Then the door squeaks open and I’m scowling at the intruder.
“Oh, crap. Sorry,” Susan hisses. “I, uh, just came to tell you I have the interviews scheduled for your new EA.”
Paige sits up. “But I’m your EA? Or...never mind. I haven’t shown up in three weeks.”
My smile comes on like whiplash. She still wants to be my EA?
“I’ll come back later!” Susan shuts the door.
“Have you given any thought to the proposal I sent you?”
“Proposal? Oh—the envelope?”
“Yeah. That.”
“Well, I was actually waiting a year to read it,” she says shyly.
“A year?” My jaw drops.
“So I’d be immune to you and all your charms. There’s a lot to protect myself against.” She smiles, running her fingers through my hair.
I stroke my hand through her hair in turn.
“Think you’ll be immune to me now?” I growl, ready to accept one answer.
Her kiss banishes every sane thought in my head but one.
“I’m addicted. Lucky you,” she whispers, before my mouth attacks her again.
Me too, babe.
Me damn too.
“We have to open the package. It has your compensation for me being a very large pain in your very sweet ass,” I tell her.
She lifts off my lap and puts some sorely needed space between us. I keep my arms around her hips, unwilling to let her wander far.
“You’re not trying to buy me, are you, Ward?”
“Never. I just want you to be happy. It’s a proposal—and not the fake marrying kind. You can turn it down if you want, but you’ll make me crazy if you do.”
She laughs. “I’ll have to read it first.”
I kiss her cheeks and then move to her lips. “I’m coming with.”
“Why?”
“Because I never want you out of my sight again.”
Laughing, she leans up on her toes to hug my neck. “I love you.”
And I’m over six feet of stone-cold grinning fool.
“Careful. That’s the first time you’ve said it. Only a billion times to go before we’re even,” I tell her.
“You’re so terrible,” she whispers, her smile drawing out her dimples.
“You made me say it.”
The kernel of truth in her giggle makes me know she’s been waiting a long time to hear those words from my clueless mouth.
Never again, Paige.
Those words will be my daily mantra.
I open the door for my girl, and once she’s inside the car, I dive in and pull her onto my lap.
“So clingy today.” She grins at me like a cat that got the cream. “I didn’t know you could cling.”
“And you mind?” I raise an eyebrow.
“No,” she mouths, a sunburst exploding on her cheeks.
“I’m making up for lost time. You’ve been gone far too long,” I whisper.
“Yeah, well, I kinda know the feeling.” She kisses me again.
Little minx. Nothing about her expression hides how bad she’s missed the fire we started.
“I’m pumped you guys are back together!” Reese claps her hands together in the front seat, whipping her head around to look back at us.
Paige pulls away from me with an awkward blush.
Moment ruined.
“And I’m getting 'pumped' for a new driver,” I groan.
“Be nice to Reese,” Paige says, shaking a finger.
“Sorry. I’m just over the freaking moon to see some good news,” Reese says. “It’s been heavy around here.”
Big fat hairy understatement.
And there’s definitely a heavy load on my mind during the drive back to Paige’s place—or am I just that obsessed with her emerald eyes?
She doesn’t get to walk when we arrive. I hoist her up and carry her upstairs, over my shoulder.
“You know this is totally unnecessary and completely ridiculous, right?”
“Don’t act like you don’t know what happens when you show up to my office in heels. I’ve just got you back, woman, and I’m not leaving anything to fate,” I tell her.
“Oh, Ward, you’re such a drama hound.”
“With such strong arms. Remember, you’re here forever,” I say dead seriously.
She beats playfully on my back.
Hell, I didn’t think I could grin so much in one day.
When we’re at her door, I set her down. She unlocks it and we walk inside, hand in hand.
“Where’s the envelope? I need to see you open it.”
“It’s in my room. I hid it away so I wouldn’t have to look at it anymore.”
I stop and stare. She’s been tortured these past few weeks, and I was her inquisitor.
“I’m so sorry, Paige.”
“It’s okay.”
“It’s not,” I fire back. “I never meant any of it. I just—”
She turns to face me, covering my mouth with her hand. “It happened, it’s over, and we can’t dwell on it. We’re together now, and that’s