Nick
Ipush the card intothe door and there she is.What the fuck is she doing in here, lying on the couch, sipping wine in trashy lingerie.I drop my bags and close the door.
“Nick.I see you’ve finally arrived.”She tips her glass toward me, her feet propped up on the couch, looking every bit the poisonous temptress she is.
“What the hell are you doing in here?Get your damn feet off my couch.”I pick her legs up and swing them off the cream couch.She makes an indignant face, champagne spilling down her chest; she squeals and jumps to her feet, her bountiful assets bouncing up and down like they’re on springs.If I didn’t know her ways—and I wasn’t completely in love and committed to Cat—she would be hard to resist.
“What the hell, Nick!”She snaps, grabbing the napkin off the champagne bottle to dry herself.
“You need to get out.”I grab her arm and start hauling her to the door
“Nick, what are you doing?I’m not dressed, you can’t put me out!”
“Why not?This is my room.”
She grabs my other hand to stop me from opening the door, looking distressed.“This is our room.There are no more rooms available.Your assistant made a mistake; he booked us into the same room.He must have thought we had the same arrangements we used to have when we went away on business together.”
“Fuck!Fucking Steve!”My assistant would set it up so we were placed in the same room.I didn’t tell him the arrangement was over.No one knew about Paige and me, so he wouldn’t know we were over unless I told him directly.
“It’s the middle of the night, and I have nowhere else to go.All my things are already in the room.I asked if there was another room available, but there’s none, they’re all booked.Please, Nick,” she pleads.
Dammit.I’m a fucking idiot for forgetting to tell Steve.“Dine.Tonight only.Tomorrow I want you out.”
“Thank you.”
“Put some goddamn clothes on.You can keep the room; I’ll sleep out here on the couch.”
“All right.Goodnight.”She walks past me to the room, fixing the little she’s wearing.
I watch her close the door and I slump down on the couch, running my hand over my face and through my hair.If Cat finds out I spent the night with her in a hotel room, she’s going to freak the fuck out.And I’m backed into a corner of my own making.I can’t tell her.If I do, she’s going to say, “Why didn’t you tell me she was going on this business trip with you?Hell, why didn’t you tell me she works with you?”All good questions.I just wanted to keep her from working overtime in her head about something happening with me and Paige.
I reach in my pocket and pull my phone out, staring at Cat’s picture on the lock screen.She’s so pretty, her almond-shaped deep brown eyes smiling at me.I’m fucked if she finds out.I can’t tell her now.I’m going to look fucking guilty for something I didn’t do.
I fall asleep looking at Cat’s picture on my phone; in the morning, I make sure I get up before Paige and head out to the L.A.offices of Alexander and Alexander.This way, I stick to the plan of only seeing her during business hours.The first thing I did was ask the front desk in the hotel if they had another room available.They don’t.How the hell can they not have another room available in a five-star hotel for at least another three days?By then I’ll be flying back home.I’m sitting in my office when there’s a knock at the door.
“Come in.”
“Nick, I have some papers I need you to look over and sign.”
Paige steps in, closing the door behind her.I take the papers and give them a onceover while she stands and waits for me to finish.“Doesn’t my father have to sign these too?”
“Since it was a joint venture and you both have an equal share, on this particular document I only need one of your signatures.You’re here, he’s not.”
I look up at her with the papers in my hand.She knows my father.He wants to see everything, no matter how insignificant one might think it is, and I’m the same way.I’m not signing anything until he has a chance to look it over.When you’re investing millions in a company, you have to make sure every T is crossed and every I is dotted.I raise an eyebrow at her, and she smiles at me, lips pressed together like she’s amused.
“I already sent a copy to your father; he looked it over.You can call him if you want.I’m sure he’ll be in touch with you soon.I know your father’s policy and yours.Nothing is too insignificant—t’s and i’s.”
I crack a smile before I sign the papers and hand them back to her, as if she’s reading my mind.She was good at that, knowing what I was thinking and wanted…for a time, then things changed.
“Nick?”she says with the papers in her hand.
“Yes?”
“We don’t have to be like this.”
“Like what, Paige?”
“You acting hostile toward me, as if I’m going to attack you.It’s not my fault we ended up sharing a suite.The least you can do is be civil to me.You’re treating me like I intentionally set this up.You’re acting like you hate me.Did I do something wrong?”
