by Bella Andre
Her lawyer looked like he was about to have a coronary as he said, “Mrs. Collins—”
She held up a hand. “Let me think.”
“Go ahead and think, Whitney.” Evan’s voice was deadly. “Think of your reputation in this town when all your lies come out. Think of all the parties you won’t be invited to. Think of how everyone will laugh. About you.”
She drew in a deep breath, glared at him, then let her breath hiss between her teeth. Teeth that still had a smear of red across the front. “All right.”
“I also want a nondisclosure agreement. You say one word about Paige, and it’s all over.”
“I said all right,” she snapped through clenched teeth, her voice louder, sharper. “The nondisclosure applies to you too.”
He could live with that. “Agreed.”
“When do I get the house?”
“After everything is final.”
“What about the Mortimers?”
“They don’t belong to the house.”
She huffed out a breath, then waved her hand. “All right, fine.”
He felt the urge to laugh. Paige hated that word. Fine. So did he. Although, right now, he’d happily take it from his ex.
“I’ll make the agreed upon amendments to the settlement immediately,” Henry said, “and have them sent over by courier this afternoon.”
Whitney stood, shaking off her lawyer’s touch as he put an assisting hand on her elbow. On her mile-high heels, she stalked out ahead of him.
Good-bye, Whitney. And good riddance.
Henry clapped him on the back. “I’ll send you the new draft for approval in a couple of hours. Then we’ll get her to sign immediately.”
The sooner the better.
He wanted Whitney out of his life.
And he wanted Paige in.
Chapter Thirty
The red light on Paige’s desk phone flashed, indicating her next patient had arrived. Except that she didn’t have another patient. Edward Wood was her last of the day, and they still had fifteen minutes to go.
But she never interrupted a session unless it was an emergency. If need be, her receptionist would have called instead of simply flipping on the light.
Turning her focus back to the middle-aged man in her office, she said, “How did you feel when she said that, Edward?”
His wife had just left him for a younger man. A much younger man, to the tune of twenty years. Edward was still sorting through his emotions, which was one of his wife’s—ex-wife’s—complaints, that he had no emotions.
“I guess I deserve it. She always said this would happen if I didn’t change myself. And she was right.”
“Perhaps,” Paige suggested, “you could try thinking of it in another light. How about this?” Over the next few minutes, she detailed an alternative to his self-destructive thinking.
Her specialty was family therapy, but she never turned away anyone in distress. Edward was definitely in distress, even if he couldn’t figure out exactly why. Yet.
When their remaining fifteen minutes were up, she ushered him out.
And her unscheduled patient stepped in.
“Evan.”
She threw herself into his arms. Didn’t stop to think it over. Didn’t hesitate even the slightest. She simply gave herself wholly over to what felt right. To what she knew was right.
He pressed a kiss to the top of her head, and when she pulled back, his expression was serious.
“Your assistant said you’re done for the day,” he said in a deep voice that rumbled through her deliciously. “But I was hoping you could squeeze me in.”
“Of course I can.” Her heart was racing as she took a step back. Then she closed the door. And locked it. Whatever he wanted to say to her, it was obviously something big. Important enough that he didn’t want to say it over dinner or in bed. She gestured to the couch, then took her usual seat.
“Please,” she said ever so professionally, “tell me what I can help you with.” Was it something to do with Whitney? Or his birth mother?
He was gorgeous in a dark blue suit, white shirt, and striped tie. And more serious than she’d ever seen him as he said, “I have a terrible confession to make.”
“This is a very safe environment. You can say absolutely anything to me without fear, Evan. Anything at all.”
His deep gaze pierced her. “I made a huge mistake nine years ago.”
Her face felt overly hot, and her pulse beat against her eardrums as he continued.
“Despite everything Susan and Bob did for me, there was still a part of that little boy who didn’t feel loved, who didn’t think he deserved to be loved, who thought it was his fault that he’d been left behind. And yet I needed love so desperately that it made me blind to what real love was.” He paused. “Right from the beginning, Whitney said everything she thought I wanted to hear. Her tactics were brilliantly insidious. Other women would only use me, she claimed, but not her. She made me believe she was the only one who could fill my deep, dark void. Made me believe that she would never hurt me the way I’d been hurt before.”
Yes, that was Whitney. Absolutely. She figured out a person’s biggest weakness and their deepest need and exploited both. “I wanted to warn you what Whitney was like,” Paige interjected, “but I was jealous. I knew that had to be coloring my emotions. I hoped she might have changed. That maybe finding someone as good as you had worked a miracle.”
“Even if you had warned me, I’m not sure I would have believed you. If there’s anything worse for a guy than admitting he’s weak, I don’t know what it would be. But it’s a fact—I was weak with her. And she knew it.”
“You’re not weak.”
“Not anymore,” he agreed, emotion swimming across his face. “Because of you. Because of your love.”
“Did you know?” Her words were soft. But she had to say them, had to know. “Did you know I loved you all this time?”
“I couldn’t let myself even think about how you felt. I didn’t believe I could ever be good enough to deserve you. Whereas with Whitney…” A muscle jumped in his cheek. “Her darkness matched mine.”
“No.” Paige bristled with outrage at that statement. “Nothing about your insides, nothing about who you are, matches anything about Whitney.”
“I know that now.” Regret was steeped in every line on his face. “I’m sorry it took me so long to see the truth, Paige. To see you.”
She went to him then, tossing out the pretense of being therapist and client, because he was absolutely everything to her. “I love that you finally see your true worth, how good you are. I love that you finally see me and my love. That I don’t have to keep my feelings a secret from you. And that Whitney can’t hurt either of us, because we won’t let her.”
He was holding her on his lap, his arms around her waist, hers around his neck, their lips close enough to touch. “You’re damned right we won’t.” A hit of renewed fury sparked in his eyes. “Today, I kicked her out of our lives.”
Our lives. How she loved the sound of that.
“We went head to head with the lawyers. And she never stood a chance.”
“Of course she didn’t.” Her heart ached for him, though, as she guessed, “Even in battle, you were kind, weren’t you? Too kind.”
“I’m giving her the house, but it was always her house, not mine. The only room I liked was the library. Because of the time you and I spent there together.”
She’d never forget all the precious moments she’d shared with him in that library. When she was just his friend…and he was always so much more to her.
“I’m glad she can’t hurt you anymore.”
“I won’t let her hurt you again either. Not,” he added, “that you need me to protect you. You’re so strong, Paige.”
“I am.” She knew that now, with a certainty that no one and nothing could ever take away from her. “When she came to my condo, she admitted that she knew I was in love with you all along. From the day
she met you in my dorm room. She told me it only made it better to take you for herself. To make sure I could never have you.”
“Jesus, Paige.” Grief and guilt welled up in him. “I was so freaking blind.”
“You just wanted to be loved.” She held his face in her hands. “But you always have been. I love you. Susan and Bob love you. Your friends love you.” She wanted to tell him that Theresa loved him too, despite the way she’d hurt him. But for all his epiphanies today, was he ready to hear that one?
“How?” He looked at her in wonder. “How can you be so different from her?”
She stroked her hands along his arms. “She was the baby, while I had to be the responsible one. She felt entitled and privileged because my parents indulged her.” Paige shook her head. “Why on earth do you think I became a psychologist? To figure her out. And to get her to change. But I couldn’t do either.”
“I know how hard that is to accept about someone in your family,” he said. “That they’re a monster who can’t be changed.”
They weren’t talking about Whitney anymore, but about his father. Before she could speak, he brushed the hair back from her face and said, “Talk to me, Paige. I wasn’t ready to listen before, but I am now. I want to know what you think. What you feel. With nothing held back anymore.”
Anyone else would have made their declarations, their apologies, then happily moved on. But Evan wasn’t just anyone. He was a brilliant, brave man. A Maverick.
And her one true love.
She had to kiss him then. To let him know, without words, just how much he meant to her before she pushed him to go to even more uncomfortable, raw places.
“Your epiphany about how a low sense of self-worth held you back from finding real, honest love is wonderful. The way you’ve dealt with Whitney and banished a powerful emotional vampire from your life is amazing.”
“But?”
“No buts.” She threaded her fingers through his. “How good does it feel to be free of Whitney?”
“Best feeling ever.”
As much as she ached to do it, as much as it would hurt him, she had to ask, “How good do you think it would feel to forgive your mother?”
Chapter Thirty-One
He’d known what Paige would say. Because he’d deliberately opened the door for her.
Knowing a tornado was coming, however, didn’t make its power any less fierce. It still whipped you up, spun you around, threatened to destroy you completely.
Only Paige could have kept him grounded. Only Paige could have kept him whole when everything inside of him was threatening to break apart.
“Whitney was the easy one,” he finally said. “Everything with her ended up being black and white. Cut and dried. But with my mother, there are so many shades, so many sides, to what happened.”
“Each betrayal is different.” Paige’s voice was soft, reaching inside him. “Some people are worthy of a second chance. Some aren’t worthy of any kind of forgiveness. Whitney was calculated, plotting. But your mother was a beaten woman. Her choices weren’t necessarily rational.”
“No, she wasn’t rational. She couldn’t be when she was scared out of her mind.” He leaned into the silky feel of Paige’s hair against his cheek, her warmth. She made everything seem good, even when the bad threatened to overwhelm. She was solid, even in the midst of chaos. Her hands on his arms, the caress of her fingers—even through his shirt, the sensation worked some sort of alchemy on him. She made all his jumbled thoughts and emotions seem so much clearer. “What my mother did by leaving me was wrong.” That fact would never change. But there were more facts that he needed to give his mother credit for. “Before she left, she did her best to protect me from my father by hiding me or taking the beatings herself. And when she found out she was pregnant, she made the only choice she could for the twins, two defenseless babies, to protect them as best she could.”
Paige soothed him with her touch. “I’m so sorry for what that man did to you both.”
“I am too.” He pulled back, stroked his fingers over her cheek. “He had too much power over her, over me, while he was alive. He’s been gone a long time, and both of us need to stop letting him have that power. We both need to move on. Fully. Completely.” He forced himself to acknowledge the painful memories one more brutal time. And then he finally let them go. “My mother did an amazing job raising the twins. They’re good people. Because of her.”
“Do you realize that you’ve been calling her your mother? Instead of Theresa?”
“Maybe,” he said slowly, “my feelings are changing.” He was changing, with Paige’s help. “But I’m afraid she’ll continue to make bad choices.”
“If she does,” Paige said, “do you think you can love her and forgive her anyway?”
The answer hit him like a lightning bolt aimed straight at his heart.
“Yes. I can.” After all these years, he suddenly saw things clearly. “Because she isn’t the only one who’s made, and who will likely keep making, mistakes.”
“No,” Paige said, emotion brimming in the short word. “She isn’t. Not even close. We’re human, so we make mistakes. All of us.”
“I’m sorry,” he said again. “Sorry for all the mistakes I made with you. Sorry for all the mistakes I’ll make in the future.”
“I forgive you. For all of it.” Her lips trembled. “Just as I hope you’ll forgive me for not telling you how I felt nine years ago. And for pushing you again and again to face the darkness when I know how hard and painful it is to walk back into the shadows.”
“I love you.”
Her eyes widened, then her tears spilled over.
“I love you, Paige.”
He wanted to say it again and again. A billion times. Now that he’d finally said the words, he couldn’t stop. He never would. She would just have to get used to hearing those three little words a thousand times a day. Days, weeks, years, decades that he couldn’t wait to spend with her. To explore with her by his side. In his heart.
“I love you so damned much. I love you for being so damned brave. I love you for being so damned steadfast. I love you for pushing me to see that my mother deserves my forgiveness. And that I do too, for being so blind that I picked the wrong woman. I love you, Paige, for being joy and light and wonder.” He held her tight to his heart, his body, his soul. “I love you with everything I am.”
* * *
Evan loved her.
He’d forgiven his mother. He’d changed his life. He was whole.
And he was hers.
Finally.
“I love you,” she said as he dipped his head to kiss her throat. “You’re everything I could ever want.”
“Tell me what you want, Paige.” He lifted his face to hers. “Tell me, and I’ll give it to you. Anything you want. Everything you want.”
Didn’t he know? “All I want is you.”
“I’m yours.”
She wanted to revel in this moment forever. Wanted to block out the rest of the world, if only for a short precious time, and focus everything on love.
When she smiled, it was full of emotion. And a touch of naughtiness too. “I’ve never made love in my office before.”
He kissed her hard. “I want to be your first. Your only.”
“You are. You always have been.” This moment between them was potent with meaning—and with joy. So much joy that it was perfectly natural, instinctive to tease. “I can’t stop fantasizing about having you ravish me with my clothes on. Like we’re doing something totally illicit.” And so beautiful her heart swelled with it.
“Paige.” He murmured her name into the vee of her neckline, licking her skin. “I love how you’re not afraid to make love fun. To play, even as you make me hotter than anything or anyone ever has.”
“Play with me,” she urged him.
On a lust-filled curse, he rolled her beneath him on the couch. She felt so soft, so sexy beneath his hard, heated muscles.
He bunched t
he material of her skirt in his hands and tugged it up slowly. “You made me crazy when I first walked in here. This pencil skirt and silk blouse you’re wearing. They’re sexy as hell. I could barely restrain myself from ripping them off you.”
“I wanted to rip your suit off too.”
He stopped a moment, his features serious again as he braced himself above her. “Don’t ever stop being exactly the way you are. Don’t ever stop making me laugh, making me crazy. My sweet, sexy, wild, perfect Paige.”
Her heart contracted, and tears pricked at the corners of her eyes. No one had ever wanted her just the way she was. She’d lived her whole life in her sister’s shadow.
But Evan loved her just as she was.
“I am sweet,” she said softly. “And sexy.” That came out louder, firmer. She was already rolling them over so she could straddle his hips as she said, “And wild for you.”
He pulled her down and gave her a sizzling, openmouthed kiss, tasting her with his tongue, filling her. “You forgot one,” he said when he finally let her come up for air. “Perfect.” He threaded his hands into her hair. “My every dream, every hope, every prayer, come true.”
“Then love me now,” she whispered, looking down into his beautiful face, her gaze caressing his lips.
The next thing she knew, zippers were unzipped, buttons were unbuttoned, and fabric was pulled out of the way so that they could come together.
They made love to each other with lips, hands, hearts. Joy, pleasure, love—there were no boundaries anymore. No more shadows. Only the wild, perfect rhythm of their lovemaking, their sounds of pleasure, their whispered words of love.
And when they fell, they fell as one.
Chapter Thirty-Two
Paige sat in the passenger seat of Evan’s Tesla the following night as they zipped along to Modesto. He’d asked her to come with him to see his family. He’d said they were as much hers as they were his, that they would love her as much as he did. Even now, it made her tear up.
