by Amy Woods
“Goodness,” Rachel said, coming up behind her with the popcorn. “What in the world have we walked into?”
“I was wondering the very same thing.”
“We’re acting, Mom!” Owen shouted above the noise in the living room, nearly knocking Paige completely off her feet. She and her son shared a look across the room, and then Owen went on playing with the others as if a small miracle had not occurred.
On their way home later, Paige watched Liam’s face from the corner of her eye as he drove. She and Owen had stayed through dinner—Liam’s family had ordered pizza and refused to allow Paige to pay for it. Liam had offered to take the two of them home, despite the fact that her condo was only a few minutes’ walk from Rachel’s. He said he didn’t want them walking in the dark.
Rachel and Paige had shared a laugh at that because Peach Leaf was about the safest place in the world. The most interesting thing likely to happen if she and her son had walked would have been that someone would have stopped to give them a ride, but she was grateful all the same. It was just another kindness he’d done that made her like him more and more each minute. Aside from being a fantastic teacher, and seemingly an asset to her son getting well, he was also old-fashioned in the best way—a gentleman. She was in deep trouble.
“Just around the corner up there,” she said, directing Liam to their condo. The drive had taken less than five minutes. He pulled in and Paige opened her door before he could come around and let her out. She needed to keep some distance.
As the day had gone on, they had shared more than a few knowing glances, and Liam had made it fairly clear that his spending time with her wasn’t only because of Owen. She felt flattered, touched and definitely attracted to him, but the fear she felt at what might happen if someone at school found out…if they began to date…or even looked like they were dating…
She had to think about her job. And she needed to prove that she was the right choice to take Principal Matthews’s place. Any wrong move with the gorgeous man next to her and she could lose everything. Surely he knew that. And surely he would be concerned for his own job, too. Art teacher positions weren’t in mass quantity, especially in a town with only one elementary school.
So why, then, did it still feel so incredible when he looked at her? He could undo her with just a glance from those amazing deep green eyes. He made her feel an attraction she hadn’t in a long time, and his looks were just extra. She enjoyed every moment with him; he was funny, intelligent and masculine but also softhearted.
And the way he was with Owen…she hadn’t seen her child take to anyone like he had to Liam. She knew Owen missed his father, but being with Liam seemed to make it less painful for him. And she liked seeing him do things with a man again.
The truth was, Liam filled a spot in Owen’s life she knew she couldn’t. It hurt her a little to admit, but she knew, at the bottom of her heart, that she could never make up for the loss of his father. She could be a wonderful parent on her own, but she wanted Owen to have experiences with a father figure. She had to face the possibility that things might be better with this man around.
“Here we are,” Liam whispered. Paige looked over her shoulder and noticed Owen was completely asleep in the backseat. She laughed quietly.
“He’s exhausted, the poor guy.”
“He’s just had a big day, is all,” Liam said. Paige looked down at her hands, making no motion to unfasten her seatbelt. She knew as soon as she did that the day would be over, and she didn’t want the spell broken just yet. Part of her—a stronger part than she was ready for—wanted Liam to turn around and drive her to his guesthouse. To take her in and give her what she’d been without since Mark’s death.
But what about Owen?
She pushed the button to unbuckle her seatbelt and reached for the door handle. Liam caught her arm next to him and pulled her gently closer. He leaned in slowly, and Paige did nothing to stop him. It was as though her heart refused to take direction from her head.
“Mom,” Owen said suddenly from the backseat, his voice groggy from sleep. She pulled away and Liam smiled softly before settling back against his seat.
“Yes, sweetie?” She nervously wiped her hair from her face and turned toward her son.
“Can Mr. Campbell and I have a sleepover?”
Paige was thankful for the darkness surrounding them in the cab of Liam’s truck. She knew her embarrassment would have otherwise been unmistakable. Liam, however, simply laughed softly.
“I’d better get on home, big guy,” he said, turning to face Owen. “But I’ll see you again tomorrow at school. How does that sound?”
“Okay,” said Owen, looking straight at Liam. He didn’t even seem shy about it, and Paige felt as though she would melt into the leather seat.
“Let’s get you two inside,” Liam said, opening his door. He walked over to Paige’s side and helped her out. She started toward the cab’s back door, but Liam held out a hand for her to stay still. He opened Owen’s door and, as though he had done it a million times before, unbuckled her son and lifted him out of the seat in a fluid motion, just like Owen’s father had always done.
Paige forced herself to move and pulled out her keys to open her front door. She held it open for Liam and once inside, pointed the way to Owen’s room. Liam carried the child upstairs and laid him across his race-car-shaped bed. Paige pulled off Owen’s shoes and clothes and pulled the covers over him before kissing his smooth, warm forehead. “Good night, my love,” she whispered.
She turned to see Liam standing outside the doorway. He was watching them from the hallway where he’d moved, probably to give her a private moment with her son. She wasn’t sure if her heart would soar or break as she walked toward him. His eyes appeared almost black in the small ray of light seeping through from the hall. Her mouth was suddenly dry and her heart began to beat so fast she could barely think of what to do next.
“Paige…” Liam said. A rush of air left her lips and she realized she’d been holding her breath.
“Thanks so much for…for this,” she said, gesturing toward Owen’s room.
“It’s my pleasure,” he said. It would all be fine from here as long as Liam just walked down the stairs and back out to his truck. She felt far more out of control than she was used to, and it bothered her. There he was, looking amazing in the darkness…and after the kisses they’d shared yesterday, she knew that more would be…it would be too much.
He walked toward her, closing the gap between them in just a few steps, until he was close…far too close.
“Paige,” he continued. “I just want to tell you that I had a wonderful time with you today. I’m glad you came.”
She fought to form coherent words from a brain that failed her completely at the moment.
“I am, too,” she finally choked out. Her voice sounded embarrassingly squeaky and she suddenly felt like a teenager instead of the almost-principal at the only elementary school in town. She should have more control than that.
Maybe if she just approached the situation as she would a parent with a child at her school. Surely that would help her regain her footing. She’d lost it so badly yesterday when she’d kissed him, she knew she couldn’t handle it if it happened again, or if something more happened today.
“I think it’s probably best if you go home now,” she said, stepping slightly away from warm, spicy scent of his skin. Instead of making his way down the stairs as she’d half hoped he would, Liam only stepped closer, until he was touching her again. She could feel his warm, firm chest against her own; his arms wrapped around her lower back, and when she dared to look up, she saw his mouth only an inch away from her forehead.
“Paige,” he said, his voice so low and throaty. “I said I had a wonderful time today and yesterday. I meant it, and I’m not ready for it to be over. I know you’re not either,
so stop fighting it so damn hard.”
She wanted him to come closer still as much as she wanted him as far away as possible. Why couldn’t she make up her mind? Why couldn’t she just tell him to go again before they made a mistake that couldn’t be undone?
And then he did exactly what she’d hoped he wouldn’t.
He reached down and pressed his warm lips against hers, softly at first, and then, when she didn’t protest, more firmly. Paige’s heart leapt. Kissing him felt as monumental as it had the day before, if not more so. At the same time, it seemed comfortable, as though they’d always meant to do it.
Liam wrapped his arms tighter around her and then reached a hand up to pull her head nearer to his, enveloping her and deepening the kiss. She felt her legs go weak beneath her, as his hands slid underneath her blouse and up the sides of her abdomen, sending blinding electricity through her body. He pulled her closer still as his fingers caressed her lower back.
It was too late. Even if she’d wanted to, there was nothing she could do to stop what was happening, and she wasn’t even sure anymore that she wanted it to stop. She’d forgotten what it was like to have a man touch her that way, and she wanted desperately to remember.
So when he lifted her in his arms as though she weighed nothing, she let him. And when he asked her with his eyes where her bedroom was, she silently lifted a finger to point the way.
And, after he’d shown her how amazing it was to be wanted again by an incredible man, when he took her heart for his own…there wasn’t a thing in the world she could do to stop him.
Chapter Eight
After a month of dating Paige, Liam was discovering that nothing was ever a simple yes or no. She was as stubborn as the day he’d met her, and for some reason, it was one of the things he was beginning to love most about her.
She challenged him at every turn, but she was worth every obstacle she built around herself. Each new thing he found out about her just fueled his hunger for more. It would take a lifetime to get to know her completely, and he was beginning to think he might be willing to give it that much time.
“So, where to first?” he asked as he fastened his seatbelt in Paige’s passenger seat.
She grinned. Even though he’d spent hours with her and Owen, mostly working on the boy’s speech, which continued to improve, she’d only recently agreed to their first real date. She would allow him to take her to dinner, but only if he promised not to kiss her again in public, and only under the guise that she was showing him around town as a friendly favor, nothing more. He’d played along and teased her as though he minded, but of course he didn’t. He’d let Paige Graham show him around a blank white room if it meant he could spend time with her.
“It’s a secret,” she said, pulling a handkerchief out of her purse and passing it to him across the truck’s cab seat. “Put this on.”
“Well, Ms. Graham. I had no idea you were going to blindfold me or I would have suggested we skip dinner.”
Paige punched him lightly in the shoulder and laughed at him. The sound of it was contagious and he laughed, too.
“Not quite,” she said. “You’ll see. I think you’ll like it. The place I’m taking you has history, culture and art all in one.”
“In this tiny town?”
“Hey, mister. This town is a wonderful place, which you’ll see in time.” Her voice trailed upward on her last words and Liam heard the question in it.
“I can see that already,” he said, looking into her blue eyes. He was constantly amazed at their changing shades. When he’d been working toward his art-therapy certification, he’d spent hours and hours learning how many incredible hues there could be of one basic color. Blue was never simply blue—it was an endless palette of possibility—and Paige’s eyes seemed to hold all of them at one time.
He’d seen Paris as an undergrad and had studied at some of the finest museums for his master’s degree, but sitting there, in the seconds before she covered his own eyes and obscured the view, he had the feeling he could stare forever at her and be satisfied for a lifetime.
“Okay. Now, can you see anything?”
“Just the light from underneath. Nothing more. Unfortunately.” He thought he could feel her smile next to him and wished he could sneak a glance.
“It’s only temporary. I just don’t want you making fun of me before we get there.”
“Now I’m really concerned. You’re not taking me to see the world’s largest turnip or something, are you?” The truth was, he was falling in love with Peach Leaf and didn’t miss traveling nearly as much he had when he’d first gotten there. The itch to go had dissolved from him almost as soon as he’d arrived.
He just enjoyed teasing Paige, enjoyed the way she turned from assistant principal into the most exciting and fun woman he’d ever had the pleasure of spending time with. He wondered if she knew she was different outside of her job, if she really loved what she did, even though it seemed to cause her stress more than anything. She’d opened up to him over the past weeks about how hard she’d worked to snag her current job and how much harder still it would be to be the main principal when Matthews left. But he knew she did everything for Owen, and he supposed he would have done the same if he had a child.
They drove for what seemed like ten minutes or so and finally Liam felt Paige’s truck pull to a stop.
“Here we are,” she said. He heard her engage the parking break.
“Am I free now?”
“All right. Go ahead and take off your blindfold.”
Liam reached up and pulled the bandanna from his eyes. The first thing he saw was a large white clapboard building that looked like an old library. The sign above it read “Peach Leaf Pioneer Museum.” She was never predictable, that was for sure. Childlike delight bubbled up at the thought of an afternoon there with her, but his initial feeling was joined almost immediately by something darker.
“Well?” she asked.
Liam looked over at her and his heart did a little turn at the expression on her face. She clearly loved this place and wanted him to feel the same way, but he couldn’t let her see that he knew why she’d chosen this spot. Their visit could easily be traced to purely professional and educational reasons should they have the misfortune to happen upon any fellow employees.
Clever Paige.
“It’s fantastic,” he said, reaching out to touch a finger to her chin. He was rewarded with one of her beautiful smiles that warmed him even more than the Texas sun seeping through the car window, almost enough to burn away the dull ache in his heart.
“You mean it?”
“Of course,” he said truthfully. “I loved going to these kinds of places as a kid.”
Happy relief washed over her face.
“Well, Mr. Campbell. Let’s go inside.”
Liam got out of the car first and walked around to Paige’s side to open her door—something she’d finally decided to allow him to do regularly. She’d resisted the first several times they’d gone anywhere together, but she had obviously realized that she deserved to be treated like the lady she was, or at least she let him think so. Now she didn’t race him to make sure she was first to every door they came across.
They walked inside and grabbed a map of all of the buildings on the grounds. First they visited an old blacksmith shop, and a docent helped the two of them make a horseshoe to give Owen. Liam couldn’t stop thinking about how adorable Paige had looked in that helmet, its size engulfing her pretty head, and the cute way she squinted in concentration as she’d formed the molten metal.
Afterward they shared a biscuit made by hand at what was once a baker’s shop. The baked dough had been flaky and soft, leaving crumbs around Paige’s full lips, which she’d let him brush away with his fingers. He would have liked much better to have kissed them off, but any opportunity to
touch her was a chance he wouldn’t miss.
They toured the tiny houses, some of them with only one room, of the first families to make their homes in Peach Leaf. And finally, they visited the antique schoolhouse, a beautiful white-and-red building with a classic bell on top. Paige knew an incredible amount of detail about the historical building’s construction, its materials and the settlers who had brought it into being, and her interest in the town’s past made Liam want to learn even more about the place he’d chosen to make his home. Every minute with her was a treasure, and he wanted it to last.
“You know, back then, you wouldn’t have had to hide me from everyone. I would have just taken you for my bride and tossed you over my shoulder.”
“Only if I didn’t protest,” Paige said, pointing a finger at him accusingly and trying not to laugh.
“All the same,” he said, and she went silent. Her smile faded and she seemed to be far away in her own thoughts.
“Let’s go to the gift shop,” he said, taking her hand and changing the subject. He didn’t like seeing her sad, but part of him knew he would have to keep digging until she shared more of herself with him. He wanted to know all of her—not just the person he passed in the halls at work and not just Owen’s mom. He wanted everything.
After they’d purchased a few coloring books for Paige’s office, Liam took her to a tiny German restaurant that was rumored to have the best Reuben sandwiches around. Upon arrival, Liam knew he’d chosen well when Paige clasped her hands and smiled.
“They have amazing food,” she said. “I never get to come here because Owen doesn’t like sauerkraut or sausage, which eliminates most of the menu.”
He smiled, glad to please her, and led them inside, where a hostess showed them to a table for two on the patio. The place was casually elegant and lively but not too loud. By then, the heat had calmed down, and a warm breeze blew through Paige’s hair from time to time. She was beautiful and serene in the candlelight emanating from the center of the table, and her eyes shone navy blue in the twilight. Paige had worn a turquoise sundress on their date, and Liam admired the way the sun had kissed her shoulders with a shade of soft pink.
