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“Paige, if I asked you for something, would you do it?”
“If I could,” she says.
“Don’t come in this room again. Put your clothes in my closet. Don’t wait for Grayson, I’ll move them myself.” I knot my fingers around the comforter and wait.
Wait, because her answer matters more to me than it should.
More than anything, Winthrope included.
Her mouth answers with a crush of sweetness and such force my head hits the mattress again.
Fuck, do I love the way her tongue moves in my mouth, like she wants to inhale me.
I pull her on top of me and mold her body to mine.
She takes several ragged breaths before breaking away in a whisper.
“Done.”
One word from her heart-shaped mouth, and I’m grinning like a fool.
She’s agreed to share my room even after meeting Giselle Satan Brandt.
Maybe she would agree to my insanity? If only I’d let her.
Standing, I grab her and sling her over my shoulder.
“Hey, what? What are you doing?” She squeals and starts pounding my back playfully, kicking her long legs.
“Taking you to our room,” I growl, holding her tighter as she giggles.
“Ward, I’m so glad you chose me to—to be—”
I know what she means even if she can’t finish the words.
Smiling, I readjust her so I’m carrying her like a bride now.
“Yeah, sweetheart. Me too.” I set her on my bed, lie down beside her, and wind my arms back around her where they belong.
“Why did you come home early today?” she asks, twirling her hair in that way that murders me.
“You want the truth or a pretty lie?”
She pauses and stares, eyes lit like a purring cat’s.
“The truth, bossman. Never anything else,” she says.
“When you didn’t come back to the office, I knew something was wrong. I had no idea it was as bad as meeting my mother, but I know when you’re off.”
“So, you were worried? That’s adorable.”
I glare at her.
“No,” I lie.
She laughs and kisses me on the cheek.
“Are you sure that’s all she said? Picking at our arrangement? You were upset. I’ve never seen you so shaken, honestly. Worse than the day your ex showed up at the art gala.”
“She wished me luck—if we’re real. I know it shouldn’t have upset me so much. We’re not real, but I didn’t like how she acted. Like she couldn’t even fathom you choosing me. And I hated how she blamed Beatrice for basically everything.”
“She despises Grandma and always has. Mother blames her for the financial collapse she found herself in later on, and the divorce. If Grandma hadn’t cut them out of the trust, she thinks they’d still be married.” I shrug. “Who knows. Money’s all they care about. In fairness, Grandma knows about it, and approved of this arrangement. She even thought it’d be fun.”
And God help her, she was right, I think to myself with a smile.
“But it was Nick’s idea,” Paige says.
I love the way she wants to protect my grandmother to the end.
“It doesn’t matter whose idea it was,” I say. “I got the best end of the deal—spending time with a beautiful woman who cooks and kisses like a devil. Winthrope committing is almost just the icing on the cake.”
She grins. “Awww, you probably tell all the girls that.”
“Only the ravishing ones who kiss like sin made flesh.” I brush my lips to hers for effect. But she doesn’t back away and a second later, we’re joined in another withering kiss.
When we break away, Paige molds her head to my chest. “You asked for a favor. Can I ask you to return one?”
“Anything.” My fingers crawl through her silky hair.
“Don’t make me learn anything else from a chain smoker in a hotel lounge. No more big secrets, okay?”
Fair enough.
“She only knows what she reads. I agree, though, we’ve made it this far and you’re entitled to anything I know. I wasn’t hiding the engagement, Paige. I just don’t like reliving it. I keep hoping I’ll forget.”
I stare down at the rock on her finger, bizarrely wishing she’d let me put it there without an expiration date.
A wild fantasy, obviously.
Also, the way things went up in smoke with Maria should’ve been a lesson. Brandt boys aren’t meant to marry.
I can’t bring Paige into this mess. Can’t let family dynamics I was cursed with destroy such a good heart, one more fragile than her biting sass lets on.
My grip around her tightens.
I have to make the most of the days we have left, and then give her back to the happy life she deserves.
Nothing else is sane.
“I need the key to your apartment,” I say.
“Huh? You made me swear not to leave your room. And why would you need a key to my place?”
“You’ll find out tomorrow night,” I tell her with a wink.
In the morning, I give Paige’s key to Reese so she can take something hostage.
