“Hi…” he leaned up and kissed her as he took in her clothes and started opening his shirt. “Wait and I’ll run with you.”
“Okay…” Paige answered, sinking to the stop step and tying her runners in place. “Sebastian…”
“Hmmm…that sounds a little ominous,” he tossed clothes to the laundry basket and dug out his sweats. “What’s wrong, Paige?”
“I…not wrong…” She pushed against the wall, her back straight up the opening to the bedroom, legs crossed and knees bouncing. “Are they still downstairs?” She asked in a low whisper.
“Lewis and Marta?” He shrugged and pulled the heavy sweatshirt over his head. “I said hello to them, so I’m thinking, yeah…something wrong?”
“I don’t know how to…what to…don’t laugh,” she glared and closed her mouth, pushing up and going down the stairs to the front door.
He found her in the drive, stretching and mumbling to herself.
“They work for me, Paige. Marta keeps house and cooks and does laundry…” his back hit the door when she surged forward, paled red lashes wide and eyes staring. “You need to run,” he said simply, taking her palm and pulling her toward the door in the gate, tapped in the code and shoved her through before following.
“I seriously need to run,” she agreed.
“It’s bothering you that we have employees?” Sebastian asked when they’d hit a rhythm.
“Oh…no, no, no…there’s no we in this…uh-uh…”
“Paige, you’re acting like it’s slave labor,” he stayed at her side, barely holding the laugh in at the panic in her eyes. “We provide a couple with decent wages, a good place to live and a couple jobs.” He knew he’d hit the right words because she looked over at him and back to the path twice, teeth busily nibbling on her cheek.
Silence was better than argument so he considered himself lucky that the rest of the run was quiet. He coded them back through the gate and opened the front door but she took the path to the back tier of patios.
Sebastian went through the house, locking the door behind him and sliding the patio doors wide, allowing the fresh early evening air to fill the house.
“Why do you act like this is something that’s normal, that’s…every day,” she said after a long minute, stretched out on her back on the wide stone wall, one leg bent, the other on the stones.
“Why are you acting like it’s something impossible to accept or learn?” He watched her bounce up to face him.
“Rich people have…have…” her hand flailed wildly. “People…” She watched him lift one brow and groaned, laying back on the sun drenched stones.
“Paige…let me try another route here,” Sebastian pulled a chair from the side and sat back, letting his feet rest on the wall at her feet. “You donate to charities. You use people in shops, like Jack or Emily. You buy things in groceries that other people prepare,” he met the blinking pale red lashes when she turned her face to look at him.
Couple stuff, she thought dismally. This was part of the world he’d created around himself. It wasn’t like hers. It might have begun like hers, she thought, closing her eyes and sighing. Because he was more like her than he was Marietta. She knew that inside her. Marietta wouldn’t think twice or even be considerate of people working for her. At least she wanted to believe that. Maybe it was the word…think of them as employees, not servants. That’s what was bothering her.
“How goes the logic path?”
“Don’t come within arm distance right now, okay?” She returned flatly, sighing when he just laughed and stood up, pulling on her arm and leading her into the house.
“I’m hungry and Marta left us dinner. Let’s eat while we discuss,” he suggested, a sharp tug and he sent her over into the house. He left the screen wide and wandered to the kitchen, peeking under the cover and slipping one into the microwave. “Water?”
“Yes…please…icy cold…” Paige opened the fridge and found the salads waiting for them. “This is weird…”
“Why?”
“What if I get spoiled?” She burst out suddenly, looking away from the surprise on his face.
“Would that be such a bad thing?” He moved behind her, turning her in his arms after she set the salads on the table. “I probably already have a lengthy and devious plot to spoil you, without Lewis and Marta.” He leaned into the counter, settled his hands on her waist and sighed. “We both like our jobs, a lot. We both like our runs…a lot. No matter how much we might like different, there are only twenty-fours in a day. You and Marta can work out stuff with the house,” he pulled her against him when the panic returned to her eyes. “You cook when you want to cook. You shop when you want to shop. You want something special made, either ask for it or make it. You don’t have to worry about it if you don’t want to, Paige.” He set her back and went to slide the other plate into the microwave, using the mitt to carry it to the table.
Paige lifted the cover from the plate and released a cross between a whimper and sigh. It smelled delicious. A mix of balsamic vinegar and brown sugar and asparagus and pasta. She took a bite and met the patient eyes that settled next to her. She dribbled dressing over her salad and ate quietly.
“How did you get used to it?” She finally asked.
“By realizing that I couldn’t do it all on my own,” he said with an easy shrug. “I wanted to run, not clean the kitchen, cook or do laundry. So I went through finances and set about finding someone I could trust and fit with. Just like any business, you set the rules and work together. They like their job as much as I like mine, or you like yours.”
“They’re nice,” she said finally, fingers lifting a snap pea and biting down thoughtfully. “They have pretty smiles.”
“That, they do,” he agreed easily, letting her think her way through it. She wasn’t going to run on him, not now. He wasn’t sure why he was positive of that, but he knew. She was part of him, wanted to be part of him. “Marta keeps a tidy house and you’ll never be embarrassed when we have business parties or…” he stopped when he realized the panic was back in her eyes. “I should probably break things to you in bits so you don’t crash and burn on me.”
“I am an admin,” she said firmly. “I do not crash and burn…business parties? Here?”
“Here…in our house…together…entertaining out of town guests, et cetera. It comes with the package,” he said casually. “And, as I was saying, Marta is used to handling that part. All you have to do is smile, wear something totally sexy and try not to dump ice water on perspective business associates.”
“I…I don’t have an answer to that one,” Paige finished her pasta and worked on her salad. “Except, I’m pretty sure she’s not after your body.”
“You and Pepper scared the crap out of her,” he told her with a laugh.
“If you believe that, you really do need a guard,” Paige told him, taking a couple bites to finish off her salad, her head shaking. “She called me a gullible child…and that you used to have better taste in women…that prompted the water. And she was at the office this morning looking for you,” she turned with her hands full of empty dishes to look at him with a burrowed brow. “How does she support herself? Job?”
Sebastian gathered the remaining things from the table and carried them into the kitchen behind her, leaning against the counter and watching her tidy up the kitchen.
“Paige…I probably should ask if you’re wired, but I’ll take my chances,” he said slowly. “Marietta isn’t one of my brighter decisions. The only smart thing I did was get a pre-nup to protect what I had. I have not seen or talked to her in over five years. From my standpoint, it didn’t end amicably. I was pissed off. At myself more than her, but…” He crossed his arms over his chest. “When I met her, she was doing some modeling and for the most part, acting as her father’s hostess for all things social. He had divorced when she was young and her mother wasn’t in the picture.”
“You met her through business?” Paige asked, forming a pi
cture in her mind.
“I did. At that stage, I was working hard on a couple really big projects around the country,” he recalled. “What she does now, I have no idea.”
“She’s high maintenance,” Paige said carefully.
“She’s high maintenance and she has aspirations that I didn’t share. It was always about what she wanted and what she was willing to give in concession for it,” he said quietly, meeting the sorrow in the brown eyes. “That’s how she asked for the divorce, after eight months. Said we weren’t even close to the same page on where we wanted to be in the social strata,” he recalled with a dry tone, his head shaking. “That I wanted to work more than I wanted to travel and party. It told her I’d grown out of that and she was right, it wasn’t working because it wasn’t my idea of a marriage.”
“Sebastian, I didn’t mean to make you sad remembering,” Paige wiped her hands on the towel and dropped it to the counter, taking his hands and opening them to step inside. “There has to be a reason she keeps pushing to talk to you…and...okay, so it might have come out if I hadn’t…yeah, alright…did you just flat out ask her what the hell she wants?”
“Believe it or not, yes, Paige, I did,” he said honestly. “Marietta and a lot of the rest of the world operate on this…dance…you have to do before you get down to business.”
“It’s annoying. I asked her. Said it wasn’t my business…no surprise there,” she felt his palms moving over her behind. “Have you been back to the site since it was cleared? It’s really a big pile of…stuff…I stopped and talked to the security people.” She winced at the look on his face. “I wanted to let them know to keep an eye on the water approach…but you’d already covered that.”
“Wow…imagine that…”
“She’s willing to exchange sex for what she wants…” she saw the surprise on his face. “Sex appeal is just as much a part of her dance as the rest of it, Sebastian. And she’s got tons of that…spilling out of her dresses…” She murmured, ignoring his laughter and yelping when the ground suddenly vanished from beneath her feet. “Hey!”
“Hey…we need a shower after our run…then I need you…I want you…maybe at the same time as the shower,” he told her bluntly, striding toward the stairs and up to the bedroom. “And there’s no room in our bedroom for an ex-wife,” he told her huskily, capturing her mouth as he let her body slide over his on her way to having her feet on the floor.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Our bedroom, she thought a long time later, curled against a pillow and caught in between here and nothingness. How had it fallen into such an easy, good place to be? The question was still drifting around in her mind when she snuggled against the warmth that welcomed her.
Paige ordered her eyes to remain closed even after she smelled the coffee and the fresh guy smells. A long, low groan broke free when she turned toward the other side of the bed and her palm came up empty. She peeked through unwilling lashes, the light of the bathroom and closet coming up distant and dim.
“It’s not even light,” a raspy voice protested. “Why are you dressed?”
“You don’t care why I’m dressed,” Sebastian chuckled richly, sinking to the edge of the bed and working his boots on. “You want to know where your heating unit went.”
“Okay…that, too.”
“Vancouver.”
Paige wrestled with half a brain still sleeping. “North or south?”
“North, Paige,” he answered. “The cruise lines.”
“Oh…right. Got it. Sorry, my brain isn’t here yet, it’s still dealing with a wild man who made these lewd demands all night long,” she rolled to her back and sighed in memory.
“Wild man, huh?”
“Yep…and if he ever stops, I’ll have to trade him in,” she returned just before his mouth cruised over hers.
“I won’t be back until tomorrow evening, remember?” Sebastian stood up and checked his pockets, watching her bounce immediately to sit upright, blinking rapidly. Evidently it hadn’t registered. “You made the hotel reservations.”
“I did…yes, I did,” she answered, sliding to the edge. It was before they became…well…them. She had to sleep alone tonight, she thought with an odd feeling she hadn’t expected inside her. Slim hands rubbed over her face, raking back the long hair with her fingers. You’re not a kid, she told herself and as for you, stomach, you’re just hungry. She slid to the floor and headed to the bathroom when he went below. She dressed and prepared for the day quickly, tossing boots to the door as she rounded the corner from the stairs. She took the glass of something frothy and frowned.
“The smoothie thing you bought? I tossed it into the blender with strawberries,” Sebastian filled his travel cup and checked the small case on the sofa.
“Thanks.” She took a long drink, surfacing when his palm came beneath her chin, tipping it back for his kiss.
“I will call you. Probably text you disgustingly like a teenaged boy, but you’ll hear from me, Paige,” he promised with a wink, striding to the door with both cases and his coffee.
“Sebastian…be careful…please…driving, I mean,” Paige saw him nod before he disappeared into the very early morning. She was staring into the smoothie he made for her when her phone sounded. She found it on the pocket of her pack, reading the short text and smiling.
“I miss you already.”
Paige sighed, saved the text and went to find her jacket, zipping her boots on and heading for the car after taking a look at the small alcove just next to the kitchen. Somewhere in her subconscious she’d given that some thought and had a plan even as she waved at Lewis and Marta coming toward the house from the garage loft.
“Good morning, Miss Paige! It will be lovely once this fog burns off!” Marta said cheerfully.
Paige dropped her pack into the seat and waited for Marta to come closer. “Good morning….yes, it will be pretty later. Sebastian won’t be home tonight so you don’t have to fix dinner,” she said carefully, still feeling her way through this new aspect in her life. “Do you like computers?” She looked expectantly from one to the other, their surprise at her question in their eyes. “I didn’t mean to…I just have this idea for the alcove next to the kitchen. In case we miss each other and I forget to leave a note, Sebastian told me to leave a note when I wanted to tell you things but I don’t like that…I like the computer better.”
“I love the computer,” Marta told her with a nod, waving lightly as Lewis went toward a large pickup truck. “I find many bargains and play games and talk to friends and family in New Orleans.”
“Good. Then I’ll make arrangements. I’ll set up something we’ll call Marta’s notebook and we can leave notes there for each other,” Paige said with a smile. “Thanks…I’ll see you later! Anything you need, just call me. I left my card on the counter with numbers.”
“Have a great day, Miss Paige!”
“Good grief…how much more can my life change in a month?” Paige heard her own voice and waited for the gate to open, her head shaking as she drove through the barely bits of daylight to the office. She’d completely forgotten about his trip to Vancouver. The man fried her brain cells, she thought, sighing at the memory. And she didn’t even mind. In fact, she invited it, she mused, parking and opening the office.
Her hand was up for the folders when Chase came out of his office just before nine, both of them looking up when the main entrance door opened wide. Chase retreated but left his door open.
“Good morning, Marietta, what can I do for you today?” Paige asked cheerfully.
“I have to talk to Sebastian,” her gaze went to the closed door expectantly.
“Do you know what Sebastian drives?” Paige asked curiously, leaning back in her chair and watching the woman pace the office.
“Yes. Of course. A big black SUV. What does that have to do with anything? Is he here or not?” She demanded, her chin up and bright blue eyes glaring.
“He doesn’t actually, Marietta. He rides
a motorcycle.”
“He hasn’t given up that toy yet?” Distaste was evident in her expression.
“You honestly don’t know him very well.”
“I was his wife. I know him very well,” she suggested coldly.
“Marietta, what do you want from him? It’s not him…you don’t have that look in your eyes,” Paige held up a palm when she began to speak. “The easiest, smartest way to get something from Sebastian at this point…” she paused when she noticed she finally had the woman’s attention. “Is to convince me it’s a good idea. Now what do you want from him?”
Paige winced for the slammed door, eyes rolled back and head shaking. Then she saw Chase come from his office with his briefcase in one hand.
“She doesn’t understand the kind of relationship you’ve formed with Sebastian. You realize that, don’t you?” He said quietly. “Sadly, it’s foreign to a great many couples.”
“I know…imagine using the direct approach for dealing with issues, wow, what a concept,” Paige turned to her computer and set her music. “The thing is, if it isn’t him she’s after, then it has to be money.”
“I don’t see him parting with money for her,” he said honestly. “Be back in a few hours, Paige,” Chase said as he left.
No, Paige thought as she worked. She didn’t see him parting with money for her, either. Otherwise, why bother with a pre-nup and if you were that concerned for her, why not be in touch for over five years?
She was closing down the office shortly after four when she noticed the car cruising the parking lot. It was the second time it had come through. Hard to miss since it was an old, rusty green pickup truck. Chase had gone a few minutes earlier and she stood next to the window, closing the blinds before setting the alarms and doing a double check on the windows and external door in the back of the office building.
She wondered when she’d become so suspicious. Until lately, there wasn’t anything in her life to attract anyone’s attention. The windows of the pickup weren’t tinted and showed her there were two men riding in it as she exited the parking lot and headed toward the resort. She could easily lose them in the traffic and many parking lots there.
WindSwept Narrows: #18 Paige Andrews Page 17
