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“You’re sensing right.”
My heart was hammering like mad. What did this mean? Was he just looking out for me? Fulfilling his part of the deal? If we were going to be partners in the education center and not in any other way, well... this would be excruciating, honestly. He still hadn’t come closer to me. He’d also made no attempt to kiss me, or otherwise seduce me with that eye thingy. But he’d sent me all those cute and thoughtful gifts. So where did we stand?
Chapter Thirty-Two
Paige
I was required to stay indoors for most of the day, overseeing the floor replacement as well as calling the most promising candidates from the pool of educator applicants. But even so, I was aware every time Will was in the same room. Since that happened more often than was necessary, I’d concluded he was purposely forgetting tools or “needing” a glass of water.
But then again, I was peeking out the window as often as I had the chance, so who was I to judge?
In the afternoon, after I’d made a shortlist of candidates, I went out in search of Will. I thought we could decide together which ones to interview in person. I found him in the back of the yard, next to a freshly painted section of the fence. He was guzzling down water. His eyes were closed, so I took a second to shamelessly and unapologetically let my gaze roam over him, taking in the way his throat moved with the shape of water, the way his chest expanded with every breath.
Damn, how could he look even sexier after a full day of work? Wait... he had worked? He was only supposed to supervise. He was still recovering. But he had a few drops of green paint on his jeans, and there were no workers on this area of the fence. I stalked toward him, careful to stop at a safe distance.
“Will, what’s this?”
He blinked his eyes open, giving me a lazy smile. “Your freshly painted fence.”
“You were supposed to just supervise.”
He took a step closer, blowing my safety net to smithereens. Being this close to him and not knowing where we stood was torture.
“I have a tendency to misbehave, Paige. You should know that by now.”
There was no escaping that dark, all-consuming gaze, but I tried my best. I focused my attention on the stack of papers in my arms.
“I’ve sorted out the best applicants and selected my favorites. Want to go through them to give me your opinion?”
“That’s your domain, boss,” Will said.
“Now I’m the boss? How about when I say you’re only supposed to supervise?” I made the mistake of looking up.
“I didn’t say you’re the boss of me, Paige.”
He’d leaned into me a bit. I hadn’t seen it, but I’d felt it, and now all I could think about was feeling his hands on my skin, his lips on mine. Did he still want that? He had to, right? Or he wouldn’t be here.
But then he took a step back, motioning to the house. “I still have some things to finish out here. I can look over them later.”
I nodded, my chest tight. Was that a brushoff? What else did he have to do? The workers were gone. Resigned, I returned to the house, holding the résumés against my chest. I wasn’t sure what was happening.
I stayed in my temporary bedroom, sitting cross-legged on the bed, plugging in my headphones. I listened to music as loudly as I could, drowning out thoughts of Will as I went through the résumés. I was determined not to look outside again. I had no idea how long Will wanted to stay, but I had to leave in three hours anyway to meet Mom for dinner.
Later, as I reduced the volume, intending to get ready for the outing, I realized I had three missed calls from Mom, and called her right back.
“Hey, Mom. Did you decide where you want to eat?”
“Honey, didn’t you see the message I sent you last night?”
“No, sorry. It got buried in a million other messages. Why?”
“I’m sorry, I have to cancel. Something came up with one of my friends, and I can’t make it in time.”
Mom was leaving me high and dry? This wasn’t like her, especially since I’d told her what had happened with Will.
“Okay. No problem. Take care of your friend.”
“I’ll do that, and we’ll reschedule soon, okay?”
