face. He heard him say a familiar name. He dropped his call the moment he saw him storming in the kitchen.

"Yes, boss?" he stood straight, arms plastered on his side, like a soldier ready to take on any order. The silly grin was gone from his face, Noah wondered if he really saw it.

"Find me everything you can find about Luke Ravenport!" he ordered in a tone so familiar with Antonio. Fear seeped on his bone upon hearing the tone he never wished to hear from his boss.