Chasing Paige (Falling for Words Book 1)

by Tiffany Janine

  Shit. Too good to be true. When she finally learns the truth about her late husband, from me, she’s going to hate me, and quickly learn that I really was too good to be true.

  Clearing my throat, I ask, “You ready to head back? My stomach is calling for lunch.”

  “Sure, starved.”

  “Okay, let’s go.”

  Once we got back to the house, we had lunch, another shower, and a little sex, followed by a nap in my room. The afternoon couldn’t have ended any better.

  Later on in the early evening, before all the shops closed, we took a stroll through town on Front Street. Paige wanted to buy herself a few things, along with getting something for Lynn. I offered to pay for everything, but she shot me down pretty quickly. Unlike many women who I’ve gone out with, I have to remember that Paige is independent, and doesn’t take my money for granted. She doesn’t go after someone just because they have more money than they possibly know what to do with. Instead, she sees my worth on the inside, rather than how much a person can throw at you. It’s refreshing. Sadly, Becca’s the complete opposite of Paige. She was only after one thing, money and how to get richer. By marrying me, she would have been doubly loaded; my money and her parents’ money. I thank God every day I got out of that relationship. Marrying Becca would have been the worst decision of my life.

  Several bags later, dinner and then dessert, Paige and I stroll hand in hand, down by the harbor. There are several booths along the harbor where you can purchase a day at fishing, cruise around the island, or go riding in a submarine. Behind the harbor is an historic house called: Old Lahaina Banyan Court House. Beyond it is an enormous Banyan tree, Maui’s oldest living tree.

  “So, tomorrow, I was thinking of taking you for a drive,” I announce.

  “The road to Hana?”

  “Would you rather do that?”

  “Uh…well, what did you have in mind at first?”

  “Wine tasting. There’s a place called Maui Winery–”

  “Yes, let’s do that! I love wine tasting,” she interjects excitedly.

  “Are you sure?” I ask. I don’t want her feeling bad for me if Hana is really what she wants to do. We can lounge around naked all day for all I care, as long as she is happy and enjoying herself. “If you want to do Hana, zip line, take a helicopter tour, I’m up for anything. You just tell me what it is, and we’ll do it.”

  “Definitely not zip lining. But I’m up for Maui Winery. It’s perfect. I don’t care what we do, as long as I’m with you,” she says and then plants a kiss on my lips.

  “Then zip lining it is,” I joke.

  She slightly gasps. “Um…no. I said no to that,” she says, crossing her arms.

  “But you said you don’t care what we do, as long as you’re with me.” Giving me the stink eye, I start to laugh, “Relax, I was kidding. Maui Winery it is.”

  “Good, because I believe I was ready to puke. I don’t do daredevil stunts.”

  I can’t help but laugh again. “Zip lining is hardly a daredevil’s stunt.”

  “Doesn’t matter. No thanks.”

  Snaking an arm across her shoulders, still laughing, I say, “I’ll remember that.”

  We finish walking the harbor, and then head back to the car. After getting situated with all of Paige’s one hundred bags and counting, we drive home.

  I take her hand, give it a kiss, and lay it upon my upper thigh. We drive in comfortable silence for a few minutes until she says, “I can’t seem to stop smiling. My cheeks hurt. And it’s your entire fault.”

  Like music to my ears. “My plan all along, baby.”

  We spent the good part of the next morning walking on my private beach, talking about everything and nothing at all. But the one thing that never got brought up again, was Glen. I have a feeling she’s still trying to protect me from knowing too much about her former marriage. I know it may be a hard thing to discuss, but I’m hoping she’ll open up. I want to know what she thought of her late husband, and if she had any idea what he really did during his “journaling” excursions. So many times, I’ve wanted to tell her the truth, but too afraid she’ll hate me and never forgive me for keeping something so important from her a secret. Be that as it may, sometimes I think the past should remain in the past, and her knowing will kill all feelings she had for him. I contemplate this decision over and over again because I don’t want to hurt her. She loved her husband, yet in the end she deserves to know the truth. So before we go any further in our relationship, I need to come clean.

  After our walk, I took Paige to Maui Winery. We both had the best time, trying new wines and finding a few favorites. But I hadn’t realized how easy it was for Paige to get drunk. Once we finished the samples, we began drinking full glasses. After her second glass, she became intoxicated. I found her to be quite cute. It wasn’t the right place, but her silliness and animated self had me wanting to take her body on that wine bar and make love to her. So on that note, I knew it was time to get Paige something to eat. Before we left, I bought several bottles of both red and white wine, not being able to decide which I liked best. So why not buy all of them?

  We ended up eating at Leoda’s Kitchen and Pie Shop. I hadn’t eaten there before, but ended up really liking it. We both had the chicken potpie, something I never had growing up. I think I need to go there more often. It was delicious. During our meal, I made sure Paige drank plenty of water to hydrate and sober up. It did the trick. And we couldn’t have left until we both had our very own slice of banana cream pie. However, after that pie, I think we were both ready to explode. It was damn, out of this world, good.

  Taking a dip in the pool was the highlight of the day. I asked Kala to leave for the rest of the day, just so Paige and I could have the privacy of skinning dipping. At first, Paige was hesitant at the thought of someone seeing us naked, but I told her we were very much hidden from any strangers lurking. I have no one living next to me. The closest one is five miles down the beach, so that convinced her to take a chance on another first with me. Skinning dipping had never been so much fun.

  Close to sunset, we were done with our swim fest and took things to my outdoor cabana; a large bed takes up part of the space near the pool. Turning on the outdoor fire pit, I laid Paige down on the bed and spoke only through my kisses and touches. Her body felt amazing. I could have easily drowned inside her for eternity. I never wanted to stop making love to her. This beautiful woman has me completely bewitched.

  I’d hate to think that Paige will be going home tomorrow. Having her here has been unbelievable, and the most natural feeling in the world. I’m a selfish man, and don’t want to let her go. The more time we spend together, the more I’m falling in love with her. Saying goodbye is not going to go well for me. Even though I knew what I was getting myself into, I still went for it. Therefore, I’m now in way too deep for my own good. I’ll be a complete mess without her.

  Planted next to the bed, is a pink Plumeria tree. I noticed everywhere we have walked, Paige gathered up fallen Plumeria from the ground, and treated them as if they were a treasure. Wrapped in cream satin sheets, she plucks off one of the pink flowers. “The pink ones are my favorite,” she says. I lie on my side with my head propped in my hand, and watch her inhale the aroma of the flower. Her smile is beautiful. “They’re gorgeous, and smell so good.” She places it behind her ear. “How does it look?”

  “Beautiful,” is all I can say, because she takes my breath away. With her ongoing smile, she leans down and captures my lips with her own, and then opens so we can deepen our affection. Grasping my hand behind her damp hair, I begin to groan inside her mouth. She tastes so good, and feels even better. I can’t stop kissing her which means I need to have her again. She doesn’t reject my invitation, and allows me to dive right back inside her once again.

  “My grandparents took a cruise to Hawaii all the time,” Paige begins to tell me, after we made love a second time. Her head is on my chest, and her arm lies across it. Stroking her
back, I listen to her story. “I believe Maui was my grandmother’s favorite island. How could it not be? The smells, the clean air, and the rain forest, it’s the perfect place to be. Gardenias were her favorite flower. She had a few bushes of them in her backyard, along with a Plumeria tree. The second you hit that yard, you were invaded with the most amazing smells. God, it takes me back in time being here. It reminds me of her.” Propping her chin up on my chest to look at me, she continues, “This trip has been a dream, thanks to you. I hadn’t realized how much I needed it until I was here.”

  Bringing my other hand up to palm the side of her face, I tell her, “My pleasure.” She smiles, and then plants a kiss on my chest, sending instant chills throughout my body, like a wave of electricity. God, how I love this woman. After putting her head back down, we lie in silence and listen to the ocean, along with the crackling of the fire from the pit. I desperately want to tell her how I feel about her, but I refrain from doing so. I don’t want to pressure her into saying it back before she’s ready. So instead, I bring him up. “Tell me about him, Paige.” Her body slightly stiffens, but I keep going. “Tell me why he never took you to Maui, or any other island for that matter? Because I can’t imagine not wanting to make you smile and glow like you have been this whole weekend. Not fulfilling your dreams and happiness is crazy to me. No way, would I ever do that to you. I’d give anything to keep you glowing.”

  Keeping her head down, she shrugs, “Work. There’s no other explanation.”

  “Still no excuse. Not even a honeymoon. I don’t get it,” I comment bitterly.

  “What can I say? Glen was like a storm chaser. He chased those stories down as if it were his last breath.”

  The borderline anger inside of me is starting to seep out. I don’t understand her nonchalant behavior right now. It’s like she’s trying to hide her true feelings or something. It’s unsettling to me. I have us sit up from lying down. She stays wrapped in the sheet, covering up her breasts. Better for them to be covered, or I’ll get extremely distracted.

  Taking her hand into mine, I ask, “Why do you seem okay with the fact that he chose his career over you?”

  She frowns. “It wasn’t okay with me, but it was his dream–”

  “What about your dreams?”

  “I–”

  Cupping her face in my hands, I intently look into her eyes, and earnestly ask again. “What about your dreams, Paige? What would you have chased down as if it were your last breath? You had to have some kind of dream for yourself, for your marriage.” Maybe I’m seeing things, but her eyes become glassy, like she is on the verge of crying, yet is trying to keep her composure. She is so strong willed.

  Releasing her face from my hands, she gives me another piece of her heart. “I wanted to come here. Travel. I wanted kids, be a mom. I’d still be an editor, but…kids. I wanted at least three of them. Things just didn’t go the way I had planned,” she looks down at her hands. “He was career driven, so kids were the last thing on his mind. He needed to make a name for himself before we took things any further.”

  Needed to make a name for himself. “Bastard,” I hiss under my breath.

  “What did you say?”

  Shuffling myself off the bed, I repeat, “I said he was a bastard. He didn’t deserve you, or your love.” I quickly put on a white towel robe that was hanging in the cabana.

  “Now wait a minute,” she backfires angrily. “He and I may have had our struggles, but in no way was he a bastard. He loved me the only way he knew how. He was a good person, who loved what he did. I was proud of him.”

  “That doesn’t change the fact that he ignored you, your dreams, and your marriage.”

  She gasps, leaving her mouth slightly open, and look of shock from her wide eyed brownies. But no matter how angry I just made her, she looks positively gorgeous in that damn sheet. “You have no right to say something like that. You didn’t even know him!”

  “Like hell I didn’t,” I blurt out.

  “What does that mean?”

  Placing my hands on my hips, I know I hit a dead end. It’s too late to take back my words. Letting out a deep breath, I prepare myself for the unknown. She’ll either hate me and walk out of my life forever, or she’ll stay and realize we’re meant to be together and will forgive me for keeping her husband’s betrayal a secret.

  I pray she forgives me. “Damn it, Paige…I need to tell you something.”

  Unfortunately, just as I am about to finally confess, some loud, sing song voice of a woman, interrupts me. “Yoo-hoo! Anyone here? James?”

  “What the hell?” Shit, I know that voice. It’s Becca. What is she doing here? How did she know I was going to be in Maui?

  “Who’s here?” Paige asks. She quickly discards the sheet, and replaces it with the remaining white robe.

  “I’ll explain in a minute. Just hang tight.” I give her a kiss on the forehead. “I’ll be right back.”

  “No,” she retorts. “I won’t just hang tight. I’m coming with you.”

  “James?” The voice sings out for me again.

  Holy hell, this seriously cannot be happening right now. “Please, baby, do what I say. Stay here,” I firmly tell her.

  “I will not stay here and act like everything’s okay. I. Am. Coming.”

  Why does she have to be so damn cute at a time like this? I don’t have time to get turned on from her sassy attitude. “Has anyone ever told you how stubborn you are?”

  She crosses her arms. “Yes, you.” Still too damn cute for her own good. If we didn’t have unwanted company, I’d show her who’s boss.

  How am I going to explain to her who Becca was to me? Bringing her up hasn’t actually been on the top of my to do list. The timing couldn’t be more terrible.

  “Surprise!” Becca announces, when she sees me walking inside the house. Her arms are wide open, inviting me in for a hug. Not going to happen.

  Becca is a stunning woman. I was immediately attracted to her when we first met. I grew up with her older brother Lenny, but since she was away at boarding school, I never knew her until later. As adults our parents made sure we had met at a dinner party. Sparks definitely flew when we set eyes on one another for the first time. She had long, stick straight, brown hair that hung to her waist, and thick bangs, that cut across her forehead in a neat and straight line. Big green eyes and overly plump lips drove me wildly crazy. Her skin was naturally tan, since her dad was Peruvian. So in the summertime her skin became even darker. Along with her dark pigmentation, her body was to die for; tall, lean, and big breasts, not surprisingly fake, set me off. I thanked the lucky stars that our parents were such good friends. I thought I had it made. We were going to get married, have kids and live happily ever after, just like our parents hoped that we would. But those lucky stars were anything but lucky. The moment I discovered Paige, I knew Becca and I were no longer going to have a future. I was blind for three years, not wanting to believe she was a gold digger. How seriously wrong I was. After I had finally opened my eyes, I realized how shallow she really was. It was such a turn off. Looking down on people who were different than her, who didn’t have the money or educational upbringing we both had, she thought less of them. Becca was not someone I needed in my life anymore. Obviously, we both had different goals for our future, and mine was getting the hell away from toxic people. Also, I wanted to continue at being an author.

  So standing before me is the woman I used to believe was the icing on the cake. Her hair is twisted up in a knot on the crown of her head, with a couple Chinese sticks poking out, and a pair of Ray-Bans propped on her head. She’s wearing a short yellow sundress and matching, yellow wedge sandals. Any man who doesn’t know Becca would be drooling over her. She loves the attention, and clearly knows how to get it. Thank God, I’m no longer that man.

  Crossing my arms over my chest, I ask, “Becca, what are you doing here?”

  “I came to surprise you.” She giggles. “Aren’t you happy to see me?”
/>
  “Surprised yes. Happy? Far from it.”

  Her smile suddenly deflates. “Excuse me? Your brother–”

  “What about Dominic?”

  Not even aware that Paige is standing right behind me, Becca slowly inches her way up to me, and curls her fingers in the collar of my robe. I quickly jerk away from her, causing her to gasp. “He said you missed me and wanted to work things out. He told me to surprise you by coming out here.”

  The blood in my veins is boiling. I could do some serious damage right about now. But I need to keep it cool. Overreacting is not going to make this situation any better. “That son of a bitch,” I mutter under my breath. “He set us up.”

  “Why would he do that?”

  “Because, in case you hadn’t noticed, I’m with someone.” I grab Paige’s hand, and bring her to my side, snaking an arm around her waist.

  Becca becomes annoyed, and leans on her hip, with one foot to the side and crosses her arms. “Who are you?” She scowls.

  “It doesn’t matter,” I interject before Paige has a chance to respond. “…because you’re leaving.”

  “Hey, I think I deserve to know who you’re with, considering I flew all the way out here just to be turned away. That’s so not fair, James.”

  “It’s not my fault, Becca. You should have known better than to believe a word my brother had to put inside your head.” I’m going to wring his neck after this is all over.

  “There’s never been a reason not to.”

  “That’s right, because all those times you slept with him, he gave you plenty of signs that I

  wanted you back.”

  She gasps. “He promised–

  “My brother hasn’t been very loyal lately.”

  “I’m going to kill him!” She shouts.

  “Yes, well…now that we’ve gotten it all established, it’s time for you to leave.”

  “Hold up, not so fast. You never answered my question. Who is she?” She points to Paige.

  “She has a name, and it’s Paige,” Paige answers boldly. Damn it! I was really hoping she would stay out of this and go back to the cabana. I don’t want her finding anything out from Becca until I’ve had the chance to explain. Becca better not open her big mouth and ruin it for me.